Endometriosis ! Perpetual pain which exists beyond menstruation

    05-Sep-2024
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Dr Ashwini Anil Kumar Sirapanasetty
Endometriosis is often dismissed as a period Pain due to lack of awareness and knowledge.
What all you need to know about endometriosis?
A debilitating illness, often ignored, one in 10 women experiences the chronic pain of endometriosis, but for many the symptoms are dismissed. Endometriosis is a disease of adolescents and reproductive-aged women cha- racterized by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity and commonly associated with chronic pelvic pain and infertility. Endometriosis is an inflammatory chronic pain condition caused by uterine tissue growing outside of the uterus that afflicts at least 11% of women (and people assigned female at birth) worldwide. This condition results in a substantial burden to these women, and society at large. A major issue is that diagnosis of endometriosis is often delayed because surgery is needed to histologically confirm the diagnosis. This delay increases symptom intensity, the risk of central and peripheral sensitization and the costs of the disease for the patient and their nation. Current conservative treatments of presumed endometriosis are pain management and birth control. Both methods are flawed and can be entirely ineffective for the reduction of patient suffering or improving ability to work, and neither addresses the severe infertility issues or higher risk of certain cancers.
Symptoms
Painful periods.
Agony during sexual intercourse.
Discomfort during bowel movements and urination.
Excessive bleeding.
Infertility.
Nausea, bloating and digestion problems that inten- sifies during menstruation.
Diagnosing endometriosis may take time.
Many women suffer through years of painful menstrual periods before they can get an answer about what is causing them: a common and often undiagnosed condition called endometriosis. In some cases, diagnosis of endometriosis is delayed because teenagers and adult women assume that their symptoms are a normal part of menstruation. Those who do seek help are sometimes dismissed as over reacting to normal menstrual symptoms. In other cases, the condition may be mistaken for other disorders, such as pelvic inflammatory disease or irritable bowel syndrome. A study by the World Endometriosis Research Foundation found that among women aged 18 to 45, there was an average delay of seven years between the first symptoms and the time of diagnosis. Most cases are diagnosed when women are in their 30s or 40s.

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