This section carries information concerning what teenage girls should know about endometriosis. Simply put, Endometriosis is when what happens in your womb during your period happens in other parts of the body. When you have your period, cells in your womb build up (the endometrium). If you don’t get pregnant these cells then break down and are dispelled from the body through your vagina as a period. This menstrual cycle is controlled by your hormones. Endometriosis is when these cells build up outside of the womb in other places. The tissue responds to the hormonal cycle as if they were in the womb: they grow and then break down ready to be flushed out. But, unlike a normal period, the blood has no way of leaving the body. Because of this, it can cause girls a lot of pain, cause inflammation and means that scar tissue forms inside. Sometimes cysts can develop which can also cause pain. This might explain why you are in so much pain during your periods. Endometriosis can happen anywhere in the body but is usually found in the area around your womb – your ovaries, in your pelvis and around your bladder and bowels.
- You think you have endometriosis… What should you do?
It means that you are just one of millions of women in Africa who have it. It can affect all girls and women who are at an age where they are able to have babies. You are not alone. There is a horrible mistruth about endometriosis that says that anybody with it can’t have children. THIS IS NOT TRUE.
70% of women with endometriosis go on to have children with very few problems. 30% of women with endometriosis do find they may need some help but most should still be able to have children.