Any tips for appointment with BSGE specialist consultant?

[Robins53]

Hello,

I got an appointment via a last minute cancellation this week with Yorkshire endometriosis BSGE clinic. Having waiting over a year to get the appointment it is making me quite anxious that I get as much out of the appointment as possible!

I have written a list of questions but would appreciate any advice from you if you have been through the same?

For my history, I was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis in Dec 18 by laparoscopy where they removed a large endometrioma cyst. I subsequently had a failed round of ivf on nhs with maximum dosage. Right ovary out of action due to cyst damage. I then have had 2 x natural modified rounds with lower doses of medication. One successful (by my standards) with 2 embryos frozen and one very recent round just failed.

During my ivf scans we can see I have a endometrioma on-my left and only active ovary and I think I may have endometriosis on the bowl due to symptoms. This has never been diagnosed due to discovering via infertility route.

I really would like to make sure that here isn’t anything going on that is further impacting my fertility and any action / investigation that can be taken.

Any help greatly appreciated 🙏🏼X

[Moon_maiden]

I wrote history down, bullet point type info and gave it to the consultant to read first. I didn’t trust myself to remember things. He did still ask questions which made a change.

Good luck, hope all goes well.

[Robins53 in reply to Moon_maiden]

Thanks you and good idea to bullet point history . Thanks x

[Moon_maiden in reply to Robins53]

How did you get on?

[luthien]

There's a really good helpsheet for us to rememeber what to note down, you could print it and fill it in:

endometriosis-uk.org/sites/...

I found that completing a page a month type diary of my symptoms really helped, including periods, ovulation, pain, levels, symptoms, locations, feelings. It means they have an overall really easy to see view of you month, I've still been doing it every day for years now, but now on an app.

Things to ask your consultant:

What are his / her specialist areas / interests?

What does he / she typically do for women he's seen in your situation?

What treatment methods does he / she recommend?

How effective are they?

How often does the women he / she treat come back with recurrent symptoms after say hormones / laparoscopic removal?

What is his / her plan for after care?

It's helpful to take someone else along; partner / friend / relative? It really helps to have someone to bounce ideas off and can remember things talked about. Also if it's a partner they can talk about what they can do to help and any symptoms they've noticed that you may just think are normal and you, if that makes sense.

xx