Endometriosis

[tessandjude]

so I've just been diagnosed with this after ttc for a year. My gp hasn't spoken to me yet so just wanted to know what I can expect now. Does anyone have this? What have you done about it? Is there anything I can do, eg, adapt my diet?

How were you diagnosed with endometriosis?. Was it through a laparoscopy operation?.

I would educate yourself as much as possible about endo if you have not done so already; not all GPs are up to date in terms of knowledge of such gynae problems. A lot of women have endometriosis; its the second most common gynae problem seen in women after fibroids and it can be very much underdiagnosed.

You may need further medical assistance in order to conceive.

www.endometriosis-uk.org/ is a good website.

I was diagnosed last year. My only obvious symptom was bring unable to conceive but I also had mid cycle bleeding and horrible nausea but neither of these alerted any medical professional to the possibility of endo.

I was diagnosed by accident when having an internal scan as part of infertility investigations. Mine was moderate to severe. Right ovary stuck down and particularly bad in the area behind my womb down towards my bottom (I think this area is called the pouch of Douglas).

I had laporoscopic surgery to remove it. It wasn't too bad. I had 2 weeks off work.

I was very fortunate to be able to pay privately so I didn't have to wait. That was important for me because of my age and we had been ttc for 2 years by then.

Good luck x

Sorry to hear that you've been diagnosed with endo. I was diagnosed 4 years ago, found out randomly due to an ovarian cyst that was causing me pain. But it explains the years and years of painful, heavy and irregular periods I've had most of my adult life. My surgeon is great and removed it all during a laparoscopy - mine was moderate and mainly behind my womb. I'm now ready to start trying for a baby, but have found out that it's come back (on the left and right sides this time) so I have another laparoscopy scheduled in a few weeks to get rid of it again. I'm worried about how it's going to affect my chances too.

Strangely, apparently the operation makes you more fertile for a bit so you might find that if you have an operation to remove it that you might end up falling pregnant more easily. It all depends how severe your endo is, were they able to tell you that?

The best way to manage endo is with the pill according to my surgeon, but that doesn't really help you while you're ttc. I would recommend getting it removed if that's an option for you, if not the website that AttilaTheMeerkat recommended is very informative. Good luck!

mmmminx I'm sorry to hear that you've got endo so severely. I just wanted to add that my sister found out that she had endo a couple of years after me - she had it more severely as she had never been on the pill and her tubes were also too damaged to conceive naturally. However, she did conceive via IVF so I just wanted to let you know that it can happen and I hope it does happen for you too :) Good luck x