Re: I need some info
From: Laura (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue Mar 29 18:55:33 2005
Hi Sharon!
Thank you so much for taking the time and for your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks to "anonymous" as well. I just hope others will be able to help
me with what questions I need answers to. I appreciate your help. I
hope that you feel better too. You are in my prayers.
At Tue, 29 Mar 2005, Sharon wrote:
>
>Hi, Laura - I'm new to this site, too. My endo is not as severe as
>yours, but I can imagine what you're going through. I also had severe
>pelvic pain as a young girl that improved with birth control pills in my
>late teens. It returned as soon as I stopped the pills, in my early
>twenties. I had two miscarriages around 26 years old and have been
>trying to get pregnant again, ever since (I'm now 34). I also have
>fibroids and had to have a myomectomy to remove one when I was around
>30. I did "injectibles" when I was 31, but did not get pregnant - and
>vowed not to do them again, as it was emotionally draining to go through
>all those shots (I hate needles!) and only have it fail. At 32, I had a
>Lupron shot to help with the endo - which alleviated it for about 2
>years. I also have sinus problems and skin allergies (which I know,
>from research, are related to "estrogen-dominence" which causes the
>endo). Over the last year, my endometriosis became excruciating. I
>went to an acupuncturist and completely changed my diet (no wheat,
>alcohol, dairy, red meat - more beans, rice, fish, organic chicken and
>veggies) and began to exercise 5 times a week - I dropped about 30
>pounds. I also tried acupressure which REALLY helped with the constant
>pain, even more than the acupuncture. However, the item that helped the
>most was a drug called Femara that my OBGYN/Fertility Specialist put me
>on. It's a breast cancer drug that suppresses the estrogen. They've
>recently started using it to treat endo. I had minor side effects, like
>hot flashes, but felt better and better as each month passed. (He put
>me on it for 4 months.) Two cycles ago I allowed him to use the Femara
>like Clomid to help me get pregnant. Unfortunately, for me, that was a
>horrible mistake. I've spent the last month and a half battling
>terrible side-effects - lots of pain, cysts on my ovaries, blurry
>vision, dizziness, nausea, increased pain with intercourse (like you can
>get pregnant when it hurts this much???), unbelievable fatigue - and on
>top of it all, I didn't get pregnant. I vowed never to do fertility
>drugs again - my body just can't handle them. My goal is to become more
>and more educated on endo and to limit my exposure to toxic items
>(cleaning products, bleached paper, etc.). There are some very good
>books on natural healing for endo at Amazon.com that have been very
>helpful to me. Regarding your nose bleeds I have read that endo can
>travel all over your body and even attach to your nasal tissue - which
>would cause the nose bleeds during your period. I've also recently read
>that getting pregnant will not make the endo go away - it will just
>subside during the pregnancy and usually returns about 10 months after
>giving birth (around the time you stop breast feeding). My mom had
>endometriosis, too, which became worse after having her third and last
>child - she had a full hysterectomy in her thirties and the doc found
>endo and hundreds of tiny fibroids. It's a baffling disease. Regarding
>the Crohns, my cousin had it and my heart just goes out to you on that
>one!!! I wish I had more info for you. I would suggest looking into the
>diet modifications and the Femara - it really helped me out.
>
>At Tue, 29 Mar 2005, anonymous wrote:
>>
>>Hey Laura. I have also suffered from endo but my case was mild compared
>>to many other women including yourself. I can sympathize with the lower
>>back pain and I wish that I could offer you some advice...but
>>unforunately I can't. Hopefully someone in the forum can help you with
>>questions. Just know that you are not alone. My thoughts go out to you
>>right now. Please keep us updated on your follow up appt and try to do
>>as much research as you can between now and then. Sometimes this helps
>>with questions that you may not have already thought of. Keep your chin
>>up!!!
>>
>>At Tue, 29 Mar 2005, Laura wrote:
>>>
>>>At Mon, 28 Mar 2005, Laura wrote:
>>>>
>>>>I am very new to this site but I am grateful that I found it. I felt
>>>>very alone until I came here. Up until now, I had been just going by
>>>>what minimal information that my doctor gave me. I have an appointment
>>>>on Thursday as a follow up to my third lap and before I started
>>>>searching through the archives, I wanted to see what questions I should
>>>>be asking the doctor. Here is what I know so far...I have been
>>>>suffering since I was 13 years old with extreme pelvic pain. I was not
>>>>diagnosed with endo until 9/01 when I had a lap to remove my appendix
>>>>and several large ovarian cysts. At that time I was also diagnosed with
>>>>Crohns disease. In 2/03, I had my second lap. They removed the endo, 4
>>>>more cysts, scar tissue and adhesions. My doctor said that the
>>>>adhesions were so bad that it looked like spider webs inside. In 11/03,
>>>>I started lupron. It made me sick as a dog but it did alleviate some of
>>>>the pain. I had my third lap and d&c last week and I haven't spoken to
>>>>the doctor yet. I have had cervical stenosis for at least the past 6
>>>>months. Extreme lower back pain which is constant and pain during
>>>>intercourse since I lost my virginity. Also, I have had persistent
>>>>sinus problems with nose bleeds that seem to flare up that time of the
>>>>month. My doctor never told me that there are stages of endo and has
>>>>not really explained the disease much to me. All he keeps saying is to
>>>>get pregnant which to me is very frustrating. That is if I can get
>>>>pregnant because he did mention that I may not be able to. I am trying
>>>>so hard to learn about this disease. Can anyone please give me some
>>>>quick tips on what questions I should ask so I can be prepared for
>>>>Thursday? I know I won't know everything there is to know in three days
>>>>but any help that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated. In
>>>>the meantime, I will search the archives. Sorry for the long message, I
>>>>am just desperate for some help and guidance. Thank you!
![[ endo@obgyn.net ]](../../images/endo_at_obgyn.gif)