Endo Awareness Month – What Is Endometriosis?

Endometriosis is an autoimmune illness that one is born with. Doctors do not know what causes endometriosis – there may be several causes. So much misinformation and ignorance still exists about the origins of endo that many people spend years being dismissed, degraded, and mis-diagnosed by doctors before surgical diagnosis confirms endometriosis. People spend many more years being treated like guinea pigs because doctors cannot agree on effective medical and medicinal treatment of endometriosis.

The symptoms of endometriosis vary from person to person, but often include the following:

• Chronic pelvic pain, often extending to the lower back
• Heavy menstrual cycles
• Mittelschmerz (mid-cycle pain and/or bleeding)
• Pain during intercourse
• Moderate to severe fatigue
• Painful urination or bladder complications during menstruation
• Painful bowel movements during menstruation
• Rectal bleeding before and/or during menstruation
• Diarrhea, constipation or nausea during menstruation
• Frequent Urinary Tract Infections and/or yeast infections
• Infertility
• Low-grade fever
• Migraine headaches
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)-like symptoms
• Joint pain
• Feeling out of breath or easily winded

Stats are still sketchy as to how many people suffer with endometriosis.

• “Endometriosis is a painful, chronic disease that affects at least 6.3 million women and girls in the U.S., 1 million in Canada, and millions more worldwide”. – Endometriosis Association
• “Current estimates suggest that 6% to 10% of women of reproductive age have endometriosis, or approximately 5 million women in the United States”. – National Institutes of Health
• “Endometriosis is a very common condition affecting up to 10 per cent of women between 16 and 50 years of age, often without producing any symptoms”. –NetDoctor
• “Endometriosis is estimated to occur in roughly 6–10% of women. It is most common in those in their thirties and forties.” WHAT?!? NO! THIS IS MISINFORMATION!!!
  – Wikipedia, citing the womenshealth.gov website from 2014.
• “Endometriosis is estimated to affect over one million women (estimates range from 3% to 18% of women) in the United States”. –Medicine Net

Treatment of endometriosis can include pain medication, surgery, hormonal treatment, and alternative medicine, but it must be noted that currently, the only definitive diagnosis of endometriosis is firstly made via laparoscopy. HOWEVER, most people with these symptoms already know they have endometriosis – you don’t need to wait for a definitive diagnosis to start asking your doctor for help TODAY!Any good reproductive endocrinologist worth their salt will be able to help you until you have ‘the official’ diagnostic surgery. The diagnosis is merely to see how bad things are inside so you can continue to get the ongoing care you need. 

This information is also linked from my main page in the navigation bar.