Laparoscopy Experiences

[HannahW29]

Hi!

I'm fairly new to Mumsnet but always find other people's posts really help me!
I'm not sure that this is the best place to be putting this but;
Back in June I started getting a really bad pain in my right side, my boyfriend thought it was maybe my appendix and took me to the hospital where I was told I had a urine infection and given antibiotics and told that if the pain persisted to see my GP.
I had finished the antibiotics and was still in agony! I went to see my GP and the urine infection was gone so she said that definitely wasn't causing the pain, she then did every test she could and long story short, it looks like I may have endometriosis and so she referred me to gynaecology.
I had my appointment with gynae and she agreed that it sounds as though it could be endo.
Me and my partner are TTC and so she said that the two options I had were to either have a laparoscopy, although she advised that because I'm so young they try to avoid this and so said that she would recommend TTC for a few more months and if I fall pregnant then I probably have no issues and if I don't then to go back and have the lap. I wasn't really sure that telling me that if I manage to get pregnant naturally meant nothing was wrong as from what I understand, you can still fall pregnant naturally with endo, although since I was getting the pain since June and this was December, I decided to go for the lap as my initial reason for being referred wasn't due to infertility but because of the pain I didn't really want to wait any longer.

I have my pre op on Friday and I'm waiting for the actual op date to come through.

Sorry for the long post but what I really want to know is your experiences of a laparoscopy.
Please be brutually honest too, it won't scare me but I do like to be prepared so I would be interested to hear everything from recovery time to any complications and where you felt the most pain etc.

Thanks! ☺️

You have been wise to have pushed ahead with this lap op.

I was advised to have two days off work post this op.

The worst thing about it for me was the pain in the shoulders a day or so post op (the gas that is used during the op to allow the surgeon a better view has to go somewhere) but found that painkillers took the edge off it.

Do not allow them to talk to you about the lap's findings whilst you are in the recovery room. This is poor practice, you should ideally be given an appointment in advance of the lap say a week or so post op to discuss its findings.

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

I was advised a week off for an exploratory lap, and longer if they did treatment. I’ve had two, both involved removing a lot of endometriosis, and I was off about 6 weeks both times. But I do have severe endo so they weren’t surprised how long it took me to recover - I was in hospital one night and released the evening after surgery.

Keep on top of painkillers they give you and use hot water bottles for both stomach pain and shoulder tip pain. Gently moving about helps too, it gets the gas moving.

I get really constipated after general anaesthetic (it’s a common side effect apparently) so plenty of fluids/orange juice, and maybe some stool softener tablets just in case (although some places give you lactulose automatically so if they offer it, take it!).

It wasn’t horrific, but the few days after were quite bad. But like I said I have really bad endo and a lot of work was done. However even surgeries I have had that haven’t involved any procedures have always left me feeling poorly for at least 2 days just as a result of the drugs.

Plenty of box sets and easy to prepare food and fluids are a good idea: and I find extra strong mints help with any nausea afterwards x

I’ve had three or four I think.
Each time I’ve needed two weeks off
Had a mix of diclofenac and codeine. Tramadol once.
More rest, the quicker the recovery.
I’ve had endo each time.
Conceived 8m after one of them.
Not tried to conceive again. Not planning any more children
Agree re discussion in recovery room. That happened to me once and was incredibly distressing

I’ve had 4, ranging from diagnostic to extensive treatment including partial bladder resection, stripping of ureters, excision from bowel etc. Home same day or next morning. Week off work each time. Agree the worst part is the gas pain but that settles within a couple of days. It’s defintely worth finding out if you have endo.

Thank you everyone for your replies!

I have read that the pain from the gas can be the worst, I've also heard that moving around afterwards can be quite painful from where the scar is.

I've been under anaesthetic a few times and have always been really sick afterwards but it was more the possible pain afterwards and any complications I was curious about.

I am also interested to know how long it took to conceive afterwards as we are trying.

@AttilaTheMeerkat I definitely insisted I wanted the op, her advice was to wait a few months and see if it improved on its own and see if I could get pregnant but I'd already been waiting 8 months and it wasn't getting any better!
I never even thought about the consultant talking to me in the recovery room after so thankyou for the advice I'll definitely make sure they wait until after!

Thank you everyone!

I would certainly ensure that they actually give you an appointment a week or so post op to discuss the lap findings, infact I would insist they arrange this before you have any op. They should not be at all talking to you about the findings whilst you are in the recovery room!.

My lap surgery was keyhole so minimal scarring. "Mild" though extensive endometriosis was found throughout my uterine cavity and lasered. Some lasering was also done on both ovaries. They also wanted to make sure that I could eat, drink and go to the toilet without any problems before discharging me. I was fortunate in that I had no post op complications. I kept moving about and rested in between times.

Definitely get some peppermint tea for after, really helps with getting rid of the gas and associated pain somehow.

Hi @HannahW29 , I'm due to have a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy on Friday so I'm really pleased I've come across your forum. It's useful hearing what other people's experiences have been. I hope all goes well for you.

Thankyou for all the replies!

