Are You At Risk? Learn the facts and symptoms of Endometriosis
While the cause of endometriosis is unknown, there are some facts and symptoms of Endometriosis to look out for. A few certain risk factors that can determine the chances of you developing the condition. It’s estimated that anywhere from 10 to 20% of women suffer from endometriosis. Because not all women report problems with their reproductive system, the number may be even larger.
Those who developed endometriosis most often had a first relative that had also suffered from this condition. This means that their mother or sister likely also suffered from the condition. If you know that your mother or sister suffers from endo, then you have a high risk of developing it as well.
The chances of developing endometriosis were higher in women who were overweight or obese. It also seems to increase with age. The older that you become, the more likely you are to develop endometriosis.
As with most reproductive issues, endometriosis may also develop if you smoke often or abuse alcohol.
If you want to know if you or one of your relatives suffers from endometriosis, then you should search for an “IVF clinic near me” to get tested. An IVF doctor can take a sample of your uterine tissue and perform other diagnostic tests to see how your lining appears. If you discover that your mother or sister tests positive for endometriosis, then you know that you’re at risk for developing it, too.
Endometriosis and Surrogacy
One of the main causes of infertility is endometriosis. If this condition affects you, you should know all of the endometriosis facts and symptoms. 50% of cases of infertility are typically due to endometriosis. If you’re an intended parent suffering from infertility, then it may be due to this condition. Luckily, there are still methods for having a baby. If you suffer from endometriosis, you can still find relief with California surrogacy and IVF.
Here’s what you need to know about endometriosis and how it relates to a surrogacy journey.
What Does Having Endometriosis Mean?
If you’ve been struggling with infertility, you may wonder what facts or symptoms of endometriosis you should inquire about. Endometriosis is a condition in which uterine tissue invades your fallopian tubes or pushes outside of your uterus. It can block the fallopian tubes or even grow where the ovaries are kept.
In some cases, it’s even possible that the uterine tissue travels outside of the pelvic regions entirely. Some of those areas include the brain, lungs, and bowels.
This creates an extremely painful condition for women. Most often, they find that certain phases of their menstrual cycle are extremely painful. They may need to be hospitalized for the pain or take heavy painkillers in order to deal with the pain.
Are You Experiencing These Symptoms of Endometriosis?
Because one of the most common symptoms of endometriosis is extreme pain during menstruation, it may not be immediately clear if you’re suffering from the condition or not. You may just wave it off as severe cramps. Yet there are a few symptoms of endometriosis that you should consider. It may determine whether or not you need to find a surrogate through our surrogacy agency in California.
Here are some Endometriosis symptoms you need to look out for:
- Pain with your menstrual cycle- Pain is the first indicator that you may be suffering from endometriosis. It’s most prevalent during your menstruation cycle when your period begins. You may experience severe cramps in your abdominal area as well as your back.
- Pain During Sex- Pain isn’t reserved for just cramps either. Many women also report that they experience pain during sexual intercourse. This may be something that occurs for every sexual encounter or only when your endometriosis is flaring up. Regardless, it can make sexual intercourse extremely unenjoyable.Women who experience pain during sexual intercourse due to endometriosis do so because of the positioning of the growths. The tissue may be positioned in such a way that it comes into direct contact with the penis. With each movement, the growth is pushed and stretched which causes a great deal of pain for the woman involved.
- Heavy flow during your period- The reason that you experience increased blood flow is because of the tissue, itself. Uterine tissue is filled with blood. When you start to menstruate, the tissue fills with blood and sheds it. If you have a lot of the tissue within your fallopian tubes or in other areas, then that means more of a chance for those tissues to bleed a large amount.
More Symptoms
- Painful urination- You may also find that urinating is painful or difficult if you suffer from endometriosis. This is also due to the positioning of the growths. When you urinate, you apply pressure to your abdomen and bladder. Because the tissue is sometimes within your bladder or in such a way that the tissue is pressed down on through your muscles, you experience sharp pain. The tissue is basically being squeezed each time you urinate.
- Painful bowel movements- The same goes for your bowel movements. You have to squeeze certain muscles which can apply pressure to the tissue and cause irritation and pain.
- Intestinal Pain and discomfort- Along with pain, you may also experience other gastrointestinal problems. Because the tissue can become inflamed, it often results in bloating. Many women may find that their stomach or abdominal area is slightly swollen at times. This is due to the fact that the invading tissue can cause water retention.
When the tissue covers the ovaries, any trapped blood inside of the area can form cysts. This can also cause bloating.
Bloating is when your belly is filled with air or gas. Some women suffering from endometriosis may even think that they look pregnant due to how much their body has swollen.
One of the biggest symptoms of endometriosis is infertility. Women who are trying to become pregnant, but can’t, may want to be tested for endometriosis. It’s one of the causes of infertility because the tissue can block access to the ovaries or make the uterus inhospitable for embryos.
Why Having Endometriosis Should Encourage You to Hire a Surrogate Agency
If you’ve been researching surrogacy and endometriosis facts or symptoms, then you may have discovered that many women seek the services of a surrogate due to this condition and others due to infertility. Endometriosis can make having a baby difficult for several reasons.
The chief among is that the tissue blocks access to the eggs inside of your fallopian tube. When the tissue spreads itself through your fallopian tube, it creates a thick network that blocks fluid. Even sperm cells, which are quite small, can have difficulty permeating the tissue wall to reach the eggs on the other side.
Another way in which endometriosis decreases fertility is if it is growing inside of the ovaries, themselves. In this situation, the tissue actually starts to grow around the eggs and can block them entirely from being able to be fertilized by sperm cells. Cysts may also form when tissue is inside of the ovary. Cysts make it impossible to become pregnant when conjoined with a condition like endometriosis.
