I just had my first lap this past Friday 10/16. I did my best to read people's posts about things you need, what recovery is like, etc to ease my anxiety and try to feel prepared. Of course, everyone is different, but here are my random things I wish had crossed my mind before surgery, in case it is useful for someone else lol.

Power strip with a longer cord next to your area - keep having to ask my person to plug heating pad/phone/etc in since I cant really bend over

Practice all possible pillow combinations and set ups. I got a wedge pillow set up, which has been nice, but damn I have so many pillows and arranging them myself is not simple. And have a game plan for standing up/sitting back down.

Soo many things require bending. Dog food and water. Soap and shampoo on the side of the tub. SOCKS. Dropped tv remote. Pads and toilet paper. Make as many things waist level beforehand as possible. And make sure your help fills the water bowls before they head out lol.

Squatty potty and a small shelf next to toilet. And a handle. And a pillow.

The frida mom disposable underwear has been very nice. Super comfy, stretchy, good coverage and I can literally just drop them and kick them into the bathroom trash when im done instead of having to bend over, remove pad, etc. And dont even bother with pants lol I thought i had loose pants. Tried a pair yesterday and immediately took them off.

Washing soap out of your armpits from the back to avoid water hitting incisions is very difficult

My bloating is more significant than I thought it would because of how tender it is. Wish I had sized up in the belly binder I got and the disposable underwear. Day 4 im still looking like I ate a pile of spaghetti and washed it down with a six pack of beer.

Not really a tip but ive been having a ton of guarding/tension/spasming throughout my low back/pelvic floor/hips. I put a lot of effort into pelvic floor PT this past year and the feeling of regression sucks. The discomfort from that I feel like is worse than any acute pain.

I just came from a 4 day admittance that ended with me leaving with a Mirena inserted however my doctor did bring up this (picture attached). I didn’t really like the sound of the side effects so I told them I’ll think about it but has anyone heard of/tried this?

I really can't. I've done everything right. I've seen countless doctors, been prescribed endless medications, I've had surgery, I've done pelvic floor therapy. Nothing has worked.

My baseline pain is 8/10 all day, every single day. The nights as so bad I almost scream from how bad it is, but I won't go to the hospital, because they would treat me like shit. I know they would. I've already experienced that first hand. I have so much trauma from hospitals and medical staff, that I'd rather kill myself than go to the hospital. But I'm in so much pain every day that I feel like I'm slowly dying. I do nothing but suffer constantly.

I can't sleep. I haven't slept in weeks. I can't eat. Im losing a lot of weight. I can't see my best friend, who's taken time off work specifically to see me. I can't move without feeling like my body is screaming at me and falling apart. I can't relax, because I can't stop thinking about my pain. It's making me panic so bad, I struggle to breath. It's endless. I'm only 28 and my life is completely over. I hardly lived a life at all, and it's already done. My waking hours are nothing but panic attacks and pain. There's no relief or fixing this for me. I'm broken. Every morning I wake up and want to cry. I keep wishing I'd just die in my sleep or experience an untimely death. I'm already dead.

I don't have a life anymore. I don't feel human. I'm devastated at what my life has become. I don't think I can't do this any more.

diagnosed years ago after emergency surgery. been hell to deal with. our condition is painful but worse than that is pure disregard from medical teams and very long waits just for a scan. I heard this from someone else but I’m considering lying about trying to get pregnant so they actually take my issues seriously. I know that’s pretty fucked up but it’s fucked up they don’t care about women’s health unless you’re providing a baby. Please don’t flame me for asking this I’m just wondering for people that try to get pregnant what steps do they take to give you medical care

