hurtz
New Member
Posts: 25
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Post by hurtz on Jun 30, 2009 17:29:27 GMT -5
Yesterday I found out pelvic exams are not supposed to hurt. My first papsmear hurt for a week afterward. The Dr gave me ibuprofen and told me that it hurt sometimes. Another Dr. told me to take ibuprofen before I came in.
Yesterday I found out that the pain is from endo. If those stupid Dr were not so stupid they would figure out that pain during pelvic exams, menstrual cramps and GI problems means endo.
All the years of pain I might have been spared...maybe.
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Post by Karen on Jun 30, 2009 19:48:24 GMT -5
Let me guess... where those docs all MALE docs by chance???
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Post by KSA on Jun 30, 2009 21:17:17 GMT -5
I had a stupid doctor give me a exam and he knew I was a Stage 4 Endo patient it really hurt me when he did my pelvic exam. I kept telling him that hurts and he just continued like he could not hear me. My best friend was in the room with me and she was about to say something but he stopped. I will never go to that doc again so far I have had only him do that. When he was done he said did that hurt? Umm yes! He is the doc that also wanted me to take Lupron and shut up about Endo. He said just take the medicine what does it matter what you look like inside anyways no one can see the damage Endo has done. WOW Real Stoopid Doc....
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hurtz
New Member
Posts: 25
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Post by hurtz on Jul 1, 2009 9:52:47 GMT -5
Let me guess... where those docs all MALE docs by chance??? Oh they were female. My new male doctor lets you slap him after an exam if he hurt you. Of course I could not do that because he does not tell me my "favorite words" we don't know what's wrong or we don't think anything is wrong or you might need to talk to the psychiatrist |
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Post by Karen on Jul 1, 2009 17:16:38 GMT -5
Well shame on them!
Glad you found a good one now, though!
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Post by rach on Jul 3, 2009 9:15:57 GMT -5
UGH i hate hate hate how people say they might be 'uncomfortable' but it doesn't hurt! Man i hurt for a week (and bleed for like three days) after exams but no one wants to believe it. It was like when i had to have a colposcopy and they told me IT WOULDNT HURT AT ALL an it freaking did and i bleed for a whole week afterwards! And i've had the same experince that it has been woman telling me this! Just cos it doesn't hurt for you dont mean it doesn't for me!!
I guess the thing to take from this is to listen to yourself- weknow its not normal to bleed and hurt! So mak em listen!
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Post by gms1976 on Jul 7, 2009 21:19:51 GMT -5
AAAAAAARGH!!! The dumb things doctors say. My gyne - read: Male idiot - tells me believes that endo sometimes causes pain. SOMETIMES!!!!!!! I would like to stick his "sometimes" where the sun don't shine. I have been on the pill for 2 years because of this stupid disease and now I am getting married and we want kids but... surprise, I have to use IVF. Oh yay. My tubes are swollen and clubbed and I have stage 3 endo. So now I am off the pill (Yeah like spotting for 3 weeks at a time and weighing 3 tons was fun though) and the old %*$$#$%#!!! pain is back. My abdomen prickles and I have shooting pains all over my pelvis.Let's not mention the back pain and leg pain. My fiance thinks I am drama queen and just goes quiet when I mention the pain so I don't talk about it anymore. I just shut the hell up and endure the cramps and constant low-grade aches. I am about to start my first natural period in 2 years and dreading it. I used to bleed up a storm and my male gyne generally just brushes it off. Aaaaarrrgh! MEN MAKE ME SO BLOODY MAD! I don't think male MDs have a clue as to what is going on in a female's body. I don't care how many books you read. Oh and I am an ICU RN to boot!
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Post by cass on Jul 7, 2009 21:33:07 GMT -5
His right it does sometimes cause pain. not everyone with endo has pain. some people find out when they are TTC and have no idea that they have it.
Maybe you just havent found the right DR. Both my surgeons are male and they are fantastic. Very sympathetic especically after my 6 hours surgery where they dont understand how i endured as i did for so long.
Maybe you should go find another gynae if you are so unhappy about the male ones you are seeing, and female gynaes can be just as bad especially the ones I seen when i was 17 at the Womens hospital... if they had of acted then 10 years ago i could have been on top of this by now.
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Post by ouchy on Jul 7, 2009 23:38:11 GMT -5
Cass is right. My cousin had stage IV and wound up with a complete hysterectomy yet never had a day of period pain in her life!
I also have had the same experience as Cass in having better luck with a male doctor.
It really depends on the individual doctor.
Why are your tubes swollen? Do you have a tubal infection?
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Post by JC on Jul 9, 2009 4:51:28 GMT -5
I think it really has to do with the doctor, not the gender. All the problems I've ever had were with female doctors. My doctor is male now and is awesome. The females were the ones who ignored my symptoms for 2 years just blowing it off as "menstral pain" and nothing more.
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yoli
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by yoli on Jul 11, 2009 11:18:10 GMT -5
I agree that doctors can be very narrow-minded. I've been going to the same OB GYN group for 10 years. It took them seven years to mention the word endometriosis, and it wasn't the doctor, but the sonogram technician, and it wasn't a "you have endo", it was a question "do you have endometriosis?"
