The Happy Uterus is here to end the stigma around endometriosis. Period.
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For 25-year-old Nat van Dartel, pain has always been a significant part of her menstrual cycle.
Even when she was a young teen, she would buy codeine over the counter to manage, and while she thought this was a normal experience everything changed in 2019. Suddenly, for three weeks of the month, Nat would experience unrelenting bloating and chronic pain.
“I always thought that what I was experiencing was normal and it was relatively manageable, I was still able to do things. But then I started getting really intense, sharp pains—different to regular period pain,” she says.
Finally, after eight months of doctor’s appointments, Nat was diagnosed with stage 3 endometriosis.
A 6cm cyst was discovered on one of her ovaries and it was confirmed her unmanageable pain was caused by rupturing endometrioma (cysts) every month.
“I was taking a lot of time off work, I was unable to really leave the house and I was unable to walk, it was really difficult,” says Nat. “So, it became quite severe really quickly, like within a six-month period.”
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Nat is one of the 830,000 women, trans and non-binary people who suffer from endometriosis. While it usually takes an average of 6.5 years to receive an endo diagnosis, her journey was quick, confusing and shocking.
While she had heard of endo, Nat says she never related to the symptoms prior to her diagnosis.
“I just thought that I had regular period pain, so when I was diagnosed it was really difficult. I feel like it took a really long time to accept because it’s a condition that is incurable but also the treatments are particularly invasive or have other side effects,” she explains.
“I don’t have any friends that have endo and no one in my family has it…I was really quite alone.”
In 2020, Nat had surgery to remove the endo but months later her symptoms still persisted.
After trying peppermint tea, magnesium oils, acupuncture and Chinese medicine to manage the pain, while in bed one night she suddenly had an idea: wearable heat packs to help relieve endo symptoms.
Catering to sizes 6 – 20, The Happy Uterus heat bags are designed by Nat to fit the contour of the body comfortably and to help ease period symptoms. Beautiful, bright and colourful, the idea isn’t to be discreet but to wear them with pride.
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“One of the main elements of the business in the brand is positivity, and reclaiming the illness,” says Nat. “I wanted a product that someone would receive and it would put a smile on their face because it is really draining and exhausting, even when it’s just period pain.”
Destigmatising the embarrassment and shame menstruators feel, The Happy Uterus has started an open conversation about endo at Canberra’s local Handmade markets. While Nat admits she does find it hard to talk about at times, she knows the discourse is important.
“There’s a stigma about talking about your period or anything to do with your reproductive system and quite a few times I’ve been in teams at work where it’s mostly males,” says Nat.
“But over the last probably six to eight months I’ve started having a different mindset; if people feel uncomfortable about you talking about your period, that’s more on them and that’s something that they need to manage themselves.”
“I would happily share to someone that I’m having a migraine and I need to stay at home because the migraine is debilitating, so I should feel comfortable to share things about period pain or say my endo is flaring up.”
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Donating $2 of every sale to Endometriosis Australia, for Nat The Happy Uterus is not about making a profit, but rather the connections she’s formed along the way.
“It’s a passion project for me and it’s something that keeps me motivated in my personal life,” she says. “I see it as something that keeps me happy and motivated and it’s gotten me through a lot of the hard times in the endo journey.”
“It’s helped me as much as it’s helped other people.”
Visit thehappyuterus.com.au for more information and keep an eye on @thehappyuterusau to see where Nat will be next.
