In honor of Endometriosis Awareness Month,
We are proud to support Endometriosis Coalition, a nonprofit committed to raising awareness, promoting reliable education, and increasing research funding for endometriosis. Not only will we provide a financial contribution to help further Endometriosis Coalition’s efforts, but you can look for more content this month about signs and symptoms of endometriosis and how you can get involved to support their work. We encourage you to learn more and consider making a donation.
Learn more in our featured article “Endometriosis: Not Just a Bad Period – Q&A with Endometriosis Coalition” and in our Instagram post.
About Endometriosis Coalition
Roughly 10% of women in the United States are living with endometriosis and many of them struggle in silence. What is endometriosis? In the simplest terms, endometriosis is tissue similar to the lining of the uterus that is found outside the uterus, on other parts of the body. This rogue tissue creates lesions that become inflamed, can bleed, and break down causing pain, scar tissue, and inflammation. Endometriosis is not only found in the pelvis. It is also often found on places like the bladder, bowels, appendix, diaphragm, and even lungs. Endometriosis should be treated as a whole-body disease.
According to Endometriosis Coalition, there are four factors that prevent endometriosis patients from receiving adequate care: lack of awareness amongst the general public, misinformation amongst medical professionals, lack of government funding, and lack of insurance coverage.
LACK OF AWARENESS AMONGST THE GENERAL PUBLIC
- 176 million women globally are affected by endometriosis.
- Treating endometriosis costs the nation an estimated $119 billion annually.
MISINFORMATION AMONGST MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
- The average time between symptom onset and diagnosis is 10 years.
- Hysterectomy is often presented as a cure, despite the fact that current medical literature proves it to be an ineffective treatment.
- Hormone suppression is highly regarded as acceptable treatment of the disease itself when in actuality, it only masks the symptoms.
- Despite statistical evidence that shows women who undergo excision surgery have better long-term outcomes, many OB/GYNs do not acknowledge excision surgery as the gold standard of treatment.
- There is a general lack of surgical skill to properly perform excision surgery.
LACK OF GOVERNMENT FUNDING
- The National Institute of Health (NIH) had a budget in 2020 of $41.6 billion, yet endometriosis will receive only $6 million.
- The amount of funding received for endometriosis is much smaller when compared to other diseases that affect close to the same number of people.
LACK OF INSURANCE COVERAGE
- Despite current research and favorable outcomes, excision surgery is viewed as an investigational service by many insurance companies.
- No incentives exist to improve the quality of treatment because endometriosis specialists are reimbursed at the same rate as regular OB/GYNs.
- An endometriosis specialist who performs a 4 to 6-hour excision surgery will receive the same reimbursement as a non-specialist who spends 30 minutes to an hour, using a less successful surgical technique such as ablation or fulguration.
This month, help us support Endometriosis Coalition's work to educate, empower, and advocate on behalf of women diagnosed with endometriosis.
