NEED A MASSIVE RANT!!

[Embobjimmyjam]

NEED A MASSIVE RANT!!!! I've just been for my fourth check up appointment with yet another different consultant (seen 5 different ones now) I've had three zoladex injections now and the last consultant that I saw told me to go back after having three injections and see if they help also to make sure if it is my endometriosis that's still a problem or if it was something else so I go to my appointment today only to be told that I NEED TO HAVE A BABY!!!! AND TO GO TO A SHOP AFTER MY APPOINTMENT AND BUY FOLIC ACID AND TAKE 1 EVERYDAY FOR THE NEXT THREE MONTHS ALSO I NEED TO LOOSE 5 STONE IN THOSE THREE MONTHS THEN GET MY COIL TAKEN OUT AND START TRYING FOR A BABY HE WOULDN'T LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAID THAT ID LIKE ANOTHER ZOLADEX INJECTIONS FIRST AND THEN DISCUSS HAVING A BABY WITH MY PARTNER AND JUST KEPT SAYING BUY FOLIC ACID HAVE A BABY AND HAS DISCHARGED ME!!!!!!! so what the hell am I supposed to do now myself and my mum are gobsmacked it's actually shocking 🤔😱😫😭😡😧😖😥

[Bexstar74]

Oh my gosh that's dreadful. You need to speak to the PALS team at the hospital (most have them) and raise your issues with them there for them to investigate. It was highly unprofessional for them to deal with you in that way. I'd have been livid. (They clearly don't have a clue what they're saying as my endo was triggered by my having a baby. It doesn't solve endometriosis). Please ensure you lodge a formal complaint against that consultant as no one will be aware if this has happened to others either. Good luck x

[DBuckland]

Oh my goodness...your head must be swirling. Pushing pregnancy...yes, it will ease your symptoms for a time...but then what you are doubled over in pain trying to care for a baby while your endo is back with avengence!! Ya, that's a real plan. Wow. I am sooo sorry.

I'm fortunate that Ive had two beautiful baby boys, now 8 and 4. But now I am seriously looking into radical hysto. Ive lived in pain for 23 years now, and it's only getting worse.

[Keke123]

Hi!! Totally feel your pain!

I have been told since I was diagnosed at 20 to have kids and it won't get better until I do, but also told I can't have kids and finally told I need a hysterectomy to get rid of it all.

My dr is currently focused on my painful sex rather than fixing my day to day pain which is getting so much worse so kind of at a loss but since finding him it's at least gone in the direction of helping me. But I honestly find it frustrating some times because all I want is help and you forget that they must see so many of us with our lives in pieces

I hope you can find a specialist that really listens. It's took me 4 years to find someone but I have to travel very far for him.

[Scarah79]

You poor thing, I completely sympathise. I've suffered all my life and now my periods are wayyyyy more frequent (think every 20 days) and even more painful than ever before. Last week I was struggling with terrible pre-period pain, so in desperation I got in to the dr - she was absolutely useless, kept suggesting different pills (I've tried them all), am I sure I wasn't constipated (seriously??) and then she also suggested having children. Not even one, but a few!! I said I was nearly 39 and hadn't really planned on having any (I was trying to be polite), and she looked at me like, 'oh, you're one of THOSE women...' I came out of there and cried!!

[JenH]

I am so sorry you have had to go through. It is almost the exact same thing that happened to me 3 years ago! I went back in for my checkup where I told the doc (again someone I had never seen before) that I was still having the same pains and I felt the endo was still there (I had three laps over time by this point) He just said well you know the only options left to you now....baby or hysterectomy! He then went on to say obviously you are too young for the latter so I am going to discharge you and you can go home and make a baby! I am not kidding thats exactly what he said! A) as if its that easy B) He had no idea if I was in a relationship (I was not married at that point) C) Having a baby is not a medical treatment! Its not the same as taking 2 paracetamol for a headache! He was ready then and there to take my coil out even said do you want a gown and you can hop up on the bed now! I just said no I need time to think I will go to my doc and got out of there asap! The worst is he had no idea how he was in the wrong! I wish I had been stronger and told him what an idiot he was or at lest set him strait but I am just so glad I got out of there and didn't let him proceed. I went back to my GP 2 days latter and asked to be referred to another hospital as I knew I still had endo and I had no faith in the hospital I was with. I am very lucky as I then was referred to someone I think is amazing he has done 2 further laps over that time and after discussing options with me my husband and I are now trying for a baby. But that is because it is right for us not because a Doc told me its a good treatment option. This current Doc has kept me on his records and they are checking on me every three months so that we can try to avoid all the damage the endo did previously and I for once don't feel alone!

Oh I would like to point out that even if I had listened to the idiot it is unlikely I would have gotten pregnant as in the first 3 laps they did not excise the endo and it had spread to the bowel, bladder, diaphragm as well as around a tube and overy goodness know what they did the first 3 times!

[Embobjimmyjam in reply to JenH]

It's like I tried to explain to him that the consultant I saw in January the one before him had put me on three months of zoladex injections and then told me to come back if they worked for me then I could have another three he just kept saying no no no no more zoladex you need folic acid once a day and have a baby it will cure you I'm certainly going to complain it's absolutely shocking!!! x

[Mammoth]

Start by making a complaint so that no other woman with endo has to have the same conversation.

His 'treatment option' is unacceptable and irresponsible.

The trouble is that some doctors have been told that pregnancy eases the symptoms of endometriosis - which it can do. But of course, women with endo who do manage to get pregnant sometimes have complications - pain from adhesions, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage etc. And as someone else pointed out, it can come back with avengence afterwards, so not really a long term solution!

Doctors probably end up saying stupid stuff like this because there isn't really a cure for endometriosis as such - just treatment plans. Generally, that's pain management or hormone management or surgery. Or some combination of the three.

The main problem with his advice is the assumption that you want to be a mother. (One wonders if he would have suggested a similar treatment if you were a man?) Suppose you followed his advice out of desperation and ended up with a child you did not want. What then? Would he look after that child for you?

However, the thing that really gets to me is that a lot of women with endo struggle to conceive. Like me. I tried for 5.5 years. Your doctor's suggestion is ignorant, irritating and infuriating. I couldn't get pregnant except with a donor to provide an egg and spending tens of thousands of £££s.

Finally, pregnancy comes with risks - even with women who don't have endo: gestational diabetes, gravidarum hyperemesis, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia and premature labour. Some of these are potentially very serious. Pregnancy is not something that should be taken lightly and is not a treatment for endometriosis. This guy needs to rethink his approach and you need to help him by making the complaint. That doesn't mean you have to have him as your doctor any more. But really, think of the next girl who has to hear this crap. It needs to stop, now.