Does bowel endo always show on MRI ?

[Charlie-36]

Hi everyone I'm just looking some advice before I go for my appointment at endo centre next week. I've had chronic pelvic pain since a lap where they removed endometrioma and adhesions on large bowel 20 months ago it's gradually got worse and I can't work anymore as it really effects my mobility. I had an MRI in November ( had buscapam no dye ) and it came back completely clear which was very disappointing as I'm just so confused about what is causing my pain it just added to the stress of it all. When I have my period I also bleed period blood rectally , is it just a 'normal' thing with endo but doesn't always mean the bowel is implicated ? I do get pain after opening my bowels but not the horrendous pain I've read that lots of you get during bm...

Any advice would be a great help as I'm so confused and depressed with it all now and have no idea what to expect with the consultant X

[Arcadia-77]

No it doesn't always show on an MRI. If the endo there is superficial disease then it is flat so wouldn't be seen, deep invasive endo would be more likely to show, but it also depends on the quality of the images, and the skill of the person reading them too.

Rectal bleeding when on your period can be a sign of endo on the bowel, but it can also be caused by other things such as haemorrhoids, a fissure (tear) so that wouldn't necessarily mean you definitely have it there.

Have you had any other endo found and treated by excision, other than the endometrioma cyst? Having an endometrioma can be a marker of more severe disease, and often intestinal disease too. endopaedia.info/subtype7.html & endopaedia.info/subtype9.html

[Charlie-36 in reply to Arcadia-77]

Hi Arcadia thank you so much for replying. I've had haemorrhoids so I'm pretty sure it's not that as it's a lot of period blood that comes out compared to the bright red that appears with haemorrhoids, it really does appear to be my period blood and there was a lot of it (sorry if tmi ! ) the endo centre I'm going too is in Oxford and it was the lead surgern there who looked at the MRI...

I've just read the links you sent which are very interesting. My pain is all left sided. The cyst was on left ovary and comp bound down with adhesions. The surgern said that my bowel was comp stuck and in her own words said that 'she had to put her hands in there and unstick it all' I did have my lap with a general gynecologist too. I've only had one emergency lap 10 years ago now for an ectopic pregnancy which just said I had a left tubal miscarriage and that was it, So the most recent lap I had was for the endometriomia. I've tried zoladex from july to oct which made no difference in fact it seemed to make my symptoms worse, and I've still got a bad back from months of no sleep, and feelings of depression have never gone away what an awful drug!

I just hope I get somewhere with it next week as it's taken over my life.X