What is Endometriosis

Every time someone asks me why I can’t have children I tell them I have endometriosis and they all look at me like I am speaking some foreign language. So this week I am going to share facts and my own personally experiences with endometriosis. Today I am going to tell you what endometriosis is.

This is an example of deep endometriosis. I have this kind of scarring all over my ovaries

What is it: Simply put it is normal cells in a woman growing in the wrong place. More specifically, endometriosis is when cells (called endometrial cells) from the lining of a woman’s womb (or uterus) grow in other unwanted areas which results in pain L. About 5-10% of women have this condition.  I will talk about symptoms another day

Basically a woman’s ovaries produce a hormone that tells these cells lining the uterus to grow and get bigger. This is getting the womb ready for pregnancy.  If a woman does not get pregnant the cells are removed from the body…ta-da a period! It is when these cells grow outside of the uterus that endometriosis results. The cells grow on the ovaries, bowels, rectum, bladder, and even other areas. I have severe scaring on my ovaries that we know of and possible scarring in other areas.

Top is scarring on ovary and wall, Bottom is scarring as well just differnt area

Endometriosis is rated in stages of 1-4. Stage 1 is very minimal and not much in the body. Stage 2 is moderate to mild, but now the endometriosis is found on the ovaries. Stage 3 is moderate and the endometriosis is found in extensive places. Stage 4 is severe with the endometriosis found extensively through body with adhesions and a higher probability of infertility. My OBGYN rated my endometriosis at a stage 3-4 out of 4. I have some very fun (insert sarcasm) complications from endometriosis that is one of the main contributing factors to my infertility, but that will be another post.