Endometriosis is a painful disease affecting women for ages. The classical symptom of endometriosis is Pelvic pain that usually occurs just before menstruation and lessens after menstruation.
The symptoms of this disease have been told as being a normal part of menstruation however the severity and suffering can only be understood by the person suffering from it. Endometriosis is one of the major causes which make a woman infertile. About 40%of women with endometriosis experience infertility-related issues.
This disease commonly goes undiagnosed with women experiencing years of delay before the correct diagnosis is made. Often women consult multiple doctors before finally someone suspects this condition as a cause.
Causes:
Despite centuries of research, the cause of this disease is still unknown.
In this disease, the tissue (called as Endometrium) which normally lines the inside of the womb or uterus and which is normally shed off with blood during periods, grows outside the uterus and is seen involving ovaries, intestines, urinary bladder, the lining of your pelvis and may even spread to distant sites like lungs, etc.
Now, this tissue which is hormonally sensitive continues to act as it would during a normal menstrual cycle that is, it becomes thick and then breaks and bleeds like the uterine lining during each period.
Now this bleeding and abnormal tissue have no way to leave out from the body as normal periods are flushed out. So this tissue and bleeding in each cycle get trapped inside the body and this irritates the other surrounding tissues and forms collections and hard areas (nodules) and gets attached and adherent to surrounding organs and causes pain and functional problems related to the organ gets involved. For eg. If the urinary bladder is involved, it can cause bleeding in urine or pain during urination, etc.
The body also recognizes that this growth should not occur outside the womb and so it tries to destroy these areas by setting an inflammatory reaction against these tissues and this leads to severe pain and scarring and destruction of tissues and surrounding organs inside.
Risk Factors:
- Periods starting at a young age.
- No offspring
- Other conditions like fibroids, abnormally shaped uterus, etc
- Family history of endometriosis.
Symptoms:
- Painful Periods
- Pelvic pain may begin before and may extend several days after periods and may have increased over time. Pain may extend to the lower back, thighs, legs, etc.
- Pain during or after intercourse.
- Pain with bowel movements or urination. This might be present especially during menses. Some patients might have bleeding in stools or urine during periods.
- Excessive bleeding
- Heavy bleeding in between periods.
- Inability to achieve pregnancy
This condition can make women infertile and is diagnosed first when these women seek treatment for achieving pregnancy.
Other rare symptoms
Because this disease can involve the far away areas and organs outside the pelvis this can cause rarely odd symptoms like
- Chronic pelvic pain unrelated to periods
- Hip pain/groin pain
- Rarely pain in chest or shoulders or near kidney areas during periods
Diagnosis:
- Review of your medical history and symptoms by a specialist
- Pelvic exam by a specialist
- Investigations like ultrasound or MRI
- Special blood tests
- Laparoscopy with biopsy in some cases.
Treatment:
Now treatment depends on
- Extent of disease
- The severity of symptoms like pain.
- Desire to achieve pregnancy
For severe symptoms, the treatment can be
- Medicines to control pain
- Hormonal treatment to stop Endometriosis from getting worse.
- Surgery to remove cysts due to Endometriosis, nodules, adhesions and to free the surrounding organs which are stuck up.
- Surgery to remove the entire uterus, tubes, and ovaries.
Treatment for pelvic floor dysfunction in Mumbai, find doctors near you. Book Appointment Online with Dr. Deepika Doshi: Click here