Imagine enduring agonizing abdominal pain once a month. That’s the fate of nearly five million American women who have a reproductive illness called endometriosis. The illness is caused by an excess of uterine tissue that attaches itself outside the uterus, often resulting in painful, dangerous endometriosis cysts.

The causes of endometriosis are not well understood, but the results of this condition are quite detectable. They include abdominal pain, heavy menstrual periods and infertility.

Additional symptoms can include agonizing menstrual cramps, chronic pain in the pelvic area, pain during and after sexual intercourse, painful bowel movements or urination during periods and spotting or bleeding between periods. The good news is that endometriosis cysts are rarely found in parts of the body outside the reproductive system, such as the lungs. However, because the female reproductive system lies so close to the bowels and bladder, cysts sometimes can be found in these locations.

Thankfully, endometriosis cysts usually aren’t cancerous. They also usually stay somewhere in a woman’s reproductive organs and don’t migrate to places like the lungs or liver. Sometimes endometriosis cysts can develop on the bowels or bladder, however, because these organs lie so near the reproduction organs.

In severe cases, a woman may become completely disabled by the pain of endometriosis, or she may suffer burst or bleeding endometriosis cysts. When these situations occur, her gynecologist may recommend immediate surgery, either by the laparoscopic method or by major abdominal surgery. Sometimes it’s possible to remove the endometriosis without removing a woman’s reproductive organs, but in severe cases the only relief is a complete hysterectomy.

If you believe you are suffering from endometriosis, see your gynecologist as soon as possible.

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