Has anyone had lap surgery for endometriosis?

alexiskiriluk · October 2015

I'm supposed to go in for lap surgery to see if I have endometriosis on Friday and I am very worried. Has anyone ever done this? If so, how was it? Did it help? I have 2 children that I conceived naturally after a year and I had a miscarriage with clomid. I'm 34 and we have been trying again for 2 years. Just had my second failed iui. Planning on going to ivf but the dr wants to see what's going on in my uterus before we do the ivf.

KidShrink · October 2015

I did in July, in the same surgery as a hysteroscopy as there was a strong suspicion on endo given some odd symptoms (I had some menstrual pain, but not the typical endo pain, in other places, diarrhea during my period only, and a history of pain when urinating during my period only). The surgery is really not that bad (I had another lap in January to remove my gallbladder, likely as a result of damage from endo, but we'll never know), and that surgery was much worse than this one, even though I had a lot of endo. It completely twisted and covered my right ovary (there was no chance of getting pregnant from o on that side), and then plaques between my uterus and bladder and bowels. It extended on the right side to completely cover my liver, and I had some all the way in my diaphragm. Most of that was removed. An MRI performed 2 weeks after the surgery showed I still have a bit in the wall of my bladder and between my uterus and bowels. I also have an endometrioma in my left ovary, which could eventually make it collapse as they can't remove it given it's location. While they were there, they also noticed a small fibroid in the back wall of my uterus. Thankfully, I got those MRI results only after finding out that my first medicated IUI post lap worked, as I would have otherwise been quite discouraged. Despite a 2.5 hr surgery to remove all this, I was doing pretty good fairly quickly (my surgery was done on a Sunday, and I danced a little at a wedding the following Saturday). You may not be able to lift your kids for a bit though. I took a full 3 weeks break from all physical activity/exercise.
Good luck!

bsckgb7 · October 2015

I was just coming on this board to ask the same question. They are looking to schedule me for this at the end of next week. I have had 3 failed IUIs (2 with Follisitim). And no cause for not being pregnant.

amerushton · October 2015

I had a lap several years ago, to look for endometriosis. It wasn't bad at all for me - honestly, the fear was worse than the reality. I didn't have much lasering done (if they find endometriosis, they will likely laser away any lesions) - this may be why it was much easier for me, but I honestly don't know. I read that the gas pain afterwards could be bad, but it didn't bother me - I have had worse gas pains naturally! I had a little bit of pain afterwards, and bleeding (like a light period) but I was in and out of the hospital in about seven hours total, and was walking around later that day/next day. It did help significantly with my cramps - I wasn't TTC at the time so I can't comment on that aspect.

alexiskiriluk · October 2015

Thanks for the feedback! I have a second opinion with another RE tomorrow and I will see. As of now I am going on Friday but we are going to see what the other RE says in addition to my regular ob. It's to much information. But a lot of what you have said rings true. Especially pain during urination during menstration. Never knew that was a symptom. Always wondered what that was about?

KidShrink · October 2015

Ohhh...yeah, that's one of the big weird one. At its worse, around the time I got off BCP and the following months where it increased, I'd initially think I had a UTI every time I'd get my period, and it'd disappear as soon as my period was over. I eventually saw an osteopath who specializes in pelvic health, and only one session (of pretty intense/intimate manipulations) fixed that pain. It essentially released the piece that attached my bladder and uterus. But it turns out after the lap I still have some in the wall of my bladder (my RE just didn't want to remove it in case it went all the way through and he'd have to do a bladder reconstruction). So the hopes is my pregnancy will make it all go away. Whatever was left wasn't enough to prevent me from getting pregnant, so I guess it didn't matter all that much. I never had the typical heavy bleeding though (part of the reason was the slight anomaly in my uterus shape which prevented my lining from getting thick enough), and I saw an OB in the past who told me there was no way I had endo (when I had that peeing pain). Well he couldn't have been more wrong. Go for the second opinion, but I would strongly encourage you to do it if there's any doubt. Even my RE went in never expecting it to be that bad for me.

Caroline351 · October 2015

I had one back in 2009. I've had really bad periods since the beginning and my doc wanted to confirm endo. There is nothing to worry about. It's a simple procedure, in and out! It's not the most comfortable thing, but I figured I was pretty used to pain anyway and having answers was worth it.

beckihall · October 2015

I had one in May, was not bad at all. The worst part was the gas pain afterwards. But still not that bad, I think it was mostly how I personally respond to anesthesia. Have loose fitting pants, gas-x, and stay on top of your pain meds you'll get through it!

blondeej · October 2015

I had a lap done Friday the 2nd for endo and they had to remove my left tube due to it being too damaged from the endo. I've had surgeries before so knew what to expect. Af is due tomorrow - I am excited to finally try this cycle - it's our 14th cycle trying. GL to you all.

