Talk:Endometriosis

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[edit] Numbers

The numbers given in this entry are mutually incompatible. I realise that estimates vary wildly but some effort should be made to reconcile the percentage and numerical estimates - 89 million is waaaay less than the 20% of women suggested in the same sentence. Anyone got time to do the research necessary to come up with a sensible range of possible numbers and percentages? I haven't, alas. --Oolong 07:37, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Numbers Part 2

Just wandered in looking for information, and the numbers are the first thing that caught my eye and damaged the credibility of the article. With an estimated population of about 6.2B on the planet, and approximately 51% female, this would suggest approximately 600M women have it if 1 in 5 are affected. Article cited in [1] claims 3-10% of *reproductive women*, 25-35% of *infertile* women. Anyway, I'm anonymous, not familiar with guidelines--expect someone will edit this out, but IMO it really hurts the credibility of this article... My best guess is the 1 in 5 actually means 1 in 5 fertile females. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.35.135.191 (talk) 08:40, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

excising endometriosis for more complete relief----


There has not been much written on completely excising (cutting) ALL endometriosis from ALL areas. Two very good resources for this type of procedure are the Center for Endometriosis Care(CEC) in Atlanta, Georgia(Dr. Albee and Dr. Sinervo) and Dr. Redwine with his extensive research in Oregon. I can testify that after 12 years of suffering from endo, I researched and found that totally removing all traces of endo produced very possitive, long term relief. Also, a laporoscopy is the only definite means of diagnosing endometriosis as all stages of endo(stages I,II,III and IV)can vary in symptoms depending on where the endometriosis is and adhering to. I personally had stage IV, had this procedure(complete excision)done and have been endo pain-free for 2 years. Pain medications, estrogen therapy, hormone removal therapy(lupron) do not remove endo from your body, it may mask symptoms for a time. Even hysterectomies will not help if you do not have endo in or on female organs. I had endo in other areas(bladder, ureters, colon, pelvic wall) that a complete hysterectomy DID NOT remove or help the endo "die off", as many doctors falsely believe. --Christi222 19:14, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Christi McDonald

I would like to concur with Christi222 as a person who has had excision surgery. I have been pain free for almost two years now since having the endometriosis plastered throughout my pelvis thoroughly excised by specialist. I did not have a hysterectomy either and would like to know where it has been shown that a hysterectomy is a treatment for endometriosis. I have heard accounts from numerous women who have had a hysterectomy and it did NOT cure their endo. ---- sassygirl1968

[edit] NSAIDs

How can NSAIDs increases the flow when they thick out the blood, causing decreased flow. And trust me, they DO work for endometriosis. Nothing does. :(

[edit] Food and nutrition

I have removed the section saying that avoiding white bread helps endo. There is no proof of this. Also this section focused entirely on PMS- PMS is not to do with endo, it's a seperate condition. Women with endo are not any more likely to have PMS. In fact given that most of us have treatments that stop periods altogether it's not much of an issue. LouiseCooke

Although Louise is correct about white bread, there is evidence that wheat has an effect for some people. This is based on one of the theories of endometriosis being an auto immune disease. If then your immune system is compromised by an intollerance to wheat then by removing wheat from your diet your immune system is no longer stressed and your body is no longer stressed. Part of the enigma of this disease is that the pain a person suffers is not linked to the amount of endometriosis a person has. Most people may not care if they have endometriosis or not, but they do care about the pain and other symptoms they suffer with.
--Ccfd9 14:46, 30 March 2007 (UTC)


I rewrote the article because:

  • The previous endometriosis write-up was based on a government publication that was directed to a patient population.
  • Much of the stuff was redundant or is now better explained in Wikipedia's cross-references.
  • The article (like the goverment publication) addresses the reader as "you".
  • It contained a section that may have been taken from other parts of the internet: The Chapter about Dr.M. and allergy I found in the doctorslounge (http://www.thedoctorslounge.net/clinlounge/diseases/gynecology/endometriosis.htm), however Dr.M. apparently never published her research in a peer-reviewed article. I do not know if this section is original to Wikipedia.
  • References steering readers to specific physician services in the links do not belong here.

