Can you have a lap to find endo without having a general anaesthetic?

[awoik123]

Hi everyone, I am 37 and had a miscarriage in december, since then i have been been in constant pain. burning in pelvis and thighs, headaches, tired. crippling period pains. I have had awful periods since I was 15 but the other pains only started after miscarriage, anyway I am so sure i have endo but don't want to have the operation as i am terrified of having the general anaesthetic, I just feel so lost, I am loosing time in work and am on the verge of handing my notice in. I want to find out if it is endo but is it possible to have the surgery without the general? thankyou xx

[Starstellar7]

Hi Awoik,

Sorry to hear of your miscarriage. I hope you are recovering as well as you can. It does sound as if you have some endo symptoms. I have a lot of what you describe too and am also 37.

I was terrified of having the op but having a general is the only way to have a look. My first lap was pretty straightforward and I felt a lot better afterwards. I think you need to know if this is what you have.

What painkillers are you taking? You should be having something at the very least ibuprofen, diclofenic and naproxen are good but steer clear of codeine.

You must get some medical support, it is impossible to keep going on your own. It isn't weakness, it is a nasty illness and you must get it treated.

Please message back xx

[Lilly83]

Hello

I too had my first lap last year, I was so scarred had never had one before, I have emetophobia so was really worried about vomiting so was getting mega stressed about the breathing tube, being sick when I woke and other people being sick on the ward/in recovery. They knew I was scared and they were so good, it was so much better than expected I just felt like I had been asleep for 10 min then was in recovery x

[awoik123]

Thankyou both for replying. I am just being a big baby really and scared of not waking up after the surgery, but when the pains gets so bad i feel like someone could hit me with a sledge hammer and i wouldn't care lol. I am not taking any painkillers starstellar because nothing helps but am spending a fortune on heat packs, I stopped going back to the doctors a few months back because i felt people thought i was making it all up! I have an appointment today though because once again i am off work and have to have disiplinary next week because of previous time off. Thankyou again both, hopefully the doc can advise me on what do next xxx

[Impatient]

Have a read of this

dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

and if you are finding that codeine based pain killers don't work for you, it could be down to a lack of the enzyme needed to make that work, and you have to discuss with your GP using non-codeine based painkillers instead.

Better to find a pain killer that works than over do the heat packs and cause damage to your skin capilliaries.

Erythemia Ab Igne is a skin condition where use of heat has cooked the capilliaries under the skin causing mottled patterns to appear and these take YEARS to recover from.

Lots of us have landed up with EAI through sitting too close to a fire, using hotties or hotwater bottles or having laptops on thighs etc.

If the skin gets cracked and sore then you must stop and get it checked by the GP. This is just as dangerous as sunburn and can lead to skin cancers in the future so please be very careful with applying heat. I know it is so tempting because it does provide relief from pain, been there done that myself, but the truth is occasional use of heat is fine, but with endo or gynae pains we tend to need to use it throughout the day, and day after day and this leads to a significant chance that damage under the skin will be the result.

Use the search box on the green bar and look up Erythemia Ab Igne...we have discussed it a number of times, because a lot of us have ended up with it, not having a clue that the consequences could be a lot worse than temporary pain relief.

I would definitely recommend the op, having it without anaesthetic is crazy and I doubt any surgeon would agree to that and it is pointless as it would far far more traumatic... and you'd probably pass out anyway from the shock, so much better to drift gently in to deep sleep and before you know it someone is calling your name to wake you up.

The op itself is the simplest of things to get through - you are just sleeping and know nothing about what's going on down below which is just as well.

After the op, you get 2-3 days of shoulder pains (due to trapped gas) which you have to fart and burp out of you as quick as you can and once that is gone, you are left with slight soreness of the lap holes and if they did any work inside then tenderness from that for a week or two and pain relief will help but isn't always necessary after the initial trapped gas pain has subsided.

Meanwhile your current pain situation could be resolved which will have you feeling so much better. It is definitely worth getting the op to see what's happening inside.

Be brave. you can do this, as thousands and thousands of us have been through it. It's not nearly as bad as you are imagining it to be. The pains won't be as severe as what you are experiencing now, so if you can get through the current situation without pain relief my goodness you can get through the op, and do speak to Doc about the non-codeine based meds, because a lot of people cannot benefit from those drugs because they genetically lack the enzymes needed to make them work.

p.s. You can take a teddy bear in to the operation prep room with you, and you can wear your own brightly coloured socks to cheer you up too. And do tell the nursing staff of you concerns, most people have them before their 1st op. Once that is over and done with, you are much better prepared for any subsequent ops you may need to have later in life.

[awoik123 in reply to Impatient]

Thankyou so much for your reply Impatient, I am being over dramatic at the minute anyway with the pain and lack of sleep so maybe a dose of general anaesthetic would do me the world of good I am also being presumptious because I know it could be a longggggggggg time before I will get anywhere near to being referred for a lap, just really rather sorry myself the last few months with the miscarriage and all the pain and am also very down about having so much time off work, just needed a kick up the bum I think The last few day's of being on this site has been fantastic and I am so so grateful for the support and advice so thankyou once again. Will let you know how I get on, take care xxx