Painful periods, stellar migraines, severe cramps that lead you grabbing for the advil (or naproxen) in the middle of the night only to have it only “kind of” work? Welcome to the world of, potentially, endometriosis.

Endometriosis is a chronic condition that is difficult to diagnose, as it usually requires a laparoscopic surgery to do so. The hardest thing about endometriosis, is that most imaging shows that “nothing is there”. This is can be so frustrating for women with painful periods, because all we want is for SOMETHING to be there! The truth is that, when it comes to ruling in (or out) endo, we expect to see imaging come back negative.

So what symptoms should you be looking for if you might have endometriosis?

Painful Periods
And I’m not talking about pain that starts the day of your period and is a lingering ache that can be solved with taking a dose of ibuprofen. I’m talking about pain that can start up to 2 weeks before you period and worsen. I’m talking about pain that can cause you to call in sick to work, vomit, or be nauseous. This is pain that is common with endometriosis.

Do you have to have pain to be diagnosed with endometriosis? No. But it is VERY common in it’s presentation when it is present.

Heavy Periods
Fighting anemia isn’t fun, and when your periods can last for 7, 10, 14 days; it’s even harder. Endometriosis leads to a thickening of the endometrial wall, which can result in very heavy periods. We’re talking changing a super tampon every hour, bleeding through pads, type periods.

Food Sensitivities
I don’t talk a lot about food sensitivities on here, because it’s a topic where the research is not as great. What we know from the trends in the research and clinical experience, is that many women with endometriosis will have sensitivities to gluten, dairy, night shade veggies (potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, paprika and eggplant) or additives. This does not mean that removing these foods will eliminate your endo, but in many cases, decreasing your consumption of these foods has been shown to help decrease symptoms.