Hi everyone
I’m an Indian student living in the USA, and I’m feeling really anxious about my recent test results. I wanted to reach out to see if anyone has experienced something similar, especially Indian women or international students living in the USA.
Here is my situation:
In January, I had an ovarian cyst.
In June, the cyst had reduced to 4.2 cm.
In September, my ultrasound showed that the cyst had increased to 5.9 cm, and another cyst measuring 3.6 cm was found on my other ovary. The cyst was described as hemorrhagic.
Around two months ago, my CA-125 level was 45.
Yesterday, I had the CA-125 test repeated, and it came back at 102.
Today, my gynecologist called and said that I might have endometriosis.
I’m really worried because my CA-125 has increased from 45 to 102 in just two months. I know that elevated CA-125 can be associated with endometriosis and other benign conditions, but seeing the number increase like this has made me anxious.
I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar:
Has anyone had their CA-125 increase from around 45 to 100 or higher within a couple of months?
Did you have ovarian cysts or endometriosis, and was the elevated CA-125 related to that?
Did your CA-125 eventually come down with time or treatment?
What further tests did your gynecologist recommend?
If you are an Indian student or international student in the USA, how was your experience navigating women’s healthcare and insurance?
I’m scared and trying not to jump to conclusions, but the increase in my CA-125 has me worried. I understand that everyone’s situation is different, and I’m not asking anyone to diagnose me. I would just really appreciate hearing your personal experiences, especially if you’ve faced similar test results and cysts.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your experiences.

Hello,

Am scheduled for a hysterectomy + excision surgery soon for endo management and am wondering about any post op recommendations to help with recovery. I’ve read in other posts people mentioning things like a shower chair or belly binder. Seeking any guidance on how to make recovery more comfortable (devices/aids, food, clothing, pain relief etc). Thank you!

I've been taking dienogest for a month and a half and I've started having a lot of cramping, like sharp pains in my uterus, and spotting with clots. I'm very worried. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm feeling very tired and having insomnia. Should I see a doctor, or is this something natural?

I'm also experiencing a lot of cold sweats.

He was the one gynaecologist to finally accept my doctor’s referral for surgery. I have heard that he is very good from some, but I find it very difficult to trust doctors off the bat due to past experiences. ESPECIALLY if they’re doing a surgery that potentially requires removing endometriosis from places other than my uterus/ovarian cysts. I’m just scared of being mangled for life. I’ve heard so many horror stories.

It’s really important to me that the person going into my body is someone that cares enough to do a proper job without carelessly causing other—potentially irreversible—symptoms that I’ll have to live with. It is also important to me that this person is not careless, and sees me as a person with a debilitating illness. Not just ‘a problem that can be solved by having children’. I am very firm about NOT wanting children. I really don’t want to be pressured by a man who has no say over what I choose to do with my body.

Thanks in advance.

Long post: I’ve never gotten diagnosed but my previous gyno was asking if maybe I had endometriosis but I had heard that people with endometriosis had pain outside of their cycle and at the moment I only had it during my cycle. It was super painful and I was missing days from school and needing over 1000 mg of extra strength ibuprofen every 4 hours. I couldn’t move it was so painful. This was at like 12-14 years old. I’ve always had to use overnight pads that’s how much I bled and I bled for 7 days straight.

Started seeing a gyno maybe at 14/15 and she was surprised at how medicine I was taking so she put me on 600mg ibuprofen. Those weren’t working for me so I would take more Advil on top of the ibuprofen I was taking. When I told her this she told me to take Tylenol so I would take 600 mg of ibuprofen and 1000 mg of extra strength Tylenol. When I did this, she gave me naproxen and told me I had to take one or the other. But only taking one wasn’t enough so I had to take both to get some relief. After doing this for a while and finally letting my provider know she prescribed me tramadol. When I saw tramadol was an opioid I got scared a little and wanted to find other ways to help with the pain, taking my prescription when nothing was working. At this point I had already been prescribed birth control so I was taking birth control and I wasn’t on a super high dose cause with higher doses I was having issues with nausea. The birth control helped my cycles get shorter so now they’re 5 days instead of 7 but I’m still using overnight/ heavy overnights as a normal pad. I got off of birth control after covid and gained like 30 pounds so I missed 2 periods. I’m like 19/20 at this point.

