The Reproductive Disease Women Don't Know They Have
Endometriosis has an ugly distant cousin and it impacts around twenty percent of women before the age of 40. So why is adenomyosis flying under the radar?
Professor Anusch Yazdani’s description of a uterus affected with adenomyosis can’t be unheard – “A big, boggy, pear-shaped organ.” He is explaining the disease that causes severe pelvic pain, bloating, heavy menstrual bleeding and abnormal cycles in around one in five women in their thirties. “A healthy uterus is more plum-shaped than pear. It’s, essentially, a firm, square box,” the medical adviser to Endometriosis Australia and founding director of Eve Health continues.
Adenomyosis is frequently written off as endometriosis (and the two often coexist) because it’s difficult to investigate, requiring an ultrasound or MRI to indicate a problem and a biopsy after hysterectomy to be sure. Both diseases cause painful cycles and pain during sex but adenomyosis has a stronger association with heavy periods and breakthrough bleeding, as Professor Yazdani explains.
The disease strikes when the glands of the uterus lining grow inside the walls of the uterus, whereas endometriosis occurs when that lining travels outside the uterus to infiltrate fallopian tubes and pin ovaries where they shouldn’t be pinned. The result of adenomyosis is a uterus that can be described as globular. Cue the hot water bottle, and the complications when trying to conceive.
Professor Anusch Yazdani’s description of a uterus affected with adenomyosis can’t be unheard – “A big, boggy, pear-shaped organ.” He is explaining the disease that causes severe pelvic pain, bloating, heavy menstrual bleeding and abnormal cycles in around one in five women in their thirties. “A healthy uterus is more plum-shaped than pear. It’s, essentially, a firm, square box,” the medical adviser to Endometriosis Australia and founding director of Eve Health continues.
Adenomyosis is frequently written off as endometriosis (and the two often coexist) because it’s difficult to investigate, requiring an ultrasound or MRI to indicate a problem and a biopsy after hysterectomy to be sure. Both diseases cause painful cycles and pain during sex but adenomyosis has a stronger association with heavy periods and breakthrough bleeding, as Professor Yazdani explains.
The disease strikes when the glands of the uterus lining grow inside the walls of the uterus, whereas endometriosis occurs when that lining travels outside the uterus to infiltrate fallopian tubes and pin ovaries where they shouldn’t be pinned. The result of adenomyosis is a uterus that can be described as globular. Cue the hot water bottle, and the complications when trying to conceive.
This article originally appeared on marie claire
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