Endometriosis awareness takes place across the globe during the month of March, with a mission to raise awareness of a disease which affects an estimated 176 million women worldwide. Correspondent, BISI ERETAN, writes that it is time to raise awareness of a disease that affects women – and their families – in their most (re)productive years.
In March 2013, former Most Beautiful Girls in Nigeria (MBGN), Nike Oshinowo, disclosed that she had lived with endometriosis since the age of 13, thereby putting a face to an ailment being suffered by many women, but little is known about.
Oshinowo revealed that she was hospitalised for 10 days because of the pain that came with her menstrual cycle.
“Living with endometriosis is a challenge. When you see your doctor, your doctor just tries to treat the symptoms and assumes the pain revolves around your menstrual cycle. But this is not so. This pain affects every single aspect of your life,” she said.
Little or nothing was known about this ailment before she came to be identified as the face of endometriosis.
However, upon this disclosure, more women started coming out to talk about their plights, with an increasing number of medical experts willing to do more research into this disease, to be able to help victims. It is estimated that one out of eight women and girls suffer from this incurable disease.
That same year, she “delivered” a set of twins with the help of a surrogate gestational carrier in United States of America at the age of 47.
Endometriosis is a painful disorder in which the tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It most commonly involves the ovaries, bowel or the tissue lining of the pelvis, but rarely spreads beyond this region.
This tissue thickens, breaks down and bleeds with each menstrual cycle. When the displaced tissue has no way to exit the body, it becomes trapped and irritates surrounding tissues, eventually developing scar tissue and adhesions. This causes severe pains.
Causes
So far, the cause of endometriosis is really not known, but it is believed that possible factors may vary from person to person.
According to Taiwo Awogbemi of Ladi Lak Medical Centre, Bariga, girls who have their first period before the age of 11 or regularly have less than 27 days between periods are likely to have endometriosis.
“I have a patient who claims she is suffering from it because she has a close relative with the condition, but I noticed she experiences heavy bleeding during her periods which lasts longer than five days,” Awogbemi said.
Symptoms
Although sufferers have different symptoms, the commonest are pains and severe bleeding.
Awogbemi said sufferers experience ovulation, as well as abdominal, back and pelvic pains, immediately before and during menstrual period, during or after sex and when passing stool or passing wind. This was attested to by Oshinowo, who said: “I thought I was going to die.”
“The women could experience heavy bleeding with or without clots and irregular bleeding with or without regular menstrual cycle,” the expert said.
He also noted that some women only discovered they have endometriosis when they are unable to get pregnant.
“This is because the cells release chemicals that affect the development of the embryo in its early stages. Scaring damage can also prevent the journey of an egg along the fallopian tube and/or the sperm from reaching the egg causing problems of infertility,” he added.
For a woman to be pregnant, she must have sexual intercourse; but this disease turned some women into frigids who turn away from sex because of the associated pain.
Oshinowo revealed: “Women with endometriosis do not want to have sex because it’s painful. It is very, very painful. So you do not want to have intercourse once and it is painful; you’ll not want to go there. It’s not something you are going to look forward to. So you cannot have a proper relationship with a man.”
Some of the factors that may lower the risk of getting endometriosis include, but not limited to, getting a regular exercise and getting pregnant early in life.
Awogbemi advised that women should ensure to see a doctor when they notice the slightest signs that may indicate endometriosis.
