Endometriosis?

I've got it.

Yup I have it too

Finally diagnosed with it last March after being fairly certain for several years. I've been on multiple bc's prior to my diagnosis and nothing helped. Severe bleeding...a tampon every 2 hours or so, cycles of 7+ days, anemia and getting gray outs, no energy and absolutely god awful cramps that could make me cry...I opted to have an endometrial ablation done last April (gynecare thermachoice to be exact) and since that my life has been significantly better. Being in my 20s I run the risk of needing the procedure again as the endometriosis can grow back but I'll deal with that when it gets to it. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the procedure. Best of luck to you!! :flowerforyou:

I had a close friend who had it when we were in college (back in the 80's--guess I'm kinda old these days). Her pain was like labor pain--too bad to walk or talk through on one day, two days not that bad but bad enough she couldn't go to class and a couple of 'normal' bad days. Ibuprofen was newly over the counter then and my fiance' was a pharmacy student. He told her that two days before her period was supposed to start to start taking Ibuprofen (that's the generic name for Advil or Motrin). Take the regular dose until her period was over. It worked. It took several months before her pain was reasonable, but it was better the first time she tried it that way. After a time, her pain was about normal, and she didn't have to start taking it until it started hurting--but it's important to not wait until it's bad. It's much harder to control pain that way, you need to take something right at the start. But pain control is not all of the problems from endometriosis. She had a terrible time conceiving later. You shouldn't avoid the doctor, he/she might be able to give you the head's up on things that might help you. Also, if you're going to try the Ibuprofen, make sure you follow the label directions--just because it's over the counter doesn't mean that it's ok to ignore that label. You don't want to over-do it, and you might want to eat a little with it--it can be hard on your stomach. I always took it for menstrual pain too, mine wasn't horrible but bad enough that Tylenol didn't do much.

I was diagnosed like 7 years ago, I've been through two rounds of chemically induced menopause. It had it's ups, but it was definitely better than the horrible pain I had. I also had the exploratory laparoscopy, and they wanted to do the ablation, but mine was too widespread to do so. Heating pad is your friend, I use the seasonique three month course of birth control to keep periods to a minimum. You have to kind of figure out what works for you. Everyone is different, I've met people my age who have had to have a colostemy bag because the damage was so bad, and then I've known people who just have pain. So don't let them freak you out, do research, if your doctor suggests something radical, get a second opinion. It takes time to find the right doctor, but totally worth the search. The first doctor told me to just have a baby, I was 18, unmarried, just insensitive.

I have it. Was diagnosed with it about a year and a half ago. I started exercising and counting my calories to lose weight a few months back. Since then, not only have I lost weight and inches, but I have had a decrease in pain with my endo.

I have endometriosis AND adenomyosis. I've had surgery twice, once when I was 22 and again in December. What helps? Um... Ha. Narcotics? I try to avoid those though, so I focus on breathing exercises and natural methods like Raspberry Leaf tea. Also, the more I work out and eat whole foods, the better I feel. Most of the time though, I just try not to think about it.

I had my endo confirmed last November when I had a laparoscopy. The pain was unbearable some days before the surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery did not fix my problem completely, but made the pain less severe. I went on Depo Provera in January, at my doctor's suggestion (the other option was hormone therapy to put me through temporary menopause). The Depo has made me almost pain free- I've had 2 or 3 random days of pain since January, but nothing close to what I was experiencing before the surgery. The only problem I've faced is the weight gain. The surgery destroyed my stomach muscles, so I lost my abs. Going on Depo made me gain 15 lbs and so I never got my abs back. My advice if you have a laparoscopy would be to try to get your stomach muscles back asap, or else you'll be where I am now, wistfully looking at bikini pictures from last summer, knowing I'll have to work my *kitten* off to get that stomach back!