Fact or Myth? Endometriosis is caused by a sexually transmitted disease (STD).

MYTH!!

“I have been asked that, and I know that a few other people on here bave been asked the same thing”. – Samantha on an endo forum on facebook.

I too have been told by a gynecologist that I must have a STD, because he was sure I didn’t have endometriosis. This, after a referral from another doctor. All he did was give me a pelvic exam, and state definitively he did not believe I have endo. He even suggested I may have recurrent bladder infections, but not endo.

Dr. David Redwine, a notable endometriosis specialist and surgeon, writes:

“In medical school, many doctors are taught that sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) are rampant because of sexually promiscuous women. This is clearly a simplistic and sexist viewpoint, but it is commonly encountered during the initial evaluation of pelvic pain. Even when a teenager may give a history of being a virgin, she may be subjected to testing for and antibiotic treatment of presumed STD’s. Sometimes the patient may be admitted to the hospital for intravenous antibiotic therapy.

“Since the severe pain usually lets up after some time, the conclusions are made that the patient is responding to medication and that she really did have an STD despite negative cultures. Some patients undergo repeated rounds of antibiotic treatment before STD’s are discarded as the cause of the pain.

“Frequently birth control pills are prescribed. Although these may be very helpful in controlling symptoms for some patients, there is no medicine that eradicates endometriosis.”