I've recently had surgery to cut out all my endo. Over the years I have had laparoscopies, laser treatment, zolodex ect.. which has not helped at all. I had a very severe case of endo and have been told that the only way to get rid of it is to have it cut out. My endo was "everywhere" and my surgery was major, but the surgeons are confident that they got it all and so far so good.
I understand your pain as i put up with extreme pain for many years (I'm 37) and tried all sorts of pain killers. The only one that I eventually found to help me was Voltaren Rapid. You can buy Voltaren Rapid 25 over the counter or Voltaren Rapid 50 (which is stronger) with a prescription. I also learnt to start taking them before my pain took hold and then continue to take them every 4 or so hours during my period. If I waited until I was in extreme pain (doubled over/foetal position) then they wouldn't work. I did also find that baths and hot water bottles helped. I was known to spend hours in the bath topping up the hot water as it cooled.
Good luck and I hope you can find some relief becasue I know how severe the pain is and how those around you don't necessarily understand what you're going through.
I'm 32 and have had endo for 17 years. Unfortunately it took the medical profession 15 years to make the diagnosis. I thought getting pregnant would fix everything, so many people seem to think it does. I got pregnant 5 days after my first laparoscopy (the surgeon told me after the surgery that I'd need to have IVF because the endo was so severe but we got lucky). Until the laparoscopy I was on prescription painkillers 24/7. Once I found out I was pregnant, I expected the pain to stop, but it went on for another 5 months. And the worst part was that I couldn't take the drugs any more. The last 4 months of the pregnancy were great, I couldn't remember ever being pain free for so long, I wanted to stay pregnant forever. Then I got my period again when our baby was 7 weeks old. When she was 11 weeks old the period pain was so bad I couldn't look after her for 2 days. But I was quite happy because the pain was only coming during my period, not for the whole month. Now my baby is 19 months and I am starting to get bad endo pain during ovulation and also during my period. And the period pain is as bad as it ever was, worse actually. So I guess I'm saying that while it is the best thing ever to have a baby, it mightn't necessarily fix the pain. But if you're worried about not being able to conceive later on, that would definitely be a reason to start trying now.
To be honest, I haven't found any drugs that really work. Once when I went to casualty because I thought I was going to die, they gave be Innocid (spelling?) suppositories and they were good. Generally the only thing that works for me (sort of) is to get into a boiling hot bath, take whatever painkillers I can find and get into bed (if I haven't passed out in the bath). But I did some research on endo, I think one of the theories is that is is caused by too much oestrogen. One of the things that seemed to work for me for a while was cutting out red meat, dairy, eggs, refined carbohydrates and foods packed in plastic. I also ate lots of fibre, saturated-fat free food, cabbage, broccoli, beans, legumes, onions and garlic as these are supposed to help get rid of oestrogen. Plus Vitamin B6. But it wasn't much fun. I wish you the best of luck in finding a solution for your pain.
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