Endometriosis help and advice please

[NeedIngAdvicePlease]

Hi first time poster, hoping for some advice, I think I may have endometriosis. Currently 28 years but this has been ongoing and misdiagnosed for years.

Pain has gotten unbearable recently and endometriosis fits all my symptoms. I finally got to see a gynaecologist today after 4 months and he was less than useless.

He said my symptoms are probably caused by hormones and he did not want to refer me for a laparoscopy. Instead he wanted to put me on the pill, which gave me terrible depression when I used it before. I explained that I want to know what is wrong with me as this has been ongoing for 14 years and I am not happy to receive treatment until somebody can tell me what is wrong.

After standing my ground I should be getting a laparoscopy within 6 to 12 months, which is a long time to wait but it costs £4,500 to go private, which I can't afford on short notice. Basically I am hoping that somebody would be able to recommend anywhere to go to for advice or if there is anything more I can be doing. Or if anyone knows somewhere cheaper abroad to get the procedure done.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as the doctors are making me feel like a huge inconvenience and all I want is not to be sore anymore.

Questions to ask your doctor

You may think that this is fantasy, since you have a terrible painful illness, but this information has helped a number of women

What if your Endometriosis is caused - or made worse - by things that you eat, or don't eat ?

Here are some questions to ask your doctors about Endometriosis:

• What causes it ?
• How will looking at it and scraping it help me get better ?
• How can I stop it recurring ?
• Could my illness be caused by things that I eat, or don't eat ?
• What can I change about my diet and lifestyle to help my body repair itself ?

These are easy questions to ask, but very difficult for doctors to answer as they know very little about Nutrition.
It may be worth asking them to refer you to a Dietitian or a Nutritional Therapist, as they specialise in Nutrition.
If your doctor won't do this, try a search for BANT or Nutritional Therapist and interview 10 of them to find 1 who has had success advising about Endometriosis

Search online for "anti-inflammatory diet"
Here is an example: Anti Inflammation Food Guide

This and the suggestions below may help to reduce the pain

Here are 3 well-proven natural ways to reduce the Inflammation that causes the pain of Endometriosis

• Increase your Vitamin D
• Increase your Omega-3
• Reduce your Omega-6

Here are some relevant references that may be useful to you:
Vitamin D Wiki
Optimise Omega-6/3 Ratio
How much Omega-3 ?
15 Omega-3 Foods
What to Do About Inflammation ?
Expert Omega-3

Some people have reported that eating specific foods like meat or dairy gives them an instant flare-up
You may find that keeping a Food Diary may help you find out which foods make your Endometriosis worse and which may help
.

I feel your pain. I've been battling with GPs for 10 years and got absolutely no where.

Then I ended up having a miscarriage and at the scan they noticed large ovarian cyst. I had laparoscopy and had the cyst removed in June. After surgery I was told that the cyst was an endometrioma and I have large amounts of endometriosis. I felt relieved that it had finally been diagnosed, however, the surgeon / consultant said that the only form of treatment open to me is something to help the symptoms i.e. going on the pill.

As I'm trying for a baby, this is not an option. So, although I've had it formerly diagnosed it hasn't really changed anything for me.
My friend had some endometriosis removed when she was having IVF but unfortunately 2 years later it's all come back. I think this is why the NHS is reluctant to do surgery.

The best thing I've done to help myself is change my diet. I'm quite a fussy eater so it's not been easy but it's definitely helped! I no longer eat take aways and eat far less processed food, I try and eat organic where possible (although this is quite expensive) and I eat a lot more fish. I take a daily multivitamin as well as omega 3. If I use a cooking oil, I only use olive oil etc etc.

Keep pushing with the GP but just be aware that a laparoscopy might not solve all your endo issues.