Photos: The March for Endometriosis

On March 21st 2015, women battling endometriosis and their supporters in Lagos took a walk in Lagos against endometriosis. The goal was to drive awareness about endometriosis and the lifelong effects it has on both women of all ages, to educate people on the importance of early diagnosis as it is fundamental in winning the battle against endometriosis. 

We believe that something has to change and the time has come for the empire of endometriosis.

If not detected early and treated properly, endometriosis can be a serious, painful and debilitating disease with severe medical consequences. That’s why we marched to END THE SILENCE ad create AWARENESS of ENDOMETRIOSIS.

You might wonder what endometriosis is. Endometriosis is a disease in which tissue similar to the lining inside the uterus (called the “endometrium”), is found outside the uterus, where is induces a chronic inflammatory reaction that may result in scar tissue. It is primarily found on the pelvic side-wall peritoneum, ovaries, in the recto-vaginal septum, on the bladder, and bowel. In very rare cases it is found on the diaphragm, in the lungs, on the intestines, in the caesarian-section scars, colon, appendix, and rectum. In even more rare cases, endometriosis has been found inside the vagina, inside the bladder, on the skin, in the lung, spine and brain.

The most common signs and symptoms include severe pelvic and or stomach pain, pain during or around menstruation, heavy bleeding during periods, infertility and or sub-fertility, painful bowel and or bladder symptoms, pain with sexual intercourse, chronic gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation, nerve and musculoskeletal symptoms, including lower back and pudendal nerve pain.

Treatment

Endometriosis can be treated with drugs and surgery but, these treatments are not suitable to long time use due to the side effects. Also, it results in drug dependency, drug abuse and the eventful overdose on pain killers. 

Our ENDOMARCH was supported by NESTLE water.