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Mercy gynecologist Dr. Kevin Audlin

Mercy Gynecologist Dr. Kevin Audlin Addresses Diagnosis And Treatment Of Endometriosis

Melissa Shipley is back to her normal self these days..... but for years she lived in constant pain.

"I'd wake up in the morning with significant lower back and leg pain. It would last all day, usually by the end of the day I was either in bed, at home or the sofa."

Shipley, an occupational therapist, has had problems since she was 12 and started her menstrual cycle....but things worsened after the birth of her second child.

"I found myself taking Motrin daily for pain. It was also begining to affect my quality of life."

In February 2007, Ms. Shipley was diagnosed with endometriosis.

"I almost felt relieved because I finally felt as a woman I had been heard and my symptoms were real," she said.

According to Mercy gynecologist and surgeon Dr. Kevin Audlin, about 25,000 women in Maryland are affected by endometriosis.

"We think the lining that sheds during the menstrual cycle comes back through the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity, rather than coming out," he said.

Dr. Audlin added that endometriosis is often missed or not diagnosed at all.

"The biggest symptoms are pain with intercourse, pain with menstrual cycle, pain outside of the cycle," he said. "These chocolate brown cystic type structures you can see this is where the endometriosis tends to go."

If not detected, endometriosis can lead to fertility issues, but "that's preventable," Dr. Audlin added.

"The best way to treat it is by laparoscopy. A small incision through the belly button and a telescope looking into pelvic cavity, identifying it and excising it physically removing it from the pelvis," he said.

After a year of diet changes, weight loss, holistic treatments, Melissa opted for a hysterectomy.

"I feel like a new person. I can function day to day without the pain, without discomfort."

Dr. Audlin stressed that a hysterectomy doesn't have to be your only option if endometriosis is caught and treated.

For more details re: Dr. Audlin's interview, visit http://www.abc2news.com/content/health/story/Endometriosis-Awareness-Week/LfryNk9RY0SkGwGLHseX0g.cspx