@outnumbered77 thankyou, I actually have some peppermint tea in the cupboard so I'll keep that in mind for after!

@Maybenextmonth Good luck with your lap! I would love to hear how you got on afterwards!
I was finding other people's forums helpful too!
Can I check how long after your pre op your lap was?
I have my pre op on Friday but I haven't had an appointment for the actual op yet and just wandering how long after it may be!

@HannahW29 sure, I'll let you know how it goes and how my recovery is.
My pre op was Friday just gone, so just a week before the lap. It was all booked quite quickly through my consultant, so I had my pre op squeezed in because of the date he wanted to do the surgery. If that makes sense.
How do you feel about having it done? I'm a bit nervous now it's only a few days away.

Hi @HannahW29. I had my lap on the 8th Feb and went back to work yesterday. I have to say, I think that I underestimated the surgery and thought I'd be back at work sooner.
My recovery wasn't too bad, but I was impatient. I had no pain in my shoulders but did have diaphragm pain which made me feel like I could only take short breaths. The other pain was period type pain across my lower abdomen and also a bit on my back.
My incisions are still a little sore but they look quite healed and my stitches are yet to come out.
My advice is to take it easy, even if you feel okay in the first week, you probably aren't. Dose up on paracetamol for the first 2-3 days or so and then see how you feel. Hope this helps.
Have you got your surgery date through yet?

@Maybenextmonth thank you for getting back to me!
I'm glad that you are recovered now and didn't have any complications!
It was the work I wasn't sure about, I've said to my work I'd have the first few days off and then just keep them updated with how I'm feeling and when I'll be back in, were your work good about it?
Yeah, I got the date for this Monday (25th) so fingers crossed it all goes well!

You'll def need at the VERY least a week, but I'd say 2-3 weeks. I had 3 off recently. They removed a cyst, endo and unstuck my tubes from my bowel 🥴 18 months ttc and no joy yet.
Peppermint is DEF advised. The shoulder pain is awful and the scars are uncomfortable but it's not too bad. The worst for me was the tiredness, think it's just a side effect from having anaesthetic. I too felt sooooo sick after anaesthetic so make sure you tell the anaesthetist when he comes to see you after, he prescribed me some better stuff than what the nurses were giving me. All the best and keep us posted.

(You'll find some other threads like this on the infertility section)

I had one about 18m ago. They just opened me up. Gave me a dye flush and had a look around. Id had an ectopic few months before, so they wanted to check damage.

The trapped wind and sholder pain was the worse thing about it.

I had keyhole surgery. Sounds silly but no one told me it would totally alter the apperance of my belly button. Was a bit of a shock when I saw it. So just a heads up. Not a bad look just differant to what it was.

No problem @HannahW29. I would definitely prepare work for you needing a week off. If not possibly more. I haven't found this week easy being back. The hardest thing I've found this week is abdomen pain that almost feels like a stitch, and also being able to wear normal clothes, as there are seams or zips in the clothes exactly where the incisions are. Luckily work were fine about it. Hope yours are as well.

I absolutely agree with other people about trying to get an appointment booked in for about a week after, I had nothing apart from a 2 minute chat when I was about an hour out of recovery. It's not helpful and I can hardly remember it. I have so many questions that have gone unanswered.

All the best for yours. Feel free to send me a message to discuss anything after. I would have liked to be able to ask someone if what I was feeling/experiencing is normal.

@squirrelnutkins1 thankyou for the reply! We've only been TTC for 6 months so far but every month just feels like a year so can't even imagine how it's been for you! Hopefully fingers crossed now that you have had the op you'll get a BFP!
I always react quite badly to anaesthetic, the past two times I was under I stopped breathing while I was under and had to get a tube in so I'm a bit worried about that too!

@Notquiteagandt thankyou for the reply!
I never knew that about the belly button, thank you for the heads up, I'd much rather be prepared! I have heard the shoulder pain can be bad aswell, was there anything you found helped relieve it?

@Maybenextmonth My work are being okay about it just now and I have told them it could possibly be a few weeks so hopefully they won't have an issue with it!
I have been wondering anout clothes, I've bought nighties to wear instead of pj trousers for after and will probably take a dress to wear home
Instead of trousers against the incision!
I'll definitely try get an appointment for after, thank you!
That's so nice of you, thankyou! It would definitely help being able to check with someone who's been there so I'll definitely be sure to message you, thank you! 😁

@HannahW29 I just got someone to rub my back. Wind me like a baby. That helped loads. As well as stretches. And drinking gaviscon like it was water 🤣

Good luck

Peppermint tea should help to relieve the shoulder pain. Take all the meds they give you. We set an alarm to remind me when to take the meds so I was in as little pain as possible.

I took a pillow from home for the car journey on the way home to hold over my stomach and hold against me.

I was off work for just over 2 weeks. They hadn't mentioned it being a lap and dye so I was unprepared to have a sanitary towel shoved between my thighs when I came round with blue liquid on it. But it showed my tubes were clear.

The nurse also had to be in the room whilst I did a wee to make sure I could wee. They will want to see you eat too and keep it down.

