Endometriosis is a chronic condition that occurs when tissue that normally develops inside the uterus begins to spread to other regions of the body. This commonly leads to extreme pelvic pain and heavy menstruation for women who experience it.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive cure for endometriosis, which means that it is often a frequent and recurring problem for women with the condition. Thankfully, there are a number of treatments available that can help women successfully manage their symptoms. Here is a look at four of the most common types of endometriosis treatments.
Pain Medication
Doctors typically recommend over-the-counter pain medications as a first course of action when treating endometriosis. The most commonly recommended drugs include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen and naproxen. While these products are not cures for endometriosis, they can help women successfully manage the pain associated with the condition. In some rare cases, pain medication may not be enough to keep symptoms in check, and when this occurs, some doctors may prescribe prescription-strength drugs.
Hormone Therapy
Like the tissue inside the uterus, the endometrial cells that develop outside of the organ attempt to bleed and shed during menstruation. Therefore, hormonal treatments that affect this natural cycle can help minimize the occurrence.
The most common form of hormone therapy for women with endometriosis is oral birth control. When used as directed, this can help lessen the length and severity of menstruation, and for women with only a mild form of the condition, this may be enough to keep their symptoms at bay. However, if this proves to be ineffective, doctors may recommend a continuous regimen, which requires a woman to take birth control every day of the month, effectively stopping menstruation entirely. In addition to oral birth control, some women turn to hormonal intrauterine devices. These products have approximately the same effect as the pill, but they don’t require patients to remember to take a dose each day.
When birth control fails to subdue endometriosis symptoms, patients may try another class of hormonal drug known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists. This medication effectively induces menopause prematurely, which causes menstruation (and the pain associated with it) to cease. It’s important to note that women using this method will typically experience some of the negative side effects associated with menopause—including hot flashes and loss of bone density. However, these symptoms subside once treatment is stopped.
Surgery
Most doctors view surgery as a last-ditch attempt to treat a patient’s endometriosis. Because pain medications and hormone therapies are so effective at helping manage the symptoms of the condition, such an invasive treatment method is rarely necessary. Removing endometrial growths surgically is almost exclusively used for women who want to become pregnant in the future, as the excess tissue can lead to infertility, especially when it spreads to the ovaries.
In scenarios in which these growths are not particularly widespread, doctors will normally opt to perform the surgery laproscopically. This involves making a small incision and inserting a camera to help the surgeon locate endometrial tissue that needs to be removed. However, if the condition has progressed to a larger area of the body, extensive abdominal surgery may be necessary.
Total Hysterectomy
When no other treatment methods have worked, a total hysterectomy may be necessary to help treat endometriosis. Unlike a traditional hysterectomy, which removes only the uterus, a total hysterectomy also removes the ovaries and cervix. This is necessary because the hormones found in the ovaries can continue to stimulate the growth of endometrial tissue even when the uterus is removed.
