Referral yeah but where?

[Kimmeka]

Hi Got a referral by my GP to gynaecologist and have this choice of clinics 2 mention Endo- the royal free and chase farm hospital , anyone got any experiences to share or where to research the clinics !

I have attached pic of list but could only attach one pic other clinic choices were :

Hommerton

Hommerton gyn clinic ftp

Ching Way medical centre

King George hospital

New ham general hospital

North Middlesex hospital

Thank you Kim

[TennisAM]

Are they referring you to general gynaecology at these hospitals? With the NHS your choice isn't limited to that list you can go to any hospital you choose. For example, for physio I chose Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and i don't live close to there. You can ask to be referred to any hospital you choose.

Royal free have a endometriosis centre but I don't know how good general gynae are there.

There's reviews online but always bear in mind people are more likely to complain than they are to praise. There's always going to be a lot of bad reviews.

If you have any signs of bowel or bladder involvement they should be referring you to a bsge endometriosis specialist centre. If not they should send you to Gynaecology.

I'd look up each gynaecology department and see what the reviews are like and hopefully someone who has been referred to these will comment.

The other important thing is wait times for an appointment, this will vary a lot. A friend had only a 4 week wait for a general gynae appt at Kings college hospital. Whereas others can be months and months.

Hope that helps

[Kimmeka in reply to TennisAM]

Hi thank you I am not diagnosed with Endo so perhaps good to go to general gyn to rule out anything else first I have benn diagnosed with IBS and get bad bloating particularly round period ! Or should I still ask to be referred to bsge clinic ? Perhaps I should phone Endo charity ? So hard to know hat to do ! It all takes so long taken me a month to get the referral link from the doctor. I had really bad pains last month in line with period and had to go to a&e ! Thanks Kim

[TennisAM in reply to Kimmeka]

To be honest, your probably right, general gynae should look at everything.

With bloating alone you probably don't need a bsge centre.

Some women get awful pain when passing stools for example, diarrhea, constipation, blood in the stools etc.

Good luck with it all.

xx

[Kimmeka in reply to TennisAM]

Thank you decision made will probably go with royal. Free as actually mentioned Endo in list of things -thank you- kim

[Kimmeka in reply to TennisAM]

Oh I get constipation and weird pains too and very heavy period with blood clots and flooding 🙁

[TennisAM in reply to Kimmeka]

When you say weird pain what do mean? Bowel pain?

I should say constipation and diarrhea are very common regardless of bowel involvement for women with endo. Not all women with these symptoms have bowel endometriosis.

has the GP given you Tranexamic acid for heavy bleeding. If not I would insist on it, its far more effective than mefenamic acid so don't advise you accept the latter.

xx

[Kimmeka in reply to TennisAM]

Yeah last month I had really bad pain and could eat anything much for a week lost half a stone. My periods a week late this month. I get sharp pains round ovulation and some pain between periods where I get water bottle out but never had pain quite as bad as last month !

[TennisAM in reply to Kimmeka]

OK, you could do one of two things, try Royal Free general gynae and ask them about the bowel pain or ask for a referral to the bsge centre.

Have you tried a probiotic before? Could help with the bowel pain and bloating etc

[Kimmeka in reply to TennisAM]

yes and I take tranexamic acid which does help !

[st07]

I’ve only been once to a gynaecology department at Royal Free and not with endo, but I’ve been there many times for other reasons including in A&E and my experience with them has always been good. I was treated privately at a hospital out of London for endo, so unfortunately can only say this much!