If you have endometriosis, you may get pain all the time or only sometimes. It can make you feel sick or exhausted.

But some women don't get any pain. Some women only find out they have endometriosis when they see a doctor because they haven't been able to get pregnant.

There's no cure for endometriosis. But there are good treatments that can help with the pain. And there are treatments that can help you get pregnant if you want to.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Prentice A.
Regular review: endometriosis.
British Medical Journal. 2001; 323: 93-95.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Olive DL, Schwartz LB.
Endometriosis.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1993; 328: 1759-1769.

 

 

 

 

 

²

To understand what happens when you have endometriosis, it's useful to know something about the lining of your womb.

Your womb lies inside your pelvis. This is the area between your hips.

To learn more about your cycle, see What happens every month.

You get endometriosis when small pieces of the lining of your womb grow on other parts of your body.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Prentice A.
Regular review: endometriosis.
British Medical Journal. 2001; 323: 93-95.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Olive DL, Schwartz LB.
Endometriosis.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1993; 328: 1759-1769.

 

 

 

 

 

²

Usually it happens to parts of your body near your womb.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Endometriosis.
Available at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/endometriosis (accessed on 21 April 2008).

 

 

 

 

 

³ We've described the parts that are commonly affected.

Your ovaries make eggs and

 

 

 

 

 

hormones
Hormones are chemicals that are made in certain parts of the body. They travel through the bloodstream and have an effect on other parts of the body. For example, the female sex hormone estrogen is made in a woman's ovaries. Estrogen has many different effects on a woman's body. It makes the breasts grow at puberty and helps control periods. It is also needed to get pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

hormones. If you have endometriosis in your ovaries, it may form small bags of fluid called cysts.

Your fallopian tubes carry eggs from your ovaries to your womb. These tubes are where eggs may join with sperm (fertilization).

Endometriosis may grow on the outside of your womb or on the lining of your pelvis. This lining keeps organs in your pelvis from sticking together.

Endometriosis can grow on your rectum (part of your bowel) and your bladder.

Endometriosis can also spread outside your pelvis, even as far as your brain. But this is extremely rare.

The patches of endometriosis look and work just like the lining of your womb.

The patches react to the different hormones your body makes during your monthly cycle. So each month, a hormone called estrogen makes the patches grow thicker.

And every month the patches break away and bleed, just like the lining of your womb does when you have your period.

This extra blood can't drain away quickly. Your body does slowly get rid of the blood, but it causes problems while it's inside your pelvis. The extra blood can damage the area around the patch of endometriosis. And it can stop organs from working properly. You may get scars or small bags of fluid called cysts.

If the endometriosis damages your fallopian tubes or your ovaries, they may stick together and stop working properly. If this happens, you may have difficulty getting pregnant.

We don't know for sure what causes endometriosis.

One theory is that it starts when a small amount of blood from your womb flows the wrong way during your period. Instead of flowing down to your vagina, the blood flows along your fallopian tubes, and leaks into other parts of your pelvis.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Olive DL, Schwartz LB.
Endometriosis.
New England Journal of Medicine. 1993; 328: 1759-1769.

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Gazvani R, Templeton A.
New considerations for the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. 2002; 76: 117-126.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Witz CA.
Pathogenesis of endometriosis.
Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation. 2002; 53 (supplement 1): S52-S62.

 

 

 

 

 

⁵

This is called retrograde menstruation. It happens to most women occasionally.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Witz CA.
Pathogenesis of endometriosis.
Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation. 2002; 53 (supplement 1): S52-S62.

 

 

 

 

 

⁵ But only some women go on to get endometriosis.

Very rarely, endometriosis reaches the lungs or brain. Experts don't know how this happens. Cells from the lining of your womb may travel around your body in your blood.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Gazvani R, Templeton A.
New considerations for the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. 2002; 76: 117-126.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

We don't know why some women get endometriosis. But there are things that increase your chances of getting endometriosis. These are called risk factors. Your age is an important risk factor.

To read more, see Who's at risk of endometriosis?

If you're taking the birth control pill, you're less likely to get endometriosis. And your risk stays lower for up to a year after you stop taking the pill.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Vessey MP, Villard-Mackintosh L, Painter R.
Epidemiology of endometriosis in women attending family planning clinics.
British Medical Journal. 1993; 306: 182-184.

 

 

 

 

 

⁶

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