’Listen to women’: UK doctors issued with first guidance on endometriosis | Society | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/06/listen-to-women-uk-doctors-issued-with-first-guidance-on-endometriosis
Doctors are being advised to listen to what women tell them about crippling pelvic and period pain and look out for the symptoms of endometriosis in a bid to speed up diagnosis of a disease that can wreck lives and careers.
It takes an average of seven to eight years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, according to the first-ever guidance on managing a disease that affects one in 10 women from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in England. Experts say the long wait is the same all over the western world. Many women are told they are making a fuss about normal period pain. Some are unable to work and the disease causes others to become infertile.
The NHS must listen to women, says Nice. If they have symptoms including continuing pelvic pain, severe period pain, pain during sex or they suffer from infertility, endometriosis must not be ruled out. It should not be discounted if the woman continues to say she has symptoms when examinations such as ultrasound scans are negative.
“Delayed diagnosis is a significant problem for many women with endometriosis leading them to years of unnecessary distress and suffering,” said Professor Mark Baker, director of the centre for guidelines at Nice.
