do i or don't i

[acarter96]

I am worried I might have endometriosis. I keep reviving really conflicting advice and I don't know what to do next. I have had appointments with my local gynaecologist who believed I didn't have this condition and I probably have dysmenorrhea. I had an ultrasound scan to make sure I didn't have any other conditions such as PCOS, which I don't. However my last period was so bad that makes me question the doctors opinion. I am complacently stuck and confused. I have no idea what to do next. Can anyone give any advice of what i should do?

[weekari]

What a shame. Sounds like you're not getting much help. Without a lap (and possibly an mri) no one can really tell you whether or not you have endometriosis. You can't go on symptoms alone as they are so varied and some people with endo don't even have any remarkable symptoms. I have severe endo and my periods are fairly light and problem free, it's the rest of the month I struggle!

From my own experience, I would suggest you just need to keep pushing, keep asking to be seen. It makes you feel like you're being a pain but it will make you be seen. It's awful it's like that but there are such limited resources, it's just the way it is. The other option is you go private, it's costly (unless you're covered by insurance) but you would be seen very quickly and they would do investigate lap if it seemed appropriate. It's not that you'll necessarily get better treatment (sometimes it's the same Dr) but you would be seen quicker by a consultant rather than a GP.

Your other option is to look into non medial support and treatments. If you just work on your symptoms and look for appropriate help that way. Eg my main symptoms are chronic fatigue and back /hip pain so I've been seeing a chiropractor and a physio that specialises in Chinese medicine, visceral-pelvic mobilisations and other alternative treatments. I didn't need a diagnosis to work with them, they do a full assessment and just work with my symptoms and my body.

There's also loads you can do yourself. There are lots of lifestyle changes you can make to help balance your hormones (diet, stress levels, chemicals in your environment/going in your body, supplements).

The medical approach isn't your only way to tackle this and for some people, it's not the most helpful approach.

I hope some of this is helpful and you find yourself somewhere that gives you the help you need. X

[acarter96 in reply to weekari]

yes I find this extremely helpful thank you so much. I am more into the natural ways of dealing with period related conditions anyway so I will give some of the ways you suggested a go. Thank you x

[weekari in reply to acarter96]

I'm glad.

I know everyone had their own ways of looking at things but for me, I'm wanting to try anything before taking synthetic hormones. Another thing that's supposed to really help but I've not tried it yet is cbd oil. I'm still looking into it but it's supposed to be amazing for inflammation which is often underneath a lot of these things. It's quite expensive though.

[Moonglo]

Hi have you asked your dr to refer you to a bsge clinic bsge.org.uk ? You might need to spoonfeed the info to your gp - identify 2-3 of your preferred choices, print them out and give them to your dr. You might also need to print out info about the bsge to help the gp understand what they do. A lot of them are nhs.