The blood is trapped in the pelvic cavity, and eventually, a blood-filled cyst can form" (Ammer, 200). .
The breakdown of the endometrial tissue is what leads to most of the symptoms of endo. Women with endometriosis often have severe dysmenorrhea. Dysmenorrhea is "pain with menstruation, usually cramping in nature and centered in the lower abdomen" (Glass, 566). In other words, dysmenorrhea is the cramps that all women dread when they know their period is coming. Almost every woman has experienced the pain and discomfort of menstrual cramps. It is hard to describe the feeling of cramps. It is as if the reproductive organs are a drum set, and they"re being played by a drummer from a rock band. Now, imagine a woman with severe cramps cause by endo; there are seven or eight drummers using hammers instead of drum sticks. Undoubtedly, this would cause immense pain. .
In many cases, the pain is so unbearable that the woman will miss work or school. Missing out on normal activities because of menstrual pain is one of the signs that a woman may have endo. Other symptoms include, but are not limited to: pain while urinating, pain during sexual intercourse, pain in the lower back, abdominal bloating, and constant fatigue. Usually, these symptoms are experienced only during menstruation, but in severe cases, they can occur more frequently. .
The most devastating effect of this disease is its link to infertility. Almost 40% of woman who have endo are infertile. It is not definitively known what exactly the correlation between these two things are, but it is known that women with endo are more likely to be infertile than woman without endo. Many doctors have speculated as to why this is. "Many physicians believe that even minimal endometriosis can cause infertility, impairing tubal function gamete quality" (Glass, 1061). The physicians and doctors who assert this believe that the adhesions cause by the bleeding during menstruation can block the path within the fallopian tubes.