Still missing school or taking a god awful amount of medicine to get by. (Sorry the timeline is kinda all over the place. I hadn’t been prescribed tramadol at this point)

My doctor asks me if we’ve ever done ultrasound. I’m like no. So we schedule an ultrasound. It was during my period and I had taken ibuprofen but the ultrasound came back normal. Shocker. I think this is around the time my doctor prescribed tramadol.

I hit like 22 and my periods are starting to get worse. I’m starting to have pelvic pain that’s sometimes one sided but I’m still not having pain outside of my periods. My doctor brings up endometriosis again and she mentions that the only way to actually diagnose is if I have surgery. I have emetophobia so anesthesia scares me. I deny having it again. I hit 24 years old. The periods are the worse they’ve ever been.I’m getting one sided pelvic pain and I’m starting to get pain outside of my periods but I’m still not thinking it’s endo. The dizziness and nausea gets worse every time I have a new cycle. I hit 25 and I stop taking pain medication cause I’m thinking maybe I just need to raise my pain tolerance. Omg. I have pain so bad in my right pelvis I think I’m gonna throw up every period. I’m crying and writhing around (which was normal for me anyway). I’m having to plop myself down on the floor with a cold towel on my head cause my mouth is watering something serious. I think this is when I start considering endo or fibroids or something. It hurts to pee, it hurts to poop, it hurts to cough. I have issues drinking water cause I don’t want to pee. I’m having light sensitivity issues. I’m getting insomnia because I’m in so much pain. I can only get through the day if I have enough relief to fall asleep. (Side note: I’ve always been so nauseated during my periods that the thought of chewing would make me wanna gag so I lived off of applesauce crackers and tea so I could take medicine). And then I was so exhausted after my period. And then after I started feeling better it was time to do it again. There was one period that the entire period I was feeling this pressure in my vagina and it felt like my bladder was never empty. So once the cycle was over and I still had this pressure and I was trying to empty myself, I stood up from the toilet and there was this pain. I tried to walk and then I felt a blinding pop in my vagina and the worse pain I’ve ever been with hit me. I was in public so I had to pretend everything was ok but the pressure stopped after that. A month later I had pain in my vagina before the beginning of a new cycle and it freaked me out. Didn’t bring it up to my gyno cause it didn’t happen again. Then I move to Georgia. Periods keep getting worse. I’m off of pain meds. I keep getting that pain in between my legs. Hurts to pee, poop, getting pelvic pain after exercising, getting chest pains suddenly (this is not a new thing either. Forgot to bring it up. ) I’m so tired all the time. I age off of my parents insurance and I’m unemployed so I’m having these horrible periods and my parents are like you need to get to a doctor.

Finally got a job but I’ve been worried about what to do during my period. My period came last week on Thursday while I was at work. I was completely unprepared. I was in so much pain. The last couple months my pain has been this huge pressure deep in my pelvis and it makes it impossible to sit stand or walk. I get deep aching constant cramps down to my toes and I get pulsating contracting cramps in my abdomen. I keep having diarrhea then constipation. It hurts to pee it hurts to poop. I get lightning crotch and rectal lightning. (Since I was 23 maybe?) my period just ended, still hurts in my pelvis and to use the bathroom. The minute I get home I’m attached to my heating pad. I’ve been using fish dates and my own twist on Jamaican sorrel to help me get through my periods but that isn’t working anymore. I need like 10 dates for them to do anything. So last Thursday I ended up having to leave 2.5 hours early from work, getting a point docked since I’m nonexempt and I didn’t come in on Saturday. The whole drive home Thursday I was sobbing at how pathetic it was that I couldn’t last two more hours. And I had my foot lifting me off of the seat because my pelvis hurt so bad. I had been sniffing alcohol wipes all day so I wouldn’t puke. Friday I went in with a heating pad but I was still in a serious amount of pain and it was hard for me to sit. It hurt to touch my stomach it was so bad. I’ve been on the aip diet and I don’t think it worked. I’m trying to get off of it but I’m reacting to nearly everything I try to reintroduce so it’s been slow. It helped with bloating and I was able to lose weight (was also eating in a deficit) but my periods were still hell. I wanted to wait on trying certain things until I got a diagnosis. I asked for accommodations at work but I’ve been struggling with getting an appointment so I can hand in some paperwork before the 13 days are up. Some doctors have some bad reviews that are worrying to me and I want a doctor that will take me seriously and help me get accommodations even though I’m a new patient. I’m considering asking my old gyno but I haven’t seen her in two years and I’ve had new symptoms so I don’t know if she would do it.

