Monday, March 31, 2014
Eve's Daughters, or, Go With the Flow
In the beginning, there was pain.
My periods began when I was 13-years-old, and I only remember them accompanied with pain. I bled heavily each month for six to eight days. As I got older, I would find myself passed out on my bedroom or bathroom floor from painful cramps. I would pass heavy blood clots, was often lightheaded, and regularly was prescribed iron supplements and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen. When Alleve came on the market, I was thrilled to try a new pain reliever. They would dull, but never eradicate, the pain. My periods were always preceded with hefty bouts of PMS; I suffered from bloating, fatigue, headaches, skin rashes, and swelling in my knees and fingers.
When I'd report these symptoms to my doctor, he told me that periods can be like that. Some girls have problems, others don't. I just happened to be one of the girls who had a problem period. My mother told me the same thing, adding, "That's what my mother told me. It was like that for me and for other girls I knew growing up, too." As Carol Pearson discusses in her TEDTalk, as Zora Neale Hurston wrote inTheir Eyes Were Watching God ("Black women are the mules of the world"), as Eve was told after she fed into her curiosity and took a bite of that forbidden fruit, I learned -- whether the lesson was intended to be learned this way or not -- that being a girl, becoming a woman, was painful. And I had to live with that pain. I had to learn to handle pain.
And so I did. I went with the flow.
What I didn't know was that I had endometriosis.Endometriosis is a disease that affects 10 percent of women globally. It knows no race, class, or socioeconomic status. Some doctors refer to endometriosis as a benign cancer. Padma Lakshmi, model and co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, describes the disease as "a web, like a vapor, like weeds in a garden that permeate everything, and stain everything. And metaphorically as well as clinically what you have to go and do, whether it is with laparoscopy or therapy or just understanding and support, is you have to go in there... and get rid of it. Not only getting rid of it in the womb, but getting rid of it in the heart and the mind."
When I'd report these symptoms to my doctor, he told me that periods can be like that. Some girls have problems, others don't. I just happened to be one of the girls who had a problem period. My mother told me the same thing, adding, "That's what my mother told me. It was like that for me and for other girls I knew growing up, too." As Carol Pearson discusses in her TEDTalk, as Zora Neale Hurston wrote inTheir Eyes Were Watching God ("Black women are the mules of the world"), as Eve was told after she fed into her curiosity and took a bite of that forbidden fruit, I learned -- whether the lesson was intended to be learned this way or not -- that being a girl, becoming a woman, was painful. And I had to live with that pain. I had to learn to handle pain.
And so I did. I went with the flow.
What I didn't know was that I had endometriosis.Endometriosis is a disease that affects 10 percent of women globally. It knows no race, class, or socioeconomic status. Some doctors refer to endometriosis as a benign cancer. Padma Lakshmi, model and co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, describes the disease as "a web, like a vapor, like weeds in a garden that permeate everything, and stain everything. And metaphorically as well as clinically what you have to go and do, whether it is with laparoscopy or therapy or just understanding and support, is you have to go in there... and get rid of it. Not only getting rid of it in the womb, but getting rid of it in the heart and the mind."
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Saturday, March 22, 2014
New Guideline: Management of Women With Endometriosis
ESHRE Guideline: Management of Women With Endometriosis
Dunselman GA, Vermeulen N, Becker C, et al
Hum Reprod. 2014;29:400-412
Hum Reprod. 2014;29:400-412
Background
Endometriosis can be diagnosed when endometrial tissue is found in extrauterine locations. It is found in 10%-15% of the general population and in up to one third of the infertile population.[1] There are various theories that attempt to explain its etiology. Some cases can be explained by retrograde menstruation, but metaplasia, hormonal, inflammatory processes, and abnormal cytokine function also seem to play a role.[2]
A wide variety of symptoms may accompany endometriosis. Some women are asymptomatic, whereas others are affected by dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and urinary and gastrointestinal symptoms. The symptoms typically recur in a cyclic fashion, and an exacerbation can occur around menstruation.
The diagnosis can be suspected on the basis of symptoms but is established when histologic confirmation of endometrial glands and stroma is made from a tissue biopsy sample obtained from an extrauterine location.
Read the rest here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/822100
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
A BREAKTHROUGH IN A DISEASE THAT NO ONE LIKES TO TALK ABOUT
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
A BREAKTHROUGH IN A DISEASE THAT NO ONE LIKES TO TALK ABOUT
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy. as diagnostic tool Endometriosis Adhesions
JSLS. 2012 Jul-Sep;16(3):461-5. doi: 10.4293/108680812X13462882736295.
Transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy.
