Put simply, in both conditions the endometrium (the lining of the uterus that women shed each month) grows where it shouldn’t. With endometriosis, it occurs outside the uterus and can spread to the ovaries and fallopian tubes. With adenomyosis, it grows within the muscle wall of the uterus itself, making it thick and swollen - or as it was delightfully described to me, “bulky”. The two conditions can exist alongside one another and when I underwent laparoscopic surgery, I was found to have both.