EndometriosisNearly 5.5 million women and girls in the U.S. and Canada are effected by this disease. Studies show that 71 to 87 percent of all women between 25 and 29 with chronic pelvic pain lasting more than six months have endometriosis. The disease is often misdiagnosed.
Endometriosis occurs in the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus and sheds each month during the menstrual cycle. In women with endometriosis these tissues are found outside the uterus in the ovaries and fallopian tubes causing chronic pelvic pain and infertility.
Left untreated the disease gets progressively worse and in some cases may recur after treatment.
Symptoms of endometriosis include: fatigue, pain after intercourse, lower backache during a period, painful bowel movements, diarrhea or other stomach upsets during a period, stomach swelling or heavy or irregular menstrual bleeding.
© copyright 2008, Humphrey Associates, Inc.