In China, a guy who thought he had a urinary issue was horrified to learn that he was intersex and had been menstruating for the last 20 years since birth.
Despite possessing male genital organs, physicians informed Chen Li, 33, whose name has been changed, that he was born with female sex chromosomes, ovaries, and a uterus.
Chen, a native of a small village in the province of Sichuan, didn’t learn he was a woman until he sought medical attention for a persistent urine issue, according to the South China Morning Post.
The man had been menstruating, which explained why he had been experiencing monthly abdominal pain and blood in his urine for more than 20 years.
After 33 years of living as a male, Chen was startled to discover he was intersex. Since then, he has had surgery to remove his uterus and ovaries.
The 33-year-ailment old’s had physicians stumped as he repeatedly reported blood in his urine and persistent stomach pain after going through adolescence.
Initially, doctors diagnosed the stomach pain as appendicitis, but the symptoms persisted despite therapy.
But following a medical examination last year, specialists identified the underlying source of his ailments.
Chen really had female X chromosomes, female reproductive organs, and was therefore intersex; therefore, the monthly cycle of blood in his urine and the abdominal pain were actually brought on by menstruation.
On June 6, Chen underwent a three-hour procedure to have his uterus and ovaries removed.
The South China Morning Post quoted his surgeon, Luo Xiping, as saying that the patient “was instantly at ease and his trust was restored.”
The surgeon said, “From this point on, he can live his life as a man, but he cannot procreate because his testicles cannot generate sperm.”
According to United Nations guidelines, the term “intersex” has generally superseded the term “hermaphrodite” and is used to describe people who “do not meet the usual categories for male or female bodies.”
The UN estimates that between 0.05 and 1.7% of the world’s population is intersex, or around the same proportion as those with red hair.
While it’s incredibly uncommon to be intersex, a married Chinese woman who had been attempting to get pregnant discovered in March of last year that she was actually a biological guy.
The Chinese woman, Pingping, 25, who goes by the name Pingping, was told that despite having female genitalia and having always identified as a woman, she possessed the male Y chromosome.
Her never-having-a-period and inability to become pregnant with her husband were both explained by the discovery, which was made after an X-ray on an injured ankle.
Pingping, the woman’s given name, was informed that she had a condition known as a “46 XY disorder of sexual development” that causes genitalia to be ambiguous, underdeveloped, or absent in people with male chromosomes.
The woman had never considered her sex and had chosen to ignore the fact that she had never experienced a period because she had what appeared to be female organs.
She may just be developing more slowly than others, the doctor told her mother when she brought her in as a child.
She claimed, “After I got older, I found this problem quite embarrassing, so I didn’t treat it seriously.”
However, the medical professionals who examined her ankle were alarmed by her underdeveloped bones and conducted additional research, which produced the unexpected result.
She was told by doctors that she had no uterus or ovaries, which was why her 12-month attempt to conceive had failed.
She also lacked male genitalia and testicles, which doctors speculated may have once existed but have since “degenerated and atrophied.”
The doctors added that Pingping’s parents were closely related and that her family should have taken her for more thorough examinations years ago.