Furmama2 · October 2015

I just wanted to say good luck. My GYN recommended a lap for suspicion of endo, but my RE said that it was "old school thinking, and would not increase my chances of concieving," and does not recommend I go through with it. Interested to see what you end up doing....

beckihall · October 2015

@Furmama2 if your gynecologist suspects you have endometriosis you should really get the lap surgery. Endometriosis is a serious chronic disease than can cause more than just infertility. Painful periods are just one part of the issues it can cause. Endometriosis causes endometrial tissue to grow outside of your uterus and untreated could cause organs to seize together or stomach and intestinal problems. I'm not trying to scare you, but even though your RE doesn't think it has anything to do with your infertility there are other health issues it can cause. And for me personally if my endometriosis had been caught earlier I wouldn't have had to go through IVF.

KidShrink · October 2015

To add to be previously already long post, I concur with @beckihall . 6 months before my lap for endo, I had to have a lap to remove my gallbladder which had pretty much stopped functioning because it was completely stuck in endo. I also had liver issues related to the endo, which led to more digestive issues. The surgery and scars are no fun, but many will have increase fertility for the following 6 months.

MiluskaL · October 2015

Hi, I had 2x laparoscopic surgeries for endometriosis last year. They did it once but said it was too much there so they put me on 2 months treatment that put me in menopause but the same time shrank the rest of the endo. After that I had my 2nd surgery and all was cleared. Got pregnant 1,5 month later! It certainly does help trust me. The only way to find out if u have endometriosis is via surgery but don't worry it's not as bad as u think. U will be under general anesthesia so u won't know what's going on

Good luck for Friday

lilmamapanther · October 2015

Mine ended up being so bad that we are bypassing iui and going straight to ivf....

beckihall · October 2015

lilmamapanther said:
Mine ended up being so bad that we are bypassing iui and going straight to ivf....

Me too, both of my tubes are completely blocked because of the endometriosis. It saved us a lot of time. Started trying Aug 2014, had Lap surgery May 2015, started IVF July 2015. I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant with twins.

babyexpress · October 2015

@beckihall did you have the hysterosalpingogram (HSG) test done also before this? Just curious if your tubes were blocked due to Endo, would that also show up on HSG test with the dye.

Or anyone else have that done?

KidShrink · October 2015

I had a sonohysterogram instead of an HSG. Everything was fine, and during the lap, my tubes were not found to be blocked. But my right ovary was in so much endo that no eggs could makenit from there to my uterus, and they couldn't tell I had endo like that from the ultrasounds. MRI picks it up much better, but is not routinely done as it's much more costly (I had one after the surgery to see what was left).

khochanadel · October 2015

I had endo surgery in march. They went in to remove a blocked tube and couldn't even do that because my endo was so severe. It was a long surgery due to the severity of my endo and them trying to get the tube closed for good. My recovery was tough.

We also had to bypass iui and other measures for ivf after my surgery. But I am 6 weeks pregnant now with identical twins! It's worth it.

Fwiw- I never had the red herring of painful periods so they had no idea I had endo until they got in there surgically. I feel so lucky they caught this and treated it while I still have a chance at healthy pregnancy.

beckihall · October 2015

@babyexpress I did not have one before my lap, he just decided to check my tubes while he was already in there for my laparoscopy since we hadn't conceived in the 9 months we'd been trying.

babyexpress · October 2015

Thanks @beckihall good to know.

@khochanadel did you get pregnant naturally with your twins after the surgery?

khochanadel · October 2015

No, like I said we had to do ivf because my tubes were too compromised by the endo for us to conceive naturally or do iui. We transferred one embryo and it split.

babyexpress · October 2015

@khochanadel thanks, oh I must have read it wrong when you said you had to bypass IUI and other IVF measures in previous post.
Got it now, thanks. Congrats

beckihall · October 2015

@khochanadel similar thing happened to me! I trasfered 2 embryos and one split but the other didn't take. So crazy how things can happen!

Want a personalized experience?

Has anyone had lap surgery for endometriosis?

Re: Has anyone had lap surgery for endometriosis?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards