Treatment for endometriosis

TREATMENT

Treatment for endometriosis usually involves medication or surgery. The approach you and your doctor choose will depend on how severe your signs and symptoms are and whether you hope to become pregnant. Doctors typically recommend trying conservative treatment approaches first, opting for surgery if initial treatment fails.

PAIN MEDICATION

Your doctor may recommend that you take an over-the-counter pain reliever, and in severe cases, prescribed pain medication to help ease painful menstrual cramps. Your doctor may recommend hormone therapy in combination with pain relievers if you are not trying to get pregnant.

HORMONE THERAPY

Supplemental hormones are sometimes effective in reducing or eliminating the pain of endometriosis. The rise and fall of hormones during the menstrual cycle causes endometrial implants to thicken, break down and bleed. Hormone medication may slow endometrial tissue growth and prevent new implants of endometrial tissue.

CONSERVATIVE SURGERY

If you have endometriosis and are trying to become pregnant, surgery to remove the endometriosis implants while preserving your uterus and ovaries (conservative surgery) may increase your chances of success. If you have severe pain from endometriosis, you may also benefit from surgery. However, endometriosis and pain may return.

Your doctor may do this procedure laparoscopically or, less commonly, through traditional abdominal surgery in more-extensive cases. Even in severe cases of endometriosis, most can be treated with laparoscopic surgery.

FERTILITY TREATMENT

Endometriosis can lead to trouble conceiving. If you are having difficulty getting pregnant, your doctor may recommend fertility treatment supervised by a fertility specialist. Fertility treatment ranges from stimulating your ovaries to make more eggs to in vitro fertilisation. Which treatment is right for you depends on your personal situation.

HYSTERECTOMY WITH REMOVAL OF THE OVARIES

Surgery to remove the uterus (hysterectomy) and ovaries (oophorectomy) was once considered the most effective treatment for endometriosis. But endometriosis experts are moving away from this approach, instead focusing on the careful and thorough removal of all endometriosis tissue.

DIET CHANGE AND EXERCISE

The cause of endometriosis is unknown, and there is currently no cure. However, certain foods may increase or decrease the risk of endometriosis, and some women find that making dietary changes and exercising can help reduce symptoms.

Source: www.mayoclinic.org