Today we have a very interesting topic, endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic, genetic and hormonal disease of a high frequency in women, especially of reproductive age. It is a disease that is usually easily diagnosed by cytology or ultrasound and not by physical examination.
Endometriosis should be suspected in patients with typical symptoms such as:
- Pain with menstruation
- Pain with sexual intercourse
- Pain when defecating
- Slight pain that is chronic pelvic pain.
Pain with menstruation has often been thought to be normal and is a misconception. Whenever there is pain in menstruation, an underlying endometriosis should be suspected.
Endometriosis affects the tubes, compromising fertility. Whenever a patient has an alteration in fertility and has difficulty getting pregnant, endometriosis should be suspected until proven otherwise.
The diagnosis of endometriosis is made by laparoscopy.
Laparoscopy is a surgery with general anesthesia, outpatient (that is, the patient goes home the same day) that allows looking at the ovaries, uterus and tubes and establishing the degree of the disease and classifying if it is mild , moderate or severe.
This surgery allows the cleaning of the endometriosis area that will improve the quality of life after surgery. In surgery, the tubes can be looked at and see how fertility is and cleaned so that the patient can get pregnant more easily.
After the surgical procedure, a hormonal treatment plan should be established according to what was found and assess what medications can be used so that the patient is pain free. In severe, intractable and chronic cases that already have children, an extraction of the uterus or womb (Hysterectomy) can be decided as the definitive option for the cure of this pathology.
If you have any of the aforementioned symptoms or want more information about endometriosis, schedule your appointment with Dr. Juan Federico Zapata, gynecologist in Medellín
How do I know if I have endometriosis?
Any patient who has strong colic during menstruation, pain during sexual intercourse, pain to defecate or who has fertility problems, is a patient whose symptoms are suggestive of having endometriosis and therefore should consult.
What problems does endometriosis cause?
Endometriosis can generate fertility problems and that endometriosis alters the tubes and prevents a pregnancy from running properly, secondly, they can generate permanent menstrual cramps so severe that they affect the quality of life of the patient who has to go to the emergency room every so often to apply intravenous medications to relieve pain, or in other cases where the pain of menstruation is so severe that the patient must be taking analgesics permanently with each menstrual cycle, another problem that it generates is a continuous chronic pelvic pain , that is, a permanent intractable little pain that greatly affects the quality of life, and also affects the sexual life because each penetration hurts so much that it makes it unsatisfactory.
How is endometriosis cured?
Endometriosis can be controlled with a laparoscopy in which the lesions in the uterus, pelvis, ovaries and tubes of endometriosis lesions are cleaned, as well as hormonal medications that suppress the lesions, the definitive cure is achieved by extracting the uterus, that is, extracting the womb when the patient has already had her children and other treatments have not been effective.
Which doctor treats endometriosis?
An obstetrician gynecologist who hopefully is a specialist in advanced laparoscopic surgery to do the cleanings and do the chemical and medical treatment.
If I suffer from menstrual cramps, is it due to endometriosis?
When a patient suffers from permanent, continuous or very significant menstrual cramps, it is highly probable that she suffers from endometriosis, she is a candidate patient to be evaluated by a gynecologist to rule out this disease.
Is endometriosis dangerous?
Endometriosis is not a dangerous disease from the point of view that it does not cause cancer, but it is a chronic disease that greatly affects the quality of life of women and affects their social and sexual life and also their fertility, then, Although it is not dangerous to produce cancer, if it affects the psychological and the physical part, then it deserves to be treated.
What if I have endometriosis and I don't do anything about it?
If a patient has endometriosis and does nothing about it, it will allow the endometriosis to progress and damage the tubes and affect her fertility to the point where if she delays in consulting, this fertility may have little solution to treatment, in addition, as endometriosis progresses, treatment will be limited, so it is important that the patient, when she has endometriosis or symptoms of endometriosis, consult early to prevent the disease from progressing and to achieve more acceptable improvement results and faster.