How to know if what I have is endometriosis?

Carolina Ambrogini, gynecologist and sexologist at the Federal University of São Paulo, answers to frequently asked questions about sex and health.


First we need to understand what is endometriosis. It is a disease that affects about 15% of women of reproductive age where endometrial fragments (inside the uterus that sheds during menstruation) cling elsewhere outside the uterus, such as tubes, the ovaries, the space between the uterus and the intestine and between the uterus and bladder. These fragments generate an inflammatory process, especially during the menstrual period, which usually these endometrial cells bleed.

We do not know the exact cause of endometriosis but it is believed that genetic and environmental factors are involved. There is no way to prevent it, but an early diagnosis minimizes the damage caused by it. Therefore, it is always important to be wary of endometriosis when the woman feels strong and progressive intensity cramps during menstruation. They are generally those cramps that do not improve with the usual medications and even with birth control pills.

Endometriosis can also cause pain during sexual intercourse. In this case, is that deeper pain in the pelvis, when the penis is already inside the vagina. The woman may also feel pain to evacuate when the disease affects the intestines.

In many cases, however, it remains silent endometriosis, without causing many symptoms. In these situations, the diagnosis is made only when the couple tries to get pregnant and can not. Endometriosis can cause adhesions that cause a blockage of the fallopian tubes, where the encounter between the sperm and the egg.

For it is a still unknown disease, many women still find it normal to experience many menstrual cramps and it goes unnoticed. Therefore, it is very important that every woman go to your gynecologist every year. With a good story and a gynecological examination, the doctor may suspect the diagnosis and ask targeted testing for endometriosis. Generally, an ultrasound with bowel preparation or magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvis. The routinely performed tests only diagnose endometriosis when she already befallen the ovaries, ie when it is in a more advanced degree.

Now that you know, be alert to the symptoms!