Overweight, in agony and denied a laparoscopy. HELP!

[ChelseaJade]

Hello!

I am just after some advice, I've been on a really long road to get where I am right now in terms of getting "diagnosed".

I unfortunately suffered a miscarriage in June 2015, and since then my periods have been getting worse, and worse.

My GP wasn't listening to a word I had to say, and it got to the point where I had been in A&E 3 times in the space of 4 months due to the agony that I was in.

So after numerous trips to the doctors, after a ridiculous amounts of tests and ultrasounds he came to the conclusion that it's likely that I could have endometriosis, so he referred me to a specialist, after talking with the specialist for over an hour, he said with my symptoms it was highly likely that I do indeed have endometriosis, but of course the only way to be 100% was to have a laporascopy, HOWEVER, the specialist was at a private hospital, and because my BMI is over 40 they won't do it, so they referred me to my nearest hospital on the NHS, which I had no issues with(after all I just want to know what's going on with my body!), so today, I thought was my "pre-assessment" to my operation.. But it wasn't.

I walked in, and the female doctor started asking me all these health questions which have already been answered a million times, she informed me that the private hospital where I had seen the specialist had nothing to do with the NHS, so they could not say what goes and what doesn't.

She was incredibly rude, she did not listen to a word I had to say, and talked over me 80% of the time that I was there.

ANYWAY, she came to the conclusion that I should have the hormone coil implanted, because it could reduce my bleeding while I am on my period, and possibly even stop them for the duration that I have it, which should sound like a fantastic idea, however, this isn't fixing my problem, it is only masking it which I am not happy with, I also suffer with chronic migraines and when I have used contraceptives before(implanon, and depo) I have been hit with migraines daily causing me to come off them straight away.

All of this was explained to the doctor, but another problem she had was that with my BMI being over 40(which by the way is 41.7) that going through with the surgery would be dangerous, and advised me to lose weight if I wanted the surgery.

I left the hospital and just broke down. How could this woman expect me to lose weight when I am in constant debilitating pain 20 days out of 30, every single month. Now where I completely sympathise that there is risks, and dangers for absolutely any procedure where anaesthetic is involved, but my is 1.7 over. Maybe if I was 39.9 they would help me.

So my question is has anyone here(that is overweight with a high BMI) had a laparoscopy and has had issues during/following it?

Also, if you have any advice that you could give me in terms of getting these doctors to listen to me would be fantastic. It was exhausting enough the first thousand times.

I apologise at how long this is, but I wanted you to have all the information!

Thank you in advance!

[Tboag]

No apology needed, that's for sure, I'm sorry your are suffering and that you had to be subjected to rudeness for someone that is supposed to be in a caring profession,

I don't have an answer, but just wanted to advise you that there are specialist endometriosis centres, and maybe you could ask your GP to refer you to one, have a look on the BSGE list online,

I'm not sure about the weight issue, maybe it will be the same, but you might get a better response, if you don't want the coil you should say no,

I've heard good positive things about it, but I said no to it, as I had a coil, (not marina) years ago, but I didn't like it, I could feel it all the time, (I had a retroverted uterus)

It is after all your choice,

I understand that losing weight is hard at the best of times, how much weight is that, to get you under the 40. Is it a lot, you don't have to answer, maybe it's worth trying the endo diet, ladies say it's good for pain also,

I'm going to give it ago after chrimbo,

Any way, you rant away, that's what this site is for that and info

Good luck

Xx

[ChelseaJade in reply to Tboag]

Hi!

Anything and everything is helpful to me right now!

After I left the hospital(and finished crying of course), I made the trip into my doctors to ask if there was any appointments available, and I have a appointment this Wednesday, my thinking was to ask my GP to refer me back to the specialist I saw, and maybe somehow working out what could be done about me losing weight in order to have the surgery, or just even seeing a different specialist to get a second, or third opinion on everything.

I would have to lose 1 stone and 5 lbs in order for my BMI to be 39.1. Prior to everything going on I had already lost three stone, but that was mainly through exercising, but now I'm just finding it so difficult to even find the motivation!

I just feel like if I had the coil implanted it is only masking my problem, and not really solving anything! I don't want to end up years down the line being even worse! It's like taking painkillers on my bad days, sure it masks my pain sometimes, but it's still there, I'm still exhausted, nauseated, and not active.

I will definitely have a look at that list online, and the diet!

