No surgery offered, forced to go on the pill

[TwilightSaga26]

Hi!

I had a private consult. He said based on the symptoms and results I have endometriosis and let's treat is at suspected. I said I would like to have the surgery but he refused and said just get on birth control. I don't want to do this until I had surgery and proper investigation. I live in 24/7 debilitating pain, I can barely work, walk, I can't have sex due to the pain. Should I seek a second opinion? I only tried birth control 7 years ago.

[ClaudiaGrace]

Hey, it sounds like your pain does warrant seeking a second opinion but do try medical treatments and other options too as surgery isn’t a solution necessarily either. It can’t cure it can only in some cases alleviate symptoms and for some people this is only for a fairly short period of time too. As well as birth control there are specific endo medications you can try too such as deinogest.

Have you had any scans? Ultra sound or MRI? Maybe push for those first if not as they can give more info. Ideally have these with scanners who specialise though as sadly a lot of non specialists can’t detect it accurately.

Sorry to hear you didn’t get the answer you wanted, I completely understand wanting to have things confirmed either way. However, do also bear in mind that any surgery carries risk especially under general anaesthetic so it is right for medical interventions to be exhausted first really. It’s such a shame there still isn’t a way to diagnose without surgery but new methods are on the way I believe!

[BloomingMarvellous]

can you edit remove the surgeons name we are not allowed to discuss specific medics on this feed - legal issues DM only

[Pumpkinjellyfish]

I’m on the waiting list to go back to gynae for pain (suspected endo)

The gp I spoke to last time was lovely, she suggested a progesterone only pill which she explained was relatively new to the UK called Slynd.

I’ve tried various pills and mini pills in the past and they’ve come with awful side effects etc. but I’ve been on this one for three months now and symptoms have improved dramatically. I am still having really awful pain during periods on the pill break (this particular POP has a 4 day break) but the bleeding between periods has stopped, my pms symptoms have been alleviated and aside from a slight headache for about 3 days when I started, it has really helped.

This month I skipped the 4 day break because I just couldn’t face the pain, it’s debilitating and ain’t nobody got time for that.

My point is, don’t completely write off other treatments that aren’t surgical. I have done everything I can to avoid being on hormonal pills but this one has helped to an extent.