"Did You know?"

Tips and Information on Endometriosis: A Monthly Feature

August Tip

The Amount Of Pain Does Not Correlate With The Stage Of Endometriosis.

Did you know that a major symptom of endometriosis is recurring pain? It usually strikes in the pelvic area, but can also affect your lower back, the rectal area and even down the legs. Most often the pain associated with endometriosis is severe cramping.

Patients with Stage I endometriosis may have lesions so small that it is difficult to see and in some cases it is overlooked in surgery with the patient being told that they do not have endometriosis. Patients with Stage IV can have invasive disease with extensive scarring, occasionally even invading the bowel requiring a partial bowel resection.

The amount of pain a woman feels is not related to the stage (there are four stages of endometriosis) or the extent of the disease. Some women will have little or no pain despite a large affected area of the disease or women can experience endometriosis with scarring. Women can also have severe pain even though they have only a few small areas of endometriosis.

I am often asked, “Can something that small really cause pain this bad?”, and the answer is yes, absolutely.

Regardless of the stage of the endometriosis, wide excision of the lesions is recommended.

Submitted by:

Andrew S. Cook, M.D, OBGYN.net Endometriosis Advisory Board Member
Reproductive Endocrinologist / Gynecologist
Medical Director / Founder
Vital Health Institute
http://www.vitalhealth.com/ 
Los Gatos, CA