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Endometriosis also affects girls. This is how you recognize her early - voila! health

2023-04-17T07:19:40.212Z


Endometriosis is associated with women of childbearing age, but it takes an average of over a decade to detect it. In the cases of girls who have had it, it is important to diagnose the symptoms in order to detect it early


Not just a women's disease.

A woman with a stomach ache (Photo: ShutterStock)

In recent years, awareness of endometriosis has been on the rise among the public and the medical community, but it still does not receive enough attention, certainly not at younger ages.



Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disease, which occurs when there is the presence of endometrial-like cells outside the uterus.

Most often these ectopic implants of mucosa are located in the pelvis, but they can appear anywhere in the body and may create an inflammatory reaction leading to pain, cysts and adhesions.

The disease can appear in girls and can have paralyzing symptoms during menstruation, which may be accompanied by fainting, vomiting, nausea and indigestion.



The disease erupts mainly among young women in the entire range of childbearing age.

The most common age group for its appearance is between 20 and 40, but it also affects girls.

What is the prevalence of the disease?

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disease that affects about 10 percent of the population of women and girls, and is diagnosed with an average delay of about 11 years in Israel.

The disease was reported among 25 - 38 percent of adolescent girls with chronic pelvic pain and among 64 percent of those who have chronic pelvic pain and underwent laparoscopy.

Among girls with chronic pelvic pain, unrelieved by treatment with pills or NSAIDS, who underwent laparoscopy to clarify the pain, the incidence of endometriosis is between 50 and 70 percent.

When do endometriosis symptoms start?

Two-thirds of adult women with endometriosis report that the symptoms of the disease began before the age of 20. The assumption that endometriosis presents itself only after many years of menstruation is incorrect.

Symptoms can start in girls who have not yet had their period, but have just started to develop breasts (endometriosis can be stimulated by estrogen) and in other girls - immediately after the start of menstruation.



Some girls have a genetic predisposition to develop endometriosis.

First degree relatives have a tendency to develop endometriosis 7 times more than the general population.



In addition, there is a higher rate of autoimmune diseases in women with endometriosis, for example arthritis, inflammation of the intestine, thyroid diseases, migraine headaches, lupus, multiple sclerosis and a drop in blood pressure with changes in position.

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Importance of quick diagnosis

Adolescents with endometriosis can have varied manifestations and diagnosis can be a complex task.

The symptoms range from severe pain around the time of menstruation, radiating to the lower back and legs, sensitivity and dull pain in the pelvis throughout the month, disorders of the digestive system - pain in the anus, pain when passing stool, rectal bleeding and expression through the urinary system with burning when urinating, frequency, urgency and blood in the urine.

Deep endometriosis is often rare in adolescence, the same is true for infertility and endometriomas.



Recognizing the symptoms of the teenage girl with endometriosis can shorten the time until the diagnosis is made.

Ideally, early diagnosis and initiation of treatment will delay the progression of the disease and reduce the long-term side effects of the disease, which include chronic pain, endometriomas (ovarian cysts filled with old blood content), infertility and thus improve the quality of life of the adolescent with the disease.



In girls who start to experience the symptoms of menstruation, the natural tendency is to assume that it is menstrual pain, as there are many women, but it is important to express the girl's pain.

If the pain is not alleviated under painkillers, and the daily functioning is permanently impaired over months (such as avoiding participation in school or classes), it must be understood that this is not self-denial or indulgence, but a real medical problem.

inquiry and inspection

Physical examination:

The purpose of the examination is to determine the cause of the pain and rule out an ovarian finding, or an obstructing malformation of the reproductive system.



For adolescents who are not sexually active, it is possible to be satisfied with the abdominal examination, which is usually normal but can help determine the location of the pain.

The presence of endometriomas is rare in adolescents, so we usually cannot feel lumps in the abdomen.

It is important to complete the physical examination with a pelvic sonar in an abdominal approach.



Laboratory investigation:

a blood count and sedimentation will be performed in order to identify an inflammatory process that is not due to endometriosis, a general urine test and culture in order to separate pain from the source of the urinary system, and a pregnancy test and STD exclusion if relevant.



CA125 is a biomarker of ovarian cancer, but can be elevated in many other conditions such as endometriosis.

Because it is sensitive and non-specific, the tendency is not to use it for follow-up but to rely on the clinic.



In older women, endometriosis-directed ultrasound can detect deep lesions, endometriomas, and pelvic adhesions that are signs of advanced disease, but are rarely found in girls.

The sonar is important in order to rule out common conditions in girls such as ovarian cysts, yellow bleeding corpuscles, defects in the reproductive system, appendicitis or tumors.

What is the treatment for endometriosis?

Drug treatment with painkillers and anti-inflammatories, combined with hormonal therapy for three months and repeated evaluation in the clinic to evaluate the improvement of symptoms.

It is recommended to combine the drug treatment with a dietary change and complementary treatments.




Dr. Anat Fromm is a senior physician at the gynecology clinic for children and adolescents at the Schneider Pediatric Center

  • health

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  • Endometriosis

  • Teens

Source: walla

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