Suspecting endometriosis

[HMT19]

Hi, I’ve been reading online extensively and a lot of my symptoms point to endometriosis, but I don’t have symptoms every month. I first had terrible painful cramps in feb and mar this year, then totally normal periods until this month, when the severe cramping returned. Does endometriosis hurt every month? Is it possible to have endometriosis and have no pain some months?

[Soon2bmrsw]

Hello, sorry you're suffering. It does sound like you've got endometriosis. The only way to get a true diagnosis is being referred to a gynaecologist for pelvic ultrasound. Before I was diagnosed I'd have heavy periods and pain but some months were easier than others for sure. It got to the point we're I couldn't walk upright so I went to my gp. I always thought pain was natural and just a part of the monthly flow and I was being a wimp for complaining. After I finally opened up to my mum she said she always knew something wasn't right but didn't say anything because she thought I knew something wasn't right and didn't want to talk about it 🤦‍♀️. Get a referral, the sooner the better

[Lozmeg in reply to Soon2bmrsw]

Hello, this has really helped me thank you. I’m currently on the waiting list for a Laparoscopy and I was starting to wonder if it was worth it. I feel like I’m just being a wimp at times because I don’t get the symptoms every month, some months being so much worse than others. Thanks

[luthien]

Hey, yes that does sound like endometriosis. Sorry to hear what you're going through; just like you I thought my symptoms were the same as all women and just thought others must be stronger than me, and somehow I just had to cope. It's only when I came off the pill that my symptoms were noticeably bad, and progressively worse for about three years. I though it can't be right and pushed for a GP referral to an endo specialist.

Endo symptoms don't always work with your cycles, sometimes they're random, sometimes it's aggravated by what you eat or a particular exercise, or if you're tired. It's really annoying. Try keeping a page a month diary and put any syptoms you have; which can be stomach cramps, back aches, leg aches, headache, tiredness, bloating, irritable stomach, mood swings. Also add in pain levels and any painkillers / medication you take. If you have regular cycles mark your periods, how heavy, and how many days. You may find pattern; mine used to get worse in cycles of 4, with the ones in-between being manageable but still awful. It's useful to keep especially for an endo specialist to review.

Just an fyi; a pelvic ultrasound doesn't always show endo, it may show it where it's been or there's scar tissue or organs sticking together

The only formal method for confirming endo is a diagnostic laparoscopy perfomed by an endo specialist; they need to visually see the endo and what it's doing to organs plus an endo specialist will know what to look for and where. It sounds scary but you can have the lap with excision of endo and a hysteroscopy (camera up vagina into uterus) and biopsies of anything weird. That means you can have one laparoscopy with investigation and stuff removed, rather than just looking and that's it.

See below

endometriosis-uk.org/gettin...

It's worth starting the ball rolling as some hospitals have a waiting list of 9 to 18 months for a laparoscopy. Because they can take biopsies they don't have to wait for symptoms to be really bad. However some women feel they don't need to know just yet or aren't too fussed so they have hormones to manage their symptoms as that's all they need, or have hormones to cope until they are ready to make the decision to have the lap (if that's what they want).

Hope that helps xx