What should I do? Does this sound like endo? Does anyone have recommendations for a gyno/ endo specialist in the Cumming, GA area?

Hi everyone!

We are Taylor Slavin and Zoe Verstraete, second-year Physician Assistant students at St. Bonaventure University. We are currently conducting research for our master’s thesis on an investigational endometriosis screening tool.

Our goal is to evaluate and work toward validating a screening tool that identifies common symptoms and risk factors associated with endometriosis. There is currently no widely used screening tool for endometriosis, and delays in diagnosis can be substantial. We hope this research may contribute to improving how patients at risk for endometriosis are identified and referred for further evaluation.

We are looking for adults 18 years or older, including both people with and without a previous diagnosis of endometriosis, to complete a brief online survey.

The survey:

• Takes approximately 5 minutes
• Is completely voluntary
• Is confidential and does not collect names, IP addresses, or geolocation data
• Includes an informed consent form before participation
• Allows you to skip questions or stop at any time
• Is for research purposes only and does not provide a diagnosis or replace evaluation by a healthcare professional IRB Expedited Review IRB Expedited Review

This study has been reviewed through the St. Bonaventure University Institutional Review Board (IRB).

If you have questions about the study, you can contact us at:

Zoe Verstraete: [verstrz25@bonaventure.edu](mailto:verstrz25@bonaventure.edu)
Taylor Slavin: [slavinth25@bonaventure.edu](mailto:slavinth25@bonaventure.edu)
Faculty Advisor, Dr. Keith Young: [kyoung@sbu.edu](mailto:kyoung@sbu.edu) | (716) 375-7890

Thank you to anyone who chooses to participate! We greatly appreciate your time and your contribution to endometriosis research.

https://sbu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9SwnyFHejHH0ghU

I’m 20 years old and got my period at 12. I’ve always had really severe period pain, starting the first time I ever got my period. When I was in middle school and highschool I was always missing work and school because of it, which made me seem unreliable. I lose sleep and miss out on a lot of things in my life because of the pain. My periods started at about 12 days long and now are about 7-8 days.

My cramps are horrible to the point where I’m almost throwing up, have horrible back and leg pain, I can’t stand up and no heat or medication helps and I’m stuck laying down moaning in pain. The first few days of my period are always super heavy. It tends to be 70% of my periods like this every once in a while I’ll have a period that isn’t as bad.

About 30-40% of the time I have intercourse it can be painful sometimes unbearable pain where I have to stop and the pelvic pain will stay for the next couple days.

I’ve been putting off going to a gynaecologist, I’m scared of being dismissed. From 14-16 years old I went to different doctors multiple times and their solution was always birth control. I tried it once for about 4 months, it made my periods much heavier and absolutely destroyed my mental health. I was already extremely depressed and it just went even more downhill. I know there are many different types of birth control and I’m always told I need to find the right one. I just don’t want to have to test for another three months to see if it makes me suicidal again, I can’t afford to lose my mental health again or miss more work/school.

Yesterday I missed work again and was genuinely the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life, I spent 3 hours in the bathroom throwing up from the pain, sweating profusely and almost passing out on the toilet where I asked my mom to stay incase I did. I could not get up to get myself more medication, no hot bath or heating pad was doing anything and it got to the point where I hoped I passed out so I didn’t have to feel the pain anymore.

I’m scared to go to the doctor and get dismissed or told it’s normal again, I want to get to the root cause and actually find something that will help me that’s not birth control. I don’t know what it is but I know this isn’t normal, if anyone has any advice or anything to add it would be greatly appreciated.

