ENGL 211- PreMed C
Sep 11, 2015
Ms. Catherine
Endometriosis
Throughout history, severe pelvic pain was misunderstood by society and medicine because dissection was prohibited for religious reasons. Nearly 4000 years ago, women suffering from endometriosis-like symptoms were hung upside down and accused of demonic possession and therefore killed (1). “Throughout the 18th century women were often considered to have "hysteria" rather than a gynecologic condition that caused pain.” (2) Endometriosis is a chronic disorder that affects the reproductive organs of the female body. It causes patients to suffer from severe pelvic pain that gets worse during their menstrual cycle (3). In endometriosis, functioning endometrial tissues that …show more content…
Endometriosis causes endometrial tissues to abnormally grow in parts of the body other than the uterus, including ovaries, fallopian tubes, and on tissue lining the pelvis. Rarely, in extreme cases, endometriotic implants might occur in distant areas outside the pelvic cavity such as the liver, lung, and brain (3). During the menstrual cycle, the endometrial tissue thickens and then sheds leaving the female body through the cervical canal in response to changes of the ovarian hormones. Likewise, displaced endometrial tissues respond to the hormonal stimuli as the normal endometrium does. However, because the blood has nowhere to go, it becomes trapped, causing inflammatory reaction in the area around it. Another consequence of this inflammation is adhesion formation, which also increases pain and may cause infertility …show more content…
In addition, the symptoms of endometriosis can be confused with other disorders that cause pelvic pain. It occurs in 6-10% of women of reproductive age, with a prevalence of 20-50% in infertile women, and 80% in women suffering from chronic pelvic pain. Although endometriosis is most common in 25-35 years old women, cases of endometriosis in 11 years old girls have been reported (3). Genetic factors play an important role in the incidence of the disease since patients with an affected first degree relative have 7-10 times increased risk of developing endometriosis. There appears to be no racial predisposition associated with endometriosis. Furthermore, there is no study that supports that the frequency of endometriosis is increasing