Scars wise I had a small incision above my belly button plus 2 other "puncture" sites where they inserted instruments to move things around.

My consultant came to see me in the room, not the recovery room. I was in BUPA. My DH was with me so we were given information and Dh wrote it down plus we had a list of possible questions.

My lap was at the end of a treatment run of Duphaston (progesterone) then Synarel for a chemical menopause with HRT then finally the laser lap and dye as nothing was really helping the endo symptoms.

The lap revealed I had extensive scar tissue on one of my ovaries to the extent they didn't know if I could ovulate from that side and also where my endo patches were, which made sense. I was told I would need to TTC now, clomid after 6 months of trying and then it would be IVF but basically nothing but IVF would work due to the extent of the endo but we had to show we had done everything asked.

But miracle of miracles, I conceived naturally to everyone's shock and amazement in the first month of trying. Ds1 is almost 16. The pregnancy massively helped my endo. But once I had my son the endo came back again.

The main thing that helped after Ds1 was born was quitting work to become a SAHM so on bad days I can just potter about.

Good luck for Monday. I hope it goes well.

How did you get on op? X

@squirrelnutkins1 I had my op last week, it went okay but what I thought was weird with the hospital was before I'd even woken up from the anaesthetic they had phoned my partner to come and get me and I'd pretty much just woke up and was coming around when the nurse had told me to start trying to walk up and to get changed to go home. I went down for my op at 4pm and was on my way home by half 5! Also, they never made me eat anything or pee before leaving and I was struggling to walk around unaided aswell!

I was quite lucky with the pain, I never got the shoulder pain at all which I was really dreading! My incisions are quite stingy and I think I underestimated how hard it would be to move around afterwards but other than that I can't really complain compared to some people!

My incisions just now are still quite nippy and sore and still have the stitches in.

The gynae did come in and talk to me when I woke up in recovery and I didn't even remember it until she came to see me just before I was leaving and said that she didn't think I was alert enough before so thought she'd better come see me before heading home - apparently everything was clear, this is really good news for me as me and my DP are TTC and it is reassuring hearing that my womb and ovaries looked good, however, my reason for getting the laparoscopy in the first place was that I've been getting really bad pain since June so in a way it's also kind of bitter sweet that they never found anything because she's basically told me I need to just deal with the pain.

Just for anybody maybe reading this before having a lap, one thing I didn't expect was I couldn't stop crying after waking up, I have no idea why but apparently I woke up from the anaesthetic hyperventilating and started crying during this (I don't remember that but the nurse told me) and I didn't stop crying for most of the night, I also just felt really down for hours! The nurse told me apparently having a lap effects your hormones and this was normal but maybe just something to look out for!

I would complain about the post operative treatment you received at this hospital because it was very poor indeed. Was this a NHS hospital or a private facility?. If this was a NHS hospital I would speak to PALS.

It is also poor practice for such staff to come and speak to you about the lap when you are in the recovery room; its not acceptable at all for them to be doing this. This should not have happened to you and it should not happen to anyone else.

Also telling you to deal with the pain is not on either. Something is causing this and you were in and out so quickly that I would not be at all surprised if they have missed something here.

Hi @HannahW29 I had lap in September for suspected endo. Found stage 4 but had no treatment when having lap as was too extensive. Fell pregnant 7 weeks later xx

@AttilaTheMeerkat It was an NHS hospital, my GP referred me here as it's the only hospital near me that has a maternity/gynaecology unit!

I didn't think this was normal at all! I've been in other hospitals round here for surgeries that are less extensive and have never been out of hospital within an hour of waking up! Especially having not ate anything, I thought that it was policy regardless of what you were in hospital for you had to eat and keep it down before discharge.
I didn't even have time to ask any questions because the doc just rushed in when I was just coming round and the nurses just seemed eager for me to go home! I mentioned multiple times that I felt really dizzy and sick, I was struggling to move around unaided and the nurse actually had to hold on to me to the door where my mum held on to me. I thought it was unusual that they let me leave like this! I never even got transferred to a ward or anything, just woke up in recovery and got told to go home from there, as I say they phoned my partner to say he could come collect me before I had even woken up so don't know how they knew I was going to be okay!

Yeah, the gynaecologist basically came in and said that everything was clear, my uterus and ovaries looked good so there's no reason i shouldn't be able to conceive. I did ask what could be causing the pain but she just repeated that there was nothing on the scan and that I should "pop a baby in there" and see her back in maternity in a few months, then she left without even giving me the chance to ask anything else.

My concern is that, my GP was so sure it was endo and the gynaecologist originally thought it was too and I was happy to start TTC 6 months ago because they both told me that getting pregnant can actually relieve the symptoms of endo but now that I know it's not that I'm a bit concerned that if I do fall pregnant the pain could cause a problem with pregnancy or could get worse during pregnancy depending what it is!

@canonlyhopexo Congratulations on the pregnancy! That must be an amazing feeling to find out you're pregnant after discovering the endo!
I'm not really sure what I can do now so just going to continue TTC and hope it happens soon!