Wish I could say something different but in my case I was in excruciating pain for 3 months after having my surgery on Feb last year. I somehow had some relief for about 4 months, and then the endo pain came back. It has being about 1 year and half and the pain is the same as before the surgery. I am thinking about approaching some kind of holistic therapy such as acupuncture or physical therapy as I have done a couple sessions last year and I noticed some improvement. Wishing you good luck and a speed recovery :-)

I had my lap in February of this year and it wasn't until VERY recently (think a couple of weeks ago) that I could even consider getting out of bed and doing routine physical exercise (walking, volunteering at a local animal shelter, gardening, etc and this was by sheer determination) but still can only manage those for a few hours (4-5) at a time before I'm in pain and exhausted. My surgeon told me not to expect consistent pain relief for 3-6 months post-op and I'm just beginning to peek into that time frame (though for the record, he DID say some women go back to work a week to two weeks after surgery-HA! but awesome if that's your experience.) Sadly, as I'm sure we've all heard, every body is different and our healing depends on so many factors that rarely will two individuals ever have the same recovery experience, no matter how similar the surgeries.

I'm on 200mg of ibuprofen to a total of 1600mg/day and that combined with my TENS Unit helps keep me moving at least for those 4-5 hours. I have percocet as a back up if the pain gets really intense and/or I have my period and need it but am trying to stay off it as it can LOWER your body's tolerance for pain. I also love my heating-pad with hopeless, unabashed abandon and sing it's praises to all. While my pain is now NOWHERE near as intense as it was before the lap (the week after my lap I got my period, thought it was surgical complications and ran panicking into his office-since then I've been on extended cycle BC and my last period was almost back to my "normal" range of menstrual discomfort), I'm still not at a true "functional" level and am continuing to work with my ob/gyn as this is all still really new to me. I'm grateful to no longer be a sweating curled up ball of pain who can now walk and drive and go out when necessary or desired, but take on a full 9 hour day of work at my retail job? You've GOT to be joking. . . .

I hope you find relief in any form and that maybe some of my rambling was helpful/comforting. Be well.

From what my doctors have told me, after a lap, although everyone is different, there is usually a 3 month period of recovery. Some people go back to work in week(although I can't imagine that!), some people feel better after a month etc. The 1st & sometimes 2nd ovulation & period after a lap can be extremely painful because your body is still healing from all the work they did. After each of my laps I have noticed the 1st ovulation & period to be excruciating & it is normal although it's scary & feels like something is wrong. I have attached a link for you to read that may help to explain the healing process for you.

http://centerforendo.com/articles/endocomingback.htm

Unfortunately I myself have not had any relief after my laps at all but this is because I have very severe, aggressive endo. I think that 4 weeks as your dr. told you might be a little to early to judge whether or not the lap was successful, you have to factor in all of the special circumstances in your particular situation. Sorry if I'm not making sense but read the article & see if it explains anything for you. I hope you start to feel better soon, take it day by day. You've found a great place for support, we are all hear to listen & try to help you any way we can.
~Caryn

I just looked back at the website I sent you to, here is another link that might be helpful as well.

http://centerforendo.com/articles/pain.htm

I had mine done in 2003 took about a year to feel my results. But I am thankful. It has worked.

I had a lap done last year November and I had absolutely no pain until my first period. The pain would have rivaled my very first Endo pain attack and ever since after then the pain hasn't gone away. The first three months I had extreme pain on a daily basis and found myself taking copius amounts of pain killers to help but eventually learned that was wearing me down.

So, I sought out a Naturopath; she assigned me a diet plan and sugessted accupuncture. I'm not really sure what a diet change does for your Endo but my pain has dissipated considerably. I only experience gut wrenching pain when I'm on my period during which time I take a pill my family physician prescribed for severe period pain. After my period, I take pain killers for a few days and I still have pain after that but not so severe and horrible that I can't walk around in the house, go out for a bike ride or play with my nephews in the park.

I still can't work, though, because consistent or long periods of standing or sitting makes my pelvis uncomfortable and I have to lie down. So I decided to visit the gyn to find out if there was a way to alleviate the pain without going on the birth control pill. I don't mean to discourage you to be on the pill, I'm just sharing my experience. Remember two women are never the same so while my body reacted negatively to the pill, your's won't. Always take your doctor's advice when it comes to these things. I was on the birth control for a very long time before and it gave me some very serious side effects so I didn't want to take that for my Endo. Luckily my gyn prescribed me some specific hormone pills and I just started them about ten days back but I think it's too early to tell what they're doing to my body.

I do feel for you, my friend. This pain isn't easy to deal with but know that you have someone to speak with if you ever feel like venting. :D

I appreciate all the feedback! It makes me feel hopeful that there may be relief in my future yet. If the surgery/continuous BC don't do the trick, I'll probably try acupuncture or something like that. I don't think Lupron is an option for me, so I'd have to move on to other less traditional treatments.

I had my lap 8 weeks ago today. I am having the same problems as you are. I wasn't having any pain at all until my second period after my surgery. When I went for my 6 week check up my doctor told me to take my BC continous but I haven't started that yet because that was only two weeks ago. I also noticed that the first time after my surgery that I had sex I had no pain at all. For me that was a HUGE deal so I was super excited because before it was so painful that I had no desire at all and most times would end up in so much pain that I would be in tears. The second time I had sex the pain returned and has been there ever since. I don't know why this has happened and I hope it doesn't continue. I am going to my doctor Thursday and will ask him about it. I don't know if this has been a problem for you as well or if you are even in that stage of your recovery yet, but if you would like I will let you know what my doctor says. I hope for both of us the pain after our surgeries stop. Good luck!!