Endometriosis consists of the implantation of tissue from the endometrium into other organs of the woman's body, such as ovaries, bladder and intestine, causing inflammation and abdominal pain. However, it is often difficult to detect the presence of this disease, as symptoms occur more frequently during menstruation, which can confuse women.
To find out if the pain is just menstrual cramps or if it is being caused by endometriosis, one must pay attention to the intensity and location of the pain, and one should suspect the presence of endometriosis, when there is:
- Very intense or more intense menstrual cramps than usual; Abdominal colic outside the menstrual period; Very heavy bleeding; Pain during intimate contact; Bleeding in the urine or pain in the intestine during menstruation; Chronic tiredness; Difficulty getting pregnant.
However, before confirming endometriosis, it is necessary to exclude other diseases that can also cause these symptoms, such as irritable bowel syndrome, pelvic inflammatory disease or urinary tract infection.
How to diagnose endometriosis
In the presence of signs and symptoms that indicate endometriosis, a gynecologist should be consulted to assess the characteristics of pain and menstrual flow and for physical and imaging exams, such as transvaginal ultrasound.
In some cases, the diagnosis may not be conclusive, and it may be indicated to perform a laparoscopy for confirmation, which is a surgical procedure with a camera that will search, in the various organs of the abdomen, if there is uterine tissue developing.
Then treatment begins, which can be done with contraceptives or surgery. Find out more about treatment for endometriosis.
Other causes of endometriosis
It is not clear what the exact causes of endometriosis are, but there are some factors that can trigger this disease, such as retrograde menstruation, transformation of peritoneal cells into endometrial cells, transport of endometrial cells to other parts of the body or system disorders immune.
