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Causes of Endometriosis
The womb lining (endometrial tissue) responds to the natural hormone cycle and bleeds every time a period occurs. When women bleed normally throughout menstruation, blood leaves the body through the vagina. However, in the case of endometriosis, the blood has no outlet and becomes trapped in the tissue, causing pain, inflammation, cysts and scar tissue. You may find blood in your stools or urine during your period, or experience pain in diverse areas of your body. More uncommon, but not unheard of, are women experiencing nosebleeds during their periods because they have endometrial patches in the nasal passages. In summary, there are four key causes of endometriosis Retrograde menstrual flowGenetic predispositionImmune/autoimmuneOestrogen dominance.While the exact cause of endometriosis remains unknown, many theories have been presented to explain its development. These concepts do not necessarily exclude each other. Endometriosis is an oestrogen-dependent condition, as it is seen during the reproductive years and generally disappears after menopause. Medical therapy is often aimed at lowering oestrogen levels to control the disease.
Key causes of Endometriosis - 'Retrograde menstruation', is when some menstrual blood flows upwards into the pelvis and attaches to various organs in the abdomen. While most women may have some retrograde menstrual flow, typically their immune system is able to clear the debris and prevent implantation and growth of cells from this occurrence. However, in some patients, endometrial tissue transplanted by retrograde menstruation is able to implant and establish itself as endometriosis.
- Factors that might cause the tissue to grow in some women, but not in others, need to be explained, and some of the possible causes below may provide some explanation, i.e. hereditary factors, toxins or a compromised immune system.
- It can be argued that the uninterrupted occurrence of regular menstruation over decades, month after month, is a modern phenomenon, as in the past women had more frequent breaks from menstruation due to pregnancy or lactation.
- Hereditary factors may play a role. It is well recognised that daughters or sisters of patients with endometriosis are at a higher risk to develop endometriosis themselves. A specific gene, however, has not been identified.
- Endometriosis has been found in abdominal incision scars after surgery for endometriosis.
- On rare occasions endometriosis may be transplanted by blood or by the lymphatic system into peripheral organs (i.e. lungs, brain).
- Recent research is focusing on the immune system, which may not be able to cope with the cyclic onslaught of retrograde menstrual fluid.
- In this context there is interest to study the relationship of endometriosis to autoimmune disease, allergy reactions and the impact of toxins.
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