|
Post by Christie on Aug 4, 2006 11:51:26 GMT -5
First, I want to tell you my previous history. Since puberty, I've had very irregular periods. It got worse around the time I turned 19 - 20.. I would go 6 - 8 months before having a very heavy and painful period. I went to a Gyn, he said I probably had endometriosis (but he never did any follow up) and gave me a pill to start my period and birth control. He said take the birth control for 6 months and it should regulate my period (it didn't).
In 2004.. I went about 8 months again without a period, then had a very heavy painful one in August.
In Jan 2005, I had symptoms of pregnancy and took a home test, was a slight positive. Three weeks later I was in the hospital having surgery to remove an Ectopic Pregnancy.
A month later (Feb 2005) I got pregnant again, and had a successful pregnancy with a baby girl born in October 2005.
For the past 2 months, I've had bad abdominal pain (like bad menstrual cramps), with some unusual bleeding (I'm on NuvaRing, I'm not supposed to be bleeding). It was so bad we had to rule out another ectopic, which my doctor confirmed I was not pregnant this week. I have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow to check for ovarian cysts.
This pain is unreal. It hurts to lay down, to stand for more than 5 minutes, to go to the bathroom. I never really knew the symptoms of endo, but now that I'm looking at them, it all makes sense! (bowel problems, missed periods, ectopic pregnancy, Painful heavy periods..). My doctor said it's possible, but that usually people with endo can't get pregnant, and pregnancy usually makes it better.
Do you think it's possible? And if so, does this mean I'm destined to live with pain. I've barely started researching this. So glad I found message boards!!
|
|
|
Post by ouchy on Aug 4, 2006 14:21:11 GMT -5
Hi, Christy. Welcome to the forum. I encourage you to copy/paste your history in a new thread in the "Introduce Yourselves" room. That way, you won't have to type your info over and over again. Sorry about your ectopic pregnancy. However, congratulations on your baby girl!!! It's not uncommon to have spotting when taking hormonal birth control, and I don't see why Nuvaring would be any different--it's the same type of hormones. You'll find many women on here with breakthrough bleeding (You can do a search on the topic.). Your doctor is behind the times if he/she thinks that 1) people with endo usually can't get pregnant and 2) having a baby makes endo better. You'll find many posts on this forum quite to the contrary. Also, if you research it on the web, you'll again find the exact opposite. You could have endo, but only a laparoscopy will tell for sure. Good luck, and welcome to the forum
|
|
|
Post by vatechgrad on Aug 4, 2006 14:50:30 GMT -5
I would get a new dr. I had a lap in Oct 05 to confirm endo. I can look back and know that I always had it. Periods felt like labor, however, I didn't know this till i had a baby. I got pregnant having sex 1 time in a year, took morning after pill all that. I have a wonderful baby who is 3 now. My endo got WAY worse after having him, the pain became daily and unbearable for about a year leading up to lap. The majority of infertility cases are endo related, but the majority of folks with endo are not infertile. You could very well have endo and I would go to a more sympathetic dr.
Janet
|
|
|
Post by erzulie on Aug 4, 2006 15:35:14 GMT -5
How stupid is that doctor??? People with endometriosis can't usually get pregnant but pregnancy usually makes it better??? Doesn't he realize that's a contradictory statement?
The stats I've read say that a third of people with infertility have endoemtriosis and a third of people with endometriosis have problems with infertility. That means the majority of people with endometriosis have no trouble getting pregnant. Also, pregnancy doesn't make it better. It usually causes the disease to go into remission for a while, like maybe a year. It NEVER cures it, and some people report that being pregnant actually makes them feel worse. I thinky ou need to get a new doctor. The only way to diagnose endometriosis is through surgery (usually a laparoscopy), and he has no business treating you without a diagnosis.
|
|
|
Post by Christie on Aug 4, 2006 16:15:17 GMT -5
HI all, nice to meet you!
I'm afraid I was a little unclear about my doctor. He's a GREAT doctor, and he's taking my symptoms very seriously. When he ordered the ultrasound, he mentioned he did want to test "endosomething thickness," because he does say it may be endometriosis. He did make the comment about usually pregnancy cures it.. but I read that's a myth. Which surprises me since he's a newer doctor, and he's always been great with everything (I had a very high risk pregnancy).
I've had a laparoscopy before when I had the ectopic, I believe he did look for signs of endometriosis then (although I'm not positive...I'll have to ask him). I've only been seeing him about a year, actually met him in the ER because he was the one who did my surgery and he had the best bedside manner, so he doesn't know my full history (I guess I should really tell him all that...).
I'm just hoping to find out something soon. I feel better right now, but I would have to say approximately 60% of my days are spent in pain.. but more so the past 2 weeks.. and even worse when I started the bleeding (like a period...) I guess what worries me the most is the bleeding itself, it's not normal bleeding, but more of a brownish blood, just like with my ectopic, though I know it's not that again. I'm not sure if this is also a symptom of Endo? I've never read to much about Endometriosis. Is it possible that it's gotten worse after I've had the baby? Because I would skip 6 - 8 months between a period before, and have no pain. Then I would have a really heavy period with a lot of pain, but I always figured it was because it had been so long and I was "backed up."
This is all just so new to me...
