"As far as I can remember, I have always had extremely painful periods . My gynecologist, my doctor, kindly told me that it was "only" pain of rules ... "says Aïssa, 32 years old. Like many women, Aïssa had to face the trivialization of this pain, though linked to a very real disease, endometriosis.
Endometriosis, what is it?
There are several stages of development of endometriosis, as explained by Dr. Petit, founder and head of the endometriosis center of St Joseph's Hospital: "Endometriosis is the migration of endometrial cells lining the uterine cavity, outside the uterus by reflux into the tubes. They come out of where they usually are to get into the uterine muscle, and outside the uterus. There are disturbances of uterine contractility, so that the uterus contracts most often in the wrong direction, and the rules are chased by the tubes.
In some cases, these cells will become implanted, will aggregate in depth, and will not be eliminated by the defenders of the body. Result: they implant, develop and cause bleeding, under hormonal control every month. "
As a result, the adjacent organs are progressively invaded (rectum, bladder, fallopian tubes, ovaries ...), causing severe pain.
What is endometriosis? by LeHuffPost
The main symptoms of endometriosis
There are three major symptoms that need attention, says Dr. Petit: "The first symptom is painful menstruation. If the pain becomes disabling and prevents the woman from having a normal professional social activity, and compels her to stay at home because of painful menstruation, then there is a problem. "
The second symptom: abundant rules , either in duration or in quantity, or both.
The third symptom is detected during sex, during which there may be pain in depth.
A frequent diagnosis delay that can lead to infertility
Putting your finger on endometriosis can take a long time: "The paradox of all this is that it is an immensely common but under-diagnosed and under-treated disease. The average delay of diagnosis is between 7 and 9 years, which is huge, especially in a woman between 20 and 30 years.
Losing 9 years of diagnosis can lead to infertility , it's a big risk, "says Dr. Petit. For Aïssa, it took six years to diagnose her ailments: "I suffered for so many years, I was munching drugs to silence the pain. Until the day a gynecologist told me that I was suffering from endometriosis. It was the liberation, having a diagnosis, something that justifies my suffering, then a treatment. "
Endometriosis: what treatments?
The first base of treatment is to take the pill continuously, without stopping the platelets, so as to stop the rules. "This illness in summary is the escape of the rules by the tubes. Taking the pill continuously is effective because it eliminates pain and the sooner the diagnosis is made, the sooner the rules are removed for therapeutic purposes. This avoids the symptoms but also that the disease gets worse, it is the first base of the treatment "explains Dr. Petit.
The second treatment is surgical: "During the surgery, all the lesions are removed. It works very well, provided you resume after the pill continuously, otherwise the disorder recurrence. Surgery alone is not enough to solve the problem since it is a chronic disease , "says Dr. Petit.
Finally, there are also analgesic treatments to limit pain. "You have to be interested in pain, you have to have a pain specialist in a multidisciplinary team that will help you get rid of it. Notably thanks to alternative practices that are very important such as regular sport, sophrology, some forms of osteopathy, mesotherapy. In the long run, it ends up paying off, "adds the expert.
"The rules are natural, not pain" finally recalls this great national campaign to inform about this disease that is endometriosis, and end the taboo rules.