Abstract
Transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy (THL) is being performed regularly in Europe and China, but rarely in the United States. The reasons may be physicians' unfamiliarity with the procedure and their uneasiness over potential rectal puncturing due to the proximity of the rectum to the vaginal trocar insertion site. THL has the advantage over hysterosalpingography (HSG) in that it allows for direct visualization of the tubal mucosa in addition to determining tubal patency. THL has advantages over traditional laparoscopy in that it does not require an abdominal incision and has the capability of being conducted in an outpatient office setting with local anesthesia. Studies have shown that THL has comparable accuracy to laparoscopy with 96.1% concordance between THL and laparoscopic findings. THL may be combined with chromopertubation and salpingoscopy. In addition to diagnostic purposes, THL may be used for operative intervention including adhesiolysis, endometriosis ablation, and ovarian drilling. Studies from France and China report the occurrence of rectal injury from 0% to1%. Despite the advantages of THL and low reports of rectal injury, THL has not gained popularity in the United States. The purpose of this article is to familiarize gynecologists in the United States with THL.
- PMID:
- 23318074
- [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- PMCID:
- PMC3535799
Transvaginal endoscopy and small ovarian endometriomas: unravelling the missing link?
Gynecol Surg. 2014;11:3-7. Epub 2013 Oct 17.
Abstract
The incidence of endometriosis in the infertile female is estimated to be between 20 and 50 %. Although the causal relationship between endometriosis and infertility has not been proven, it is generally accepted that the disease impairs reproductive outcome. Indirect imaging techniques and transvaginal laparoscopy now offer the possibility of an early stage diagnosis. Although it remains debated whether the disease is progressive, treatment in an early stage is recommendable as it carries less risk for ovarian damage, hence premature ovarian failure. Under water, inspection with the technique of transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy (THL) accurately shows the invagination of the ovarian cortex as minimal superficial lesions but with the presence of well-differentiated endometrial like tissue at the base, the lateral walls and especially the inner edges of the small endometrioma. An inflammatory environment is responsible for the formation of connecting adhesions with the broad ligament and lateral wall with invasion of endometrial-like tissue and formation of adenomyotic lesions. In around 50 % of the small endometriomas, adhesiolysis is necessary at the site of invagination with opening of the cyst, to free the chocolate content and hereby recognize the underlying endometrioma. The detailed inspection of these early-stage endometriotic lesions at THL reunites the hypothesis of Sampson with the observation of Hughesdon.
KEYWORDS:
Endometrioma, Endoscopy, Hydroflotation, Ovarian endometriosis, Pathogenesis, Surgery, Transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy
- PMID:
- 24611037
- [PubMed]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24611037
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Living With Endometriosis
Thank you!
One of the best Endometriosis Videos I have ever seen. You did a great job and our best wishes to you.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVZ8nXVtlvU
How can diagnosis for endometriosis be improved?
Wednesday 12 March 2014 - 8am PST
"Let's start with the gynecologists," begins Linda Griffith.
"Many of them trained in a day when the classic endocrinology and gynecology textbooks described endometriosis as follows: 'The typical endometriosis patient is a nulliparous white woman in her 30s who is well-educated and tends to be highly anxious.' Yup, that is the profile of the patient with the persistence and resources to get diagnosed prior to the 1990s."
Medical News Today is speaking to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) biological engineer Linda Griffith on the eve of Endometriosis Awareness Day, which will be marked by a huge peaceful demonstration.
An international "Million Women March" will take place on Thursday, March 13th. It begins in Washington, DC, but involves participants in 53 countries across the world."
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Fight like a girl! Endometriosis
These guys are great, Visit the site. Leave your story and help us create awareness of this vicious disease,
http://www.fightlikeagirlclub.com
http://www.fightlikeagirlclub.com
Snapshot Fashion: Fashionista Fundraiser for Endometriosis Awareness...
Snapshot Fashion: Fashionista Fundraiser for Endometriosis Awareness...: Let me start out by saying thanks so much for all the kind comments and emails I received after putting up the initial Fashionista Fundrais...
New Theory On Cause Of Endometriosis
New Theory On Cause Of Endometriosis
Changes to two previously unstudied genes are the centerpiece of a new theory regarding the cause and development of endometriosis, a chronic and painful disease affecting 1 in 10 women.
The discovery by Northwestern Medicine scientists suggests epigenetic modification, a process that enhances or disrupts how DNA is read, is an integral component of the disease and its progression. Matthew Dyson, research assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and and Serdar Bulun, MD, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Feinberg and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, also identified a novel role for a family of key gene regulators in the uterus.
"Until now, the scientific community was looking for a genetic mutation to explain endometriosis," said Bulun, a member of the Center for Genetic Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. "This is the first conclusive demonstration that the disease develops as a result of alterations in the epigenetic landscape and not from classical genetic mutations."
The findings were recently published in PLoS Genetics.
Women develop endometriosis when cells from the lining of the uterus, usually shed during menstruation, grow in other areas of the body. The persistent survival of these cells results in chronic pelvic pain and infertility. Although the cause of the disease has remained unknown on a cellular level, there have been several different models established to explain its development.
Endometriosis only occurs in menstruating primates, suggesting that the unique evolution behind uterine development and menstruation are linked to the disease. Scientists consider retrograde menstruation – cells moving up the fallopian tubes and into the pelvis – as one probable cause. Previous models, however, have been unable to explain why only 10 percent of women develop the disease when most experience retrograde menstruation at some point. Nor do they explain instances of endometriosis that arise independent of menstruation.
Bulun and Dyson propose that an epigenetic switch permits the expression of the genetic receptor GATA6 rather than GATA2, resulting in progesterone resistance and disease development.
"We believe an overwhelming number of these altered cells reach the lining of the abdominal cavity, survive and grow," Bulun said. "These findings could someday lead to the first noninvasive test for endometriosis."
Clinicians could then prevent the disease by placing teenagers predisposed to this epigenetic change on a birth control pill regimen, preventing the possibility of retrograde menstruation in the first place, Bulun said.
Dyson will also look to use the epigenetic fingerprint resulting from the presence of GATA6 rather than GATA2 as a potential diagnostic tool, since these epigenetic differences are readily detectable.
"These findings have the potential to shift how we view and treat the disease moving forward," Bulun said.
Source: Northwestern University
http://www.science20.com/news_articles/new_theory_cause_endometriosis-131257
Breaking News Genzyme Seprafilm
Lurpon all over again...grrrrr
MADISON, Wis. , March 6 -- The Wisconsin Attorney General issued the following news release:
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Announces Settlement with Genzyme Corporation to Resolve Allegations of Off-Label Marketing
March 07, 2014
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| Targeted News Service |
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that Wisconsin has joined with other states and the federal government to settle allegations thatGenzyme Corp. (Genzyme ) marketed and caused false claims to be submitted to federal and state health care programs for use of a "slurry" version of its Seprafilm adhesion barrier. Seprafilm is a thin film intended to reduce adhesions after surgery by forming a bio-resorbable barrier between abdominal tissue and organs. Genzyme is a biotechnology corporation based in Cambridge, Mass. , and was acquired by Sanofi-Aventis SA in April 2011 . As part of the settlement, Wisconsin Medicaid will receive $44,698.27 in restitution and other recoveries. Medicaid is a health insurance program for the needy and disabled jointly funded by the state and federal governments. The agreement resolves allegations that Genzyme sales representatives taught doctors and other staff to cut the Seprafilm sheets into small pieces, add saline and allow the pieces to dissolve until the desired consistency was reached. This mixture was referred to as "slurry." Genzyme sales representatives traded recipes for slurry, and trained each other in how to create it. The slurry was used in laparoscopic surgeries by inserting a catheter filled with the mixture into the body and applying it into the abdominal cavity. Seprafilm isFDA -approved for use in open abdominal surgery but not for minimally invasive surgeries, such as laparoscopic surgery. Allegedly, as a result of this conduct,Genzyme knowingly caused hospitals and other purchasers of Seprafilm to submit false and fraudulent claims to health care programs for uses that were not reimbursable.
TNS 30FurigayJof 140307-4659904 30FurigayJof
| Copyright: | (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |
| Wordcount: | 276 |
Monday, March 03, 2014
March is Worldwide Endometriosis Awareness Month
some ways to participate
Million Women March for Endometriosis - Endomarch 2014
www.millionwomenmarch2014.org/
Join us for Million Women March for Endometriosis - Endomarch 2014, March 13,2014, in Washington, D.C..
Join us around the World - Million Women March for Endometriosis
www.millionwomenmarch2014.org/country-captains/
40+ items - WORLDWIDE LOCATIONS. The following country ...
Country Captains Contact Endometriosis Network Canada: Erika at erika ...Country Captain, Mette at endomarch.denmark@gmail.com. WEBSITE: http ...
Endomarch 2014 - Thursday, March 13, 2014 - Camran Nezhat
www.nezhat.org/endometriosis/million-woman-march-for-endometriosis....
Updated January 30 2014. Want to make a difference in the lives of more than 200 million women with endometriosis? Then please join us for the first ever ...
Endometriosis Awareness 2014 « Endometriosis.org: The Global ...
endometriosis.org/news/support.../endometriosis-awareness-2014/
5 days ago - Endometriosis Awareness Week is 3 – 9 March 2014. National support groups, and individual women with endometriosis, raise awareness of ...
The World Symposium on Endometriosis | March 27-29 2014 Atlanta ...
www.endometriosisatlanta.com/
It is my pleasure to invite you to the 2nd World Symposium on Endometriosis:Endometriosis, Cancer, and Fertility, March 27-29, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Million Woman March for Endometriosis | Endometriosis UK
endometriosis-uk.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=54
Date: 13th March 2014. Place: London. Distance: 2.5 miles. What is the Million WomanMarch? Across the globe, millions of women will be taking part in a ...- [PDF]
Million Women March on Endometriosis - American College of ...
https://www.acog.org/.../20140113PressRelea...
American College of Obst...Jan 13, 2014 - Endometriosis will occur worldwide on Thursday, March 13, 2014, ...March,” which began on Facebook and whose numbers have been ...
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