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Post by needadvise on Oct 22, 2006 12:00:19 GMT -5
since the birth of my child 14 months ago, i have had increasingly painful and heavier periods (still the same amount of days though, and pretty regular), and i get back pain with them, and down my legs to my feet, but my mom said she used to have that to, so i managed with bad periods for years, however postpartum, it got worse.
i have been suffering with IBS for as long as i can remember, and have never gone #2 normally, and w/o intense pain, but all tests on my digestive system come back normal, so they are baffeled, and just say i got a slow track or something, cause i do not go for weeks at a time. that for me, is totally normal.
anyway, i NEVER have pain during sex, or vaginal exams, or vaginal u/s's, and i hear it's a big endo symptom. my dr. is 85% sure if he did a lap i'd likely have endo, since i have had trouble getting pregnant with my last and now, but iam also afraid of having a lap and not having it, and not knowing. the fear of the unknown and the known...what is worse? iam such a wuss, i fear the recovery, i fear what they will tell me when i wake up, i fear them finding cancer as i have alot of early ovarian cancer in my family, and i fear them taking my organs out, and saying i can not have another child, and on top of it...vanity, iam afraid of scarring, as i tend to obsess over body flaws, and i know it's such a stupid reason, i just wanna be as sure as possible that i have it, before going under the knife. i know a lap is the only way, but what will happen if i didn't get a lap? how bad could it get? will it def. get worse? he told me only 70% of patients find relief, and then it just comes back anyway, so iam very confused.
are there any other diseases that could cause my symptoms? does every woman with endo have pain w/ sex and exams, as i do not? i hate to sound like such a baby, but surgery totally freaks me out, and iam very scared, and undecided on what i should do.
any advice would be great. if there are any other pssible things that can cause such symptoms, i'd like to be fully checked out first. i think iam going to go for an HSG test next month. i have had it before, but maybe it might show if pain is stemming from elsewhere...maybe? might be a long shot, but i know what to expect with it. my U/S came out normal so my obgyn said i did not have endo, but i knew that a lap was the only real way to know, but got dismissed. i went to a specialist and he was the one who brought that up, and i had been thinking it as well.
sorry to go on...i just turned 31, and have had a very very hard life, i lost my son not even 2 years ago, he was sick all his life, i have just had one tragedy after another, and i don't think i can deal with all this right now. seems easier to live with the pain for now anyway. i have a high tolerance for it.
thanks for listening to me vent and whine, lol.
hugs, michelle
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Post by ouchy on Oct 22, 2006 12:10:58 GMT -5
I think another member on here, Janet (forgive me if I am wrong), does not have pain w/ sex, and she does have endo. Sounds like your specialist knows way better than your obgyn about endo. OH! Sorry about your son! . Wow. What a lot to go through! Good luck w/ everything.
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Post by ouchy on Oct 22, 2006 12:11:19 GMT -5
If you do a search, you can find threads on both of these topics, by the way.
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Post by needadvise on Oct 23, 2006 6:28:23 GMT -5
thanks:) i have been through that and then some, my life has been far from good, and i really expected to be getting cut a break by God at this point, but now this endo thing comes out, and has me freakin, cause there is no cure. i just feel doomed, with that and the history of all these problems including ovarian cancer in my family. i just turned 31, so this really sucks, but thanks so much. w/o this board i'd be freaking harder. yes the obgyn was off base, and i just knew it. the RE was saying pretty much what i feared, however i want to be more then 80 something percent sure before i go and get a surgery done, so iam trying to watch and analyze everything, so i can make the best choice possible. next month iam going to have a dye test to check out my tubes, and uterus. it likely won't show any endo (i wish it could), but if something else is going on it could show it. at least it isn't a heavy duty procedure like the lap. i don't know where everyone here gets their courage from. i used to be strong, but now am a big fat chicken. just afraid of what could happen, if it def. is, and i ignore it thanks again, hugs, michelle
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Post by vatechgrad on Oct 23, 2006 13:40:48 GMT -5
Yup, thats me. I don't have any pain with sex and I do have endo. I worried I had ovarian cancer. I have no pain with sex, barely bleed at all with my period, thought I was just a wuss and the pain coudln't be that bad. Till I had a baby and realized my pain was the same as labor, you can even see my abdomen harden up during cramps.
As for the fears you discussed I'm from the camp that the more you know the more you can control. You can't change whats going on in your body right this moment, its still going whether you know what it is or not. But if you find out and know what it is you can treat it. I figured if I have ovarian cancer everyday I don't know what it is is one day less in the survival chances, you know what I'm saying. Knowledge is power, arm yourself with all you can.
Good Luck!
Janet
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Post by ouchy on Oct 23, 2006 20:15:24 GMT -5
Hey, Janet! Glad you caught this thread! Great advice as always!!!
