Is it endometriosis? People around me think I'm overreacting.
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hello! I'm new to this forum and I was looking for some opinions on whether or not my symptoms could be endometriosis-related. I have an appointment with an OBGYN on Wednesday, but I'm such an anxious person that I wanted to do some more investigating to make myself feel a little less crazy about this whole thing. Please bare with me, I'm terrible at summarizing so this might be a bit long. But I just want to be as detailed as possible.
To start, I've always had very heavy periods. I have to use super plus tampons and I usually soak through those within the hour, even leaking if I'm not extra careful. My cramps are never intolerable (I have a high pain tolerance), but definitely uncomfortable to the point that if affects me and my decisions to do anything for the first few days of my cycle.
And for years, every handful of months or so, something would go wrong and I would have such excruciating pain in my abdomen. It would literally knock me to my knees and I'd go white, have the chills, become light-headed and dizzy, and just cry because it hurt so much. I always felt like I really needed to use the bathroom, but would sit on the toilet and could never do anything for a long time while the waves of sharp pain hit me. Eventually, I'd use the bathroom and there would be a lot of diarrhea. And I would feel fine after a while. I always thought it was because of something I ate.
Fast forward to just a few months ago, the same thing happens to me again, but it's accompanied with vomiting and I almost completely black out. This happened at the tail end of my period. It passed after half an hour or so, but the ache in my abdomen refused to go away. I decided to go to the ER the next day because I couldn't eat and they said they thought I had Crohn's Disease or IBS. I had a colonoscopy done a few weeks later and they said I was clean, then pretty much just gave me laxatives for Chronic Idiopathic Constipation. To this day I cannot use the bathroom without using the medicine and I've NEVER had this problem before. My diet hadn't changed, so I didn't know why I'd suddenly need a million grams of fiber in order to have a bowel movement.
I actually decided to look into more possibilities of what it could be when I noticed I had a dark brown discharge a week and a half after my period, followed by uncomfortable cramping. That'd never happened to me before. Then I found information on endometriosis and saw symptoms I was experiencing that I didn't even know could be an issue because they were so normal for me. Heavy menstruation, always constipated and bloated unless I take laxatives, fatigued, gassy, lower back pain, tailbone pain, leg pain in my quads and knees, and pain with deep penetration (it feels like a something tore open deep inside and aches for a long time afterward). I also had frequent headaches and migraines before switching to a ketogenic diet and when I'm on my period, my vaginal area, upper-inner thigh, and butt will go numb and tingly.
As I type this, I have a pressure on my pelvic area and there are random sharp flashes of pain like I'm being jabbed. I mainly feel extremely uncomfortable. Does anyone else here experience this?
0 likes, 7 replies
harris4kids Phiyen
Posted
I am now going to have my tubes removed and have continued to have problems. The only way to definitely diagnose endo is by laparoscopy so, hopefully, you can get your doctor to order one to see what is going on. I am sorry that you are going through this.
Phiyen harris4kids
Posted
Thank you so much for replying
I was actually just in the ER last night because I had another episode of intense lower abdominal pain. It was worse the last time I'd gone. Waves of sharp pain that made my left ear start ringing, made both my arms and stomach go partially numb (with the pins and needles feeling), and I was extremely light-headed and weak. I vomited in the ER and finally had diarrhea to help with the pain. I'm ALWAYS constipated and hadn't had a bowel movement in four days.
The hospital did bloodwork, a transvaginal ultrasound, an ultrasound on my ovaries, and a CAT scan but told me everything came back just fine. I'd wanted to cry because everything wasn't fine, the pain medicine they gave me didn't take away all of the pain and they were sending me home? So another visit with no diagnosis. I'd mentioned endometriosis to my doctor and he referred me to an OBGYN because he said it wouldn't show up on a CAT scan. I'm going Wednesday morning, so I'm hoping now that I've already had all these scans, ultrasounds, and a clean colonoscopy, that I can progress with my gyno without issue.
aitarg35939 Phiyen
Posted
Hi Phiyen:
Sad reality is that women's issues get short shrift in ER and in the States are not considered "emergent." I'm not saying that's right, just how it is. You are lucky that they did those scans: your doc can get those on Wednesday & they won't have to be repeated.
As Harris mentioned, a laparoscopy is the only definitive diagnostic test for endo. In the US there is no circumstance under which a laparoscopy would be done in an ER for endo. That, too, is just the way it is.
I, too, had that constipation-diarrhea -vomit push-pull with endo. It's awful. I wish i had been better at following instructions to use stool softeners along with all my fiber. Unlike laxatives, plain softeners do not create a gut dependence upon them in the way that laxatives do. I ate enough fiber to fill stadiums! Ask the doc this week if stool softeners might help you.
Phiyen aitarg35939
Posted
Yeah, I'm very glad I at least got all those tests and scans done and out of the way so I can rule out any GI issues, etc.
I was using stool softeners at one point, with fiber and fiber powder. It helped, but barely. Then I went back to my doctor and he put me on Linzess, which I have to take everyday and pretty much causes an upset stomach and diarrhea, but it gets the job done.
Sad to say, but I'm actually looking forward to having a laparoscopy because then that will hopefully lead me to a diagnosis and some answers.
aitarg35939 Phiyen
Posted
Phiyen aitarg35939
Posted
I just got back from seeing my gynecologist and she's putting me on birth control for three months to see if that helps with my periods. I heard it helps, but the last thing I want is for it to help but I do end up having endometriosis and it just winds up getting worse. I'm a worrier ): she said she's going to take a look at the cyst found on my ultrasound to see if it's a chocolate cyst.
aitarg35939 Phiyen
Posted
There are no guarantees with endo. Yes, BCP may well help. If you can help yourself or get some help on that worrying issue, that would be great as worrying never helps endo or anything pain-related. Worrying literally releases chemicals that can make pain worse. Besides, if you've got endo, it's a long-haul disease and you wilk need to accept & adapt or end up with ulcers, too.