"Endometriosis? What's that?" Most of the female teenagers would ask with confused looks on their faces. I know that I did when my Mother told me that she had it. Then a couple of years later I found out that my Grandmother and my Anty also had the disease. So I decided to do some research on this disease that would put my mother on the floor in agonizing pain. After reading only a few articles I was highly disturbed by what my research came up with.

The definition of the disease Endometriosis is a condition which usually results in pain and dysmenorrhea. It is characterized by the abnormal occurrence of functional endometrial tissue outside the uterus. To simplify the description of the disease is when a woman without endometriosis has her period the tissue lining stays inside the uterus whereas a woman with endometriosis's tissue lining goes outside the uterus as well as inside.

The most likely areas for endometriosis to occur are the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder and intestines, uterine wall and the lining of the pelvis. My mother has unfortunately got the disease in more than one area of those stated above.

There are some scary facts about endometriosis among women for instance it is believed that 10-15% of women in the world will develop the disease during puberty and 25-35% of infertile women have endometriosis and the fact that mostly ditrubed me was that the chance of a woman having the disease was seven times higher if a immediate female relative had the disease.

I also found out that endometriosis sometimes shows no symptoms, a few of the symptoms or all of the symptoms. The most common symptoms are painful periods, pain during sexual intercourse, pelvic pain and back pain. Other less common abdominal symptoms include rectal bleeding, bloating, constipation and obstruction of intestines due to scar tissue. So due to the inconsistent symptoms among women and unawareness of the disease many women are not seen to before its too late. Luckily my mother gave birth to me before the disease had caused her to be infertile.

The most common way, that I have found in my research, to be diagnosed is by describing the symptoms that the female shows and by stating a clear family history, if any, of the disease so as to get the correct diagnosis if there is any indication endometriosis.

Treatment for women with endometriosis is individual to their specific case. Some of the treatments that are available are medical treatment such as a

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