CONTENT OVERVIEW:

• Symptoms of endometriosis
• Diagnosis and therapy
• Due to endometriosis an unrealised desire to have a child
• Paths to pregnancy

Do you suffer from endometriosis and still wish to have a child? Do you believe that your severe pain and infertility are due to endometriosis? Then clarify your situation exactly - with the right measures, pregnancy despite endometriosis succeeds in most cases.

We do everything we can to ensure that the wish for a baby also comes true for women with endometriosis:

• We take the time to get to know you and familiarize ourselves with your situation in detail.
• We perform an accurate diagnosis, explain the results to you and answer your questions.
• We show you the treatment options that suit you and inform you about the procedure.
• Together with you, we weigh up which additional measures make sense for you, what is specifically important and what needs to be taken into account.
• We accompany you comprehensively and with understanding in the preparation, during the therapy and beyond. In doing so, it is a matter of course for us to use the latest medical knowledge as well as state-of-the-art equipment and to always be available for your concerns and wishes.

Arrange a no-obligation initial consultation, if you suffer from endometriosis or think you may be affected. We will find the right path to the desired child for you.

SYMPTOMS OF ENDOMETRIOSIS

Endometriosis is a chronic disease. Its exact cause is not known. It affects 10 to 15 percent of all pre-menopausal women. In Austria that is about 300,000 women. The disease often remains undiagnosed for a long time. In endometriosis tissue lesions similar to the endometrium appear in various places in the body. These endometriosis lesions cause bleeding. However, since the blood cannot drain away, cysts, adhesions, inflammation and scarring develop.

This leads to symptoms that can massively reduce the quality of life:

• Extreme menstrual pain
• Severe pain during and after sex, urination or bowel movements
• Lower abdominal pain, nausea, general malaise
• Bleeding disorders in the form of very long or very heavy periods
• Increased susceptibility to infections
• Lack of motivation, mild fever or back pain

The symptoms are mostly related to the menstrual cycle but not directly to the stage of development of the disease. This means that a pronounced endometriosis infestation does not necessarily mean more severe pain and vice versa. However, if pain occurs, it increases with the age of the woman.

DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY

The symptoms of the disease are varied; the endometriosis lesions occur in a wide variety of body sites. Therefore, diagnosis is often difficult. In addition, many of those affected lack awareness of this issue. Thus, years often pass before a doctor is consulted and the disease is diagnosed.

If you think you might have endometriosis, ask your gynecologist and come directly to us at the Wunschkind-Klinik.

We use a palpation examination and ultrasound to determine whether your suspicions are confirmed. Endometriosis can only be diagnosed unequivocally with a surgical procedure. During this laparoscopy, a camera is inserted through small incisions to determine whether and where endometriosis lesions are present.

Endometriosis is incurable. Therapies are therefore aimed at alleviating and suppressing the symptoms and slowing down the progression of the disease. Endometriosis is treated surgically or with hormone therapies. If the endometriosis lesions are removed by surgery, the symptoms may disappear completely. Hormone therapies aim to suppress the symptoms of the disease.

UNREALIZED DESIRE TO HAVE CHILDREN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS

About 40 percent of patients are affected by a serious effect of endometriosis: unrealized desire to have children.

For various reasons, the disease can prevent pregnancy:

• The fallopian tubes are stuck together due to inflammation. The egg cannot move into the uterus.
• Cysts restrict the mobility of the ovaries and thus interfere with ovulation.
• Adhesions prevent the egg from entering the fallopian tube.
• The eggs develop worse than in healthy women.
• The inflammations due to the disease lead to unfavorable conditions for the implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus.
• The rhythmic movements of the uterine muscles do not work properly, so the sperm cells are not transported actively enough through the fallopian tubes to the egg.

PATHS TO PREGNANCY

Women with endometriosis who wish to have a child should discuss their personal situations with their doctor. If a natural pregnancy is not possible due to the disease, there are several ways in which it can work.

Depending on the effects of endometriosis on you, these treatment options are available:

• Hormonal stimulation, which stimulates egg formation and triggers ovulation. Insemination. We prepare the man's sperm and insert it directly into the uterus.
• Artificial insemination - IVF. In in vitro fertilization, after hormonal stimulation, we retrieve eggs and combine them with sperm in a test tube. If embryos develop, we insert them into the uterus.
• Artificial insemination - ICSI. The procedure of this therapy is similar to IVF treatment. However, here we select a suitable sperm and inject it directly into the egg in the test tube.