I started doing continuous birth control instead of taking my placebos and i genuinely wish I didn’t do this. I skipped my period last week and my biggest fear is happening, I’m feeling like shit with no end in sight because I have 19 active pills left till the placebos. I CANT feel like this for 19 days.

I’m not doing this for another few months to see if I get better. I am not. I’m taking my placebos once this pack ends.

At least when I bleed I get relief even if it’s short lived for 2 weeks. I’m scared, in nauseous, my anxiety is high, I want to hide in my bed forever, i can’t do this.

If someone has anything that can change my mind now is the time I guess lmao.

i’m 19, i’ve had 3 surgeries, for endo (explorative, excision, excision) within 2 years of eachother. i have stage 4 DIE. i’m at a loss! like most of us i have tried everything, and advocated my ass off to get what i need! i’m going to list what ive tried, what im currently trying. if anyone has a hail mary for me, id be grateful. im at the point where im considering lupron or pushing for a hysterectomy (two things i was very much so against in the beginning of it all). i’m well aware a hysterectomy doesn’t stop the growth of endo but im desperate.

what does one do when the standard of treatment has failed? and when does surgery start doing more harm than good?

context:

i feel like i get worse after every surgery. i’ve seen excision specialists. all out of pocket. i’ve had my ovaries stuck and my bowel fused to my uterus from one surgery. i’ve done the rehab post surgery. i just can’t consistently get relief. not asking for a cure but asking outside of myself here.

i know some of my sustained pain is from adhesions and scar tissue. very hesitant to get another surgery which im being encouraged to do. where is the line where surgery is just causing more harm. MRI’s show there’s DIE again. it feels like no one knows shit about shit with the disease and its like tossing a coin.

like many of us my life is ruined by this. i have all the time in the world because im privileged to have a family who can support and care for me. i need lots of help because of the pain and limited mobility this disease has caused me.

if you told me i need to do 10 backflips while juggling to find some semblance of relief then id do it. i know ive done a lot of the recommended stuff, just thought it was worth the ask.

i got a little spreadsheet of how well all the stuff ive tried has been working let’s just say it’s looking PRETTY GLUM!

the list:

birthcontrol - 5 different combined pills
mini pill - both progesterone and dienogest
IUD
pelvic floor therapy - internal external
physical therapy
acupuncture
shock wave (omniwave)
medical massage / chiropractic
LDN
iron infusions
procaine infusions
emgality
ozempic
tens unit
heat / magnesium / baths
supplement routines
dieting
naturopathic approach
THC / CBD
pain management workbooks
psychotherapy to deal with the pain
**(im in NO way implying that my pain or this disease and its impact is psychosomatic i just needed to learn how to mentally cope with the pain of endo and how to healthily grieve my life)

types of meds i’ve tried:
SSRI / SNRI
tricyclic antidepressants
NSAIDS
anticonvulsant
opioids
analgesics

i pride myself in being able to mentally get through this all and find some semblance of joy in my life through all the pain. i’m just at such a wall right now. don’t get me started on how inconsistent and idiotic doctors are when it comes to this disease. i want to be 19 and doing 19 year old things like clubbing and living my best diva life. but im not so i call upon my fellow divas!

wishing us all relief and the ability to live our best lives! no matter how thst looks! love you guys this disease sucks!

EDIT: i’m getting worked up for other things as well just to make sure all my bases are covered. i have 6 MRIS next month to see what’s going on / where my endo is at and if there is anything else 😭

I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so I won't be hurt if this gets removed.

I have stage 1 endo and am 7 weeks postpartum. I stopped having PP bleeding around 3 weeks PP. Last week, I thought I maybe started my period but it was light and only lasted around 3 days. I decided I should probably get back to monitoring my temp with my Oura ring. Yesterday, I had pelvic floor PT for my postpartum assessment and started spotting last night. Today, I am bleeding heavier, but still not enough to need more than a liner. It's pretty similar to what I experienced last week, but maybe a bit darker? My temps have been lower yesterday and today than they were last week, which would make sense for this to be my period. I am also a little crampy. At this point, I don't know what's going on. Has anyone else with endo experienced something similar postpartum?? I'm not concerned anything is wrong, but I just had no idea the potential return of my period would be so confusing. I am exclusively breastfeeding and pumping, FWIW.

