We Beg to Differ: Endometriosis, Quality of Life, and Rethinking the Term ‘Life-threatening Disease’

What does it mean to be diagnosed with a life-threatening disease? 

Does the term only entail being given so many days, weeks, months, or years to live? 

Who considers conditions that aren’t potentially fatal yet induce insufferable quality of life issues? 

Reproductive health headlines claim that endometriosis isn’t widely recognized as a life-threatening disease. In fact, the condition remains a medical mystery and is hardly known or understood by the general public, for that matter. It’s not uncommon for one’s eyes to glaze over as soon as someone else utters the prefix endo-. Although endometriosis isn’t considered a grave disease, the 1 out of 10 women who have endometriosis beg to differ. In fact, there are likely more women across the globe would also beg to differ but have slipped through the cracks and suffer in dark, cold silence or have silent endometriosis; this is diagnosed when the endometrial-like lesions spread like wildfire but the person who is impacted by the condition doesn’t experience third degree burns (debilitating, physical symptoms). 

Endometriosis is an inflammatory, autoimmune condition and a deep pelvic pain disorder that persistently plagues women worldwide at the start of menstruation. The devastating disease presses the gas pedal and speeds up when the lesions or diseased tissue develops on the outside of the uterus—and grows even light-years beyond the pelvic region to other parts of the body. Despite the fact that the disease’s origin remains unknown and a cure remains unfound, researchers suspect that the road leads back to retrograde menstruation; this peculiar phenomenon occurs when menstrual fluid flows back into the pelvic region—instead of exiting the body—and creates more diseased tissue, inflammation, and pain. Despite the unknowns, we do, however, know how that endometriosis is destructive. We know that it devastates women and families. We know what it feels like to live with it against our will, and we know that the physical and emotional sensations that come with the disease are one-hundred percent real. 

Here’s a glimpse of some classic endometriosis symptoms and descriptors: 

Painful periods	Heavy bleeding, nausea, vomiting, anxiety
Killer cramps	Stabbing, prolonged, unbearable, abnormal
Painful bowel movements	Sharp (rectal) pain, constipation, diarrhea
Fatigue	Chronic exhaustion, shame
Neuropathy	Nerve damage, numbness, aching back and limbs
Painful sex	Intercourse, abdomen pain, stretching, dryness
Infertility	Difficulty conceiving, miscarriage(s), trauma, grief

One could argue that endometriosis is a life-threatening disease. Here’s a bit of evidence to support this stance:

1. Quality Life. When your body battles endometriosis, it feels like you’re wearing an unbearably itchy wool outfit versus soft, silk garments—an itchy wool outfit that’s plastered to your person and becomes itchier by the day; this speaks to how endometriosis severely impacts one’s ability to enjoy the day-to-day and adopt a life worth living mindset. It’s not uncommon for women battling endometriosis to frequently miss school, work, social functions, and feel like a walking stigma filled with constant, menstrual dread. Oftentimes, it even hurts to walk or sit and becomes nearly impossible to run for fun or fitness without eventually crouching down in sudden, shocking pain. When you live with endometriosis, you become used to planning and writing scripts for every life scene around your menstrual cycle. 

1. Living Life. Endometriosis is like an energy vampire that depletes vibrant aspects of one’s personality, sucking it down to the very last drop. Endometriosis gnaws away at one’s health—from spiritual to physical and mental—like treacherous, tortuous termites. Unfortunately, many women reach a point when they feel severely disconnected from and powerless against their own body; it often feels like the disease is prone to win the battle, so much that many women deal with passive and active suicidal ideation or consider waving the white flag. The BBC sampled approximately 13,500 British women and found that nearly half of them experienced suicidal thoughts, as well as faced additional morbidity and mortality risks after becoming addicted to opioid painkillers (Bevan, 2019). All of this shows that many women across continents are desperate for relief and dealing with a monstrous reproductive health crisis. 

If you’ve encountered devastating effects of pelvic pain conditions such as endometriosis, consider working with a licensed therapist who knows that your suffering isn’t fictitious and believes that you have what it takes to stay to in the fight. 

References 

Bevan, G. (2019, October 6). Endometriosis: Thousands share devastating impact of condition. BBC News. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49897873