Endometriosis (from endo, meaning "inside", and metra, meaning "womb") is a medical condition in which endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus. The uterus is lined with endometrial cells, which are affected by female hormones. In women with endometriosis, these cells may grow on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, rectum, bowel, pelvic lining, and other areas of the body.
Endometrial tissue, no matter where in the body it grows, responds to hormones in the same way. Each month, the tissue thickens, breaks down, and bleeds. Since the blood does not have an exit from the body the way that uterine endometrial tissue does, the blood becomes trapped in the body and irritates surrounding tissue. This can lead to scars, adhesions, and cysts.
There are some common symptoms of Endometriosis and by and large the most common is pelvic pain, especially associated with menstruation (dysmenorrhea). The pain can be debilitating and ranges from woman to woman. The severity of pain is not a reliable indicator of the severity of the disorder. Some women with mild endometriosis experience severe pain, while the opposite can be true as well. The pain can also vary from month to month. Some women experience pelvic pain at other times during the month and some women experience some level of pain all the time.
Other common symptoms of Endometriosis include excessive bleeding (hypermenorrhea), bleeding between periods (menometrorrhagia), infertility, irritable bowel syndrome, back pain, chronic fatigue, mood swings, pain during intercourse, and anxiety.
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I am a 30-year-old woman and I've been coping with Endometriosis since May of 2007. It is frustrating, painful, embarassing, and gross. I've had two ruptured cysts, discharged a 3x4-inch sheet of clearish tissue, woken up in the middle of the night many times to find my pelvic area soaked in blood, and dealt with pain every month in various ways.
I'm not sure if my husband and I will be able to have a child from my womb. I'm honestly not sure if I'm fertile any longer or how serious the damage is that this disorder has caused. I've been without health insurance for the last two years and now that I'm married, I'm on my husband's insurance. I'm not sure if this will be considered a pre-existing condition. It's never actually been diagnosed by a doctor. The last doctor I saw, back in 2008, didn't agree that I have endometriosis, despite the fact that I have every symptom known to man (or woman). The second time I had a ruptured cyst (immediately caused by having sexual intercourse), my husband rushed me to the emergency room where I was diagnosed as having had a cyst that had burst.
Each month during my period, I experience moderate to severe pelvic pain. I feel that I must have endometrium growing on my ovaries, since I get pretty pronounced pain on either side of my pelvis. I take ibuprofen when the pain is intolerable, use a hot water bottle, stay in bed, and sometimes my husband will go out to the drugstore and get me those self-heating therma-wraps that I stick onto my lower abdomen. Those really help. Sometimes I send my husband for a bottle of wine and something chocolate. That helps alleviate the pain, but then I have to deal with digestive issues. Ugh.
I'm starting this blog because I have trouble finding information on Endometriosis. I know I'm not the only person dealing with this disorder. When I discharged that clearish tissue, I couldn't find a single thing on the internet. I didn't know what to search, what it's called...nothing. I still don't.
I'm going to make doctor's appointments to determine if I can have a baby, how severe the disorder is for me, whether or not I have ovarian cancer, and what on earth that thing was that I discharged.
If you can't tell yet, this blog is going to be chalk full of TMI. Because right now there is a serious LACK of information regarding Endo. I'm coping with it and you'll hear from me again soon.
Oh. Today I'm on my period (day 2) and the pain is pretty bad. I have been on the couch all day. I took 800 mg ibuprofen at 6:30am and haven't taken anything since. I want to go for a walk to the store but I'm afraid it may bring back the pain. So, I'll stay in for now.
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