I had surgery last Monday, it was my second surgery, my first being 8 years ago. At 8 days post-op im doing pretty good! The first 5 days were pretty bad, I would lose energy by 10am and have to lay down, I still can’t lift my 2 year old but luckily I have an awesome support system. I wasn’t sure what to expect this time since the surgery included a lot more things than the first.

they found endometriosis on my uteralsacral?? ligaments idk if that’s how you spell that lol. They drained an ovarian cyst and they suspended my uterus cause it was severely retroverted. The weird thing is I felt an immediate difference with the uterus. It feels less.. heavy? but I will say my back pain is a 10/10. Hopefully that eases up I’m assuming it’s from all the lying in bed and sleeping in weird positions.

even though the recovery is going well I still feel this intense emotional aspect, I already knew I had endometriosis but the confirmation of it a second time hit me harder Somehow. The fact I had an active cyst when I kept telling everyone I get them so often really made me feel validated but also sad that I’m right, I do get them every month, just about. I’m sad that so many people live with this disease and it’s so widely ignored and misunderstood. I’m sad that even tho I’m in pain a majority of the time I still have to get up and act like everything is okay and I do the heavy lifting and all the other activities that hurt my body so bad, because I have no other choice. I have to be a functioning human in society even with endometriosis. its super hard to Know your limits and set boundaries for an “invisible illness” half the time I don’t even know why or where the pain is originating, I just know it hurts.

sorry for the vent.

I am writing on behalf of Mr to inform you that our patient had MRI pelvis gynaecological, performed 4 October 2026 has been reported with conclusion of features of diffuse adenomyosis affecting the uterus with a thickened junctional zone and possible scar tissue on the posterior aspect of the uterus at the junction to the cervix, perhaps representing local endometriotic scar tissue. However, no obvious infiltration to overlying bowel wall and no focal bowel wall thickening was suspected. 
For further clarification and management for our patient, I am going to ask for advice from our dedicated endometriosis team. 

Hi everyone! I’m 28F and have two large ovarian masses, 8.3 cm on both sides. My right is O-RADS MRI 4 and my left is O-RADS MRI 3. I also have right hydrosalpinx, but my CA-125 is normal.

I just saw my gynecologist today, and we discussed surgery versus monitoring. Since I want to preserve my fertility, I decided to monitor them for now with repeat MRI and blood tests.

I’m still anxious because of their size and the O-RADS 4 finding.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did your cysts shrink or stay stable? Did you eventually need surgery? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. ❤️

I live in the US and I've been showing signs of endometriosis for years, but in the last few months it's gotten worse very quickly. I've had two ultrasounds and nothing has shown up, and being on birth control helped for about two years but now it doesn't touch the problems any longer.

My gynecologist suggested diagnostic laparoscopy as my pains align with symptoms of endo, but how much does laparoscopic surgery typically cost? I've already been warned I will likely wait months to get into anywhere. By then I will likely not have health insurance. I'm freaking out if I'm honest, the pains are getting worse to live with every day and I have no idea how I'll afford a laparoscopy if it's obscenely expensive.

