Endometriosis:
What You Need to Know About It
Introduction:
Endometriosis is a condition in which the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus (womb) grows outside your uterus. It most commonly involves your ovaries, fallopian tubes, and the tissue lining your pelvis.
Rarely, endometrial tissue may spread beyond pelvic organs (intestines, bladder).
Endometriosis is considered an estrogen-dependent disease, so it usually affects women during their reproductive years.
In some cases, birth control pills or hormone therapy can help relieve symptoms.
If you've tried these treatments and they haven't helped enough, surgery to remove endometrial growths may be necessary
Endometriosis is a condition that causes tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus to grow outside your uterus.
Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects about 10% of women of reproductive age. It's a progressive disease, meaning it gets worse over time if not treated properly.
Endometriosis occurs when endometrial cells (the cells that line the uterus during menstrual periods) are found growing in locations outside of the uterus, such as on ovaries or fallopian tubes.
These cells continue to behave like they would if they were inside the body—they bleed every month like any other cell lining would do during menstruation, but because they're not attached to anything else inside you (like your intestines), blood builds up within these tissues instead.
About 5 million women in the U.S. are affected by endometriosis and it can occur at any age after your first menstrual period.
It’s a chronic condition that doesn't go away. That means it will stay with you for life, even if treated. Although endometriosis is not considered cancer, it can cause symptoms similar to those of cancer or other serious conditions (like infertility).
You may have heard about endometriosis being incurable, but there are many treatment options available—and some people with endometriosis do get pregnant!
Endometriosis is not contagious or sexually transmitted; however, it can affect anyone who has periods because of blocked tubes caused by endometrial tissue growing outside the uterus.
Symptoms include severe pelvic pain, painful periods, painful sex, bleeding between periods, infertility, and bloating:
The most common signs of endometriosis include:
- Severe pelvic pain. This may be felt in the lower abdomen, back, and thighs. It can start before, during, or after your period. It may get worse when you cough, sneeze or exercise.
- Painful periods (dysmenorrhea). Your period can last longer than seven days or be extremely heavy with large clots that are hard to pass out of your body.
- Painful sex (dyspareunia). Some women experience pain during intercourse due to endometriosis on the bladder and rectum.
- Bleeding between periods (metrorrhagia). This is a sign that there could be excess tissue growth outside of your uterus that sheds off during menstruation but causes bleeding instead of natural shedding into the vagina
- Infertility: Endometriosis can cause infertility by blocking the fallopian tubes or damaging them so they can't properly transport an egg to the uterus for fertilization.
Most of the time endometriosis is found during surgery, although sometimes it can be diagnosed with an MRI or ultrasound:
Most of the time, endometriosis is discovered during surgery. While an MRI can help diagnose or rule out endometriosis, it is not always effective. A sonogram may be used to view your ovaries and uterus.
In some cases, doctors will recommend a laparoscopy to examine your reproductive organs more closely with a small camera attached to a tube inside your abdomen. This procedure helps them determine whether there are areas of endometriosis in addition to other possible problems like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and adenomyosis (when the outer lining of the uterus becomes embedded into other organs), or fibroids (benign tumors).
Treatment options include pain medication, hormonal birth control, laparoscopic surgery, and hormone therapy:
Treatment options include pain medication, hormonal birth control, laparoscopic surgery, and hormone therapy.
Pain medication can help you manage your pain.
Hormonal birth control is another way to treat symptoms by stopping ovulation from happening. It also thickens the cervical mucus so that sperm cannot get through and fertilize an egg.
Laparoscopic surgery can be used if endometriosis has spread to other parts of your body or if it causes too much discomfort for you to live normally. In this procedure, a surgeon will go through small incisions in your abdomen or vagina with a laparoscope (a thin tube with a light on it) so they can see the affected areas to remove tissue growths without causing further damage to healthy tissue nearby while making sure they don't leave any behind either!
A patient may undergo multiple surgeries due to recurrence. Ultimately the removal of the ovaries and uterus is the answer to endometriosis.
Endometriosis is a very common condition among women and there are several treatment options available:
Endometriosis is a very common condition among women and there are several treatment options available to help manage it.
If you have endometriosis, your doctor may recommend that you take birth control pills or other hormone therapy medications to control your symptoms.
Surgery may also be an option depending on the severity of your case. You should talk to your doctor about all the different treatment options available before making a decision about how best to treat your condition.
Conclusion:
There are many resources available online for women with endometriosis and their families. We encourage you to visit these websites to learn more about this condition.
The most important thing is that you talk to your doctor about any symptoms you may be experiencing so they can determine the best course of treatment.