Endometriosis can be a very painful condition effecting overall health and fertility. Some women but not all may experience very painful menstrual cycles, vomiting or severe nausea with their cycles and at ovulation, bowel disturbances or increased frequency of urination with their period, or unexplainable discharge at different times of the cycle.
Some women will have endometriosis but not experience any symptoms at all.
Endometriosis can impact fertility in two ways;
1) structurally: If endometriosis is in the tubes then this could cause a blockage and make it impossible for the sperm and egg to meet. If the endometriosis is in the tubes but not completely blocking the tube it may still impact the health of the egg by causing damage to the egg as it passes thru the tube. If endometriosis is on the ovary it can impact the function of the ovary and cause problems with egg health or release of the egg at ovulation.
2) Hormonally: If endometriosis is not present in the tubes or on the ovary but is present in other places, the actual endometrial lesions or cysts may not cause a structural issue but the probable causes of the endometriosis may be impacting fertility.
The difficulty with deteching endometriosis in the female has been that if there is no sign of endometriosis from an Ultrasound or pelvic exam then the only way to diagnose endometriosis was through a surgery called a laparoscopy. And sometimes these surgeries have been done and there has been no endometriosis present. The surgery can be a costly option if no treatment is needed and also cause scarring and bleeding that may impact fertility.
But now a new much less invasive and less expensive option has been discovered for deteching endometriosis nearly 100% of the time.
By removing endometrial lining from the uterus, researchers in Australia and Jordan have found that if there are an increased prescence of nerve fibers in this endometrial tissue the patient is highly likely to have endometriosis.
If endometriosis is present and removed through laparoscopy, keep in mind that if the probable causes are not addressed then it is likely to come back like many conventional doctors will say.
So addressing what likely contributed to the endometriosis in the first place is very important to keeping it at bay and optimising your fertility.
