When Laura Potts was diagnosed with chronic disease endometriosis in 2023, she felt isolated and scared. And so, she did what many young women do – she turned to TikTok.
Having little knowledge and minimal medical support, she started discovering more about her condition through the social media platform.
The 29-year-old from Worcester has since built her own online community ‘Your Endo Events’ – with over 5,000 followers on TikTok – where she hosts monthly support groups and plans in-person gatherings to raise awareness about the disease.
Potts said: “I think having a sense of community is so important – the girls I’ve met online have got me through my journey which is exactly why I continue to do what I do.
“You lose family, you lose friends, I had to give up my job, I had financial worries, and potentially not being able to be a mum one day – it’s all things that you never really think you’re going to have to navigate in your 20s.
“When you’re thrown that it’s scary, it’s isolating and you do have worries and you do go down spirals.”
Affecting one in ten women, endometriosis, colloquially shortened to ‘endo’, is a chronic disease where the tissue that lines the uterus also grows elsewhere in the body, often around pelvic organs, and has even been found in the chest.
At the time of menstruation, these patches of tissue break down and bleed. But as they have no way to exit the body – it can cause patients severe period pain, heavy bleeding, painful bowel movements, fatigue and much more.
While there is currently no cure for the condition, there are different forms of treatment.
A laparoscopy, often used as a diagnosis, is a type of keyhole surgery where a small telescope is inserted into the abdomen to remove any endometrium or scar tissue.
Potts, who began connecting with users online through TikTok videos documenting her laparoscopy surgery appointment, decided to set up her first in-person event in Worcester after noticing a high level of engagement.
After around 40 people showed up, including mums, partners and friends who all spoke about their journeys with the disease, Potts knew she wanted to continue creating these spaces for the community.
She said: “You fight and fight for a diagnosis and when you get a diagnosis, what then? No one talks about that.”
Since then, she has also run events in Birmingham and Cambridge with experts, wellness coaches, partnerships, and free period product stations.
Primary school teacher Kelly Clark was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), adenomyosis and later endometriosis. Like Potts, she had initially turned to social media to learn more about the disease.
The 32-year-old online community member said: “Everything I’ve learnt about my conditions is all from social media or Google, and ChatGPT. Without any of those, I still probably wouldn’t know anything.”
Clark, who underwent the surgery just five months ago, remembers her first question after waking up from the anaesthesia: ‘Did they find it?’
She said her diagnosis felt reassuring because it meant that it wasn’t all in her head. “There was a reason why I’ve been in this much pain,” she added.
While 22-year-old Rebecca Walden was searching for a diagnosis, she managed the pain the only way she knew how – with a hot water bottle.
Walden felt she’d finally found people who understood her pain when she joined the ‘Your Endo Events’ community.
She said: “You’ll never find a supportive place like Your Endo Events. The products and samples you get to help you, the people that you can connect with, the coaches there – there’s nothing that’ll compare.”
Potts, who is also a women’s health advocate, sponsored the 2025 paid menstrual leave petition through Your Endo Events, by holding a peaceful demonstration in London and giving out free educational resources.
The parliamentary petition, launched by women’s health campaigner Michelle Dewar, called on the UK government to introduce statutory paid menstrual leave of up to three days per month for people with conditions such as endometriosis and adenomyosis.
The petition received a total of 109,025 signatures and was subsequently debated in parliament on 13 April 2026.
Although the government confirmed they had ‘no plans’ to introduce this paid leave, they did recognise endometriosis as a full body condition for the first time.
Potts, who was in attendance at the debate, said: “I never thought I’d get as emotional as I did in that parliament room.
“The fact that they’re now recognising it in this way is a huge win.”
She stressed that the point of the petition was not to change laws overnight but to get people talking about what’s important.
After handing out information packs around London, she said: “It’s reconnecting with people in the community and making people realise that endometriosis is not just a women’s problem – it’s everyone’s problem.
“It’s political, it matters to your work lives, it matters to your dad, your boyfriend, your brothers, your friends. It matters to everybody.”
Women’s health and wellness company, Period Harmony, who are in partnership with Your Endo Events, supply samples of their products for the goodie bags given to attendees.
The company, which was founded by Raminder Samra in 2023 and has more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok, has created a skin patch that is designed to deliver soothing relief for period pain.
The patch slowly releases Boswellia, eucalyptus and menthol into the skin and provides a cooling sensation across 12 hours, proving to be a fan favourite with Potts’ endo community.
Samra, who attended a Your Endo Event in Birmingham said: “Women’s health is very overlooked. Even though half of the world menstruates, all of the world depends on it and it shouldn’t be such a stigmatised topic.
“Right now it might not feel like we have real solutions for this condition or any real direction, but this is something that helps you put one step forward – it definitely felt very empowering.”
Potts plans to reach more of the UK by hosting events in Manchester, London, Liverpool and Worcester this year, and after rising demand, she is also hoping to make it to Scotland in 2027.
While she will continue to provide spaces for women to come together and speak out on female health, Potts hopes that endometriosis will start to be taken seriously and that maybe one day, there might be a cure.
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