I'm 22 years old and was finally (after nearly 8 long years) diagnosed with endometriosis. As terrifying as it was to know I had this problem it was such a relief to know I had something and all the pain and ongoing problems weren't in my head. My laparoscopy was my last option after a number of scans, medication and 101 different contraceptives I had an answer! I have two scars (one in my belly button and another to the lower left side of my abdomen). The initial investigation during my op was through my belly button where they found light abrasions partially covering my uterus, they then went through the second site on my left to find that my ovary and the ligament surrounding the ovary were covered in endometriosis. All in all including the investigation, diathermy of the endo and insertion of the mirena coil my operation took around 2hours. When I woke up I was very spaced out and vaguely remember the nurse coming in and out to check on me, give me plenty of water and tea to get my sugar levels up and biscuits and muffins (since I hadn't eaten since 9pm the night before and my op was at 12pm so I was starving!) After about 45min/1hr the surgeon came in with images of my ovary before and after the removal of the endo, then to tell me how lucky I am to have it diagnosed this so early as a lot of woman don't get a firm diagnosis until their 30/40's! Just before leaving, the nurse had me go to the toilet and then I was free to go. Thankfully i had Mum in wait around the day in the car park to finally take me home to relax at about 4pm where the recovery began! Reading through a lot of posts on here I've seen a real mixed bag of people's recoverys and thankfully I can say I managed to get by without any pain relief following my op. The only thing I could niggle about is how uncomfortable your shoulders are after all this for a good week from the co2 they put in during surgery..and that my side wound became infected from the dissolvable stitches (that didn't dissolve in time!) I'm now nearly 2 months post op and touch wood all is good for now, I've had a few hiccups but all in all compared to before my diagnosis and removal I can't complain! I'd love to hear other ladies stories on here as this page helped me a lot prior, leading up to and following my diagnosis!
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tegillies
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Hi. I've just had the nirena coil taken out. Not sure but it was over four years old and my gynaecology was going to do it anyway. Not sure it's the right thing as now I'm worried about periods as I've not had a period for five years. I'm on Co Co Damol and waiting for a gynaecology bed for investigation 's. Let me know how u are .getting on.
Your experience has made me feel much better about the recovery, fingers crossed I have no issues too as I'm so nervous about the op and recovery. Did you choose to have the coil before the op? how long did you take off work? Glad your feeling much better now! X
Really happy for you that you got your diagnosis and have had a positive post op result.
I'm 30. My husband and I had been trying to conceive our second child for 8 months when I felt in my gut that something wasn't quite right. Our first child took only 3 months to conceive but, while up to 1 year is considered 'normal', my female intuition was tingling. So I visited a reproductive endocrinologist (RE. A fertility doctor). He ran a bunch of non invasive tests and everything came back as normal. My husband had his sperm analysed and that came back normal, too. The next stage was to have a hysterosalpingogram (HSG). Dye is injected in to your uterus and forced through your Fallopian tubes to check for blockages. They found both of my tubes were completely blocked. The RE said we could either go straight to IVF or I could have exploratory laparoscopic surgery to try and figure out why my tubes were blocked. We wanted answers, not just a baby, so I opted for the surgery. That's when they found endometriosis; My tubes were bent and buckled, preventing eggs from being released. My uterus was fully adhered to my pelvic wall, and I had a small amount of endo on my ovaries also. Both the RE and I were shocked. I had never had any telltale symptoms of endometriosis, and the extent of endo I had should have been causing significant pain. I had experienced minor symptoms, like chronic fatigue (accepted this as just exhaustion from being a mother) and IBS symptoms (had been told I was sensitive to gluten) but both those symptoms I had totally brushed off as normal.
I feel really lucky that 1) I've not experienced pain, and 2) my diagnosis came quickly after only 7 months of testing (a total of 15 months trying to conceive). My RE is optimistic that we will be able to have another child in the future, but for now we've taken a step back from trying to conceive and I'm focusing on my overall health and accepting my diagnosis, changing my diet etc etc. We have one beautiful son who needs me to be well, and we are focusing on the positives of what we do have, as opposed to what we don't.
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Endometriosis diagnosis 
Severe Endo diagnosis 
Dealing with my diagnosis.
Diagnosis
