What is Endometriosis?
Firstly I would like to say what Endometriosis is NOT:-
- Endometriosis is NOT contagious. - Endometriosis is NOT an infection. - Endometriosis is NOT cancer. |
Endometriosis IS a Chronic Illness.
Basically Endometriosis is a condition that causes the endometrium (the tissue that lines inside of your uterus) to grow on the outside of the uterus. This as you can imagine causes problems for the person with Endometriosis every month because as you know the body releases hormones every month around ovulation. These hormones cause the endometrium to increase to prepare the body for pregnancy. However if you do not conceive then the endometrium lining will breakdown and leave your body as your period. Sounds simple yes? well not if you have Endometriosis. Your see the Endometriosis (the endometrium that is growing outside the uterus) reacts the same way as the endometrial tissue inside your uterus. So as your endometrial tissue inside your uterus reacts to the hormones and increases so does the Endometriosis, and as it breaks down so does the Endometriosis. However unlike the Endometrial tissue inside your uterus the Endometriosis has nowhere to leave the body so just sits inside the pelvic/abdominal area. There is absolutely no way that this internal bleeding can escape your body. This in turn causes inflammation, pain (and I do not just mean normal period cramps I mean actual pain), and internal scaring (also known as adhesions). The endometrial tissue can also be found in or on the ovaries and therefore this can sometimes cause cysts. These cysts are known as 'Chocolate Cysts' or 'Endometriomas' they are sometimes called chocolate cysts not because they are filled with chocolate (which would be nice) but with old blood giving them a dark brown colour. Endometriosis can happen anywhere in your body, however the most common places affected include inside the pelvis, on or around the ovaries, on the outside of the womb or ligaments (what hold the womb in place), and the fallopian tubes. Less commonly it can also be found in or on the bowel, bladder and the intestine. You can get something called Adenomyosis which is where the endometrial tissue grows inside the muscle layer of the uterus. It can even grow on existing scar tissue (say from a previous surgery). Not wanting to scare you but I have heard of very RARE cases of endometriosis in other parts of the body such as skin, brain, lungs, eyes and spine (one of my friends has been told that she has it up her spine). I must exaggerate that these are extremely rare cases. |
This is the diagram to explain Endometriosis that I was given by my GP.