What Is Endometriosis?

Endometriosis is often associated with debilitating pelvic pain during menstruation, but its symptoms can span all over the body. The condition has an average diagnosis delay of seven to 10 years. So what exactly is endometriosis, and why is it so hard to diagnose?
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What endometriosis is, is when you have cells that are similar to the lining of the uterus, but those similar cells are found externally, or outside of the uterus. Each cycle, endometrial cells inside the uterus react to your hormone levels by breaking down and being released through the vagina as your period. But with endometriosis, the endometrial-like tissue growing outside of the uterus is doing the same thing. Except these cells have no way to get out of the body. Symptoms of endo will vary, especially based on where the endometrial-like tissue is growing in the body, and often aren’t taken that seriously, brushed off as just a ‘bad period’.

Endometriosis is this invisible disease and the way that so many patients describe the disease is like barbed wire being wrapped around their abdomen it really can be endos found anywhere in their body. So the patient looks okay. They look healthy, but they feel miserable. The clumps of tissue that grow outside the uterus are called implants, and they can literally pull on and distort internal organs and muscles. Those degrading cells can cause inflammation that spreads to the surrounding area. In severe cases, implants may eventually scar and basically act like glue, causing organs to stick together when they shouldn’t. These all contribute to the increased risk of issues like ectopic pregnancy and infertility with endometriosis—when it’s found around the reproductive organs, rogue endometrial-like tissue can wreak havoc and prevent normal ovulation. But the lack of awareness around this disease means that many who struggle with it may not get diagnosed for a long time—on average, it takes about 7 to 10 years.

Endo wasn’t even ‘discovered’ until the 1920s, and it took decades for the condition to be regularly included in medical training. In France, for example, endometriosis was JUST added to the medical training curriculum, and in many countries education on effective treatment options is still not regularly included in training for gynecologists. As if to add insult to injury, there’s only one way to definitively diagnose endometriosis...and it’s surgery. A doctor will go in through a tiny incision and take a biopsy to make sure that there really is tissue growing outside the uterus.

#Endometriosis #bodylanguage #wellness #seeker

Resources:
https://www.endowhat.org/
https://nancysnookendo.com/
https://www.theendo.co/

Read more:
Clinical diagnosis of endometriosis: a call to action
https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-93...
Population-based data suggest that more than 4 million reproductive-age women have diagnosed endometriosis in the United States. As daunting as this number is, it only tells part of the story, as an estimated 6 of 10 endometriosis cases are undiagnosed. Thus more than 6 million American women may experience repercussions of endometriosis without the benefit of understanding the cause of their symptoms or appropriate management.


What are the symptoms of endometriosis?
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topi...
The severity of the pain does not correspond with the number, location, or extent of endometriosis lesions. Some women with only a few small lesions experience severe pain; other women may have very large patches of endometriosis but experience little pain.

Behind the times: revisiting endometriosis and race
https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-93...
Early exploration into the pathophysiology of this condition identified race as a risk factor for endometriosis, with the condition predominantly identified in white women. It is still unclear whether there is a biological basis for this conviction or whether it can be explained by methodological and social bias that existed in the literature at that time. Although there is more recent literature exploring the association between endometriosis and race/ethnicity, studies have continued to focus on the prevalence of disease and have not taken into account possible variation in disease presentation among women of different ethnicities.

Editor’s Note: At Seeker, we recognize that people of many genders and identities have vaginas and uteruses, and are affected by the topics covered in Body Language: not only women. Where gendered language does appear is in reference to specific language used within the scientific studies cited.