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Article in Medical news today: Can endometriosis make you tired all the time?
- Thread starter Sly Saint
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- cfs endometriosis fatigue
Invisible Woman
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Hmmmm......well, as CFS affects more women than men and the list quoted are fairly common ailments affecting women only......
We could just as easily say that having ovaries and a uterus predisposes you to both CFS (& RA & a whole range of other immune related illness) plus gynae related disorders.
This is fairly surface level stuff really. Still at the stage of looking up in awe at all the pretty stars and planets that rotate around the earth.
Why not pull the curtain back and finally meet the Wizard of Oz instead of admiring the material the curtain is made from?
The immune system of men and women work differently. The most obvious place to look is at the fundamental differences such as the role of sex hormones and how they impact the immune system.
It might even be worth comparing women without any gynae problems and women with gynae problems and comparing the immune systems of both.
Mithriel
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Another example of using CFS as a name for the symptom of fatigue rather than the highly disabling, serious, systemic disease it is.
Ignore all the neurological problems, the dysautonomia, the broken aerobic metabolism and you can make it up as you go along.
Ignore all the neurological problems, the dysautonomia, the broken aerobic metabolism and you can make it up as you go along.
Arnie Pye
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
From post #1...
I've experienced all those for decades, although the cysts did disappear as a result of hysterectomy quite a few years ago. Didn't stop the pain though.
One thing they didn't mention is that extremely heavy periods are common with endometriosis too. Women who are iron deficient tend to have heavier periods. And women with heavier periods are more likely to be iron deficient. So it is a never-ending vicious circle - A leads to B and B leads to A. And, at most, doctors only treat most women with low iron for about 2 or 3 months before saying that levels will be fine now. Two weeks later the patient is iron deficient again.
How often are women tested for iron deficiency? Hardly ever in my experience, but then doctors tend not to believe a word I say, and dismiss any complaints of fatigue as hyperbole, hypochondria, and attention-seeking. I would suspect that at least some of the fatigue associated with endometriosis might be due to low iron.
Another issue, of course, is that women in pain are often disbelieved so they get inadequate pain relief or no pain relief. And pain which goes on all the time with no let up, while you try to have a life and a job as well is exhausting.
Edit : I've just realised that the low iron issue is mentioned in the article. But when they summarise they leave it out. I wonder why?
I've experienced all those for decades, although the cysts did disappear as a result of hysterectomy quite a few years ago. Didn't stop the pain though.
One thing they didn't mention is that extremely heavy periods are common with endometriosis too. Women who are iron deficient tend to have heavier periods. And women with heavier periods are more likely to be iron deficient. So it is a never-ending vicious circle - A leads to B and B leads to A. And, at most, doctors only treat most women with low iron for about 2 or 3 months before saying that levels will be fine now. Two weeks later the patient is iron deficient again.
How often are women tested for iron deficiency? Hardly ever in my experience, but then doctors tend not to believe a word I say, and dismiss any complaints of fatigue as hyperbole, hypochondria, and attention-seeking. I would suspect that at least some of the fatigue associated with endometriosis might be due to low iron.
Another issue, of course, is that women in pain are often disbelieved so they get inadequate pain relief or no pain relief. And pain which goes on all the time with no let up, while you try to have a life and a job as well is exhausting.
Edit : I've just realised that the low iron issue is mentioned in the article. But when they summarise they leave it out. I wonder why?
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Dolphin
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
That study used the so-called "empiric" criteria (Reeves et al, 2005), which give a prevalence of 2.54%, a lot of whom probably don't have proper ME/CFS
Leila
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Oh I was looking for the definition being used in this!
Once again a very uncareful use of the term "CFS".
Other than that I do appreciate that more and more studies seem to focus on the systemic effects of endometriosis.
There's still this wide disbelief it only affects your lower abdomen & you're cured or at least symptom free with surgery & hormones.