This is because endometriosis can cause scar tissue to form in your fallopian tube. Scar tissue can block sperm cells from entering the ovary. It can also create an environment where there isn’t enough blood for the body to release an egg for fertilization.
Further problems with Endometriosis
Some more facts and symptoms of Endometriosis is that it may even cause a miscarriage after you do successfully become pregnant. This is because of its frequent ability to become inflamed. When the tissue becomes inflamed, your body reacts to fight the inflammation. Whenever your body experiences inflammation, it’s because there’s bacteria or a virus that’s attempting to invade your body. As a result, your body sends blood cells designed to kill the invasion and keep your body safe.
Unfortunately, in the case of endometriosis, when your body comes to attack the invading virus, it actually ends up being your fetus that is attacked and killed. Your body may also kill sperm cells if your endometriosis tissue is inflamed because it recognizes that as a foreign invader that needs to be destroyed.
Do You Need to Worry About Other Health Problems with Endometriosis
One question you might have for your IVF doctor or for your regular doctor is if endometriosis can cause other serious health problems. One of the main concerns that women have is if endometriosis is cancerous. After all, it involves the wild spread of tissue into other parts of the body. Thankfully, endometriosis is not cancerous. While sometimes it may be an indicator that you have cancer, endo, itself, does not cause cancer.
Yet it can lead to some other unpleasant health issues. Researchers discovered that women suffering from endometriosis are also more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome. They were also more likely to develop problems like fibromyalgia.
In addition, those who had endometriosis were also reported to more likely also be suffering from ailments like asthma, eczema, and allergies. They also found that women are also more likely to suffer from autoimmune diseases. These are situations in which the immune system targets its own body and fights it.
While you may not suffer from something like cancer, if you have this condition, then you may suffer from one of the above conditions as well.
Why You Should Turn to Surrogacy if You Have Endometriosis
Even if you suffer from endometriosis, you still have a chance of having a baby of your own through surrogacy. Surrogacy is performed using IVF or in-vitro fertilization. This method completely bypasses the need for sperm cells to enter your fallopian tube, which is the main place that endometrial cells hang out.
Instead, a clinic takes your egg cells and your partner’s sperm cells and places them in a petri dish. Without the tissue obstructing the path to the eggs, the sperm can successfully fertilize the eggs and an embryo can form. You may think that the embryo can then be placed in your body to grow. However, because endometriosis can cause miscarriages, it’s safer to use a surrogate instead.
Even if you just have tissue inside of your fallopian tubes and not your uterus, you don’t want to put the baby at risk. All it takes is for one bad period of inflammation or for a strand of tissue to make its new home in your uterus for it to cause a miscarriage. All of your hard work would have been foiled.
Using a California Surrogacy Agency to find your Surrogate Mother
Our surrogacy agency in California can make the process of surrogacy easy. It starts by signing up with our agency. In order to find a surrogate that matches your needs the most, we ask you several questions about your beliefs and needs for your surrogate. For example, do you want a surrogate who feels the same way that you do about the number of embryos you want to transfer? Do you want a surrogate that is open to frequent conversation? Is the location of your surrogate mother important to you?
All of these questions can help us find a surrogate that matches your needs and makes surrogacy just that much smoother.
Once we find a surrogate for you, endometriosis facts and symptoms do not need to hurt you any longer. You may have also discovered that your egg cells are too unhealthy for fertilization. Luckily, the process of surrogacy still works with an egg donor. Your egg donor will have their eggs delivered to the clinic closest to the surrogate. When the embryo and the surrogate’s body is ready, then the embryo will be transferred over to her body.
Without endometriosis causing any problems, the baby will be able to start growing and developing. After nine months, you’ll be able to hold your very own baby.
Can You Become a Surrogate If You Suffer from Endometriosis?
One question we often receive from surrogates is if they’re able to become a surrogate if they suffer from endometriosis, too. We carefully screen every prospective surrogate that wants to join our agency. If you have read about the facts and symptoms of endometriosis and suspect you have some of them- we’ll know about it.
Typically, because of the risks associated with endometriosis, and because we have strict qualifications for our prospective surrogates- this would disqualify you from becoming a surrogate.
Not only do women need to have a clean bill of health but they also need to have had a successful birth prior to joining us. If you have a lot of scar tissue in your uterus, then it’s unlikely that you were able to become pregnant, yourself. In addition, we also have a strict policy on miscarriages. While we do accept some women who have experienced miscarriages in the past, we draw the line at those who have had recurrent miscarriages.
This ensures that both the surrogate and the surrogate baby are kept safe. Surrogates need to be aware of the limits of their body. Pregnancies ask a lot from your health. If you know that you aren’t healthy enough to become pregnant, then you shouldn’t join our agency. You don’t want to endanger a baby. You also don’t want to waste the time or money of the intended parents who are counting on you to be healthy and provide a safe environment for their baby.
Benefits of Using a Surrogate If You Suffer from Endometriosis
If you’re still on the fence as to whether or not using a surrogate is right for your situation, then you need to consider the benefits. Using a surrogate to have a baby if you suffer from endometriosis is a safe way to grow your family. Because you have the ability to donate your own eggs and your partner’s sperm cells, the baby will be identical to your genetics.
The only difference is that another woman is carrying it term. While this may be difficult for some families to fathom, our agency has tons of resources to help intended parents through the tough parts of surrogacy.
If you suffer from these symptoms of endometriosis or you have been officially diagnosed, look no further to find a surrogate than with our surrogacy agency- inquire today!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Endometriosis Facts and Symptoms:
- Pain in your uterus
- Pain in during your menstrual cycle
- Heavy flow periods
- Pain and discomfort in your intestinal area
- Painful urination
- Painful sex
- Painful bowel movements
- Intestinal pain