I just feel like all hope is lost. The first time I passed out from pain I was 13, and gynecologyst told me I should go vegetarian to cure my pains. Over 15 years, I was fighting to get answers, numerous hormonal treatments, pain specialists, diets, year of CBT, 27 doctors - who told me my pain is psychosomatic, endoscopy, 2 colonoscopies, 3 MRI, normal ultrasounds. My own family thought I was imagining things. I finally had enough of it and did Ziwig Endo Test which showed that I do have endometriosis. I was over the moon- finally, I could have laproscopy (2 years ago several endo surgeons refused to do surgery due to clear imaging). Just as I was happy that I could finally have the answer, I shortly developed diaphragm pain, struggling to breathe and started coughing blood. My pelvic pain also worsened almost overnight. I started to suffer with daily flares to diafraghm, chest and pelvis. Further investigations with ultrasound showed that I do in fact have endometriosis on my diaphragm (fibrosis)- but it is superficial. All these years my endometriosis was missed because it was too small to show on imaging. I become bed bound, because no amount of hormonal medication or painkillers stopped the flares. I have my first surgery in two weeks with liver mobilisation. I cry every day for hours. I just feel so stupid for not advocating for myself earlier. Now that endometriosis grown to chest, no surgeon can promise that it would be fine. I have spoken to the best team in country who deal with thoracic endo, but even they say that thoracic surgeries are experimental, and I might have limited benefit and possible intercostal damage due to cuts between ribs. I just stopped taking to all my friends, eat very little and lay in bed and mostly cry. Where do you find the strength to keep going? I am exhausted from years of pain, fatigue, dismissal and lost opportunities. The irony that the surgeons who refused to do my surgery went on Endometriosis Forum and keep talking about the diafraghmic endometriosis, the same symptoms they dismissed in me. In the end of the day, doctors are human, but now I live with consequences. I wish to all ladies out there to keep fighting for themselves- because sometimes it is too late. If you feel that something is off do not let doctors fob you off.

So I just saw my gyno and had an ultrasound. She diagnosed me with PCOS, and I asked if that ruled out endo since that's what I originally saw her for; she said she couldn't rule it out without surgery (which I knew). But I guess I was hoping for some kind of opinion about whether she thought I had both. I'm just trying to decide if the surgery is worth it or not. I'm 22 with many health issues such as POTS, MCAS, likely EDS, and now PCOS. I fit the symptom list for endo more than PCOS, so I was shocked when she said I have cysts on my ovaries and that she was going to diagnose me with PCOS. For the record, I have a strong family history of both PCOS and ENDO, but no one with both. One side has PCOS and the other has ENDO; I guess I'm the lucky one with both. I guess I'm just looking for anyone who has both and people who have had the surgery. Is it worth it, or should I just keep saying suspected endo?

I started getting migraines after my first Mirena IUD (now on my second one). They are mostly manageable but starting to get worse with time. Wondering if there’s anything specific I can do to manage them? I drink a lot of water, sleep well, take supplements, exercise, etc but I just want to be able to manage it better.

Any insight is appreciated!!

I’ve gone into a bit of a rabbit hole about tampons after reading a load of research about heavy metals. I’m struggling to get pregnant and stay pregnant (thank you endo and pcos).

I’ve switched from Tampax to TOTM this month and I can’t believe the difference. I’ve obviously still got cramping but I didn’t take naproxen and it was completely manageable with ibuprofen. One night I ran out and so used Tampax again and I had noticeably more pain.

Is this just a weird month or could this be a thing?

I just got my MRI back and was diagnosed of Endometriosis. I have severe health anxiety and we have been planning for the past 9 months for a baby and this news shattered me and I dont know what my hopes are for a baby anymore. Im 27 and husband is 33 and everything else is normal except this

Findings:
Uterus:
- Average sized AVF measures about 7.5x5.8x4.0 cm . The uterine
junctional zone is mildly and diffusely thickened, it measures about 11
mm. thickness, suggesting uterine adenomyosis. No detectable
myometrial focal lesions.
- Normal regular endometrial thickness, about 8 mm.
- Normal MRI signal of the cervical stroma with intact outline.
Ovaries:
The ovaries are enlarged and are located in close proximity to each
other (kissing ovaries).
The ovaries and the rectum are brought closer, likely by fibrotic bands,
suggestive of deep endometriosis. No evidence of bowel stricture or
obstruction.
Right ovarian small cystic lesion with hemorrhagic content measures
about 2x1.2cm, likely representing endometrioma. Otherwise, no
detectable solid or cystic ovarian mass lesions

Anyone who has been able to conceive naturally with this or is IVF my last hope? Will i ever become a mommy? Crying as i write this and i am so scared of laproscopic surgery and recovery. Totally freaking out 😭😭😭