Hi All,

I've been 'lurking' on and off on this forum for a while now, and I've been hesitating as to whether or not I should post here, because I'm not pregnant, I don't have children, and I'm not trying to conceive, either. HOWEVER, I think I may have endometriosis, and this seems to be the best forum that covers this topic that I've been able to find.

Basically, I've had painful periods for as long as I can remember, painful as in 'curled up on the loungeroom floor in front of the heater' painful. While they aren't THAT painful these days, they are still quite bad. When I was 19 I had an appointment with a nurse at a local health centre and she suggested that it may be endometrosis and gave me a referral to another doctor. I got home that night and researched it and got scared about the laposcrapy and tried to push the whole thing out of my mind. Since then, my periods have become almost unbearable. Up until recently I was on the pill and I'd go for several months without taking the break, or the sugar pills, so I didn't have to have a period. Not a good thing, I know. I've been off the pill for the past few months because my doctor wanted to see if that was causing my problems. Basically, this is what I've found.

  • Migraines - just before my period starts, maybe a week or so.
  • Lower back pain - again, about a week or so before my period starts
  • Irregular periods - my last one was a week late
  • Depression / mood swings
  • Thrush-like-symptoms
  • Painful sex
  • VERY Painful to go to the toilet - it feels like my insides are being sucked out (doing 1's or 2's - sorry for the 'too much info')


I've been to so many doctor's / nurse's (at the women's hospital in Melbourne) and have been poked & proded, for what seemed to be a really bad case of thrush, and while suggestions have been made that it may be this, no tests have been done. It was only recently that I made the connection myself (the whole 'incident' that happened when I was 19 has been really pushed to the back of mind, and only recently surfaced).

Now I don't know what to do. How do I get this tested? I found the Women's hospital in Melbourne to be totally useless, and really don't want to go back there. The whole time I was there (I had a few visits) I didn't see a doctor, just nurses and a sexual counsellor. The nurse diagnosed me with Vulvadynia and put my on anti-depressants, which did NOTHING at all. I did research on the topic, and I didn't think that's what I had, it didn't make sense and certainly didn't answer all the problems that I'm having. Whenever I spoke to them about it, it felt like they weren't listening.

Anyway, I'm writing an essay here...

Basically, my question is, what do I do from here? Where can I go? I'm in Melbourne...

I would REALLY appreciate any advice!