Complaints and Symptoms

Pain shortly prior to or during menstruation (dysmenorrhoea):
Endometrial tissue reacts, as the uterine mucosa does, to hormonal stimulation (cyclic building and shedding). This may lead to abdominal pain during or around menstruation.


Painful intercourse (dyspareunia):
Sites located between the uterus and the bladder, or the cervix and the intestine can shift upon mechanical stimulation as does occur during intercourse, thus causing pain.


Chronic abdominal pain:
Inflammation of the surrounding areas, pain, and formation of scar tissue may result, i.e. between the ovaries, large bowel and wall of the uterus and cause chronic pain which often increases upon movement.

Micturition pain
(localized in the bladder) or with bowel movement (when located in the bowel)

Cyclic bleeding
Traces in urine or stool

Infertility
Endometriosis not only causes pain, it can also hinder pregnancy:

• Endometriosis in the ovaries - affects the ovulation
• Endometriosis in the fallopian tubes
• Disturbance of the fertilization of the ovum, or of the migration of the embryo to the uterus
• Menstrual blood in the abdominal cavity
• Disturbance of the ovum passing through the fallopian tubes

Diagnostic laparoscopies reveal that 50% of all women operated on are diagnosed with endometriosis. More than half of the women diagnosed have difficulty becoming pregnant. The relation between sterility and endometriosis is uncontested, however the exact causes are still not known completely.