Decapeptyl Treatment 12 weeks before Operation

[Wind_mill]

Hi, I was just wondering what people's experiences of decapeptyl are and what people's thoughts are on having this pre-operatively? I have been told I need to start taking it now (10-12 weeks) before my operation. This will be my second laproscopy but this time with a specialist at an approved centre. Last time I had about 5 hours of surgery and they stopped as they accidentally went into my bowel and they reached the end of their expertise. I have stage 4 Endo mainly in pouch of Douglas - vaginal wall, ureter and bowel and will probably be having resectioning of bowel and ureter. Any advice or suggestions would be really valued. Thanks.

[Froggy34]

Hi. I'm on Decapeptyl and am not a fan. The injections I found quite painful (worse than the Zoladex). It has helped my pain but some of my bowel symptoms still remain and I'm still bleeding every day. I also feel like rubbish - very low energy levels, mood swings, hair falling out, acne, weight gain because I'm unable to exercise at the moment. I could go on. I'm sure I've just painted a really attractive picture of me lol. The thing I've come to realise with all these medications though is that everyone reacts differently to them and most of what you hear about on the internet is the worst case scenarios. A lot of people really get on well with them and think they're wonderful. I think that for severe disease, these medications don't really do much. I was speaking to the Gynae registrar at work about it the other day and they said they often use these medications to see how your body responds/if they relieve the pain as it gives them a better understanding of what course of treatment will be most effective (medical or surgical). In your case though it sounds like they are using it to shrink the endo before surgery, like Lindle said. 3 months isn't too bad though. I'm 3 months into mine now and still have another 3 to go although I will be requesting to stop after I see my consultant again in a few weeks. Good luck. X