Confused between IBS and bowel endo.

[Lovisa]

So.. I was diagnosed with bowel endo stage 4 back in 2010, had another lap in 2011 for endo removal I'm now going in for my 3rd lap on the 15th with the bsge in Cardiff. I went to my GP few days ago because my stomach bloats are getting a bit too much for me also "tmi part" I seem to be having a huge problem with bowel mucus, never have done since like 3 weeks ago also fresh blood within my bm. My gp had a look at my butt an checked for piles etc found nothing but put me laxido and sennas as I suffer constant constipation. My mum and dad suffer IBS yet I don't seem to suffer the same as they would of in flair ups. They both either have normal bms/runs or constipated as for me it's aways constipation unless I eat sweet peppers "like I found out last week" my tummy only hurts on the lower left side always feels like a tugging/balloon sensation also seem to get a mild thumping pain right side on belly button and the new one for me is I get a sensation that feels like a stomach/period ache which then slowly makes it way round to my kidneys I have/had endo on the ureters so don't know if it's that or IBS. I've googled so much trying to see if it's one or the other. I'd like to hear from people who either have IBS or it's caused by endo.

Sorry for the gibberish.

[Hidden]

I had always had a dodgy tummy and suffered from endless random bouts of diarrhoea in my 20's. Got to my mid 30's and became chronically constipated. I would regularly go 5-6 days without being able to go. Mid 2014 I started regularly passing mucus. I went to the GP, who did various blood tests for coeliacs and colitis etc, which all came back normal. He shrugged it off as IBS and that was the end of it as far as he was concerned. Things got a lot worse through 2015, and I was back and forward to the GP (including one particular appointment where I outright asked him if he thought it was endo and he told me I didn't have the symptoms). Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was then diagnosed with severe endo which included a large (3cm) rectovaginal nodule. It was pressing into the bowel, which had also been pulled over to the right hand side, and that was causing the constipation. I also had a sigmoidoscopy which showed severe internal hemorrhoids basically caused by years of being constipated. The gastro told me that the hemorrhoids were causing the mucus. Although I have read that you can have endo and IBS, bowel endo itself causes IBS like symptoms. I had a hysterectomy with excision of my bowel and rectovaginal endo nearly 7 weeks ago and fingers crossed, my bowel symptoms are improving. At the moment I'm not using laxatives, which I'd been using daily for about 18 months prior to surgery, and a lot of my bowel pain has gone.

[Lovisa in reply to Hidden]

Sounds insane but I'm hoping mine is endo on the bowel again so I don't get shrugged off with IBS. I'm happy to hear that your starting to have improvements! I suppose I'm just really worried that this lap they'll find no sign of endo anywhere and that it's all in my head.