What Exactly Is Adenomyosis (and Does It Affect Fertility)?
When actress and all-around girl crush Gabrielle Union recently revealed her adenomyosis diagnosis at the BlogHer conference in New York City (and how it might explain why she’s been struggling to conceive), we applauded her for moving a conversation about women’s health into the mainstream. And then we asked ourselves, what the heck is adenomyosis (ad-uh-no-my-O-sis), anyway? To save you the google, we tapped OBGYN Lisa Masterson about the condition, including its symptoms and links to fertility.
So, what exactly is adenomyosis? “Adenomyosis is when the lining of the uterus (aka endometrial tissue) grows into the muscle of the uterus,” Dr. Masterson tells us. This extra tissue can create an enlarged uterus, which may not be particularly noticeable or can present symptoms ranging from mild to severe.
What kind of symptoms? Heavy, painful periods are the most common ones. “Patients usually get a sore, boggy uterus around the time of their period and it can often cause severe pain and bleeding, leading to anemia,” says Dr. Masterson. Other symptoms include swelling or tenderness in your lower belly and pain during sex. And here’s another bummer—adenomyosis is very difficult to diagnose since it’s often chalked up to “normal” that-time-of-the-month pain.
How common is adenomyosis? Because the condition can be difficult to diagnose (see note above), it’s hard to get an accurate figure of how many women are affected. According to the National Health Service in the U.K., around one in 10 women will have adenomyosis. But research published in Human Reproduction journal found that it was prevalent in 20 percent of women in the study. So, yeah, it could be more common than we think.
What are the causes of adenomyosis? There’s no known cause of the disease, although the Mayo Clinic notes that there are certain risk factors like prior uterine surgery (like a C-section), childbirth and middle age (adenomyosis is most commonly diagnosed in women aged 40 to 50).
Got it. And what about treatment options? Birth control pills or other hormones are often prescribed to help lighten periods and pain meds can help with the pain, says Dr. Masterson. She also says that in very severe cases, women might opt for a hysterectomy to alleviate the pain (but this is far from the norm).
And can adenomyosis affect fertility? While there is some research that suggests adenomyosis might affect a woman’s fertility, Dr. Masterson says that currently there isn’t actually any concrete evidence. Meaning that if you are diagnosed with the condition and would like to conceive, there’s no reason to assume that you won’t be able to. But like with all health questions, you should always bring up any issues or concerns with your doctor.
