First Gynae Appointment

[CC0507]

Hi everyone

I have suspected endo and I’ve now received my gynae appointment for later this morning. What can I expect at my first appointment? Any advice on how to prepare myself?

Thanks! X

[luthien]

Yay, glad it's come through!

If you haven't done so already, keep a record of your symptoms; I use a page a month. Put on there your symptoms, pain levels, where the pain is, what type of pain, any medication, when your period is, how long it is, how heavy, any time off work / not doing usual activities, bloating? how your mood is, how well you've slept, ovulation, sex, any pain round those, back pain etc. Really put anything and everything down.

Do a bit of research about what you want too; would you like a lap to know what's going on with samples taken and possibly removal of endo / anything horrible they find, or try hormones for a year ish to see how things go. Yes the doc may recommend a treatment but quite often it'll be hormones and if you really want to know what's going on it'll be a lap as they need to visually see the endo, scans sort of work.

If you can, take someone along for the appointment; a partner or a close friend. It really helps with trying to remember all your info you want to talk about and can give a different view, also they can listen to what's being discussed incase you forget something.

There's loads of info on the founding site for this page:

Specifically for diagnosis - endometriosis-uk.org/gettin...

Generally - endometriosis-uk.org/inform...

Hope that helps, sorry it's rather general xx

[CC0507 in reply to luthien]

Thank you so much for all your advice!! I will definitely take it all on board when preparing for the appointment. It’s just two weeks away so it’s come round pretty quick! Xx

[Rubyred55]

Make a list of your symptoms and how they affect you and impact your life, also make a list of questions that you would like to ask. It’s also a good idea to take someone with you as it’s often difficult to remember everything and have a good think about what you want to achieve. Remember the meeting is for you so you need to get the most from the time you have with the specialist who is there to support you. One last thing, don’t leave the meeting without understanding what happens next, you don't want to leave wondering, this is the next step to getting the help you need to get fixed. Good luck.