What is Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a common medical condition where the tissue lining the uterus (the endometrium, from endo, "inside", and metra, "womb") is found outside of the uterus, typically a...
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I'm 23 (if it's relevant), and my doctor thinks I have endometriosis and wants to do a laparoscopy to confirm. I did a ton of research today and a couple things stood out to me: 1) might have been caused by my ruptured appendix two years ago. 2) even after treatment/surgery to remove, I might still have severe pain because of sexual abuse. 3) infertility because of it??
Endometriosis is the only thing the doctors can think of that they haven't already ruled out, so the surgery is exploratory. The thing that's kept me going in life is the goal/dream of having a family, something I've never experienced. I want a husband and kids and it's like this is the second time that dream has been threatened to come crashing down (first time was my appendix rupturing). After the sexual traumas, too, the last thing I need is for my body to still be in pain (after TREATING endometriosis) because of what those people did. Meh, sorry for venting! I guess my question is, are those legitimate concerns? Am I getting ahead of myself by researching the only thing my doctor thinks it might be? Oh, this is the only thing thought of and NOT ruled out between two specialist gynos, a doctor in urgent care & my normal doctor in internal medcine. Posted on 11/06/09, 02:11 am |
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hi,
i can only give you a tip on one thing and that is to reccomend having a venography dye injection CT by an interventional radiologist to check for pelvic varicosities (pelvic congestion syndrome). my docs also ruled everything out and it was time for a laproscopy to check for endometriosis.. no endo was found but pelvic congestion synadrome. whilst it (pcs) can be detected in a lap, it is also often missed if the surgeon does not know what to look for. so a vengraphy dye injection CT is what is needed to ofiaially diagnose it and to what extent one has it. i have a group on here if you would like t learn more about it to see if you can relate to any of the symptoms etc. http://www.dailystrength.org/group... i feel its important to mention this as a lap is not needed and it is atleast one more thing you can go get checked before having a lap. it mimics endo. xx 
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when i say a lap is not needed, i mean a lap is not needed t diagnose this particular condition (pcs) :)
just thought i would make that clear ;) x
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hi hun and welcome to the group
endo isnt caused from a ruptured appendix. doctors actually dont know what causes endo and theres numerous theories out there from dioxins, renogade menstration to being born with it. its good that your doing your research and KEEP doing it. before i found out i had endo i did tons of research on it and the treatments for it. imo i think its best to do a lap to check. the longer you wait the worse endo can get. the earlier you treat it the better. also do research on other things as well. endo isnt the only thing that causes pelvic pain and painful periods. good luck girl and stay strong! if you have any questions or want to talk im here as well as the other girls sabrina
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Hi there and welcome!
This place is a great source of support and information. There is a very high chance you got what is called ADHESIONS or Adhesion Related Disorder from the surgery to remove your appendix. This is something that goes hand in hand with endo, and often has the same symptoms, so that may be why he is leaning towards that diagnosis. Adhesions are bands of scar tissue that are formed when your insides are basically exposed to air or touched during surgery. They are common with pelvic surgery. There is every chance you had endometriosis before, which may have caused the appendix problems, which are common with endo. Once you had the surgery, it may have caused adhesions and worsened the endo. Just some ideas. If any of the above turns out to be true (and it is important to ask the doctor about these things, as with endo/adhesions you have to be your own advocate) then I think it is worthwhile to ensure you have the BEST surgeon do a lap. One who is skilled at removing endo well, one who can recognize it and one who works with endo patients and gets results. If you have adhesions or endo, more surgeries can often mean more pain and more problems...so limiting your surgery to the BEST doctor is a great idea. Infertility can occur with endo and adhesions, but the majority of the time doctors are not as well versed in this as they say. For example, you can have severe endo and be completely fertile, or have some small adhesions on a tube and have problems. The advice I was given is: you do not know until you try or are diagnosed with a geniune fertility problem (endo is not a diagnosed fertility problem, it just has higher rates of infertility). Certainly if you have endo you would have some symptoms. Try googling the symptoms and doing a checklist. Try to google adhesions as well and look into the symptoms of that. With either problem, your best defence is education and insisting on the BEST treatment. GOOD LUCK!
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