Chronic fatigue an under-recognised symptom of debilitating endometriosis, study finds

[Andy]

Fatigue is an under recognised symptom of endometriosis which could help identify the condition and improve the quality of life for millions of women, a study has said.

Women diagnosed with endometriosis were twice as likely to also have chronic fatigue, researchers found, even when tiredness caused by other symptoms like pain or depression was accounted for.


“These findings suggest that endometriosis has an effect on fatigue that is independent of other factors and that cannot be attributed to symptoms of the disease,” said Professor Brigitte Leeners, of University Hospital Zurich, who led the research.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...cramps-pain-insomnia-depression-a8418021.html

 

[Arnie Pye]

Why would doctors pay any attention to a woman complaining of tiredness or fatigue? When women mention these things its waved away - we all get tired, you've just had a baby, you've got two or three or more kids under age X what else do you expect, you have a job and kids and a home, your tiredness is normal, you're getting old, you're probably menopausal, you're too fat, you're too thin, you don't eat enough, you eat too much, you don't exercise enough. The list of excuses for not treating women for anything is very long.

The worst problem associated with endometriosis is pain, not fatigue. Knife in the guts pain, being torn in half pain when you defecate, yanking the bladder out of the body pain when you pee, being drilled into pain that no amount of OTC painkillers will make a dent in. Doctors think many women who go to them with period pains (or any kind of pain, really) are attention-seeking, drug-seeking, liars. If they don't believe women about life-destroying pain why does anyone think that fatigue will be taken any more seriously? They'll just send them on to the shrinks and the MUS clinics to make them "disappear", feeling happy that they have a) saved their practice some money, b) got rid of an annoying problem. After all, so many doctors think women in pain are just mentally-ill wimps, they don't need to be taken seriously.

I see articles like the one in the OP and it makes me so bloody furious because it won't make a shred of difference to anyone in real life. It's "make-work" just to get someone's name in the papers or to get some research published.

 

[Mithriel]

"Fatigue is an under recognised symptom of endometriosis which could help identify the condition and improve the quality of life for millions of women, a study has said."

So the treatments that have been found to be so successful for ME/CFS (as still stated in so many places to do with the NHS) will now be rolled out for endrometriosis.

Lucky women!

 

[ukxmrv]

It's an interesting article

"...However, fatigue was common even without these symptoms and Professor Leeners said this is likely to be down to the repeated inflammation caused by endometrial lesions activating the immune system."

but I'd have more faith if she said how she intends to treat the inflammation and how well that works

 

[Trish]

Doctors think many women who go to them with period pains (or any kind of pain, really) are attention-seeking, drug-seeking, liars. If they don't believe women about life-destroying pain why does anyone think that fatigue will be taken any more seriously?

I didn't have endometriosis, I don't think, but I did sometimes have period pains so bad I fainted, vomited writhed in agony etc. Back then the only treatment I was offered was paracetamol, which made no difference at all.

It was only when I had babies and experienced labour pains and had all the range of pain relief on offer that I realised just how inequitable the seriousness with which different pains are treated became apparent.

I found labour pain as bad as the period pain during contractions, but there would be minutes of relief after each contraction which made it manageable.

How come I could have pethidine or an epidural for the labour pain, but was fobbed off with paracetamol for the period pains, which could continue solidly without a minute's break for many hours or days and were therefore much worse?

 

[Dolphin]

Chronic fatigue, sometimes referred to as myalgic encephalomyelitis, was long thought to be a mental health condition but recent studies have linked it to cell signalling molecules called cytokines which are part of this immune response.

I looked up the paper:
https://academic.oup.com/humrep/advance-article/doi/10.1093/humrep/dey115/5040620?searchresult=1
They didn't check for chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis.

 

[TrixieStix]

When I was diagnosed (via surgery) with Endometriosis 3 and a half years ago I was hopeful that I had found the cause of my debilitating fatigue. I was so bummed when my fatigue didn't improve after my major and thorough Endometriosis excision surgery. Thankfully the surgery improved a number of other symptoms I had as a result of the Endo.