What to Expect From an Endometriosis Clinic

If you have endometriosis, it can cause pelvic pain. Some women have mild symptoms and don’t need treatment, while others find it hard to get pregnant or have severe pain. There’s no cure for endometriosis, but treatments can help reduce pain and make it easier to get pregnant in the future.

Doctors can diagnose endometriosis with tests and an MRI. The tests can show where the tissue is and how much. They can also find out how advanced it is. Doctors classify endometriosis from stage 1 to 4. The more advanced the disease, the more painful it is and the harder it is to conceive.

A woman with stage 1 has minimal inflammation or scar tissue and is less likely to experience pain. A woman with stage 4 has extensive scar tissue and is more likely to have pain.자궁근종한의원

Your health care provider will want to discuss your symptoms. She may ask questions about when you start and stop having them. She will also ask if you have other medical conditions that can cause similar symptoms, such as irritable bowel syndrome and interstitial cystitis (painful bladder).

Several tests can find out if you have endometriosis. These include an ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and laparoscopy. An MRI is a noninvasive test that uses magnetic waves to find tissues and organs in your body. It can’t rule out a diagnosis of endometriosis, but it can help decide what treatment is best for you.

During laparoscopy, your surgeon makes a few small cuts in your abdomen and inserts a thin tube-like tool with a camera. Other tools can be inserted through the same cut or other incisions to remove tissue, destroy it with intense heat (ablation) or treat scar tissue. The procedure is usually quicker and causes less scarring than surgery with a larger incision.

Some doctors recommend a hysterectomy in women with severe or recurrent endometriosis, or in those who have other uterine diseases like adenomyosis. A hysterectomy removes the uterus, but it can’t completely eliminate pelvic pain or infertility. In most cases, though, your surgeon will still excise areas of endometriosis that are visible in the uterus, fallopian tubes, pelvic tissue or bladder.

There are many treatment options for endometriosis. These can include hormone therapy and pain medications. Hormone therapy uses medicine to change your natural menstrual cycle. It can help prevent a period, decrease the size of your ovaries and help you become pregnant in the future.

Acupuncture, in which a trained practitioner puts needles into your skin, can help with pelvic pain. Acupuncture can relax muscles that support the uterus, which can ease pain. Some herbal remedies can also help with pain. These can include cinnamon trig, licorice root and chamomile.자궁선근증한약

Some doctors believe that taking estrogen supplements can prevent the development of new endometriosis cells or stop them from growing. But more research is needed. In some studies, patients who took pills that mimic the effects of female hormones had fewer symptoms than those who didn’t take them.