Endometriosis and Hormone Receptors

We should all know by now that endometriosis is similar to the endometrium but quite different!! The estrogen and progesterone receptors are different between the two.

The differences in hormone receptor expression are incredibly important.
WHY?
-This helps us better understand why hormonal therapies don’t treat endometriosis and often don’t even help alleviate painful symptoms.
-This helps us understand why pain can happen at any time of the month, independent of the menstrual cycle.

Knowing these details helps me better understand why some of us may experience symptomatic relief with hormone suppression. And why others (I venture to say most) get no symptomatic relief.

This disease is far more complex than simply using hormone suppression or menopause to treat symptoms.
And these hormonal therapies do NOTHING to treat the disease.

The presence of receptors changes throughout the menstrual cycle – along with the appearance of the glands and stroma of the endometrium.
ENDOMETRIOSIS LESIONS DO NOT UNDERGO THESE CHANGES WE SEE WITH THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE.
Hormone receptors are mostly persistent among the glands and stroma of the endometriosis lesions despite hormonal fluctuations that control the menstrual cycle.

This is ANOTHER reason halting the menstrual cycle will not necessarily cause any symptomatic relief. The lesions do NOT behave the same way and the endometrium.