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Post by needadvise on Oct 26, 2006 11:20:53 GMT -5
thanks for chiming in here janet. that is the theory i WANT to have with my life, but i come from a long line of people who don't wish to know things, and hence get worse, and i have not understood them until now, cause it's the fear. people outside of it, can't comprehend it. it's like you can wish bad things away, when you really can't. i have an uncle who refuses to see a dr. i visited him and we had eaten at a restaurant where we both felt ill, and he ended up in the emergency room. the dr. said i had a mild case of food posioning, and he had a more severe case. they found his lungs in bad shape at like 49 years old, they said he had the start of emphazema, and needed to quite smoking. this happened 2 years ago and he smokes 2-3 packs a day and will not see a dr. lives as if the problem does not exist. i can understand to some extent the fear of what the dr. would say, and the unknown, but his condition really IS known, and he has been smoking and ignoring it, knowing it? does he mentally not accept it? i don't know. i know i'd stop smoking in a second.
knowledge is power, that is for sure, i think this dealing with the reproductive organs is why it's so sensitive to me. i have had 2 colonoscopies, and never had this much fear of what might be found, i guess cause this is in my family a big thing, and i just recently found out the history in my family, my mom nicely never told me about it sooner, so it's alot to swallow, plus we are ttc, so the thought of finding something perilous is more scarey even if the treatment could help us with that plight. it could go eigther way i could end up glad or worse off mentally knowing...eventhough knowing, agreed is best!
iam afraid of them finding ovarian caner as well. my mom's mom died by 40 of it, her grandma died at 55 from it, and my mom had alot of problems when we were growing up, till this day alot of which i don't know what but they ended her up with a hysterectomy, i don't know if she asked for it and why or they needed to do it, but i also think she was afraid of the cancer, but had already had her share of problems. she doesn't talk much..we aren't real close. she just nicely told me when my last period hurt to 'go and get everything taken out already. that is what will end up happening' nice family huh?
that is true..if i did have cancer even if it would be rare at my age, wouldn't it be better to fight it before it's too late..absolutely. i think i just had so much stuff go on the past couple years, i feel like one more defeat will cripple me, and i just won't recover. i have felt that way before, but when i imagine the worst in this..ughh...it kills me to think about. needless to say if i didn't or it wasn't as bad as i imagined, wouldn't it take some mental burden OFF of me as well. these are the factors i have to juggle, and decide upon. i mean iam not in doubled over pain, except sometimes during that first day of my period, and of course during my labor like IBS cramps. i have never had 'contraction' like pain with menstration, it's constant, the ibs is the contraction like pain for me.
we had sex this am, and not even a hint of pain, and iam actually LOOKING for it, as to discover a symptom, but nothing. i had a vaginal u/s, and nothing, so who knows? do you mind me asking what age they found your endo, how bad it was, and did a lap relieve your pain? i read sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesnt.
i noticed since the birth of my child, though my periods still last 5 days on the nose, i can't just wear a super plus tampon anymore for the first 2-3 days, but must wear a pad also, and change everything often. i used to just change my super plus, but not wear a pad ever! i hate them. definately got worse after childbirth.
hugs, michelle
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Post by vatechgrad on Oct 26, 2006 15:23:51 GMT -5
I am 31, I had the lap last year in Oct at the age of 30. It DEFINITELY relieved my pain. I didn't do any follow up treatment but I did have a mirena IUD (for birth control) put in in January that almost instantly stopped my periods thus eliminating the pain at my period. After lap I only had pain at my period but not as bad as my life before lap. And before lap pain was getting to be everyday. As for my lap he said it wasn't real thick it was just all over. My left ovary is attached to my colon and can't be separated, he thinks it happened during pregnancy when baby pushes stuff around and it got stuck, endo grew. If my first gyn had listened to me maybe it could've been removed, but it took a year to get someone to listen to me that something was wrong.
I did want to share that endo does not necessarily effect your fertility. I can look back now and know I always had endo. I thought I was just a wuss with my period being so very painful. Then I had my son and realized it felt like labor and that couldnt' be normal right? So my point, I have a son. I had sex 1 time, yes once in a whole year. I used a condom, the condom broke, I took morning after pill (the birth control pill one not an abortion pill) I still ended up pregnant against all odds (baby's father smokes a whole lot of pot who would've thought his swimmers worked). Anyway, joking aside I have a wonderful child from one incidence of sex, so clearly it didnt' effect my fertility. And you know my periods got heavier after my child too. I used to only wear a panty liner for 3 days. I would spot and have horrendous pain. After him I was bleeding through super tampons too. And I've always been super regular.
I am not saying you have cancer, but endo symptoms could be symptoms of so many other things its best not to ignore it. And yes, if you have cancer everyday earlier you start fighting it greatly increased the odds of successful remission. Now with a transvaginal u/s if you had ovarian cancer causing pain they would've been able to see it, but still it is best to have it looked at and even if it doesnt' relieve your pain it would still be a diagnosis. I dont' think I've read of the lap making it worse, just sometimes it doesnt' help a whole lot.
Good Luck and feel free to ask anything you want to know.