I hope that this more concise article can be further improved. It still needs more work. Ekem 17:49, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Can any sources be cited to substainiate the idea that endometriosis can be related to 'women who wear army boots' ?

===="Army Boots"??? You're joking, right? A quick Google search regarding Endometriosis+"army boots" results in nothing. And this is the first time that I have ever heard it mentioned... Do you have any links or anything where this is being talked about?

I would like to see more information added regarding the Dioxin theory or connection. You can get more information regarding this here: http://www.endometriosisassn.org/environment.html RuthB 23:30, 26 March 2006 (UTC)


I felt this sentence was a little clunky, and have altered it: "Infertile Women present with endometriosis may lead to fallopian tube obstruction despite no history of "endometriotic type" pain". Also I have altered it so that it states subfertility is common- few women, even with endo, are completely infertile?

[edit] Needs a new definition?

The definition in this article, "the tissue lining the uterus is found outside of the uterus", while apparantly correct, is nonetheless highly problematic. Besides being completely meaningless in the context of male endometriosis, the Epidemiology section points out that issues can occur in all sorts of places. This issue should be cleared up, but I have not the skill to do it. Vectro 01:51, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More on male endometriosis?

Endo in males is extremely rare, and usually concurrent with estrogen therapy for prostate cancer. Current theory is that the estrogen triggers cells latent since sex differentiation in the womb. I don't know enough to edit this article, but perhaps someone will.

I have removed reference to the prostate gland in the lead. Talk about your "distant sites", the rest of the lead mentions only women, and the reader upon encountering a prostate gland thinks "What the...?" The idea of male endometriosis is so surprising that it rates a full paragraph, if it indeed exists, or nothing. I was not able to so much as confirm the existence of it, so out it goes until somebody can cite a source. --Milkbreath (talk) 11:31, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Ovarian Removal vs. Non Ovarian Removal

Coming from someone who has lived with Endometriosis, I have a hard time beleiving that the removal of both ovaries is necessary. I had a hysterectomy 1 yr ago, and I kept both of my ovaries, and have had no problems to date. I felt it was best for me to keep my ovaries, considering my age<30,r/t not wanting to cause unnecessary bone deterioration, and the fact that I didn't want to go through menopause completely at my age. Granted, I have had a few hot flashes, but have had nothing more serious, nor have I had the mood swings or night sweats commonly associated with menopause. The best thing that I can say, is that since my hysterectomy, I have had no pain that I would previously assocaite with menstrual cycles or endometriosis. I am able to do things I wasn't able to do before, and the best thing is, I still have my ovaries. So, if this is true in my case, as well as in others that I know of (women keeping their ovaries)what makes us different?

It could be possible that a lot of your pain came from Adenomyosis- endo in the wall of the womb. In your case a hysterectomy would solve the problem. It doesn't work for everyone, in many cases where the ovaries are left the endo continues to grow. I'm glad it has worked well for you though! LouiseCooke


[edit] Should there be a section called "famous women/people who suffer/ed from endometriosis?

I believe Marilyn Monroe and Michelle Dewberry (winner of series 2 of The Apprentice (UK)) both suffered from this disease. It's specifically mentioned on Marilyn's page, and Michelle has stated in that she has this in interviews. [1] and [2]--Athcnv 19:50, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Endometriosis, Emiko Hsuen and JoyandFreedom

There was some discussion above about a lady claiming to be cured of endometriosis through some Shaolin Qigong, i've 'excised' the entire chunk and put it under a new heading. As follows. Anyway my two bits, Emiko, I really do believe your account and wish you all the best, but honestly, unless you hold a randomized clinical trial involving thousands of women and find consistently good, reproducible results, this information isn't really very useful. Also, your claim links to your webpage, joyandfreedom.com which seems to market some courses. That's a conflict of interest right there. Wikipedia is for information and knowledge, not selling out courses. Though your intentions may be good, this isn't really the place. Squiggle 04:14, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Original post as follows: Hi, I have no prior experience to contributing to wikipedia but for the first time there's something that I think should be added. A teacher in the kung fu school that I'm part of has been cured of Endometriosis. She's documented exactly how it was done at this website http://www.endofendo.com/ . She used a "complementary medicine" called Shaolin Cosmos Qigong. If someone would add this link to the wiki page for others to discover that would be fantastic, thank you. James Redfern.

