Q&A: Why do I also have pain in my legs when I’m PMSing or menstruating?

As seen on LiveJournal’s endometriosis forum, leighana33 wrote:

So I was talking to my new doctor who specializes in endometriosis, and I thought I would share my new knowledge with you. I asked him about the numbness in my legs, and the pain in my hips and knees that worsens with my period (consistent with sciatic endo).

He said that this is very common. I had pretty bad endo in the ovarian fossa (the place the ovaries sit in the pelvic area). This is a common place for endo to occur. Right behind this area is a “bunch of nerves” as he described it. He didn’t specifically say “sciatic nerve” but I think that nerve would be involved in that. Well, he explained that I don’t have endo ON these nerves, but rather they are pushing on the nerves. These create the symptoms as I mentioned (numbness in legs-particularly left leg, pain in hips and knees, etc).

I gathered a picture of the pelvic girdle and all the nerves involved in that region. Compression of each individual nerve would have different implications. So my understanding is that having these implants all over our pelvic area, there are going to be some nerves that are messed with. (My understanding is that right where all those nerves are crossing and bunching together is where the ovarian fossa is.)

Image courtesy AnatomyTopics

Disclaimer: I’m not claiming to have solved a puzzle of all of us thinking we have sciatic endo. I also may have mistaken some of the information i.e., maybe it’s not specifically compression of nerves, maybe it’s considered something else, and maybe the ovarian fossa is the only place to have endo where you can mess with nerves.