intro/anyone else have endometriosis?

[sunflower22]

I was recently diagnosed w endometriosis, I had a laparoscopy. The Dr said he got a lot of it out, and removed adhesions. I guess I have what you'd call a moderate case (though it sure didn't feel like it! Lol) I already feel so much better, when my cycle came last month I cried bc I didn't feel like I was dying for the first time in years! Anyway, now I'm hoping we have a fresh start at TTC after a year of trying. So, hello!

[thoseareradishes]

Hi! Welcome! Glad you are feeling better and best of luck!

[prairieglitter]

Welcome! Glad to hear you're feeling better!

[Deleted]

Welcome! So glad you are feeling better. I think a lot of people don't understand that while periods suck for a lot of us, for some people they are truly painful, and don't need to be that way! Good that you got that taken care of. And it's awesome that you're TTC now:-)

[winecheery]

Oh goodness, so glad you got it all taken care of! Thanks for joining us, and congrats for ttc!

[mskitkat]

Hello! If I may ask, how did you convince your dr to do the surgery? My gyn diagnosed me with endo (although I'm not so positive about it. She admitted the diagnosis was one of "your period sucks massively, so we will call it endo."). My gyn had no interest in me possibly having the laparoscopy, even though I want to TTC soon and have no idea how I can survive off the pill.

[sunflower22]

Thanks everyone! Mskitkat - my gyn has known about my pain issues before, and had informed me of the laparoscopy option a few years ago. I was in denial/afraid of surgery so I kept putting it off. Since I TTC for a year w no luck it made me realize I probably needed to get things checked out. So I mentioned it to him at an appointment and he got me scheduled right away for the next month. I just explain all this bc he agreed w me right away and didn't take any convincing, but that's most likely bc he knew I'd been having pain for a while. Honestly I'd look into a new gyn if I were you! A 2nd opinion never hurts. Also, a good doctor knows there is no way to diagnose someone with endo w/o doing a laparoscopy.

[sunflower22]

Also - I still can't believe I cluelessly dealt w the pain for so long. If you are hurting, don't back down until you've figured out what's wrong! Your period is not supposed to hurt that bad. It could be any number of things, not just endo, and your doctor needs to be helping you instead of brushing you off.

[mskitkat]

Meh. This is Dr number 5 for this problem. 1 told me I should suck it up, because I'm a girl and that's life. 1 thought I was making it up entirely and suggested I get some psychiatric therapy. 2 had no clue and because my symptoms are controlled by the pill, shrugged it off (TTC was not even on my mind at that time). This one is the first to give me something resembling a diagnosis, but her only suggestion for TTC is to start with a RE, ovulation test kits and such, and pray I get PG on my first try. My symptoms are very unusual, which is why most just shrug.

[sunflower22]

What are your symptoms?

[mskitkat]

There is the usual horrible bad cramps that make you cry, utter exhaustion, unable to get out of bed for 3 days or so. The odd one that has doctors thinking I'm making it up is I am lactose intolerant for the week before and week of my period. The rest of the month, I can drink milk no problem. During that fine, and the lactose in chicken finger breading will have me violently I'll for 12+ hours, hallucinations from said being ill, and cramps so bad I literally tried to knock myself unconscious. Even weirder is that the pill will control these symptoms for about 6 months. After that, it wears off and I get mood swings that are beyond out of control. I call it bcp roulette.

wow that was a lot of tmi.

[mskitkat]

and this is why I am terrified of TTC.

[sunflower22]

Man that sounds awful I do know endo can grow on your intestines and other organs throughout your body, not sure if lactose specifically causes any endo probs or not. My sister was lactose intolerant only when she was pregnant, never before and is fine after. Maybe there's a hormone/dairy connection.. is your primary care Dr any better than your gyns? Maybe an RE would be a good idea since they're more likely to run tests and are used to dealing with "problems".

Even without the lactose intolerance and side effects of that, cramps that keep you in bed for 3 days is not normal and you really need to be a thorn in some Drs ass until they start taking you seriously.

[mskitkat]

My current gyn that gave me the endo diagnosis did take me seriously, just that in her experience, there is basically nothing that can be done other than being on the pill. I will be seeing a RE in January or so. H doesn't want to start trying until May anyway, although I keep trying to convince him there isn't a need to wait that long. Just because I'm probably losing my job in January.... Details, details.

[sunflower22]

Lol husbands and their timelines. Good luck to you, I really hope you can find some relief soon & have no troubles TTC!

[mskitkat]

Thank you and good luck to you!

[berbles]

Well, hi there. I was diagnosed yesterday with a large endometrioma (cyst). I have an appointment tomorrow with a GYN surgeon. I am hoping I can get surgery scheduled ASAP as I am in a ton of pain.

I had been to my GP once before, in June, complaining about this pain in my left side. She thought it could be GI-related, so I was being treated as such. When I noticed that the pain was coming and going every month, I scheduled another appointment with her and said I wanted an ultrasound. She agreed. I was pretty sure, just from the way the tech was working, that she saw something. I was right. 10cm cyst near my left ovary. I also, apparently, have "multiple fibroids." I'm pretty scared about what this means for my TTC future.

PS- this is a new SN for me. See: pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ml&thread=46559&page=1

[sunflower22]

Hi berbles! Lol that name cracks me up. Wow it sounds like you're going through a lot, I'm glad your Dr has got a good plan set in place though. I hope you can have your surgery quickly, the anticipation and unknown beforehand was the hardest part for me, its been such a relief afterward. Try not to be scared, you're doing everything you can to make yourself healthier.

[boiler717]

*coming out of lurking*

I have Stage 4 endo and was misdiagnosed with IBS for awhile. I have endo lining my bowel with causes a ton of GI symptoms. It has gotten better since surgery but still is not 100%. There are a lot of foods that can aggravate GI symptoms, especially wheat, dairy, and caffeine.

I also had a large grapefruit size endometrioma attached to my bowel that I had surgically removed. I had some complications with the surgery and don't want to scare anyone because that's rare but let me know if you need more details.

[miracle]

Coming out of lurcking,
I have stage 5 endo and have been dignosed since I was 15 years old and I'm 36. It has gotten so bad that I have it everywhere and surgery is no longer an option for me. I was told that I could never have kids and if I were to get pregnant it will mostlikely be ectopic. I have been married for 5 years and we gave up on the idea of having a baby and it was not easy. I'm blessed to report that God is still in the business of making miracles, I'm now 20 weeks pregnant with a baby girl and so far no complications. Please do not lose hope.

[spartychic2010]

Thanks for sharing your story. I had surgery for endo a couple of years ago. Luckily, it has not come back since the surgery and my doctors didn't anticipate any issues with TTC. Good luck!

[sunflower22]

Aug 27, 2012 12:40:48 GMT -5 miracle said:

Coming out of lurcking,
I have stage 5 endo and have been dignosed since I was 15 years old and I'm 36. It has gotten so bad that I have it everywhere and surgery is no longer an option for me. I was told that I could never have kids and if I were to get pregnant it will mostlikely be ectopic. I have been married for 5 years and we gave up on the idea of having a baby and it was not easy. I'm blessed to report that God is still in the business of making miracles, I'm now 20 weeks pregnant with a baby girl and so far no complications. Please do not lose hope.

Aw congrats! I love hearing success stories, gives me hope!! Thank you