Endometriosis is a chronic disease
In that sense, there is no cure for endometriosis, but the symptoms can
be reduced with the right treatment. Communication is the key to finding a treatment that fits you.
There are several management options for women with endometriosis, surgical excision of the lesions is the only treatment to remove the disease. In a small percentage of women, endometriosis lesions may recur after excision, the true incidence is unknown.
The best treatment depends on your decisions surrounding fertility and quality of life, it also depends on access to an experienced surgeon.
Many women are offered medical treatments, especially when they are awaiting a diagnosis, surgery or further treatment. These include pain medications, hormonal medications and other drugs used for chronic pain. Medical treatments do not treat endometriosis lesions and can not remove endometriosis. Medical treatments treat symptoms whilst on the treatment, symptoms often recur once the treatment is stopped.
Please discuss your options with your doctor and ask any questions you may have. Your doctor will be happy to explain the different options and answer your questions. Women with endometriosis have either pain, fertility problems or they have both. Treatment of endometriosis focuses on resolving or reducing pain due to endometriosis or on improving fertility, so a patient can get pregnant naturally or through fertility treatments. For treating endometriosis, the doctor can prescribe medical treatment or advise surgical treatment. Both will be explained in detail here and on our Treating Endometriosis (Surgical) page. Depending on the patient, the treatment will be different. Your doctor will take several factors into consideration when prescribing medical treatment or advising surgical treatment.
These factors include:
The preferences of the woman
The type of disease (peritoneal disease, ovarian cyst or deep endometriosis)
The severity and type of pain symptoms
The wish to become pregnant immediately or at a later stage
The costs and side - effects of some treatments
The age of the woman
The treatments she has already received
The doctor (country, expert centre, experience, skill set)
This means that two women with endometriosis could receive different treatments and even that one woman could receive different treatments over time depending on her preferences, her age, her wish to become pregnant. Important to remember is that medical treatment works only when they are taken as prescribed. Stopping medical treatment often means that the symptoms recur. In the next section, options for medical treatment and surgical treatment will be explained.
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