As one of the most common disorders of the female reproductive system, Endometriosis comes with quite a number of symptoms.
Most of these are difficult to identify because they are similar to those of the menstrual cycle and other conditions that cause pelvic pain such as ovarian cysts and pelvic inflammatory disease.
Women of all ages, ethnicity and race can be affected by this disease, regardless of whether they have children or not, although the prevalence is very high in the reproductive years.
Endometriosis symptoms vary from one woman to another and while some of them will not experience any, others will suffer severe symptoms.
One of the most common symptoms is pelvic pain.
This is usually very severe just before their periods and then improves at the end.
Apart from this, other signs include Dysmenorrhea (pain during menstruation) and dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse).
The women can also experience severe menstrual cramps and even irregular or heavy menstrual bleeding or bleeding between periods.
They will also suffer from Dysuria, which involves urinary urgency, painful voiding and frequency especially during their menstrual periods.
Infertility is also another common sign even though not all women who have problems with fertility suffer from endometriosis.
It is however not clear when it comes to establishing the link between infertility and the disorder.
It is suggested that the condition is likely to develop in those women who are not successful in conceiving due to other reasons.
Other endometriosis symptoms include fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, nausea and bloating.
Some women may also experience headaches, anxiety, low grade fevers, depression and low blood sugar.
The later stages of the disorder feature the development of adhesions at the pelvic cavity, making the signs very severe and may bring about mobility problems.