Pain through period endometriosis?
Endometriosis is defined as a common female condition and it is estimated that approximately 6-10% of the whole women suffer from endometriosis. Endometriosis leads to the lining of the uterus to settle outside the uterine cavity. The endometrial foci (sometimes as small as the heads of a pin) grow and bleed with the menstrual cycle, leading to an inflammatory response in the body. It can also be said that there is a “menstruation in the wrong place”. Endometriosis can cause the formation of cysts on the ovaries (so-called chocolate cysts filled with blood), scarring or adhesions in the small pelvis, rarely there is colonization of the bladder, intestine, lungs or a severe form of endometriosis, of deep infiltrating endometriosis. Additionally, it can cause a disorder of egg maturation and a closure of the fallopian tubes, which can lead to undesirable childlessness.
Interestingly, the severity of endometriosis is not connected to the severity of the symptoms, i.e., women with mild or absent symptoms may have a very severe endometriosis and women with severe symptoms may have mild endometriosis.
Standard symptoms of endometriosis:
- Pain before or during menstruation, usually regular need for painkillers as part of the mens and typical absence from work
- Pain during intercourse
- Unfulfilled desire to have children
- Bleeding disorders (too frequent or too heavy menstruation)
- Noteworthy fatigue and exhaustion
- Malaise, chronic lower abdominal pain, back pain, problems in urinating or defecating
- Blood in the urine / blood in the intestine
Illustration of endometriosis:
If you suffer from symptoms of endometriosis,we are pleased to arrange all necessary examinations that are indispensable to make a diagnosis and commence an adequate therapy. In addition to the targeted questioning of your complaints and the palpation examination, the diagnosis of vaginal ultrasound, the examination of the fallopian tube permeability by means of contrast agent and in some cases a colonoscopy and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are necessary. However, a credible diagnosis can only be made surgically by means of a laparoscopy and after fine tissue examination of samples obtained.
Therapy
There are various ways for treating endometriosis.
- Anti-inflammatory painkillers
- Hormonal therapy
- Surgery
- Alternative methods of pain therapy
Which of these methods is chosen relies, on the one hand, on whether there is a desire to have children or whether family planning has already been completed. On the other hand, the treatment depends on the size and location of the herd or the symptoms. If a woman has neither complaints nor an unfulfilled desire to have children, therapy is not required.
Endometriosis is well treatable, but not curable. Usually, the symptoms ease after surgical removal of the herd, but can recur after months or years when endometriosis starts to grow again.
The course of endometriosis is unpredictable. Some women are cured (often after pregnancy), some have numerous, painful relapses over years.
We would be glad to advise you in our consultation hours on the subject of endometriosis or endometriosis in the context of an unfulfilled desire to have children.
