Does endometriosis have a habit of troubling bone health and causing joint pain more than normal? I’ve always believed a lot of additional medical issues are not spoken of in women who have endometriosis, PCOS and adenomyosis type conditions. I decided to do some research on the connect between bone health and endometriosis here’s how it went…
What Causes Joint Pain?
There are many reason for joint pain – anything from a tendon injury to cancer, but I’m going to list five such conditions that connect with endometriosis just to illustrate the role endometriosis and other hormonal issues have with other conditions that cause joint pain.
Here is a video version of this post on my YouTube channel. If you prefer to read on, then please scroll down a bit, otherwise you can watch the video right here:
1. Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a bone disease – it’s when the bone becomes porous because either the body is losing too much bone or the body isn’t producing enough bone (or both in some cases).
Because of this loss of density, the bones have a higher tendency to break even during minor falls.
Relevant Read:
Can Endometriosis Make Osteoporosis Worse?
Endometriosis is when the lining similar to that of the uterus is found to be growing outside the uterus. This problem is further propagated by higher estrogen.
To help reduce endometriosis or control its growth, women are often put on a treatment plan to reduce this high estrogen.
Lower estrogen has been linked to weaker bones.
Plus, estrogen is also naturally lowered when women go through menopause.
Just to add, studies also show that women are more likely than men to develop osteoporosis.
So can endometriosis make osteoporosis worse? Yes it can. This is why it’s important for every woman, especially if you have endometriosis, adenomyosis or PCOS to get a DEXA scan done – this is a bone density scan that helps indicate bone health in various areas of the body.
It’s a precise scan that will clearly indicate problem areas.
Your hip may have osteoporosis, but your arm might be normal – this helps the doctor help the patient come up with a bone health plan – whether it’s through supplements, medication, a change in diet and / or exercise.
If you have endometriosis, adenomyosis or PCOS then it will also make sense to understand where your hormone levels stand – lower estrogen may then need to be improved too.
Do speak to your doctor about this. If you would like to know which doctors treat me, then you can here:
Further Relevant Reads:
2. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune chronic inflammatory disorder.
RA affects the lining of the joints, causing painful swelling, bone erosion and joint deformity.
Being a systemic disorder, RA can also damage the skin, eyes, lungs heart and blood vessels.
Can Endometriosis Make Rheumatoid Arthritis Worse?
There was a study that pointed out that women with endometriosis had a higher chance of getting rheumatoid arthritis.
In fact, it is believed that women with endometriosis have a higher risk of developing other autoimmune disorders too:
“The reason for the link is unclear, but it might exist because endometriosis causes inflammation, which may contribute to an imbalanced immune response. An autoimmune disease is one in which the body mistakenly attacks its cells, tissues, or organs. The resulting damage can cause a wide variety of symptoms, depending on which part of the body it affects.The abnormal immune response that occurs in endometriosis may be due to an existing autoimmune disorder. The evidence is not clear as to which condition causes the other.”
Relevant Read:
3. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)
EDS is a genetic connective tissue disorder, in which there is a defect in the structure or processing of the protein collagen.
There are 13 subtypes of EDS, of which I know more about the Hypermobile-EDS subtype because that’s what I have.
This condition causes symptoms that can range from chronic joint and muscle pain, loose joints, skin fragility, scarring, slow healing, fatigue, osteoarthritis and dislocations amongst many other symptoms.
Can Endometriosis Make EDS Worse?
I’ve spoken about the connect between the two in great depth in my article here:
Connecting Endometriosis and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
In this post you’ll get to understand how endometriosis doesn’t make EDS joint-pain worse, it in fact is the other way round.
Endometriosis is a comorbidity of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome – It’s EDS that makes endometriosis worse.
Read Here For:
- My Journey: Being Diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
- My Acne Skincare Remedies – Endometriosis & Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
4. Lupus
Lupus is also an autoimmune disorder and is known to damage any part of the body – including skin, joints and organs.
9 out of 10 affected are women – especially during their reproductive years.
Lupus contributes to heart disease, osteoporosis (medication contributes to bone loss), and even kidney disease.
Can Endometriosis Make Lupus Worse?
Amongst other reasons, hormones such as estrogen is known to be a possible cause of Lupus, which is why it’s more prevalent in women in their child-bearing years.
And as explained earlier, women who have endometriosis are known to have higher levels of estrogen, which could then link endometriosis and lupus.
In a 2010 study it was concluded:
“Conclusion. There could have been recall bias and participants may have confused pre-menstrual syndrome with flares. However, there seem to be menstrual cycle flares in SLE, RA and FM.”
(SLE = Systematic Lupus Erythematosus – RA = Rheumatoid Arthritis – FM = Fibromyalgia)
In fact after reading more about Lupus, I’ve come to understand that those with endometriosis are at a higher risk of suffering from this autoimmune disorder, therefore suffering from higher levels of joint pain along with skin and organ issues.
5. Fibromyalgia
There’s a word I’ve heard physiotherapists use quite often – ‘musculoskeletal pain’ – it’s also the term used to explain part of what fibromyalgia is about.
“Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.”
Can Endometriosis Make Fibromyalgia Worse?
Interestingly, a lot of medical conditions that are autoimmune disorders do tend to be connected with endometriosis, and fibromyalgia is no different.
In 2002, The National Institute of Health stated:
“The researchers also found that women with endometriosis are more likely to have chronic fatigue syndrome and to suffer from fibromyalgia syndrome-a disease involving pain in the muscles, tendons, and ligaments.”
Relevant Read:
- Understanding the Connection between Fibromyalgia & Endometriosis
- 11 Ways to Treat Fibromyalgia if You Have Endometriosis
- Are Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome & Fibromyalgia Connected?
Now to answer the original question…
Can Endometriosis Cause Joint Pain?
Yes, endometriosis can cause joint pain by contributing to the symptoms of other medical conditions which are more closely linked to joint and bone health.
And, what all of the above research leads me to believe is that if we can reduce the affects of the underlying condition whether it’s Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and / or endometriosis we give ourselves a better chance of not developing additional comorbidities and also reducing the pains suffered from these additional conditions.
In my own experience, I found that treating one condition doesn’t always eliminate the other because the additional medical condition gains a life of its own.
But yes, if treating the underlying issue reduces the possibility of developing something else or reduces the symptoms of this other condition then that is a huge incentive.
It’s good to work on what you can.
How Can You Improve Joint Pain if You Have Endometriosis / EDS?
So as mentioned above, it’s best to treat the underlying condition that adds to joint pain and bone health troubles.
I do this by treating my endometriosis and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome through:
- Medication
- Endometriosis excision surgery
- Diet – I made six changes to this
- Exercise
- Taping
- Pain Management
But it is also important that all these pointers are done keeping the additional conditions in mind, for example, if you have osteoporosis and endometriosis then your medication needs to help maintain estrogen rather than letting it drop to levels which reduces bone density.
It’s all quite complex and can be quite challenging when you’re trying to maintain balance between more than one of these conditions.
When it gets all quite confusing and overwhelming for me, I write what I can and cannot do for each medical condition I have, I then see which good common denominators run through each condition and I then stick to doing those.
But it’s tough and it requires practice yet it’s worth it because it helps improve quality of life and that’s what we all really want.
If you have a perspective on dealing with bone / joint health then please do share your experiences and thoughts in the comments section below.
O’ and here I am soaking in some much needed sun to help my vitamin D3… do you do this?
Thank you for reading 🙂
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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I am a patient and have created this platform to share my experiences. This is all purely informative and in no way am I providing medical advice. Please consult a medical professional.
