One in ten American women and nearly 190 million other people worldwide have endometriosis, but until recently, there has been a deafening silence on the disease and the widespread effects it may have on a person's life.
Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological ailment that can afflict men, women, and nonbinary people with uteruses, according to Science Alert. However, because its symptoms might be mistaken for other medical conditions, psychiatric disorders, or other health issues, endometriosis frequently remains undetected.
It's common to tell patients who arrive with this pain that it's "all in your head." Nonetheless, endometriosis is starting to gain greater attention, in part because of the public sharing of personal tales by celebrities like Lena Dunham, Chrissy Teigen, Amy Schumer, Whoopi Goldberg, and others.
In endometriosis, endometrial cells typically found in the uterus abnormally implant in non-uterine areas, including the fallopian tubes, ovaries, and the peritoneum, which is the lining of the abdomen.
The uterus sheds its lining at the conclusion of each menstrual cycle, and the lining leaves the body through the vagina and cervix. In addition, the "misplanted" endometrial cells shed, but they have nowhere to go, which causes internal bleeding, discomfort, and inflammation.
A diagnosis of endometriosis is broken down into phases based on the disease's apparent presence: mild, Stage 1 to severe, or Stage 4. But there's no relationship between the stage and feeling pain.
Severe discomfort during menstruation is one sign of endometriosis. Sex-related suffering is another. Some persons with endometriosis wait an average of seven years for a diagnosis, which can only be visibly verified by a technique called a laparoscopy. This is because discomfort associated with menses or sex might be mistaken for "normal" pain, a history of sexual assault, or psychological causes, including a hate of sex.
The Consequences of Endometriosis
Endometriosis may result in infertility in addition to this and other forms of excruciating pain, and individuals who wish to become parents frequently need to have medical or surgical procedures performed in order to become pregnant.
Endometriosis-related physical pain can be quite crippling. When the pain gets too bad, adolescents with endometriosis may find it difficult to stay up with their friends, classmates, schoolwork, or extracurricular activities. To finish their education, they could switch to online or home study.
Intimacy and sex frequently disappear, but some couples have said that they've come to terms with the fact that sex hurts.
People and relationships are severely emotionally strained as a result of these painful experiences, being disregarded by medical experts, having detrimental consequences on one's schooling and job, and having one's closeness damaged.
