Laproscopy? Need advice

georgiagirl1212

Happy Friday, girls!

  Long story short, I've suffered from very painful periods and between-periods spotting for years now,  and since starting medicated cycles in January, both problems have gotten worse.  It's to the point where I'm having pain all cycle long and spot from abut ovulation time onward (unless I'm on Crinone). My RE doesn't seem concerned with the spotting, but the OBGYN who referred me was concerned about endo.

  Because I'm completely OOP, I've made an appointment to go back to my OBGYN to see if she will recommend me for a lap.  My insurance won't cover IF-related expenses, but I'm hoping it would cover a lap due to the other problems I'm having.

  I guess I'm looking for  validation that I'm better off getting any possible endo diagnosed/treated before moving ahead with any more IUI's, and especially before paying OOP for IVF.

  Thanks in advance for any advice, and SAIFW always.

patchen30

From what two REs have told me, LP spotting does not indicate endo.  I have read in a lot of places that it does - but this is what my REs have said.  If the Crinone stopped your spotting, that seems proof that it's a progesterone issue, not an endo issue.

The pain you're having though sounds like it could be an indication of endo.

Two REs have also told me that if endo is dx, laproscopic removal of it often is not enough to get people pg, and many times IVF is recommended anyway.  They said that laproscopic treatment of endo just has lower success rates than IVF.  I'm sure there are plenty of success stories though after a lap.  

I think it depends on how much you want to avoid IUI/IVF.  If your insurance doesn't pay for those but will pay for a lap, I think it makes sense to do a lap.  If your insurance won't pay for a lap or IUI/IVF, I think it makes more sense to save your money for the thing that probably has the best shot at getting you pg.

Best of luck to you!

maddie789

I was in your exact situation. After three IUI's, it was either do more IUI's, do IVF, or do a lap. Since my insurance covered a lap (through my OB, since they had years of documented symptoms - I'm not certain it would have been covered under my IF docs) I went through with the lap. They didn't find any endo, so my easy recovery is probably due to them not having to remove any endo. They did find a "window" that they said is consistent with having endo though, so at least I did get some sort of answer out of it.

So, after all my jibberish, I'm not sure I can give you any validation that a lap is the way to go. I am glad that I know that there wasn't any endo in there causing problems, but now I'm frustrated, because there doesn't seem to be an issue at all. Good luck with your decision!

k-mart

I just wanted to thank the OP for this post. I am in a simillar situation and it helps to hear what others have to say.

Sunshine05

I had my lap done primarily for pain purposes, although at that time I was infertile it was not my primary reason for having a lap done.  It was covered under my insurance (and I do not have IF coverage) due to pain consistent with endometriosis which is not limited to being an infertile's disease.  I would definitely call your insurance and ask them, it should be covered.  I had an RE perform my surgery and it was not an issue for insurance.  Below I just copied some info I gave a poster a week or so ago, just in case it would be of some help to you:

My symptoms were very painful cramps, prolonged heavy bleeding during my period, pain during sex, pain/bleeding during BMs, random double-me-over pangs of pain randomly throughout cycle... and of course infertility.  Having the lap tremendously helped with my cramps/bleeding... even  2 1/2 years later, my cramps are much more manageable than before my lap.  I still have the random pangs of pain, but that never really went away.  While it wasn't a cure-all for infertility, I missed the "magic window" after my lap due to finding a tumor on my spinal cord... found because of issues from having my lap... and wasn't able to have sex until I had the spinal surgery 6 months later!  Just my luck, right?

I took off Thursday since I had an all-liquid diet followed by a bowel prep (this was honestly the worst of the whole thing, lol!).  I had my surgery early on Friday morning, was out of the hospital mid-afternoon.  Slept/lounged away most of the weekend.  Went back to work on Wednesday I think, only because my boss is a doctor and said she would prefer I make sure I'm 100% before going back to work.  Could have gone back Monday or Tuesday, although it was nice to relax and heal a little more before heading back to work... it wasn't necessary though. 

I had to wait to have sex for 2 weeks until my meeting with RE for the post-op appt and was told I could start TTC after that appt... think they just want to check your incision sites and see how you're healing, etc.  It's preferred to do the lap anywhere from CD8-12 I believe... so it's after you've finished your period but before you ovulate to avoid any complications. 

 

SweetieD21

I was having spotting for 3-4 days before AF, and strong O-like pains right after AF, or after I knew I already O'd.  My dr did a laparsocopy/hysteroscopy, and found stage 1 endometriosis and a few small polyps, all of which he removed.  I just had this surgery done 2 weeks ago, so I haven't had a period yet, so I don't know if removing these issues will help with my spotting/pains.  The dr seems positive that I won't have any more spotting or pains.  I am also oop for everything infertility related.  My insurance covers diagnostic testing though, so my lap/hyst was covered.  I definitely would recommend getting this done, because if not, you could be wasting time and money on meds and IUI's, when something could be wrong that could be easily treated.

mshraddha

Hi

Are you with RBA as well?