Janet
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Post by needadvise on Oct 27, 2006 11:32:17 GMT -5
thanks janet.
i had 2 children early when i was young, and nothing bad happened, and i had normal period, but always the IBS for sure. i had sex lots of times and nothing happened, and i would say i was lucky at that pont in time, at the age and stage i was in. and i got pregnant the 2nd time, from 1 time of sex, by my ex! meanwhile i had sex a zillion times later NOT getting pregnant, so who knows?? (just wanna clarify i have only been with 3 long term partners), but im a decade older....
no, my mom and i talked yesterday, she said she had a d&c and lap at the same time, and it wasn't so bad, but 4 months later all her pain came back...now my question is, could postpartum periods be awful and cause excess bleeding and pain, needing a d&c?? or they can see that on u/s? cause my mom said yesterday get a d&c first. now iam totally confused, lol
iam still waiting to hear back from the genetic part of the hospital that is supposed to asses my ovarian cancer risk..hey it's a scarey thing, no doubt. they must be quite busy, but i want to get it done, even if there could be a margian of error.
now..if i had a d&c and an HSG and colonoscopy yet again, plus the blood work...would that mean if all that is fine a lap would be best tried, because for some reason my mom is saying do these other things first, and she has been through it all! then i talked to a woman yesterday who had lap after lap and now is missing organs...how could one no be scared?
iam so glad to have you girls. when you think all is well and it's sprung on you, and you start feeling not right...something scares you from tje inside out.;
thanks, michelle
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Post by vatechgrad on Oct 27, 2006 13:18:53 GMT -5
You know I will add I had bowel issues my whole life. I was being treated for IBS and then after the lap I didn't take my drugs and I didnt' need them. I haven't had bowel issues since then either. Prior I fluctuated being going 14 days between a bowel movement to having 3 days of diahrea. Just wanted to add that part.
I'm not sure how you meant the decade older comment, just if you were a decade older since having your kids or older than me. I checked you and I are the same age in case any of that helps out too.
Janet
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Post by needadvise on Oct 28, 2006 12:54:15 GMT -5
hey janet,
i meany iam a decade older then when i had my first 2 children, and naturally. i did clomid iui w/ #3, cause i couldn't wait naturally any longer.
as far as ibs i also had it for as long as i can remember, even at like 11 years old, i remember waking at night, and creeping into the bathroom, and hugging my belly while huntched over, not letting anyone know of the hours of pain i went through while they were sleeping, i kept it to myself, but through time and years the episodes were much more frequent, and painful, and i would LOVE to go #2 w/o that pain. if a lap could do that, it may very well be worth it.
my personal record is 7 weeks w/o a bowel movement! yes that is unbelievable but true, and the usual (eventhough i can have those cramps and never go that night or day) 2-4 weeks is my norm w/o #2, which is NOT fun.
we are the same age..cool! did you have tests for your bowel issues and they came back normal? they have done lots to me, and all they can say is i must have a slow tract and this is normal for me. no precription meds have helped it, herbal stuff, all that usually works and that is after hours of labor like cramps are enemas and several of them. i know that isn't good, but my body is now enema dependant, that is what they say and that is how it seems, but oddly enough they don't take that too seriously.
i took 4 a night at times...you will do ANYTHING for relief!
thanks for sharing janet. iam trying to grow some 'you know whats' and learn to face my fears.
hugs, michelle
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Post by vatechgrad on Nov 2, 2006 15:59:03 GMT -5
I had a colonoscopy done to rule out bowel causing my pain and bloating prior to the lap. Other than some insignificant internal hemmorhoids, there was nothing wrong. They diagnosed me with IBS based on my symptoms. After the lap my bowels were working pretty good. Wasn't going everyday but also wasn't having pain with it either. Now I do a protein shake in the mornings to help with weight loss (being over 30 stinks for weight loss :lol) that has a high fiber content. If I forget it a few days I may have more trouble but for the most part I go everyday now. I used to go up to 10 days with nothign but I wasn't even really uncomfortable till the moment I had to go. I've only tried psyllium husk mentioned here alot a few times but it seemed to help. I got Colon Care from GNC that had psyllium husk, acidopholus, and two other fibers in it. I've actually only used laxatives twice in my life for fear of my bowels stopping all together (I know ridiculous but none the less my fear ) and I only used an enema as prep for my lap. Janet
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Post by needadvise on Nov 20, 2006 8:13:27 GMT -5
janet i gotto try the husk, cause my body is too dependant. laxitives like by mouth or suppository, don't do squat for me, only enemas, and that is sometimes, not all the time. if i could go one time a week, i'd be sooo happy, w/o labor like pains!! hugs, michelle
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Post by ouchy on Nov 20, 2006 10:21:32 GMT -5
^Not that bowel problems have much to do with this thread on pain with sex and exams, but the husk might actually constipate you worse. I hope not, but just be prepared. I don't know of anyone using it who has such extreme constipation...you should probably ask your doctor first.
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Post by needadvise on Nov 20, 2006 11:22:45 GMT -5
ouchy- do you think i should have another colonoscopy done, or if you had one a few years ago that is good enough, or is it possible something may turn up now, including endo if it got inside there?
wondering if it's worthwhile to take again. it wasn't bad for me pain wise.
hugs, michelle
ps- maybe i'll wait on the husks. i drink a TON of water though i hate it. iam drinking it right now, but not seeing any difference from when i didn't use to drink much of any
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