Diagnosis surgery advice

[ElsieSimpson]

I'm now here! Not officially diagnosed but experiancing ait of symptoms, my gynae wants to do a laparoscopy to diagnose and treat and I'm looking for experiences!

I'm paranoid about the pain that might be involved, recovery, and even that he may not find anything!

[Confused1991]

Don't worry. The diagnostic lap is nothing to be scared about I had one about a month ago now, takes a good week to recover but a weeks nothing if they find what's wrong with you x

[Blondedia]

Hi.

Firstly you should be happy to be given the lap, it takes months, sometimes years to be given a laparoscopy, most people on this site will tell you that they're still going back to their GP and A&E because they're in severe pain and nothing's being done about it!!

A laparoscopy is the only way to let the Dr's know what's going On inside your body, whether they find endometriosis or not, if they find something then they can treat it, if they don't, then they can start looking elsewhere for the pain.

I had a laparoscopy in February and there were people in the recovery ward where I was who also had a laparoscopy, but the surgeon didn't find anything during their laps. (The surgeons came round to the ward after to tell their patients what they'd done during surgery, and you can hear everything!!)

Don't feel bad if this happens. It's a process of elimination at this stage.

One thing you can't do is take notice of other peoples comments about recovery time after the lap. Every person is different and everyone of us has different gynaecological problems, so our surgeries are all going to be different.

You probably know that there are different stages of endometriosis, 1 being mild and 4 being severe. Plus there's chocolate cysts, fibroids etc etc so the surgeon may need to do a lot of work when he does the lap, or maybe nothing.

I would imagine a week to recover would be normal after the lap if the surgeon didn't have to do anything. However if he does find anything, depending on what it is, it could take you 2-3 months to recover.

After my lap, I was bed bound for nearly a week, then I felt guilty and started trying to do my normal chores, ironing, hoovering, driving the kids to the barbers etc, and within a couple of days I got really, really Ill and ended up seeing my GP, and after reading my hospital notes, she was alarmed, as I'd had quite extensive work done, which equates to major surgery, she told me to do absolutely nothing, to go home and practice being a patient. And regularly take the pills I'd been given, 60mg of codeine which is the equivalent of morphine, plus 8 paracetamol tablets a day.

Which I did, and I didn't feel well for at least 2 1/2 mths.

The reason I felt guilty and started trying to get back to normal, was because I'd read other peoples posts saying how they were well enough to go back to work within a couple of weeks, so don't take too much notice of everything you read on here.

Have the lap, you will be fine,at least you'll know what's going on inside your body which will give you peace of mind.

Lisa xxx

[marieosb]

I had a laparoscopy 2 years ago now, the surgery was fine and gave me lots of painkillers so didnt wake up in pain but in an hour, I did feel uncomfortable & achey. Because of the amount of work they did to try and reduce my cyst and clear adhesions I bled alot so the bed was soaked of blood. This is normal so dont be alarmed if you see this. It took me 2 weeks to recover as would feel dizzy every time I tried to stand up in the first week so stayed in bed but made attempts in second week to move around a bit more to get my body to be lesss achey. I was back to wrk in the 3rd week but wish I took longer off. Take the time you need to recover!

[SEB88]

i agree with the all the other comments, had a lap 2 weeks ago. everyone is different for recovery but if all goes well 2 weeks, due to my job i am taking 3 weeks off.

Again, the only way to find endo is a lap, so please dont be scared if they write extra things on the consent form i.e removal of endo and cysts if they find them, it will save them waking you up to tell then having to book another lap in. they just want to do as much as possible in one hit

[CharlieSays]

I'm presuming if your gynae wants to do a lap, that he is fairly convinced you have endo!

Don't worry too much, its a simple operation, they do them all the time and at least you will find out for definite if you have endo or not. As everyone has said, recovery varies - I was told two weeks as I have a physical job, but I wish I'd had at least another week as I was incredibly tired and not really up to the lifting I have to do at work. I told my colleagues this though, and they helped me out. I didnt have too much pain post-op, really just aching and dizzyness, nothing that ibuprofen and a heatpad couldnt handle.