While endometriosis is a common condition, Black women often have difficulty getting diagnosed.
Endometriosis is a disease in which the endometrium—the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus or womb—is present outside of the uterus. Endometriosis most commonly occurs in the lower abdomen or pelvis, but it can appear anywhere in the body.
Symptoms of endometriosis include lower abdominal pain, pain with menstrual periods, pain with sexual intercourse, and difficulty getting pregnant. On the other hand, some women with endometriosis may not have any symptoms at all.
Endometriosis is a common health problem for women. Researchers think that at least 11% of women, or more than 6.5 million women in the U.S., have endometriosis.
Endometriosis most commonly impacts women between the ages of 25 and 40. It can also happen to younger women during their teenage years. Although many will find relief from endometriosis symptoms after menopause, it can still cause discomfort and pain.
There’s no clearly understood cause for endometriosis, so at this point there is no known way to prevent it.
Diagnosing endometriosis is also complicated as not every person has every symptom, and the severity of the symptoms varies from person to person. The “gold standard” for diagnosis is surgery to look inside the abdomen and pelvis; it can not be officially diagnosed from a lab test or imaging. Women in the U.S., on average, will suffer from endometriosis for 10 years before receiving a proper diagnosis.
According to a recent study, Black women are 49% less likely to get an endometriosis diagnosis compared to White women. That’s largely because of health disparities that exist, says Jessica Shepherd, MD, an ob-gyn and women’s health expert.
“This can be due to the fact that black women are often overlooked when it comes to pain and pain management and are more likely to be misdiagnosed, often with providers thinking pain is due to something else,” said Dr. Shepherd.
The actress Tia Mowry wrote in a 2018 Women’s Health article that she didn’t know why she had been experiencing extreme pelvic pain until she saw a Black physician who immediately knew she had endometriosis. Others had told her not to worry about her symptoms.
When there has been an endometriosis diagnosis, treatment usually involves a combination of medication or surgery. Because endometriosis is usually a lifelong condition, patients will usually try surgery and several different medications over their lifetime. The approaches you and your doctor choose will depend on how severe your signs and symptoms are and your current and future plans for pregnancy.
Doctors typically recommend trying conservative treatment approaches first, opting for surgery if initial treatment fails. For many people, endometriosis needs to be continuously treated with medicine to control symptoms like pain. It’s important to maintain a regular appointment schedule with your healthcare provider so that you can work together on managing your condition long-term.
If you are a woman with moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis and seeking contraception, you could be qualified to participate in the SERENE study. The SERENE study is evaluating whether the drug relugolix combination therapy (Rel-CT) can prevent pregnancy when used in premenopausal women with endometriosis. Relugolix-CT has been FDA-approved to manage symptoms of moderate to severe pain associated with endometriosis. To find out more about the SERENE study, please follow this link.
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