Back and forth with the doctors- looking for advice!

[kellygager1996]

Hi I'm Kelly,

I discovered around 5 years ago that during my period I would get rectal bleeding. The blood is always very red and quite often very heavy (sometimes so heavy that I would have to wear a sanitary pad day and night and the amount of blood from both passages was equal). For the first year or so I didn't seek any medical advice or tell any of my family but for the last 4 years I have been back and forth at the doctors to try and find out what is going on. I have undergone two colonoscopies and both times nothing abnormal has shown up and I have been told two monitor my symptoms and see if they continue.

During one of my many doctors appointment the doctor asked me if I had ever heard of Endometriosis which I had not. After researching and reading into the condition it is something that I have been trying to push my doctors to investigate. Although I do not have what I would consider intense pain which a lot of women go through I do have a quite some of the known symptoms including rectal bleeding only during menstruation, occasional pelvic pain and pain during intercourse.

I have read that the average timescale of being diagnosed is seven years. Even with this information it is hard not to feel frustrated and upset as I feel that doctors are not taking me seriously. I have my third colonoscopy booked in soon and I know that the results will come back normal and I will be back to square one. I know that it is only 30-40% of women with the condition that have problems with fertility but as a young women it's something that is very important to me and if I do have the condition and this could potentially affect me I want to know.

I would really appreciate it if anyone who has been through similar or have similar symptoms as me has any advice on what I should do.

Thank you! xoxox

[3caramel7]

Have you had an scan , ultrasound or MRI? It can be quite hard to see/locate endo in the large intestine/rectal/bottom areas. Its where some of my Endo is. And the blood is very bright red and shiny and nothing showed up on a colonoscopy. In my humble untrained position, it is a waste of money and resources to have yet another colonoscopy. You would be better off going back to your GP and asking for a referral to an Endo Specialist.

[kellygager1996 in reply to 3caramel7]

No I haven't yet but I've been trying to push for that. At my last GP appointment they said because my last colonoscopy was over a year ago that I would need a third one done to rule anything out and then they would refer me to a gynecologist for an ultrasound. It's so hard because doctors keep telling me different things. The last doctor I saw this week said that it's very unlikely that I would have endometriosis because nothing has been detected in my colonoscopy but everyone else says it's hard and sometimes impossible to detect it that way!

[3caramel7 in reply to kellygager1996]

Are you in anyway able to see the same Doctor to get any consistency? Can your GP order an ultrasound scan or an MRI themselves, I know my GP can? One of the problems being a woman is that there is alot tucked in there, when it comes to the organs of our lower bodies and the Endo can be quite sneaky in being tucked away out of sight when it comes to scans. How are your blood tests, are there any abnormalities?

[kellygager1996]

That is something I have been battling with but my GP surgery is so busy that sometimes the waiting list is beyond 5 months. It is partly my fault as well as this has been on going for years and every time they would say see nothing abnormal on my colonoscopy results I would be back to square one! I'm not sure that if they can but I will definitely look into it! Nope, I've had around 3 or 4 since this all started and they've all come back normal.

[deedeeme]

I don't want to scare you but have you thought of looking at a cancer site -neuroendocrine cancer.

[VW17]

I have had issues for decades. Have IBS and constant pain, tiredness, irregular bleeding. Many gp visits. Then I read the 10 symptoms of endometriosis on facebook. Had all 10. Another scan. This time they discussed the shadowing and cysts and recommended a laparoscopy. To say they are slow diagnosing and treating these things is an understatement 😔 waiting for the date still