Actress Shamita Shetty has spoken candidly about her years-long battle with endometriosis and the overlapping confusion of navigating perimenopause, revealing that a delayed diagnosis left her dismissing severe pain as a normal part of womanhood. The disclosure came during her appearance on Soha Ali Khan's podcast 'All About Her,' where she was joined by gynaecological surgeon Dr. Neeta Warty.

A Diagnosis That Took Years

Shetty described how her initial consultations failed to identify the underlying condition. 'When I first went to my gynecologist with these concerns, before I was introduced to Dr. Warty, she did all the routine tests, a Pap smear and everything else to make sure everything was okay,' she said. When those results returned normal, the investigation stopped there.

With no clear answer, Shetty said she fell into a pattern of self-dismissal. 'Every time the symptoms returned, I'd think, "Nothing showed up last time, so maybe this is normal. Maybe it's just part and parcel of being a woman,"' she recalled. The actress noted that pain related to periods and hormonal changes is routinely normalised for women, leaving many without the answers they need.

When the Pain Became Impossible to Ignore

Shetty, known for her role in Mohabbatein, said her high pain tolerance — built over years of dealing with physical injuries — initially masked the severity of her condition. The turning point came when the pain began disrupting her sleep. 'When the pain started waking me up from my sleep, that's when I realised something was seriously wrong. My body was trying to tell me that I needed answers,' she said.

She added that the intensity of the pain escalated significantly in the six to eight months before she eventually underwent surgery, a period she described as markedly more severe than anything she had experienced before.

Perimenopause Added to the Confusion

Complicating matters further, Shetty said her endometriosis symptoms coincided with the onset of perimenopause, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. 'There was already so much happening with my hormones that I couldn't tell whether what I was experiencing was just part of perimenopause or whether something else was wrong,' she explained.

This overlap, she indicated, is a common challenge for women in their late thirties and forties, where hormonal shifts can mask or mimic the symptoms of other gynaecological conditions.

Dr. Neeta Warty and the Role of Specialist Care

The episode features Dr. Neeta Warty, described as a pioneer in endoscopic and laparoscopic gynaecological procedures, in conversation with Shetty. The inclusion of a medical expert alongside a patient's first-person account gives the podcast episode particular resonance for audiences seeking both emotional validation and clinical context.

Shetty's openness about her experience adds to a growing public conversation in India around women's reproductive health — a space where awareness, specialist access, and early diagnosis remain uneven. Her account underscores the cost of normalising pain: years of suffering before a treatable condition is identified.