“Menstruation is normal, not painful”: Towards an identification of endometriosis?

Severe pain, chronic fatigue, digestive problems … Ines Roballo has been trying to cope with endometriosis for eight years. But 18 months ago, the 27-year-old was forced to quit her job, who could no longer bear her illness. “There are days when we cannot get up, and therefore, when we cannot get up, we are on sick leave,” Difficulty trust this former real estate agent. “I ended up quitting because I fapped so much and my boss couldn’t keep me.”

Like Enas, more than two million women in France suffer from endometriosis and thirty are confident that the disease has negative repercussions for their work. However, the disease is still not known as a long-term condition. In particular, it is a cause that various associations struggle for ENDOmind AssociationWho wants to alert women with endometriosis.

Little is known, and therefore it was not taken seriously by the medical profession and the women themselves who believed that it was normal to suffer greatly during their menstrual cycle, endometriosis is a complex gynecological disease. It can cause lesions on the organs near the genital area. It causes, in particular, severe pain that is added by chronic fatigue and the risk of infertility.

“The main symptom is dysmenorrhea, that is, pain during menstruation.” Explains Professor Marcus Ballester, Head of the Department of Gynecological Surgery at Diaconessis Croix Saint-Simon Hospitals in Paris. “We can find other types of symptoms related to gynecology and gastrointestinal pain as well. ” The professor continues according to who “Infection of these different organs makes the disease severe.”

Although mentalities around this topic are evolving, it takes an average of seven years to diagnose endometriosis. Even once diagnosed, it is a disease that medicine removes, but it cannot always be cured. You often have to live with it, right up until menopause.

For women who have it, one hope is that endometriosis will be recognized as a long-term disease. With the support of the associations, this proposal is being studied by the Ministry of Health, which on March 12 launched a mission, entrusted to MEP LREM Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, aimed at developing by the end of AprilA national strategy against endometriosisIt aims to increase awareness, diagnosis and management of this disease.

For Marion Artarett, ENDOmind spokesperson, “Acknowledging their long-term affection will allow women not to have to pay health costs, make up for their trips for medical appointments and cancel the waiting day in the event of work stoppages.” A first step towards potential relief for the 10% of women with this condition.