Thank you for replying, and good luck for after Christmas! xx

[applebird]

Hi, I've previously had a bmi of 43 and honestly having gone through surgery I can tell you that if I had had my surgery when I was that big my recovery would have been a million times harder. From losing a lot of weight I discovered that some of the pain/difficulty getting about/fatigue was attributable to being overweight and nothing to do with endo. I don't want to be one of these annoying people like an American infomercial - but truthfully losing the weight made a massive difference in my overall health and energy levels. I really don't think I would've coped with multiple surgeries and procedures otherwise. To be blunt I did not do much exercise, just a bit more walking and altered my diet - lost 7 stone, last 3 using weight watchers app - try it!

I'd be with you on avoiding the coil and actually dealing with the underlying issue rather than just masking symptoms. Get you bmi down a little and they'll do it no bother, my first surgery my bmi was 33 and still not perfect! So they aren't saying you have to get down to a skinny size just get your body into a stronger position where it isn't under so much stress.

Lots of luck xx

[ChelseaJade in reply to applebird]

I have no doubts in my mind that the female doctor I talked to wasn't lying about the risks involved, but the main issue I'm having about not getting the surgery is because having spoke to the specialist, he advised that I should have the surgery(if my BMI had been under 40 they would have performed it), now my BMI is 41.7.

I'm still trying my best to continue to lose weight, I walk most places and I try to eat clean the best that I can, I just don't know what else is possible for me to achieve when it's just so difficult to get downstairs to fill my hot water bottle up on bad days!

I think I'm definitely going to say no to the coil, and I think I may talk to my GP about everything, and if he feels it's within my best health to try to lose more weight, I will definitely try harder than what I a already doing(I don't want to be in a worse state after all!), I juse hope he points me in the right direction of someone who can help me along the way, because without exercise it's proving rather hard!

Thank you for replying! Xx

[CP17]

I'm really sorry that you're having to deal with this. Maybe the surgery is more risky with a higher BMI, but I also think doctors can be fat-phobic and it can be hard to sort out which is which sometimes. I also get what you're saying about weight loss not being easy when you're also suffering with chronic pain and illness every day.

[ChelseaJade in reply to CP17]

Hi! I completely agree, I'm just having trouble believing that the surgeon in question would want to perform the operation on me, as when I spoke to the specialist, he didn't have any question, or doubt for one second that he wouldn't be able to perform it with ease, it wasn't until the nurse took my BMI that he told me I wasn't able to have the surgery at the private hospital, which is when he sent me over to the NHS hospital for them to do it instead.

I have no doubt that there is more risks with me having a higher BMI, I'm just having really big doubts, when two doctors have advised me to have a lapoaroscopy, and one has said it's risky. Maybe a fourth opinion is worth it?

My only other option is to try extremely hard to lose the weight necessary to get my BMI below 40 so the specialist can perform the surgery!

I am very confused on which option to take, as you can see!

[applebird in reply to ChelseaJade]

Hey, the specialist will have sent you through to nhs as most private hospitals don't have intensive care units. With your being a complicated case I.e. Higher risk of heart failure, bleeds etc. They need to have most specialist services on hand. To be honest I paid 2.5k for a private surgery - the doc found more severe endo than anticipated and actually couldn't complete the surgery in the private setting due to the lack of icu - I.e. Spending that money was a total waste - I had to have another surgery through nhs 6 months later anyway. It sounds like your endo is severe so bear this in mind.

Also another thing to think about - endo tissue is stimulated and maintained by oestrogen. Fat cells act as another source of oestrogen production - so the more you have the worse your endo is likely to be. In a vicious circle oestrogen also promotes fat deposition. This is why it's a great idea to follow the endo diet and cut out animal oestrogens found in red meat/dairy.

endo-resolved.com/diet.html

paleoforwomen.com/the-physi...

The best thing you can do to try and naturally reduce the pain you are in and also reduce the chance of having further endo recurrence is to try and tackle things. Honestly the weight watchers app is the easiest thing in the world - I still drank at wkends (gin + slimline) had nice meals out, ate chocolate cake etc etc .... I always thought I was eating well but my portion control was rubbish (I now weigh rice, potatoes etc) and my concept of the calorific value in snacks/even shop bought sandwiches was all wrong. It's simple things like having half the Chinese instead of all of it in one go, blackbean instead of curry. I never did any exercise as pain was terrible. But losing weight reduced it & bleeding.

Wishing you so much luck xx