The Common & Not-So-Common Endo Symptoms

The most popular symptom of endometriosis is pelvic pain. The doctors I've met, they relied on this one particular symptom alone to determine whether I had endometriosis or not... which most of them ended up with the word "no" when I said I don't have this symptom at the moment. The fact is, there are quite many symptoms related to endometriosis. And what makes it even more complicated is that each woman may have different symptoms, some women even don't have any symptoms at all.

From some reliable sources, I'd like to list down some common and not-so common endo symptoms. They are:


1. The most common symptoms:
- Acute pelvic pain
- Pain before and during menstruation
- Painful intercourse
- Lower back pain
- Heavy and/or irregular menstruation
- Difficulty conceiving (infertility)
- Irregular bowel movements (diarrhea or constipation)
- Irregular vaginal or uterine bleeding
- Fatigue

2. Gastrointestinal endometriosis symptoms:
- Rectal bleeding during menstruation
- Rectal pain
- Increased gas and bloating
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Abdominal cramping
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Tailbone pain

3. Other symptoms for other endo location:
- Urinary tract endo: blood in urine, painful or burning urination, tenderness around the kidneys, urinary frequency, retention or urgency.
- Lung and chest endo: coughing up of blood during mentruation, accumulation of air or gas in the chest cavity, constricting chest pain and/or shoulder pain, collection of blood and/or pulmonary nodule in chest cavity (revealed under testing), shortness of breath.

As you can now see, most people (and doctors) are familiar with Symptoms No. 1 which are directly related to reproductive organs where endo cyst can usually be found. But endo can infiltrate deeper than just reproductive organs therefore the symptoms may differ a bit. Some symptoms can be misled into other illnesses or only can be proven after a surgery for other reason (that is exactly my case here).

And that is how this endo thing becomes a tricky sneaky ghost...

:: Sources, for deeper analysis:
- http://www.endo-resolved.com/
- http://endofound.org/