March is endometriosis awareness month. Is that the time of the year when doctors join forces with endometriosis sufferers around the world, in order to bring to others attention what exactly is endometriosis.
Described by multiple researchers over more than a century ago, until this day endometriosis is still ignored and surrounded by myths that prolongs one suffering. Endometriosis is not a disease of the reproductive organs; it is a whole-body disease. Endometriosis is not a disease that can be cured by pregnancy or menopause; it’s a disease that requires specialist treatment. Endometriosis is not a disease that causes invisible symptoms; it’s a disease that causes debilitating pain. Endometriosis is not a disease connected to the uterus; it’s a chronic inflammatory disease whereby tissues that are similar with the endometrial tissues grow in one’s body.
It’s a disease that impacts the suffer, their family and society. It impacts endometriosis sufferers education, their career, their relationships and it puts them into financial debt. It’s a disease that has direct and indirect costs; with a severe impact on healthcare as well. Numerouses doctors, multiple visits to the emergency room, and years of agony are part of an endometriosis sufferer’s life. Same as multiple medical trials aimed at treating the symptoms and not the cause. Treatment methods that are based on a theory; a theory that has no proof, and yet it’s still the most used one and experimented on patients.
After years of awareness it is time to take action. Is time to change the narrative for the 200 millions + endometriosis sufferers around the world. It’s time to stop using an old theory that perpetuates harmful treatments with no impact on endometriosis. It’s time to learn the correct definition based on which a proper treatment will be offered.
It is time for action. For every sufferer out there, endometriosis should be a priority in our research and care.