Endometriosis is a common but undiscussed illness due to the stigma around women’s health. It can cause unbearable period pains, chronic fatigue, bowel complications and infertility. It affects 1 in 10 women, yes, 1 in 10! Now think about all the women you know... family, friends, colleagues and imagine if one of them told you they have endometriosis. They tell you they have excruciatingly painful periods which prevent them from going to school, going to work or going out with their friends. They tell you they feel sick, sluggish and sad. Well, that is the devastating reality for most of the 1.5 million women in the UK who suffer from endometriosis.
What is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis is when cells similar to those in the uterine lining (endometrial cells) start to grow outside of the uterus, usually in the pelvic area. Since these cells are of the same nature as the endometrial cells, each month during the menstrual cycle they will build up, break down and bleed. Considering they are outside of the uterus; they have no way of escaping the body. If endometriosis progresses, this trapped tissue can become inflamed and irritate the surrounding organs. Some of the symptoms include severe period pain, feeling sick, pelvic pain, constipation and diarrhoea on your period. Moreover, it’s a chronic illness meaning it’s persistent and exaccerbates with time. Some of the more serious symptoms, associated with the later stages of endometriosis, include fertility problems, cysts or adhesions. Adhesions form similar to a web sticking your pelvic organs together. This causes very severe pain, the type that feels similar to being internally stabbed multiple times or as if there’s a cat scratching you from the inside.
It’s seriously misjudged how significant of an impact endometriosis can have on a woman’s quality of life. Many women and girls feel that they can’t go out, go to school or to work because they feel debilitated and miserable on their periods. Imagine falling behind on your schoolwork during exams or having to take time off work constantly. A lot of the time, teachers and employers can’t empathise and if this happens frequently, you could potentially risk your grades or lose your job.
Another thing that is heavily impacted, is your mental health. Many girls with this condition grow up being told that “painful periods are normal” when actually, they are not. Unbearable pain is not normal, throwing up, fainting and excessive bleeding could be signs of an underlying health condition. It is a lot more harmful than we think, to tell women and girls to stop being 'dramatic' or that it’s all in their head because we don’t know how much pain they’re enduring. Moreover, this condition takes an average of 7.5 years to diagnose, a long time, right? Perhaps it’s because these women and girls have grown up, ignoring what their body has been telling them and been raised to believe that it’s normal.
What makes it more difficult is that this “invisible illness” is so difficult to detect by doctors, it’s only visible through surgery. So many of the people with this condition don’t actually know about it. Endometriosis UK says that “lack of education in schools is contributing to societal taboos in talking about female health” which in turn delays diagnosis. In addition, doctors don’t know what causes it, only that it runs in families and is exacerbated by the hormone oestrogen.
Surely something as common as endometriosis should be understood by schoolteachers, employers and policy makers. However, just over half (54%) of the people in the UK don’t know what it is, 74% being men. In order to test this, I created my own Instagram poll. The first poll was “have you ever heard of endometriosis?” and out of 230 voters, 112 said ‘no,’ that’s 49%. The second one was “if you answered yes, do you know what endometriosis actually is?” The result was 82 out of 154, for ‘no’ which is 52%, this is fairly similar to the UK statistic. However, one day I’d like to be able to ask a stranger, “can you tell me anything about endometriosis?” and for their answer not to be “endo-what?” The more we spread awareness, the easier it will become for people to understand and acknowledge the condition, and the strains it has on the sufferer.
It shouldn’t be acceptable for a PE teacher to tell a girl, who is suffering immense period pain, to “suck it up” or that “everyone goes through it”. It shouldn’t be the norm for an employer to fire their employee because they take a few days off work each month. The fault is in the system. Endometriosis will stay invisible and undetected unless we take action. On that note, remember to choose kindness, be compassionate, empathetic and considerate because we can’t always see when someone is struggling. Sometimes, it’s invisible.
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