Endometriosis is a long-lasting disease that hurts a lot and affects millions of women around the world. People still don’t identify or fully understand it, even though it’s pretty common. When tissue like the endometrium (the covering of the uterus) grows outside of the uterus, this problem can happen. This makes it hurt, grow, and leave scars. Some people with endometriosis can’t have children or have a good quality of life if they don’t get treatment for it. This article will discuss the symptoms, reasons, diagnosis, and endometriosis treatment in Singapore. There are a number of medical options for people with endometriosis that will help them deal with their problems and feel better.
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is an issue that involves the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus, mostly affecting the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and pelvic region. It rarely extends outside the pelvic area. Unlike normal endometrial tissue, this misdirected tissue lacks a means of departure from the body, which causes inflammation, discomfort, and scar tissue development.
Is it a good or bad pain?
Endometriosis seems to be unique to each person who has it. Every person can feel pain in different ways. Some people might not see any signs at all. Some of the things that could mean you have it are below:
- People with endometriosis may have hip pain all the time, especially before and during their periods.
- Women who have dysmenorrhea will have cramps that get worse over time.
- Pain during or after sex that is linked to endometriosis.
- It can be painful or necessary to go to the bathroom often, especially during your period.
- Some women’s periods hurt a lot or last a long time.
- Your reproductive parts may be scarred and bound if you have endometriosis. This can make it hard to get pregnant.
- When your period comes around, you might feel tired, have trouble going to the bathroom, throw up, bloat, and get sick.
What other things can I do to deal with my endometriosis?
Even though endometriosis can’t be fixed, there are many things that can be done to make life better and lessen its effects.
- Medication:
- An NSAID is another type of medication that isn’t a steroid. NSAIDs are a category of drugs meant to relieve fever, inflammation, and pain by stopping prostaglandin synthesis, which are lipids that resemble hormones.
- You can also get birth control pills, hormonal patches, or IUDs to help with this. Some drugs that work with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) can change the length or stop your periods. This eases the pain.
- Surgical Procedures:
- The typical treatment is laparoscopic surgery, which requires cutting small incisions and using a camera to see, remove, or destroy endometrial tissue using excision, ablation, or electrocautery.
- If things get really bad, a hysterectomy could mean getting rid of both the uterus and the ovaries. Most of the time, this is the last choice.
- Other choices and better ways to manage:
- You might feel better if you eat more whole foods, fruits and vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids.
- Work out and go to physical therapy every day. It will be good for your health and make you feel better.
- There are many helpful ways to handle anxiety and support your pelvic functionality. Some of these are yoga, pelvic floor exercises, and pilates.
- Acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and medicines made from plants have alleviated symptoms for some women; nevertheless, further research is necessary to establish efficiency.
What is the impact of endometriosis in women?
Affecting over 10% of women in reproductive age worldwide, endometriosis sometimes causes diagnostic delays averaging 7 to 11 years. One reason for the delay is that there aren’t many non-invasive ways to diagnose the problem, and some of the symptoms are similar to those of other illnesses. The condition seriously affects sexual and reproductive health, leading to dyspareunia—painful intercourse—and infertility as well as ongoing pelvic pain. Endometriosis has effects on more than just the body. The need for comprehensive care is made even clearer by the fact that it can impact mental health, relationships, and job performance.
What makes diagnosis endometriosis difficult?
Endometriosis is complicated to recognize because its symptoms look like those of other medical conditions. This causes mistakes and delays in treatment. Some types of endometriosis might not be found with invasive methods like surgery, which is thought to be the best. Transvaginal ultrasound and MRI are non-invasive methods, but they don’t always work as well or as precisely as they need to. Due to symptom overlap, the limitations of existing diagnostic techniques, and the necessity for conclusive surgical intervention. An urgent need for new precise, non-invasive diagnostic procedures is necessary to reduce wait times and enhance patient outcomes.
What are the key developments in precise medicine?
The study focuses on how precise medicine could change the way endometriosis is treated. Precision medicine tries to tailor treatments to each patient by using knowledge about their environment, epigenetics, and genetics. Genomic research has helped us find some genetic differences that are connected to endometriosis. These differences help us understand how the disease starts and what treatments might work best. It is possible to tailor treatments to each person because of the relationship between how bad a disease is and its symptoms, which can be seen in epigenetic changes like DNA methylation patterns.
How do health, love, and reproduction connect?
It’s clear that endometriosis makes it harder to get pregnant and have sexual relations. Having trouble sex and having pelvic pain for a long time can make it hard for intercourse, which can hurt your relationships and your quality of life. Trouble with implantation, changes in the shape of the pelvis, and inflammation are also linked to the disorder. All of these things can be a challenge to get pregnant. The use of infertility biomarkers, a measurable substance in the body that indicates fertility status or predicts the likelihood of infertility, in precision medicine could improve patient care and protect reproduction.
What is our final thought?
When you have endometriosis, it’s important to have a plan for your life. Going to the doctor right away is important for women who have pelvic pain and heavy periods that won’t go away. When a woman wants to have kids, she relies on personalized care plans to help her handle pain and reach her pregnancy goals. Women who are going through or have gone through menopause may experience changes in their overall health and the number of times their symptoms come back.
Using precision medicine to treat endometriosis has a lot of promise to make things better for patients. The main goals of future research should be to review biomarkers, find non-invasive ways to diagnose, and plan targeted treatments. Doctors, researchers, and patient support groups working together will help us learn more about endometriosis and find better ways to treat it. Precision medicine in endometriosis therapy gives us a chance to change how we diagnose and treat the disease, which will lead to better sexual and reproductive health results for many women.
Endofibroid – Centre for Endometriosis and Fibroids – A/Prof Fong Yoke Fai, MBBS, MMed (O&G Singapore), MRCOG (UK), FRANZCOG (Australia/New Zealand), FAMS
Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
38 Irrawady Road
#05-49 Mount Elizabeth Novena
Singapore 329563
Phone +65 6334 1981
Whats App + 65 8048 7994
