{"id":9343,"date":"2026-08-21T15:07:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T05:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/?post_type=article&p=9343"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T05:07:43","slug":"endometriosis","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/oxley-college\/article\/endometriosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Endometriosis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Endometriosis?<\/em><\/strong> A question many women ask globally, including me until fairly recently. This topic, I personally believe, and I can imagine many women would agree, isn\u2019t spoken about enough, nor is it an easily understood or explained topic. Thankfully, people are becoming more and more informed about it as of recently, but I still think it\u2019s incredibly important to spread awareness as much as possible, whenever you can. So if you maybe haven\u2019t heard of it before, or have but want to learn more, then keep reading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs in approximately 10% of women (over 200 million people), with a large portion of those women completely unaware they are suffering from it. It occurs when endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus. This includes the ovaries, fallopian tubes, pelvic walls, bladder or bowel, abdominal cavity, and (rarely) lungs, skin, or other organs. This tissue reacts to hormones (especially oestrogen), which can cause bleeding into the pelvis, inflammation, scar tissue and adhesions (organs sticking together). This can often be mistaken for painful period cramps and can tend to feel better and worse depending on what stage of the menstrual cycle you are on (which can make symptoms more difficult to pick up and causes many women to ignore what they may be experiencing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symptoms vary widely, which is one reason diagnosis is often quite delayed or complicated. Common symptoms can include things such as severe period pain (beyond normal cramping), chronic pelvic pain (which approximately 90% report experiencing this), pain with bowel movements or urination, heavy or irregular bleeding, abdominal bloating, fatigue, nausea, and infertility (in up to 25\u201350% of affected individuals). Diagnosis is often delayed because symptoms tend to overlap with other conditions. The processes of diagnosing someone with endometriosis include analysing the individual\u2019s symptom history, as well as pelvic exams, ultrasounds or MRIs, and laparoscopies (the only definitive diagnosis). The average diagnostic delay between the first symptoms and diagnosis is around 4\u201312years worldwide, and 6\u20138 years in Australia, demonstrating the constant difficulty to confirm whether the disease is present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of treatment, there is nocure, but symptoms can be managed with different medication options including ibuprofen and naproxen, hormonal contraceptives (such as the pill, patch, and ring), and several others. There are also surgical options, which include the laparoscopic removal of lesions, hysterectomies (which is only a cure if endometriosis or adenomyosis Is found in the muscle walls of the uterus), as well as other supports like physiotherapy, pain management programs, and psychological support, which have been suggested to be generally quite beneficial and effective to some individuals. Please talk to a medical professional before considering some of these options, as I am no expert.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Australian Stats (most recent data):<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n