PS - I noticed a previous poster saying it took a year before having her lap to diagnosis endo. Will it really take this long to get any sort of treatment??
|
|
|
Post by Christie on Aug 4, 2006 16:17:53 GMT -5
Another thing.. if he did look for signs of endometriosis during the lap almost 2 years ago, is it possible he may have missed them because it wasn't too bad at that point? Could the pregnancy have made it worse...
I'm thinking he might not have looked if he's saying it's possibly endometriosis.. or maybe he needs a more detailed look, it was an emergency surgery, I was bleeding internally.
|
|
|
Post by erzulie on Aug 4, 2006 21:44:40 GMT -5
There are a couple of reasons why he might have missed it. It could be that he just didn't look in all the right places since that wasn't the primary reason he was there. It could be that your endometriosis is microscopic (it can cause a ton of pain even if it is). It's quite possible that it has gotten worse. I don't know if having a baby can make it worse, but you're not the first person I've ever heard say that the symptoms got worse after pregnancy so maybe in some cases it does.
It soudns like your doctor is very nice, but it also sounds like he doesn't know all he should about endometriosis. Unfortunately the pregnancy myth is still very common among doctors. He may be the best you can get for now, but please remember not to confuse "nice" with "good." Even if he's overall a good gynecologist he may not be the best person to treat this particular problem.
|
|
|
Post by ouchy on Aug 4, 2006 21:51:54 GMT -5
PS - I noticed a previous poster saying it took a year before having her lap to diagnosis endo. Will it really take this long to get any sort of treatment?? It depends where you live. If you have socialized medicine, apparently on here the average is upward of a year between consultation and diagnosis. If you live in the U.S. it is considerably quicker than a year.
|
|
|
Post by erzulie on Aug 5, 2006 12:07:21 GMT -5
Well, I have heard some people in Canada saying it is a year before they can get in. Some Canadians have said that it depends on where you live even within Canada. I don't know anything about the wait in countries other than the U.S. and Canada. I would guess that it varies even within the US. For me I could have had my surgery a week or two after I saw the doctor. She told me I could basically pick my date. I chose to wait three weeks because I wanted to have it during winter break (I'm a teacher), but I wouldn't have had to wait. It depended somewhat on the date though--the date four weeks in advance was already full even though the dates ebfore then weren't.
|
|
|
Post by Christie on Aug 6, 2006 10:04:30 GMT -5
The surgery itself, is this an outpatient one day surgery thing? I know with the laproscopic to remove the Ectopic, I had to stay overnight and I had some pain for about 2 weeks afterwards. But I had more than one incision, I had one large one in my bellybutton, and two smaller ones on the right and left side of my lower abdomen. It was also an emergency surgery, perhaps that's why I stayed overnight. Another thing I have to think about.. is my insurance going to cover this type of surgery....
|
|
|
Post by ouchy on Aug 6, 2006 11:47:36 GMT -5
Hi, Christie. I think it depends on 1) how the surgery goes (how you are faring), and 2) what all is involved. My first laparoscopy I was home and doing laundry about 2 hours later. My last laparoscopy I had to stay overnight at the hospital, but I also had my appendix removed and they wanted to watch me overnight. Simple laparoscopies are generally out-patient, but if the surgery is more complex, they may keep you for observation. With laparotomy, I imagine you would have to stay overnight at least, but I'm not sure.
I imagine they kept you overnight last time to observe you. Having an ectopic pregnancy can be deadly!!!
I also had 3 holes both times. My first lap= one in my belly button, and 2 smaller one on either side of my abdomen. Second lap= one hole just lateral (to-the-side-of) my belly button and 2 smaller ones on either side of my abdomen (this included appendectomy).
|
|
|
Post by erzulie on Aug 6, 2006 11:47:45 GMT -5
A laparoscopy for endometriosis is done on an outpatient basis. I don't know what kind of insurance you have, but it should cover it. My stupid HMO covered it (well, a percentage of it.). I didn't even need to get advance approval as you have to do for most surgeries (with Health Alliance). You should have two or three incisions, each about an inch wide, but you should be able to go home within a few hours. Maybe we should start a new thread in the surgery section where we can all tell our laparoscopy stories, it might be helpful to you and to everyone else who is waiting for her first laparoscopy.
|
|
|
Post by erzulie on Aug 6, 2006 14:26:49 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Christie on Aug 7, 2006 8:46:22 GMT -5
Thanks! I will check out that post.
I had my ultrasound today, which was so painful, both the external and internal. Are they usually painful for people with endometriosis? The technician scared me a bit, she walked out of the room to talk with her boss, and then came back in and said they wanted her to ask me if I had history of ovarian cancer. You could tell she was trying to be nonchalant about it, but I could definitely tell she was faking. I should have the results in a couple of days.
|
|
|
Post by erzulie on Aug 7, 2006 10:08:23 GMT -5
I've never had an ultrasound for this, but if you had a transvaginal ultrasound I can imagine it had to be pretty painful! Exams are usually painful for women with endometriosis so I would expect a transvaginal ultrasound would have to be as well. I'm glad they didn't try to give me one!
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are very similar to the symptoms of endometriosis, so if they asked you about that they were just being thorough. I wish more doctors would investigate the possibility of cancer. That's usually not what it is so I think they don't want to freak the patient out for nothing, but it's so critical to catch cancer early. Maybe if they just routinely evaluated everyone for cancer it would stop freaking people out so much, and a lot of lives would be saved.
|
|