Bladder issues

[kate24601]

So ive had 5 UTIs since November, and now have what I think is the begining of a kidney infection. Since then, the pain in my right side, which I was told was IBS, has come back and it literally feels like a golf ball every time I bend over or move my leg.

I'm really fed up of my womb and bladder feeling constantly heavy and in pain, and this golf ball feeling, as well as running for a wee every 10 minutes. Anyone found this was similar and had endo found on their bladder?

Private doctor says she's sure it's endo and as I want kids soon to hurry up and try, but we get married in 2 months so reluctant to go back on a pill or anything anyway just to try after we get married. She suggested an MRI but I think NHS would be reluctant and only offer an ultrasound of my bladder. Anyone been here?

[luthien]

Hey, sorry to hear you're not well

To cut a long story short: an MRI won't always show endo, it does sometimes show the scar tissue and endo patches if large enough. The only formal diagnosis is a laparoscopy with an endo specialist, they'll know what to look for, where and do a thorough inspection of all your abdomen. Some endo spcialists can remove endo too at the same time as the diagnostic lap, if you ask.

Gynae docs sadly don't have enough experience with endo so will often suggest hormones, or get pregnant or a hysterectomy. All of those will not get rid of endo, true they may slow it down but it will still grow. For some women hormones is all they need to manage, for others they need time to decide if surgery is right but ultimately surgery is needed because endo can grow and perforate organs causing more invasive operations and more serious symptoms. I don't mean to scare you, just being honest.

Ideally you should have a lap by a endo specialist first, so push for that; you need to see what's going on, if it endo in the first place and if it is then how severe is it, they can also check your fertility (tubes, ovaries etc).

If it's any help I've posted a while back my experience of stuff that's happened, so perhaps it could provide you with an idea what to do next including how to cope with the ever looming fertility question. I always try to think about, if you didn't have endo or all these symptoms would you want a child at this point in your life; it's a big decision which ultimately is yours, well yours and your partners, so you shouldn't feel pressured into it.

"All this effort does pay off - my story - hope it helps !"

I think you can just search for it.

Keep us updated with how things go xx

[kate24601 in reply to luthien]

Thanks for the reply! I had a lap in November 2017 and nothing was found, but I'd been on the pill for 4 years at that point so don't think they were expecting anything which made me feel like they thought I was lying. I chose to come off everything and felt great for 9 months but slowly it's getting worse and worse til I'm where I am now. I saw someone privately who said all my symptoms highly suggest endo and to go back on hormones or have a child now while my last scan was healthy, but she also suggested an MRI which the GP was also talking about for my bladder issues. It's a frustrating one and I'm fed up of being in pain, so I think I'm just going to have to beg for the MRI and hope it gives some answers!