Sorry, I don't think we should add this as it is not in any way scientifically proven. Nothing has appeared in reviewed journals etc. The case of one woman out of 89 million claiming a cure is a little suspect. Also, reading the story on her website it is possible the surgery, Zoladex and Lupron shrank away her endo so it was no longer noticeable. There are many documented cases of this happening. Having endo removed surgically and then treated with hormones can stop it growing back in some women. I suspect this woman is one of those. Wikipedia is supposedly academic and until proper academic proof of this 'cure' appears, I do not believe it should be mentioned. User:LouiseCooke


Hello. My name is Emiko Hsuen, and I am the woman who has been referred to in the paragraph above. After a close reading of the medical documentation presented on my website at http://www.endofendo.com, it will be apparent that the time period is 10 years between the ingestion of Zoladex and the discovery of the nonpresence of endometriosis by the surgeon. It should be noted that not even scar tissue was present in the body during the time of surgery. Also, please note that there is a difference between an 'anecdotal story' and a 'medical case study'. My account is defined as a medical case study - a rare occurrence, since most women would not voluntarily choose to undergo surgery just to verify that they have recovered from endometriosis. As for 'anecdotal stories', I personally know of at least 3 other women who were diagnosed with endometriosis, but have since become completely pain-free through the practice of Shaolin Cosmos Qigong. Their accounts are not medical case studies because their recovery has not been confirmed by a licensed medical practitioner. Emiko Hsuen.

[edit] Original Research justification

I've tagged with [citation needed] several claims made in the article because, while they may be true, they lack the citation needed to support statements made in such a conclusive manner.EdgeOfEpsilon 16:31, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Good for you! Seconded. The numbers in the lead are much lower than the cited material under Frequency. The age band is also very narrow. Finally, the figures are not in the reference provided. Cheers. Alastair Haines 10:01, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lupron depo shot

No one has talked about how the lupron depo shot has worked on suppressing endometriosis or how it works for endometriosis. Removing specific hormones from your body helps reduce the chances of the regrowth of endometriosis. No one has also even touched on the benifits or the side effects of the shot. The lupron depo shot is given once a month for either 3 to 6 months depending on your dosage.[1]--Daniellem429 (talk) 22:42, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Per WP:MEDRS, a scientific journal article would be preferred over a website. WLU (talk) 17:33, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pregnancy

In the opening preface of the article, the line '(usually around 30 to 40 years of age who have never been pregnant before)' should be deleted. There's an ill-concieved notion that getting pregnant eradicates the disease when all it really does is slow the progress due to a shift in hormonal balances (as it does with Lupron and birth control). If a woman with endo can get pregnant in the first place, there's a great deal of anecdotal evidence suggesting that symptoms can be alleviated but they do *not* vanish. While the phrasing seems innocuous enough, perhaps even unrelated to this mistaken belief, it's dangerous to even insinuate something that doctors mistakenly fall back on. Pregnancy has nothing to do with whether or not endometriosis is found in a patient. Refer to http://www.endometriosistreatment.org/html/question8.html for more information. If this link violates copywrite feel free to strike this comment from the list, but I do feel very strongly that the wording is in dire need of being changed. It's misleading and has no basis in fact, so what's it doing up there? This disease is misunderstood enough. 204.176.49.45 (talk) 17:28, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Anecdotal evidence is not a reliable source, if the statement in the lead is unjustified in the text below, per WP:PROVEIT it can be removed, but any replacement claim should be justified by medically reliable sources. WLU (talk) 17:33, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Origins / Causes

Currently there is a section of 'theories of origins', followed by a section of 'causes'. The two ideas mentioned in the first are repeated in the second (though with extra possible causes). Should these two sections be one, or am I missing something? 198.28.92.5 (talk) 13:08, 6 May 2008 (UTC)