March is endometriosis awareness month, and to help bring awareness to this invisible illness, the Pain Resource team has turned its attention towards highlighting the severity and importance of endometriosis research and understanding.
On Thursday, Pain Resource’s Staff Journalist, Zach Pottle, sat down with Dr. Elizabeth Garchar, a Fellow Fetal-Maternal Medicine at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center, to talk about the challenges of living with endometriosis, and how women can seek help with their diagnosis.
Dr. Garchar received her medical doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine; where she also went on to complete her residency as an OB/GYN. Dr. Garchar has authored several publications surrounding women’s reproductive health and has been a speaker at multiple conferences, her most recent being at the University of New Mexico’s Women’s Health Conference.
When speaking with Dr. Garchar, she highlighted the importance of women being “self-advocates” when it comes to their reproductive health. She went on to explain that many women she has seen in her time as a resident OB/GYN have felt uncomfortable discussing topics that surround their reproductive health, such as sex and vaginal pain.
One of the key points discussed with Dr. Garchar was the time it takes for women to receive a proper diagnosis. On average, women spend about seven years from symptoms to diagnosis. When speaking with Dr. Garchar, we asked why she thinks there is such a delay in the diagnosis of endometriosis. Dr. Garchar responded by saying that these delays can partly be due to women not being listened to when they are speaking with their doctors. She added that further research is also needed to understand more about the causes and risk factors of endometriosis, which can also help speed up the diagnostic process.
Dr. Garchar’s Instagram link is listed below, as well as her contact information and a link to UNM Health Science Center’s website.
Dr. Garchar’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz_g_md/?hl=en
Dr. Garchar’s UNM Page: https://vivo.health.unm.edu/display/n50144
UNM Health Science Center: https://hsc.unm.edu/
