I grew up in a community of women, and one of the topics that often floated over our heads was endometriosis. Nobody was ever really able to explain what it meant to be diagnosed with endometriosis. All I knew as a growing girl was that it causes severe pain in women, especially during their periods.
As an adult, I became a nurse, then a midwife, and I began to properly understand the gist of endometriosis. Now, I want every woman to understand it as well.
First, endometriosis happens when a special kind of lining, which is supposed to remain in the womb escapes and spreads to places outside the womb, like the fallopian tubes, ovaries, or even other areas in the pelvis.
One of the questions you might ask is: what causes this special lining to spread to other areas of the body? Science suggests that one possible cause is retrograde menstruation. This is a condition whereby some of the menstrual blood flows backwards through the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity instead of leaving the body completely through the vagina.
This can happen in many women. Normally, the immune system clears these stray blood. However, in some women, these blood survive, attach to surfaces outside the womb, and begin to grow. I didn’t mention that, these blood contains something called endometrial cells that have the potential to grow.
The escaped blood (which contains these cells) behave like the normal womb lining — they thicken, break down, and bleed with each menstrual cycle.
Another thing that could cause endometriosis is coelomic metaplasia. This is a fancy term that means the cells in the pelvis have the capacity to change into endometrial cells under the influence of hormones (especially the one called oestrogen).
A woman’s genes could be another factor, for example, if she has a positive history of endometriosis in her family line. Obesity may also play a role. Women on the bigger side produce more of an enzyme called aromatase, which helps in the production of oestrogen, the hormone that makes the endometrial lining grow. Too much oestrogen can exacerbate the condition.
Women who experience endometriosis go through so much pain because as the endometrial lining in the womb sheds by undergoing contractions, where prostaglandins (pain-triggering chemicals) are released, something similar happens in other parts of the body where endometrial tissue exists.
These misplaced tissues also bleed, and because they are outside the womb with nowhere for the blood to exit, they cause pain and inflammation, such as redness, swelling, and the formation of scar tissue wherever they are located. This is what keeps many women in significant pain.
Understood?
Notes By Emmanuella 