Hi all, just had OPA and consented for Laparoscopy & hysteroscopy to to investigate possible endometriosis. I have 2 questions really,

1. how painful is the proceedure & how long should I need off work? and 2. is it true that becoming pregnant actually helps resolve endo? (that is if able to concieve in the first place)

Many thanks.

[Impatient]

The recovery depends on so many factors. If the op is simply to look around and map the endo but not actually tackle it in any way then recovery is very quick for most women. 2-3 weeks is probably quite enough. However it's a bit of a waste of general anaesthetic, so chances are that if they do find something they will attempts to tackle the adhesions, then endo, any cysts that are hiding in there too, possibly detaching organs that have glued together with scar tissue, lasering or excising lesions of endo.

It could be that recovery will take a couple of months or more. Basically the more they do the longer it takes.

Then there is how well you are before the op and how well you are after the op, and if you can get enough rest and good nutrition to heal all the internal wounds quickly, avoid getting any other infections or bugs like colds and flu etc.

It is a lot of healing to be done and while that is happening you are at much greater risk of not being able to fend off other infections too, which can set your recovery back a bit.

It is such a variable thing, there are no hard and fast rules, but anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months should just about cover it for a lap op.

Now as for getting pregnant. There is no cure for endo. Pregnancy curing endo is a complete myth.

Pregnancy will stop your menstruial bleeds in most women and therefore that stops th endo bleeding so it is only a pause in the life cycle of endometriosis cells, as it is for the uterus lining.

Breast feeding after delivery can delay the return of periods in many women which would be a great bonus for endo ladies, but at some point all that must stop and the periods return and as soon as they do the endo cells are active once again.

Pregnancy and the GnRH drugs are both pausing the endo from being active. Doesn't kill the endo, doesn't make it worse, just freezes it in time till it becomes active again. when the endo is not active, the bonus apart from pain relief, is that adhesions are less likely to grow for a while, and adhesions can often be a bigger pain issue than endo itself.

So it can be a long time without endo pains, during and after the pregnancy, but it will return as soon as the ovaries are active again and ovulating and your periods are back in business.

As for pain, the procedure of a lap is not painful because you are fast asleep throughout.

When you are recovering the main pain is from trapped gas in the tummy which they pump in to you to puff up the tummy so they can see around and some of that gets trapped and causes pain in the shoulders and boy can that be uncomfy.

The stab wounds in the tummy are tender but not too sore, over the counter pain killers will be enough for them.

Inside pain depends so much on what you have had done and where, and some things give very little pain afterwards, some are very painful, some are just achey, some are itchy inside and you can't itch it, It is so varied because endo can be growing on such a wide variety of internal organs.

You will be heavily dosed with pain killers in hospital and you can contact your GP for prescription strength pain relief when you come out of hosp if you still need it. Some do some don't.

The lap op is not a huge trauma, and often it brings a lot of relief from constant endo pain, so for many ladies it is well worth having done from time to time to clean out the engine so to speak, and free up organs from adhesions(scar tissue).

I've had a lap op and a laparotomy op (big hole across my tummy). The lap op was a doddle compared with the laparotomy.