Despite years of chronic pelvic pain and other incapacitating symptoms, some women receive their first diagnosis of endometriosis when attempting, and failing, to conceive. Endometriosis affects women during the prime years of their lives, a time when they should be finishing education, starting and maintaining a career, building relationships, and perhaps having a family. For these women who have their productivity affected, their quality of life compromised and their chances for starting a family reduced, it is something society can no longer afford to ignore.
Although women have a higher life expectancy than men, women spend many more years than men living with age related ill-health and disability. One of the driving factors of this phenomena is that women are more likely to present with ‘invisible’ illnesses and disabilities which are often not adequately recognised by the healthcare system, such as endometriosis and depression. Despite the existence of severe pain, often described as ‘intense’ or ‘overwhelming’, women experience huge delays in receiving the diagnosis of endometriosis with their symptoms frequently trivialized or normalised. Women with endometriosis have feelings of hopelessness, isolation and worthlessness with rates of depression and anxiety approaching 90% in this population. They feel that the symptoms and experience of endometriosis have negative impact on their relationships, in some cases leading to relationship breakdown. More than 13,500 women in the UK took part in BBC research into endometriosis, with half saying they had suicidal thoughts, a theme which also sadly emerged from our engagement with women.
The EndoSolve team will contribute to the health of women and society by providing women with endometriosis a quick, non-invasive, non-hormonal, cost-effective way to diagnose, treat and monitor endometriosis, preventing progression of disease and preserving fertility.
