Endometriosis is a common cause of infertility in women. According to Fertilitycommunity.com's article Endometriosis, 30-40% of women with endometriosis will likely have problems conceiving. I am one of those women.

So, what exactly is endometriosis? Endometrial tissue is the tissue in your uterus that provides a soft cushion for a fertilized egg to attach. Women with endometriosis have endometrial tissue outside of the uterus. I had this tissue located on the outside of my uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. My doctor took pictures during the laparoscopy, which I have posted here. As you can see, the endometriosis looks like small patches of dark tissue on the outside of my organs.

Here is what the doctor's notes say about each picture:

• Upper left: Right ovary and cysts
• Lower left: Endometriosis behind uterus
• Upper right: Left ovary, scar, cysts, and endometriosis [dark patch on white]
• Lower right: After - Endometriosis and cysts treated; tubes open

Some women with endometriosis experience painful periods. I was not one of them, so my first fertility specialist did not perform a laparoscopy to rule out this possible cause of my infertility. (The only way to determine whether endometriosis is the culprit is by performing a laparoscopy. See Endometriosis.)

I have known women with incredibly painful periods who had a small amount of endometriosis. Meanwhile, I had a fairly severe case of endometriosis without struggling with painful periods. I asked my doctor to explain why this was. His answer was, "Location, location, location." According to my doctor, the location of the endometriosis accounts for a large amount of the pain. He also said that, in situations like mine in which there is a significant amount of endometriosis, the nerves in that part of the body can shut down so that the woman no longer feels pain. That is what he believes happened to me.

Endometriosis can attach to different organs and cause all sorts of bizarre issues. The endometriosis actually made one of my ovaries "stick" to the back of my uterus, which made it near impossible for me to conceive out of that ovary. The fallopian tubes need to be very flexible and work like a vacuum to move the egg toward the uterus. Since my ovary was "stuck" to the back of my uterus, the attached fallopian tube was not capable to functioning in the proper way.

Your doctor can both diagnose and treat endometriosis during the same laparoscopy. He can "clean out" the tissue so that you no longer have endometrial tissue on other organs. However, this is not a permanent solution. I had one laparoscopy in the spring of 2000, and then my ovary "stuck" to my uterus with endometriosis by spring of 2004. Using the drug Lupron can also help.

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