Symptoms can include chronic pain and fatigue, and the condition can disrupt daily routines, fertility and mental health. Time off work may be needed for coping with symptoms or for tests and treatment. Some women feel no negative effects, and don't want support from their employer.
Give Yourself a Break. A useful coping technique for women with endometriosis is to acknowledge there will be chronic pain and some days will be worse than others. If you don't feel well, forego any activities. Always try to get ample sleep at night and don't feel guilty about taking naps when you need them.
Employment support
Endometriosis is a supported condition of the Disability Employment Services program. For more information, speak with APM about how we help people like you find meaningful work and get support to succeed in the workplace.
Getting quality rest is important — without it, you could experience metabolic and hormonal changes, along with increased inflammation and pain.
In brief, decisions will be made on individual circumstances as to whether a person meets the criteria for a disability. This has always been the case. An individual who has endometriosis will not automatically be deemed disabled.
Symptoms can include chronic pain and fatigue, and the condition can disrupt daily routines, fertility and mental health. Time off work may be needed for coping with symptoms or for tests and treatment.
While many women are unaware they even have the condition, those who experience severe symptoms may miss several days of work each month and even lose their jobs. If you had to leave work or missed days of work because of endometriosis, you may not be able to maintain full time employment.
The chronic pain from endometriosis can interfere with your day-to-day life. It can make you feel depressed, angry, frustrated, and mess with your sleep. When you feel emotional, your pain feels worse, leading to an unending cycle of stress and pain.
Endometriosis can damage the reproductive organs and affect fertility. For example, adhesions and endometriosis tissue can damage the uterus, making it more difficult for a fertilized egg to implant. It may also damage the ovaries, affecting egg quality and making it harder for a person to become pregnant.
Endometriosis is a chronic condition that can be painful, affect fertility and lead to reduced participation in school, work and sporting activities. The condition cost an estimated $7.4 billion in Australia in 2017–18, mostly through reduced quality of life and productivity losses (Ernst & Young 2019).
According to the United Kingdom's National Health Service, endometriosis is among the 20 most painful medical conditions, along with cancer, appendicitis and childbirth, and yet women's pain is on average ignored for seven years.
It is a chronic disease associated with severe, life-impacting pain during periods, sexual intercourse, bowel movements and/or urination, chronic pelvic pain, abdominal bloating, nausea, fatigue, and sometimes depression, anxiety, and infertility.
It is important to find out how much support your partner would like to have, and then give her that support if possible. But it is also just as important not to ignore your own problems and feelings. Men often avoid talking about these things because they are worried that it may cause their partner even more distress.
Reducing the amount of red meat in your diet, upping intake of fresh fruit and vegetables and getting three or more days of moderate- to high-high intensity exercise will help you in numerous ways—and may make a difference in the severity of your endometriosis. So they're certainly worth a try.
Endo belly is a severely bloated abdomen common in people with endometriosis. Some people say their swelling gets so bad, they look like they're pregnant. “People with endometriosis often have symptoms for years before receiving an accurate diagnosis,” says women's health specialist Megan Billow, DO.
Pelvic pain is the most common complaint for women with endometriosis, and it can significantly impair the quality of life, including work and social activities. The pelvic pain associated with endometriosis is usually chronic (lasting more than 6 months).
Telling someone to become pregnant is not only rude, but it's also none of that person's business. Many do not understand that pregnancy is not a cure for endometriosis. It is possible that pregnancy can mask the pain for a few months, but it is also possible that pregnancy can make symptoms worse.
Doctors don't know exactly how endometriosis affects fertility. Scar tissue from endometriosis may affect the release of eggs from the ovaries or block the path of the egg through the fallopian tube so it cannot get to the uterus. Endometriosis may also damage sperm or fertilized eggs before they implant in the uterus.
Among women with endometriosis, chronic pain was significantly associated with increased sick leave (OR=3.52, 95% CI: 2.02 to 6.13, R2=0.072, p<0.001) as well as with loss of productivity at work (OR=3.08, 95% CI: 2.11 to 4.50, R2=0.087, p<0.001).
One way to speak to your boss about endometriosis is to make your conversation as articulate and coherent as possible for them. Because many men and even women do not fully understand what endometriosis feels like, it's a good idea to provide research-based evidence to your employer to strengthen your case if need be.
Recover times and what to expect after endometriosis surgery
3-4 days of quick recovery. Ability to exercise and have intercourse within 7-10 days, usually off work one week. Well recovered by 4-8 weeks. Normal fertility within 4-8 weeks of surgery.