Investigative laparoscopy

[NHun]

I asked my gynaecologist for an investigative laparoscopy but he said no. He said no doctor would do one for investigative purposes only as its too invasive. If they do a laparoscopy they're doing it to remove what they find. How am I supposed to make an informed decision about endo surgery if I don't know what they're going to find and remove when they get in there? Any advice appreciated.

[Jgooderh]

Hi NHun. I had the same concerns as you before my surgery. In my opinion, I wouldn’t do an investigative lap either. It is really invasive and from personal experience, if you go through one and then have to go for another surgery to deal with whatever they find, you’ll regret not doing it all in one. What I’d suggest is to find a surgeon that you trust completely. It sucks, but this is really the only way to deal with endo. Before surgery, they’ll go through a list of possible outcomes with you and you’ll give them consent to do different things. For example, you can tell them if it’s okay for them to remove one, both, or neither of your ovaries, so if they found endo on one ans it was deep infiltrating, they would leave it if you didn’t give them consent to remove it. You could pick what you feel comfortable with them doing so that you don’t go into the surgery with all your organs and wake up without your uterus, lol.

Having excision surgery is life changing, but just doing it for the purpose of discovery would be excruciating.

[Hidden]

Hi Nhun,

There's guidance from Endometriosis UK on getting a diagnosis:

endometriosis-uk.org/gettin...

That might be helpful to you.

For me, I started with a trip to A&E for suspected appendicitis, turned out to be a ruptured endometrioma. Then, ultrasound scan, then diagnostic laparoscopy scheduled after two trips to A&E for intolerable pain. One lap was not enough. They are arranging an MRI scan and expect another surgery after that.

What I learned: ask the GP for a referral to a gynaecologist with specialism in endometriosis. Tell the GP and gynaecologist the level of pain you have - repeatedly - before collapsing with pain & going to A & E.

In other words, following the Endometriosis UK advice (link above) should help you to know how to communicate your health issues and get treatment sooner than I did.