PCOS and Endometriosis - Our Families Journey

Living with Endometriosis: How to Find the Right Doctor

They may already know someone who has endometriosis and understand more of your journey than you expected. Talking about endometriosis with your partner may be difficult, but it can also be a relief to have someone close to you understand what you are going through, and support you along the way. Taking your partner to medical appointments can be a good way of increasing their understanding of your condition and the symptoms you are experiencing. While not every couple will find it easy, one study of male partners of women with endometriosis found going through the experience brought them closer as a couple [1].

However, some male partners often feel a sense of powerlessness.

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It is important to try to include your partner in your experiences of endometriosis as much as possible, as this will help you to feel more supported and reduce the chances of your partner feeling excluded. When experiencing chronic pain and the physical effects of having an illness, it is common for a woman's sexual desire libido to suffer.

Sometimes reluctance to engage in sexual intimacy can occur on both sides, as partners may be fearful of hurting their partner or worried that raising the issue will be upsetting. Rather than ignoring the problem, it's better for the relationship and future sexual experiences to discuss the physiological and emotional changes that result from endometriosis, and the expectations you have of each other.

Seek help from a psychologist or relationship counsellor if necessary.

Painful sex also known as dyspareunia is common when endometriosis affects the tissue behind the uterus at the top of the vagina. Experiencing pain with sex not only has an effect on libido but can also lead to difficulties in expression of sexuality as an individual and as a couple. If you are experiencing pain during sex, speak to your doctor or gynaecologist about possible treatments. Sexual desire changes depending on your health, stress levels, mood, and satisfaction with your relationship and what else is happening in your life.

You may have a high level of sexual desire or a low level of desire; neither level is right or wrong as sexual desire is a very individual thing.

Endometriosis Symptoms and How to Heal

For women with endometriosis, a range of additional factors enters the mix. Between chronic pain, painful sex, taking medication and hormonal therapies, undergoing surgery and dealing with a variety of emotional issues, it is little wonder that sexual desire is affected. Fernandez et al, Living with endometriosis: When suffering with endometriosis, one of the best things a patient can do is to seek out an endometriosis specialist.

This is a medical doctor who knows the ins and outs of the disease and specializes in its treatments.

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They usually do not use birth controls, Lupron, or other medications; instead, they use the approach of excising the disease, getting rid of the culprit in hopes of the patient living a pain-free life. They may perform an ultrasound to determine how the uterus and ovaries look and to come up with a plan to treat the disease. Surgeons utilizing excision in their treatment plans report rates of long-term relief in 75—85 percent of their patients, while non-excisional surgery reports a 40—60 percent recurrence rate in as little as one to two years post-surgery.

In my experience, excision surgery has proved to be the most beneficial method for decreasing my endometriosis pain. I still have concerns about the disease coming back, because it seems like it has always reared its ugly head at the most unexpected times in my life. Since having excision surgery by an endometriosis specialist, I have had one surgery to remove my gallbladder and scar tissue, and have gone a year and a half without any surgery for endometriosis concerns.

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Insurance sometimes requires these doctors to refer patients to specialists before they can cover any appointments, which can be frustrating for the patient. This is called anovulation. What sexual positions are best for getting pregnant? It can take up time and money depending on what your insurance will cover, but in my opinion, it is well worth it. In many cases, the symptoms of endometriosis appear to go away with pregnancy.

These doctors are beneficial for doing lab work and testing for some gastrointestinal-related issues, and can help to rule out other illnesses as well as refer patients to specialists, depending on the issue. Insurance sometimes requires these doctors to refer patients to specialists before they can cover any appointments, which can be frustrating for the patient. My doctor also likes to do blood work every six months to one year as a follow-up, which I appreciate. Gynecologists are usually the first doctors that women go to see to get birth control, oftentimes before they suspect there could be something wrong.

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They may do ultrasounds, blood work, and saliva testing, as well. I feel like they only want to throw birth controls or Lupron at patients in hopes of treating the disease without having to try excision surgery or refer women to an endometriosis specialist.

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About a third of women with endometriosis discover they have it because they have not been able to become pregnant, or because endometriosis is found during an operation for another reason. The type of symptoms and their severity are likely to be related to the location of the endometrial tissue rather than the amount of endometrial cells growing.

In the early stages of the disease, one or two mild symptoms may be felt for the first day or two of a period. Later, as the condition continues, symptoms may get worse for more days of the month, both during and before the period. In women over the age of 25, endometriosis can make it difficult to get pregnant. This may be because the endometrial cells release chemicals that cause inflammation that:.

In moderate to severe cases, the scarring caused by the endometrial cells may interfere with the release of an egg ovulation , due to damage or blockage. Pain is a key symptom of this condition and is not related to how severe the disease is, but to the location of endometrial tissue.

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Pelvic floor muscle spasm or tightening occuring because of fear of pain previously experienced with intercourse or tampon use. In many cases, the symptoms of endometriosis appear to go away with pregnancy. This is thought to be because pregnancy hormones cause the endometriosis to reduce. After the baby is born the effects of endometriosis are unclear. In a small study of 23 women[3], the endometrial lesions worsened in the first three months of pregnancy, but improved as the pregnancy continued.

Complications of endometriosis during pregnancy are rare. Usually, endometriosis does go away after menopause.

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It may return with the use of hormone replacement therapy HRT , but this is rare. Even more rarely, it can return for no reason. Role of eutopic endometrium in pelvic endometriosis. J Minim Invasive Gynecol.

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A systematic review on endometriosis during pregnancy: