If you’re worried that your sexual wellness and wellbeing may be affected by endometriosis, it may be time to look further into the condition.
The condition cannot usually be diagnosed via a pelvic exam (unless there is a lesion or pelvic mass) but you should still start the process of diagnosis by visiting your GP and describing your symptoms. Your doctor will most likely refer you for a laparoscopy, which is a procedure whereby a small telescope is passed through the wall of the stomach (usually through the navel) to allow doctors to see if they can see endometrial tissue.
Laparoscopy cannot detect every case of endometriosis, however, as some women suffer from deep endometriosis, which means that the endometrial tissue is imbedded deep into the body. Many women have both types of lesions, so some extent of the disease can be seen during the procedure and yet there is more still hidden.
Women who have deep endometriosis usually have more pain that women who have a more superficial version of the disease.
The best starting place, in that case, may be a detailed medical history, listing all of your symptoms of the disease so that your health professional can ascertain what kind of level of endometriosis you may be suffering from and provide a correct diagnosis.
When the laparoscopy is carried out, the patient is generally put under general anaesthesia so that the laparoscope can be inserted through the abdominal wall. The surgeon can then manipulate the telescope to look for signs of adhesions or other abnormalities such as lesions, noting their size and location.
If lesions can be seen, it is very easy to diagnose the disease, but when the disease is not visible it can make diagnosis much more difficult. This means that some practitioners have to make a diagnosis based on clinical evaluation and the patient’s response to medication.
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