laparoscopy and cysts, possible endo...really scared and don't want surgery!!

[Creativeandpetite2016]

Hey everyone,

I thought I would pop on here as everyone is really insightful and helpful and hoping (she says fingers crossed) that someone can shed some light on this rather nervous woman over here.

I am 42, been on the mini pill for some time and never had (apart from mood swings and the occasional pmt pain and spotting) hardly any symptoms or issues with my ovaries of the likes, until March of this year.

I started to get lower cramp but no period for about 4 months now, then I had a UTI bladder infection for a week which I had horrendous back ache and lower cramp followed by a course of antibiotics which fingers crossed it went on its own, even though I didnt really want any antibiotics as it always affects my stomach.

A month later I was told by an ultrasound that I had done, I have a 3.2cm small cyst which was on my right ovary. Then an MRI scan later this reduced in size but could be a new one and this one has gone, to now 2.3cm still on the right. They saw another small water filled cyst on the left which is only 1.7cm (which didnt show on first scan) again nothing sinister or worrying found and my gynaecologist said its all perfectly fine nothing is cancerous etc and results from bloods were all good.

He said its up to me, if I want to go ahead with surgery. The reason he suggested Laparoscopy is there may possible endo and he can remove the 2 cysts even though they are small, he said it all depends on your pain and if its getting in the way of your lifestyle. So he wasnt pushing as I have seen many get rid of their cysts when its over 5cm and mine are pretty small under 3cm..but its this weird sharp pain, pmt pains and no period which is worrying me, the pain isn't horrific but he says it could eventually get worse!

My pain is a slight sharp stabbing pain on the lower left ovary side, I use to get sharp up my back end too (sorry for the detail there) but as I have changed my diet and pretty much raw vegetables, fruit and gluten free everything, my bowels and pain up the backside are pretty much gone...amazing, well I thought it was a miracle lol!

So anyway, what I wanted to ask is, if anyone has had Laparoscopy done before, I am terrified, as my last operation when I was 15 was horrendous as I was ill when I woke up, but told this can be resolved with anti sickness injections. I also want to make sure its safe and what the recovery time is, anyone had any experience. I am desperately trying to avoid this and just hoping to eat healthy and pray it goes....I am praying a lot here ;-)

So far I have noticed taking green tea, ginger and apple cider vinegar is helping me hugely here with my cysts more so the green tea, can they go away on their own or is it best to get them taken out by surgery? Is it once you have them, they always reoccur even with surgery?

Thank you kindly everyone....

xx

Hi creative

Firstly, it's great you are getting offered the lap, so so many women struggle to get that referral and have their symptoms ignored so it's brilliant they are taking your concerns seriously.

I've had endo (diagnosed by lap) since I was 2, 10 years on I've had around 12 surgeries, all lap, all with varying recovery. My most recent was 4 weeks ago, and yes I did feel sick and vomited in recovery but it's a normal reaction for some to the GA and I was given anti sickness which worked right away :) The lady next to me however practically skipped out of recovery. In contrast, after previous surgeries Ive had no sickness at all. If you chose to have one, when you meet your anaesthetist on the day, you can tell them about your sickness concerns and they can give you the anti sickness

I would recommend you visit the Endometriosis UK website which has brilliant advice and lots of lovely people you can talk to.

Good luck whatever you chose to do, feel better soon :)

since I was 21, not 2! oops.

Thank you my lovely, is it true endo never goes and you have to keep on treating it with lap to get it removed etc? What was your recovery time if you don't mind me asking xx

I had laparoscopy 3 weeks ago to remove two endometrioma cysts from my ovaries, one was 10cm and the other 2cm.

I have a balanced diet and try and eat organic where possible. I take a variety of vitamins and I exercise a lot. This definitely helps with symptoms but diet alone doesn't prevent endometriosis and certainly never helped my cysts. The gynaecologist told me that the only option was surgery. Although your cysts are small now, they may grow, so my advice would be to have the surgery that's being offered to you. I've battled with doctors for 10 years to get to this point.

As for the surgery itself - I felt sick when I woke up but I never had the anti-sickness injections/tablets. However, once I was at home I slept for the rest of the day and woke up the next morning feeling fine. I struggled to get about for 2 days as I didn't like the way that my stomach had a tugging feeling when I walked. I also found the gas pain in my shoulders very uncomfortable. Other than that, I recovered quickly.
I have a very physical job so decided to take 3 weeks off work. To be honest I felt fine after 8 days.

Any questions feel free to ask. Good luck x