Endometriosis is a common medical condition among women. If you are in a room with 20 women in the USA – 2 of the women in the room will have endometriosis.
Endometriosis causes pain, bleeding, infertility, blood clots, internal organ damage in the stomach, bloating and many other symptoms.
What is endometriosis? There is a small organ at the bottom of every female stomach called a uterus. The uterus is a small pouch that holds the baby. During the pregnancy, the uterus grows. It shrinks back after the pregnancy.
The uterus has a gentle inner lining called the endometrium. This soft tissue is even more delicate than the pink lining that you can see in the corner of your eye. The endometrium is always ready to receive the egg and start the baby growing on it. Once a month, that lining needs to be renewed. It breaks out and bleeds away via the vagina. That is, actually, the monthly period. Once the period is over, the endometrium grows back to normal.
Imagine that the endometrium grew not only inside the uterus but inside the stomach as well? That would cause monthly bleeding inside the belly! The blood sticks everywhere, causing trouble to all the organs in the abdomen that happened to be around.
When the endometrium is growing not where it should be – inside the uterus, but all around the uterus inside the stomach, this condition is – endometriosis.
Nobody knows precisely what causes endometriosis. There is no particular complete cure for endometriosis. Some things can be done to make things better, though.
Thank you. I could never understand what endometriosis meant.