Hello, advice from those with experience

Hi there, first may I formally intro myself - I've been around for a couple of months and had the odd comment post here and there. I am single - not looking to have a baby or anything (until I find Mr. Right anyway) - to explain the reason for my being a member on these boards.....
I was doing some searches for endometriosis support and was directed here - I must say this is a great active little (actually seems rather large) community. So I've finally decided to post in the area I was here for to begin with...hope this isn't too long......

I've always had painful periods, days off school to begin with, agonising cramps, diahorrea, feeling faint, etc, etc. Around 19 the doc finally put me on the pill, WOW my life changed. Things were pretty good after that for a while, painfree (virtually) periods for a number of years.

Skip foward about 10 or so years, I developed a painful lump in my belly button - then it started to bleed and was really painful, finally I ralised it was bleeding around the time of my period - off to various docs till a surgeon finally removed it and sent it for tests...

The result was it was an area of endometriosis - so then off the the gyno - I should mention at this stage, even though I was around 30 - due to my christianity, I have not been sexually active and therefore have never needed to have smears, etc. So this was all new and terrifying too!!

The gyno was lovely and praised me for my stance (wished he had more patients like me so he had less problems to deal with) - the gyno sent me for US and it showed areas of endometriosis and a endometrioma on my right ovary (chocolate cyst). So I was instructed to take the pill for 3 months at a time with no break - as every time you bleed you bleed into the cyst and make it bigger. 3 months on one off.

Skip foward to the last 6 months - every time I take the break I just about die! When I have my period, things have become so much worse - now it is agony when I pee, poop and just about all the time for the first 2 or 3 days and sometimes even after the flow has stopped (sorry if TMI). I have done some searching and have found that the painful going to the loo is a sign of endo in these areas.

So to the point of this post...... I feel as the next avenue for investigation is a laproscope so that I can actually find out for certain what's in there! I want to be prepared for when God does send that man my way, I want to know how things are going to go when I want to have babies.

I don't feel ultrasounds will be any more use - especially since last time I had one, the girl was so shocked when I said I'd have the internal one but told her of my virginity, she had to get advice from her supervisor and clearly wasn't comfortable doing it, so I told her not to bother. (note the results said patient refused internal - not operator chickened out of doing internal!)

So I would appreciate advice from anyone who's been there and done that! What does the lap show, do they remove stuff while they are in there if they find anything, etc, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Ausgirl
You poor thing it sounds as if you have been really suffering over a number of years. First let me say that I agree with you, I don’t think that an ultrasound will be of much help. A laparoscope will show them much more clearly what is going on in there and they may be able to help you by removing some ‘stuff’ when they are in there, however just going by what you have posted here I would not be surprised If they recommend more extensive surgery to help correct the problem.

hi i had a lap done about 12 mths ago and they removed about 90% of the endo while they were there. it is not overly painful but i would recommend a couple of days off work and be cautious for a little while if i sat or leaned the wrong way for a while after it felt like it was pulling inside.

Thanks for the replies. Sareeb, do you feel it has helped with your symptoms afterwards?

Hi Ausgirl and welcome! I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a hard time of it. The only way to properly diagnose and treat endo is with a laporoscopy and hysteroscopy (where they insert the camera into your vagina to have a look inside your uterus as you may have endo inside there). A D&C (curettage) is usually also done at this time. You may even need to have a dye inserted (where they inject dye into your fallopian tubes to check for blockages). They will remove anything that they find at the same time.

I have always had great success after my two laps (my last one was in december last year) and the quicker you get onto it, the better chance you have of successful treatment and pregnancies when the time comes for you.

One thing I would also suggest is that even though you are not sexually active that it might pay to have a pap smear done because it sets a baseline of sorts for any future ones and not being sexually active doesn't exclude you from being at risk. I started having pap smears before I was sexually active and it wasn't a concern to me that I was still a virgin at the time kwim because it was just like any other medical procedure, but that's up to you.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask any more questions as you have them.