All That You Need To Know About Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a uterine condition in which the tissue that lines the uterus walls starts overgrowing outside the uterus. This condition is usually found in other organs of the pelvic region. It is more common in women going through infertility than fertile women. Although the exact cause of this disorder is not known, yet it is in no way related to infertility.
Endometriosis does not display any obvious symptoms, but some of the following indicators may hint at the prevalence of the disorder:
- Painful or irritable bowel movements.
- Persistent pain in the pelvis that gets worse with menstruation. This pain may be a sign of endometriosis, but it may occur in normal women as well.
- Laparoscopy is usually the confirmatory diagnostic method for endometriosis. Although your gynecologist might recommend other surgical diagnostic methods and tests as a part of preliminary examinations.
The True Picture about Endometriosis
Endometriosis is abnormal growth of tissue lining of the uterus outside the uterus such as on Fallopian Tubes, ovaries, bowel and peritoneum (membrane of the pelvic cavity). Rarely, they are found on the bladder, cervix, and vagina. However, endometriosis conditions have also been discovered in old surgical scars, lungs, liver and brain. When an endometrial tissue part is found in an abnormal place in the body, they are called endometrial implants. These implants are rarely reported from locations beyond the pelvis.
Stages of Endometriosis
Endometriosis can be categorized into 4 stages
- Minimal
- Mild
- Moderate
- Severe
These stages subject to factors such as: presence or absence of scar tissues, specific location, presence of implants, depth and extent etc.
Infertility is usually associated with Stage 4 endometriosis and is extremely rare. The most common stages of endometriosis, however, are Stage 1 and Stage 2.
What are the signs and symptoms of endometriosis?
- Cramps in the pelvic region that begin right before menses and end right after them.
- Pain during intercourse.
- Infertility
- Pain during urination or bowel movement
- Pain during examinations of the pelvis
The symptom of pains associated with the pelvic region can vary from patient to patient. Some women experience an increasing worsening of symptomatic conditions whereas some women find a decrease and even a complete loss of symptoms without any external treatment. Usually, pain and cramps are associated with the location of endometrial implants in the uterus.
- Implants located deep in the pelvic region in dense nerve areas produce extreme pain.
- Some implants might trigger surrounding tissues to release their chemical substances, thus generating pain.
- When the implants induce ‘scarring’ of the nearby tissues, pain gets induced.
If a scar tissue is formed in one of the Fallopian tubes or the ovaries due to endometriosis, the process of ovulation gets affected. Hence, endometriosis becomes one of the reasons for a woman being unable to conceive. Furthermore, endometriosis induces the release of substances which might affect the process of pregnancy.
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