Endometriosis as a disease entity is so poorly understand, secondary to being a disease of women. Normally, a woman’s symptoms are not believed, and the symptoms are deemd to be psychiatric in origin, blatant psyche out bias. Addititonally, the systemicness of Endometriosis is often overlooked, and the woman is diagnosed with multiple other vague diseases, such as, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Luckily, a test was developed for IBS, but it is not extensively utilized.
Endometriosis in the population is about 20-30% of women, even in my population of Medical Cannabis patients. Stage 0 Endometriosis is very invisible, but the patient normally has severe pelvic pain with severe fatigue, intractable migraines, alternating constipation/diarrhea, worsening diffuse myalgia, starting from ovulation. Some women even have seizures secondary to the catamenial migraines, some women have nose bleeds every month with their menses, catamenial epistaxis.
I have included a table below to depict some of the possible systemic sequelae of systemic Endometriosis. In about 5 years Medical Cannabis, and the Endocannabinoid System (EBS) will be fleshed out in greater detail. There are over 600 compounds in Medical Cannabis, which include the Terpenes. Currently, Medical Cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug, and therefore is poorly studied in America. The best and most comprehensinve studies of the many benefits of Medical Cannabis are out of Israel and Canada. Intensive studies are being undertaken in Colorado at the moment.
Table 1: Review of systems with corresponding endometriosis symptoms/sequelae.
| System | Symptoms/Sequelae |
| Psychological | Premenstrual syndrome Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Possible suicidal ideations |
| Neurological | Migraines Cerebritis Seizures Sciatica Lower back pain Diffuse Myalgia Nausea/vomiting |
| Respiratory | Chest pain Costochondritis Pneumothorax Hemothorax Pneumonitis with restrictive lung disease |
| Cardiac | Pericarditis with angina/myocarditis Dysrhythmia with coronary vasospasm |
| Gastrointestinal | Inflammation of small intestine and large intestine with dysmotility/malabsorption Bowel obstruction/strictures Hemorrhage Nausea/vomiting Alternating diarrhea/constipation Rectocele |
| Genitourinary | Endometrioma Cystitis Bacterial vaginosis Bladder inflammation Hemorrhage Recurrent urinary tract infections |
| Musculoskeletal | Diffuse myalgia/calf localization |
| Hematology | Hypercoagulable state Epistaxis Immunocompromised |
| Endocrine | Fatigue Vitamin D deficiency Vitamin B12 deficiency Vitamin B complex deficiency Iron deficiency anemia |