• Endometriosis is not catching. It is neither an STD nor a ‘benign cancer’.  It is most likely to be hereditary though this has yet to be proven. However it does seem to run in families; my own included. 
  • Some psychologists claim that endometriosis is caused by some form of abuse, whether physical or emotional. There may be cases of women suffering from pelvic pain who have been abused as children but this doesn't mean that all women are in the same boat.
  • Sampson’s theory of blood flowing back through the Fallopian Tubes has been disproven. The general consensus is that the endometrial tissue is in the wrong place from birth. This seems to be why so many teenagers have symptoms from the onset of puberty, as well as why in rare cases, it has been found in men.  
  • Although there is no definitive cure, excision is the gold standard when it comes to treating the disease. 
  • Getting pregnant does not cure your endometriosis. It is just another way of putting endometriosis implants into stasis. 

Cartoon about pregnancy and endometriosis.

  • A hysterectomy does not cure endometriosis. It does, however, cure adenomyosis as well as rid your body of hideous, heavy periods.
  • Endometriosis used to be known as 'The Career Woman's Disease' or 'The Nun's Disease', as it was believed that it only affected women in their mid to late thirties, especially those who hadn't had children. This isn't the case. Girls as young as 11 years old are being diagnosed. As soon as a woman starts her periods, she is susceptible to endometriosis.
  • Endometriosis is NOT just about bad period pain. The next time I hear someone say ,"Oh, for heaven's sake, pull yourself together, it's just part of being a woman” I will scream.
  • Depression is a symptom of endometriosis and not the cause. 
  • When a woman with endometriosis suffers from painful sex, it is really unhelpful to be told to "crack open a bottle of wine & just relax”.
  • Endometriosis is not a modern illness, it has been recorded in history way back to the 1800s. 
  • Every single case of endometriosis is different. What works for one woman, may not work for the other. Just because something made one woman better, it doesn't mean that it will make everybody better. Preaching about miracle cures does not help. 
  • Endometriosis does not always cause inferlitiy. It all depends on where the implants are and how healthy your reproductive system is. Just because you have endometriosis, it does not automatically mean that you will be unable to have children. It seems other factors are involved with fertility issues in women with endometriosis. 
  • Too little is known about endometriosis and that is why it is known as 'The Enigmatic Disease' by so many doctors. 

Living with endometriosis is hard work, whether you have pain all of the time or just once a month. It invades people's lives and it is relentless. Unless you have it yourself or know somebody with it, you will never fully grasp the repercussions of endometriosis.