Need Advice from the Ladies of the Endo Board!

OliviaLeigh · 06-02-2008, 04:10 PM

My dr. has said I am "classic endometriosis" with the symptoms I have been having over the past few years. I saw her about a month ago and she put me on bc for 3 months to see if this helps w/ my symptoms (primarily the pain). I've been on for one month and the pain is better, but not totally gone, but not NEAR as bad as it was (thank goodness!). I still have other issues: bleeding during ic, pain during bowel movements (primarily the same day as ic), and pelvic pain (usually just the same day as ic)...see a trend? Anyways...my big question:

I'm 26 & DH and I would like to have a baby by next Fall (2009). My dr's idea was to put me on bc then check me out in 3 mos to see how I am doing. She said if the bc is working, then it is most likely endo. She said we will look at doing a lap then for definitive diagnosis.

Will the lap cause more scarring than the endo has already done? Should I just bag the whole endo idea and just start ttc now? As a background, DH and I were not preventing for 6 mos prior to going to gyno who put me on bc to help w/ the "endo" pain and was unsuccessful in getting pregnant (but I did ovulate - yay for me!).

Any thoughts appreciated....Thanks Ladies!

Eirenay · 06-02-2008, 10:45 PM

the lap shouldn't cause more scarring than the endo, if your doc does the lap properly. Most lap scarring comes from a lack of attention to detail. you will notice a huge difference if they do the lap and laser out the endo, particularly if it has created lesions on your bowel, which seems to be the case. I had my lap in September and have had no endo pain symptoms (including painful bowel movements that my family gp misdiagnosed as IBS) since!

There are many women who have severe endo, and conceive without any trouble. There are others who have the smallest tiniest amount of endo and have trouble conceiving. Researchers are not quite sure about the link, because there are many women with endo who don't even know it and have no problems ttc.

My ob/gyn never put me on BC to see if it was endo. I think that is counterintuitive if you are ttc. My ob/gyn said the only way to get a definitive endo diagnosis is a lap. Now if BC is going to help your symptoms, fine, but if you're wanting to ttc, I would skip the bc and schedule the lap.