Endometriosis
 

I suffer from this... Anyone else in here???

Had it bad. Even with laser through a laparoscopy, not all of it could be reached and in fact, was still present when I gave birth. Sex hurt and when it was removed, I couldn't believe the difference-sort of like "so, this is what good sex is!!!"
Supposedly, some birth control pills help control it; being on meds to stop periods for 3-6 months was the preferred treatment until surgery became necessary.
If you know you have that, I'd assume your doctor is checking you periodically-ultrasounds once or twice a year will reveal its path and growth and any damage it may do-mine was so bad my uterus and colon were, as the doctor put it "one organ" and was just one obstacle of several in trying to conceive.

I thought I had it - had all the symptoms! - but a laparoscopy came back negative. However, when the doctors thought I had it, they did treat me with continuous birth control pills to stop/lighten my period, and also gave me gooood drugs: Vioxx. Unfortunately, Vioxx, and the rest of its class of drugs, was pulled off the market...it used to be the only thing that kept the cramping pain at bay long enough for me to sleep through the night. I couldn't take enough ibuprofen to kill the pain overnight without burning a hole in my esophagus.

You have my sincere sympathy...my mom and aunts all have it, and they were utterly miserable.

i feel ignorant, but what IS endometriosis?

I Do have it. I suffered for many years and went through many doctors that did not believe me on how bad the pain was. I finally found a great doctor back in either 02 or 03 that once I told her all my syptoms started setting up tests. Withing a couple months I had surgery and the endo lasered out. They gave us six months to get pregnant. It did not happen. The endo is back almost worse than it was before but now I do not have insurance to do anything about it.
We can't have kids. In a way I'm glad because I like our lives as they are. But sad that I will never know the joy of having a baby.

I have considered having surgery to have everything removed as the only way to ensure that the endo does not grow back is to take the ovaries also. Even then I'm not sure if it can still grow back. This sounds crazy to some but the number one reason why I have never had the surgery is because I've heard from two women that having a total hysterectomy will mess with your sex life. Make you numb or never be able to orgasm again.
As much as the pain really gets to me and makes me miss work and has me bedridden sometimes, I would rather go through that then give up my sex life. LOL

Is this something you had questions on or were just curious?

http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and.../endometriosis

When I first found out about endometriosis, I typed in my symptoms at Webmd and it came up with Endo.