Symptoms Of Endometriosis

Pain During Bowel Movements

Often women who experience pain during bowel movements are diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or some other disease before doctors discover they actually have endometriosis. This pain could also be accompanied by other bowel movement related problems, such as rectal pain or bleeding, constipation, diarrhea, and intestinal cramping.

One of the reasons for painful bowel movements is because endometriosis could create those fibrous tissues and cause the bowel to stick to the other organs in the reproductive tract. Another reason could be due to inflammatory mediators that cause problems with the bowel system. For example, prostaglandins can be released by endometrial tissue during menstruation, and this causes smooth muscle contractions.

Diarrhea Or Constipation

Diarrhea or constipation can occur in women with endometriosis for many of the same reasons they experience painful bowel movements. The endometrial tissue can trigger the release of extra cytotoxin-producing, non-invasive bacteria. These then trigger cytokines, an inflammatory mediator that stimulates the intestinal mucosa. This allows invasive bacteria to invade the intestinal mucosa, causing acute inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. In many cases, the immune system can't eradicate these types of invasive bacteria. Unfortunately, many invasive bacteria also release cytokines, so the cycle will continue to occur until the endometrial tissue is removed.