Unsure what happens next?

[karena90]

Hello,

I've had horrendously heavy periods for a few years, so my GP put me on medication to reduce their heaviness, which has been incredible, and send me for an ultrasound to rule out cysts. I don't have any period pain, my periods are regular, I just usually have a week of spotting before every period. Endometriosis was never mentioned as a possibility and wasn't on my radar as something to consider until today 😅

I had an ultrasound in April which found cysts on both ovaries, with one potentially a dermoid cyst but they said it was too small to tell. I had a follow up check today to see what was happening with it.

At the appointment, the sonographer spent ages checking, asking lots of questions, then at the end said "did they tell you at your last appointment you have endometriomas on your cysts?" Nope. Apparently it's on both cysts and my GP will call me next week, but not to worry in the meantime.

Has any had any experience of this and have any idea what happens next...? I'm guessing I'll get a referral to gynae but it's totally thrown me so thought I'd ask here if anyone has experienced anything similar 🙂 Thanks!

[Lindle]

Endometriomas are ovarian endo so you do now have a diagnosis. There are now a few things to consider.

Endometriomas are very often, some surgeons say almost always, associated with what is called rectovaginal endo. This is classed as severe endo and is between the back of the uterus and bowel and can involve the ligaments there. You probably had the scan with a level 1 sonograher who wouldn't have had the expetise to check for this. Most people with rectovaginal endo will experience pretty severe pain and it will usually be this that takes them to a doctor. Typical symptoms would be lower back/leg pain, bowel problems, shooting pains up the vagina/bum, pain with sex and even difficulty walking and sitting.

When it comes to surgical treatment for endo this is only done for pain and/or infertility. So if you did have RV endo but have no symptoms from it then it would not be operated on as the surgical risks are high and it is about balancing those with your current quality of life. Endometriomas can impact on fertility but so can surgery to remove them.

In this scenario it can be useful to investigate whether you do in fact have deep RV endo or deep endo elsewhere else by having a more advanced scan done just so you know what you are dealing with going forward. If you aren't in pain from it you would probably only get this done privately unless you are trying for pregnancy without success.

[karena90 in reply to Lindle]

Thanks Lindle, appreciate you sharing this with me. I presume I'll hear back from the GP fairly quickly, she's been really good, just didn't expect what I thought would be a simple scan to have thrown up a very unexpected result. Sounds like I've been very lucky to have had no pain!

[Lindle in reply to karena90]

Yes I think you are probably one of the lucky ones who either don't have any other endo or you do but aren't getting pain from it.