Anyone else finally been diagnosed with endometriosis after years of being dismissed?

[La23]

Sorry if this isn’t the right kind of forum for this question but I’d love to hear other people’s experiences! I had my laparoscopy yesterday after trying for 4 years to get it! As soon as I came out of surgery they told me it was endometriosis and I burst out crying purely from being relieved that I hadn’t been making up how much pain I was in. I was given a suggested diagnosis of endometriosis 4 years ago but nothing was really done about it, I had a few scans but wasn’t really given any ways for it to be solved, when I asked for a laparoscopy they told me I was too young in my early 20s. A lot of the doctors I saw were sooo dismissive of how much the condition was ruining my life, finally I had one doctor who did another scan last year who told me to hound them for a laparoscopy as he’d seen so many people fobbed off. I’m so grateful he did as I followed his advice, but even the surgeon who I met before the operation told me he didn’t think I had endometriosis and tried fobbing me off, luckily I put my foot down and I’m so glad I can finally officially say there’s a reason behind all the pain and I wasn’t going crazy!

[D25K]

Hi La23, I was diagnosed with endo aged 33 (now 48) with symptoms going back pretty much to the start of my periods at 13. For the first 10 years it was just assumed to be 'heavy, irregular, painful teenage periods' and post that I was taking the pill which managed/masked most of my symptoms. When a new pain started I finally had further investigations leading to an endo diagnosis, and discovered I had loads of adhesions throughout my pelvis. I hear that a late diagnosis for endo is really common.

[HMC18]

🙋🏼‍♀️ same here! So when I was still in the recovery room I remember opening one eye saying “did you find anything” and when the nurse told me I cried smiling and said “okay thanks I’m going back to sleep” 😂😂 they must have thought I was crazy but I was just so happy with the confirmation that I wasn’t crazy! I’m Stage 4 and have a long road ahead of me with future surgeries but after 15 years of being dismissed with “bad periods” I’m glad it’s moving in the right direction now. Take care ❤️ X

[La23 in reply to HMC18]

Thanks for your experience I’m glad you’ve been able to have proper treatment now! X