Endometriosis pain is very real for many of the over 5.5 million North American women who suffer from this disease. An interesting fact about endometriosis is that the amount of endometrial cells living outside a woman's uterus has little bearing on how much pain she may have. Women with extensive adhesions may experience very little pain while women with few endometrial adhesions may suffer severe pain.
But just what is endometriosis and why does it cause such painful symptoms?
Endometriosis is a disease caused by endometrial cells that have found 子宮內膜增生 their way into a woman's abdominal cavity. These cells come from the endometrium which is the lining of the uterus. The endometrium's primary function is to provide a nutrient rich bed for a fertilized egg to embed in the uterine wall.
Every month this endometrial wall builds up with blood and other nutrient rich tissue. If a fertilized egg implants a pregnancy begins, if not then the endometrium sloughs off the uterine wall and flows out of the uterus and vagina during a woman's period.
In some women this endometrial tissue has found its way into the abdominal cavity and in rarer cases other parts of their body. These cells implant on reproductive and other organs found in the abdomen. They can be found on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, the back of the uterus, and the intestines and bladder. In rare cases endometriosis can also show on the lungs, skin and other areas of the body.
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