Endometriosis Often Overlooked

Endometriosis affects up to one in ten Australian women during their reproductive years, and a global study now shows how sufferers lose eleven hours every week coping with it.

The condition which can cause intense pelvic pain was also confirmed as a leading indicator of infertility, according to research released at an expert summit in Italy this week.

Adelaide-based gynaecologist and laparoscopic surgeon Dr Susan Evans said it highlighted an often-overlooked illness that had a major impact on the lives of many young women.

"Our society doesn't know enough about endometriosis and women are told 'Oh that's part of being a woman; you just have to put up with it'," Dr Evans said on Tuesday.

"Right from family through to community health care, endometriosis is under-recognised.

"... and these women are in the prime of their lives, they are in their teens or 20s or supporting a family, and to have something that affects their ability to function normally at that age is a tragedy."

The Global Study of Women's Health, funded by the World Endometriosis Research Foundation, quizzed 1400 women diagnosed with the condition, aged 18 to 45, from ten countries.

The women experienced painful symptoms for an average of seven years before their endometriosis was diagnosed.

Two-thirds of the women had symptoms before they turned 30, and one fifth first reported problems in their teens.

Lost hours of productivity as a result of endometriosis pain was calculated at an average of 11 hours per woman per week.

A majority (65 per cent) of the women were diagnosed with the condition after reporting painful symptoms, and a third of these were also infertile.

The condition occurred at the same rate across countries and cultures, according to the research, and it estimated 176 million women worldwide were now suffering from it.

Dr Evans said up to 40 per cent of women with endometriosis will experience difficulties falling pregnant.

"The cause is cells that are like the lining of the uterus, which bleeds every month, found outside the uterus where they shouldn't be ... (resulting in) pain, inflammation and scarring," Dr Evans said.

"It would be great to know more about how and why it happens ... but that is really all we can say at the moment."

There is no known cure though conventional treatments include painkillers, hormonal treatments, surgery or a hysterectomy.

The research was presented in Rome at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.



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DERAILED Memoirs of a Botched Hysterectomy - Hysterectomy to Remove Fibroids and Cyst - Really was ENDOMETRIOSIS! How does an outwardly healthy 47-year old woman's "routine hysterectomy" become an 18-day ordeal spanning 2 hospitals, 4 surgeries, and $400,000 in medical bills?

DERAILED is a true story - one woman's terrifying journey through a seemingly endless comedy of errors, miss-diagnosis, and near-death experiences. The reader will find themselves immersed in the constant stream of turmoil experienced by the unsuspecting patient; including cover ups, good doctors protecting bad doctors, and hospitals pitted against the other. Who is she? She is any woman, anywhere and everywhere.

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