What you should know about endometriosis

What you should know about endometriosis

 

One in 10 women in the UK suffer from the painful gynaecological condition endometriosis. It's a condition that can lead to infertility. But 80 per cent of the population have never even heard of it.

We look at some common symptoms of endometriosis and explore what treatments are available.

What is endometriosis?

Endometriosis can be an excruciatingly painful condition, and it can have a profound, debilitating effect on a woman's life. But despite this, many have never heard of it.

Typically, the most common symptom is acutely painful periods. And because of this, the pain is often just put down to the 'time of the month'.

An estimated 2 million women in the UK suffer from endometriosis – and Marilyn Monroe, Susan Sarandon and Louise Rednapp are all said to have had it.

Simply explained, endometriosis is a condition where cells, like the ones in the lining of the womb, are found outside the uterus.

Typically, these are found in the pelvic area – such as in the Fallopian tubes, ovaries, on the outside of the womb, or on the ligaments which hold the womb in place. They may also be found in the bowl, bladder, intestines or vagina.

Like womb cells, endometrial cells respond to hormone changes throughout the monthly cycle, swelling with blood and then breaking down causing internal bleeding. Since this internal bleeding has nowhere to go, it can cause inflammation and adhesions.

In rare cases, endometrial cells have been found in other parts of the body, such as the brain, lungs and eyes.

Endometriosis can lead to cysts and adenomyosis – a painful condition where endometrial tissue develops in the muscle layer of the womb

How do I know it is endometriosis?

Endometriosis can be missed for years because women and GPs alike do not always recognise the symptoms.

Dr Caroline Overton, consultant gynaecologist at St. Michael's University in Bristol, says that the reason many women don't know they should go to the doctor is because they put up with the pain thinking it's just part of their menstrual cycle.

'There's such a wide spectrum of what women consider 'normal' that people assume whatever they're feeling is normal because they don't know anything else,' says Dr Overton.

'But if the pain is so bad you can't get to work, you're confined to bed, you have hot water bottles on your stomach and back and you have to take painkillers – something is wrong.

'These women are having labour-like pain from their belly down to their knees. It's completely overwhelming, and not like any normal period pain you would recognise,' she says.

Usually pain occurs during a period, although you can also have pain that increases in the run up to a period. Other common symptoms include discomfort during intercourse and a terrible pain in the bowels when you go to the toilet.