I was shocked and said, how would I know? The doctor, upon looking at my sonogram, and with my entire nine year history on her desk, then asked the same question! What the heck!
6 years ago I complained of a strange sharp stomach pain during my period that was new. It began one night in a restaurant - the pain was so severe that I was doubled over in pain in the bathroom and could not stand upright. It eased up in an hour or so, but came back in varying degrees of intensity over the next several months duriing my period. It didn't come every month, so that sporadic behavior made it even more difficult for me to understand.
My female gyno at the time just waived it off - nothing to worry about - just cramps. I knew it wasn't....a year later I complained of the pain again to a nurse practitioner at the same OBGYN office. She suggested a sonogram, which showed a large growth on my left ovary.
The doctor thought it was a dermoid, and because it was the size of an orange, and he thought it might get bigger - he suggested it be removed.
They took out the entire ovary "it couldn't be saved" he said, and "you have another one." After the surgery I asked what it looked like and he said it looked like it was full of chocolate pudding. He didn't utter the word endometrioma or chocolate cyst....but I didn't know any better then and didn't think anything of it.
Following removal of the left ovary, I started having crazy heavy periods - to the point where I couldn't leave the house some days because nothing short of Depends would contain all the blood coming out. I became anemic, and after two days of bleeding like that I would be weak and sometimes even dizzy. Because the really heavy bleeding only lasted 36 hours or so, the doctor wasn't concerned. He was also sure that it had nothing to do with altered hormone levels after losing the left ovary.
He did suggest, however, that I have a procedure where a balloon is inserted into the uterus, then filled with scalding hot water which burns out the inside of the uterus. He said "women love it" because the bleeding at your period is much reduced. I said I didn't love the idea because even though I was 40 and not planning on having kids, I didn't think that sort of insult to a precious sensitive organ was warranted. I just dealt with the heavy bleeding each month the best I could.
Three years later, in late 2008 I had a follow-up sonogram because I was having pain again in my stomach during my period. Not severe, but enough that I knew something might be up.
They found a 6cm growth on the right ovary, and said they thought it was an endometrioma. The doctor (new doctor, same office) said I had a few options, and that sometimes they went away on their own. One option was to monitor it. Since my symptoms were very mild, surgery was ruled out for the time being. So I kept watching it, and it grew a little over four months, but not so fast as to cause alarm.
For my heavy bleeding this new doctor suggested that I go on birth control pills. I tried it for a month, didn't like it. Instead, because I was convinced that all this had something to do with my hormone levels, I went to a naturopathic practitioner who also is a nutritional consultant and a chiropractor. I had my hormone levels checked (all abnormally low for someone my age (43). She put me on a supplement, natural progesterone cream, and made suggestions for dietary changes that would benefit my condition, and exercise regularly. I also see an acupuncturist/herbalist about once a month.
No thanks to any traditional medicine doctor, my period this month was normal flow. That I attribute to the herbs, dietary changes,progesterone cream, and acupuncture (and maybe the chiropractic adjustments, though I don't understand how they work but I tried it anyway).
I haven't had a sonogram to see how the endometrioma is doing in six months, so I'm due to check on it.
Had that first doctor six years ago gave some credit to me for knowing something was wrong, I might still have my left ovary, and been forewarned about endometriosis so that I might have prevented the second endometrioma.
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Post by Karen on Jul 11, 2009 19:15:48 GMT -5
(Yoli - I copied your post and put it in the intro thread so the girls can read up on your background.)
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Post by sunshine78 on Jul 16, 2009 5:49:53 GMT -5
UGH, doctors can be such a**holes. And the female ones can be just as bad as the men.
Seriously - the one I've been seeing, and complaining to for 5 years pushed BC on me, gave me the "I think you might be a junkie" eyes every time I came in to refill my pain meds, and once, when I tried to make very, very clear that my pain was damn near constant, and described exactly what it felt like, she had the nerve to say, "That sucks. Some women are just in more pain than others on their cycles." Suck my d***, lady. I can't wait until after my lap, when I can fax her a copy of EVERYTHING that proves that she helped waste 5 years of my life (not for any other reason than the fact that I'm on student health insurance, so my options were severely limited). The a**hole before wasted just as much time, but I was really unsure of what my options were. Now, I know better. And as someone else said, if they'd been on top of things 10 years ago...
Something weird about my particular case - pelvic exams don't hurt, and neither does intercourse. Lucky me, especially with the second thing, lol.
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cj
Full Member
Posts: 103
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Post by cj on Jul 16, 2009 17:21:46 GMT -5
Being stupid or an a**hole doesn't seem to be gender specific. ;D.
Some of the best doctors I have been to are men! Although that doesn't include my current GP, who is a t**t.
I have never been to a female Gyne, or met one for that matter, but have often wondered what is it that makes a man want to be a gynecologist! Of all the specialties they could go into ! I would hate to be married to one!
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cj
Full Member
Posts: 103
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Post by cj on Jul 16, 2009 17:23:10 GMT -5
Just to point out I didnt call my GP a thingy...ha, ha. I called him a T W A T !  |
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