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What is Endometriosis & what does it feel like?
The tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus is called the endometrium. In some women endometrium grows outside the uterus. When this happens a woman has a condition called endometriosis. The most common areas for this abnormal growth of endometrium are the reproductive organs (ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus). Endometrium may also grow on the intestines, bladder, or even in the rectum. In very rare instances, Endometriosis has also been found in the lungs and brain.
This misplaced tissue responds to the hormones of the menstrual cycle and bleeds each month in the same way the lining of the uterus responds to hormones. However, if the tissue is not in the uterus, the blood shed from the tissue has no way to leave the body. When the tissue bleeds, cysts, adhesions, and scar tissue form and the area around the endometriosis thickens.
For those of you who would like an idea of what it feels like (it's different from woman to woman, but here's how I experience it with stage IV Endo with complications of adhesions & PCOS.) - imagine being stabbed with a knife in your pelvic area - and feeling the knife twist! Imagine that pain radiating down your legs to your knees, up to the middle of your back, and up between your ribs. Imagine that pain being constant and not going away or easing up for HOURS - sometimes DAYS - at a time! Imagine that you feel this heavy weight inside of you - and it aches from the inside out - you fill full of bound up pain and you cannot get rid of it - cannot escape it - it goes with you wherever you go.
You try so hard to ignore it and imagine yourself somewhere else - someplace peaceful and tranquil - and you can do this for some time - until the pain worsens to the point where you are beginning to sweat. You begin to lose your composure - and feel as if you will lose it when you are having a particularly stressful day, as people cannot see that you are sick, so they assume that you are ok.
Imagine what you think when you hear other women complaining about getting their monthly period - while you've been bleeding for three weeks straight and are wondering if you should buy stock in Playtex.
Imagine experiencing countless operations on your reproductive area, as well as experimental hormone drug therapies that have long-term, serious, and sometimes permanent side-effects.
Imagine that you have to constantly be aware that there is no cure for what you are suffering from - the only temporary relief in sight is either pain relief in the form of prescription narcotics which render you functionless or yet another operation - till it all grows back again.
Imagine what you feel like when the pain is so uncomfortable - when you can barely MOVE in order to go about your daily routine! Imagine being faced with the idea that you are going to be forced to live with this disease for the rest of your life.
There is also a variety of other diseases & conditions that are quite often associated with Endometriosis. Some of them are: Polycystic Ovarian Disease (a.k.a. PCOS), Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Infertility, adhesions, fibroids, Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (a.k.a. AUB), Epstein Barr Virus, Fibrocystic Breast Disease - only to name a few.
If you believe you may be suffering from Endometriosis, please contact your doctor for a formal investigation and possible diagnosis.
If you have already been diagnosed with Endometriosis or know of someone who has been; you are in luck because there is a place you can go in order to obtain information, education, support, and resources. That place is the Endoawareness Files & you are there now.
Know that you are not alone and that there are support groups & resources from all over the world, just waiting for you to reach out. Explore this website and arm yourself with the best possible knowledge you can obtain for knowledge is power.
What
is Endometriosis? - From the Endometriosis Association
Endometriosis
FAQ - A GREAT Site to find some answers!
What
is Endometriosis - written by Dr. Warren Overbey
What
is Endometriosis - written by Advanced Fertility Institute
What
is Endometriosis - written by Dekalb Women's Specialists
What
is Endometriosis - written by Susan Ackerman, R.N.
All
About Endometriosis - Authored by Kyle Hsu, MD, Consulting Staff, Department
of Emergency Medicine, United States Air Force Mike O'Callan Federal Hospital