how serious should endo be before hyst?

i have had only one laporospic for endo but it came back within a year's time. i have massive migraine problems, digestive problems, fatigue, depression, and great big fun bowls of pain.

i know that each woman is different, but my question is: how serious should endo be before you have the problem removed?

i've lived a life of pain, mostly from migraines - but they have linked migraines to endo. :eyes:

i've noticed that some of you know what stage your endo was. but i was never told. what are the stages?

have a great evening

:dragon:

So sorry to hear about your endo!! I have been there and done that. Don't know exactly what stage mine was, all I know is that I was in a lot of pain and had a lot of bleeding. I had 3 surgeries for my endo. They wanted to do a hyst when I was 25 but I did not have any children at that time, and I wanted to at least try. They did my last surgery when I was 30, and thank the lord I was able to get pregnant, and I now have a beautiful baby girl. They told me that when you have a child when you have endo, you have a 90% chance of it going away, well, I must have fell in the 10% that it didn't. I ended up having a complete hysterectomy when she was a year old. It was really the best thing I have ever done, I am now pain free, and have a beautiful little one.........................I wish you the best of luck, endo is sooooo horrible to have, I know first hand how painful it can be........................god bless

I am with you on how much pain and discomfort is too much?? I had endo before my first daughter was born (was scheduled for surgery and ended up getting pregnant). Got pregnant for second right away. When my little one was two everything came back, but worse. I've had enough. I'm only 28, but know that I'm done with children. Last daughter pulled my uterus way down. But I get the feeling some think I'm rushing in. I'm curious to see more discussion!! Good luck with everything!

i feel like i'm rushing in too. i have no kids and don't really see that in my future. but i really don't want to have to have the endo surgery for a million years as fast as it came back this last time. plus, my parents are paying for these things.

if endo is truly connected to the migraines, digestive issues, etc. then going thru with it would be a good thing for me to do. one full day without pain would be worth it.

it will be interesting to see what the doc says tomorrow. i'm a little scared of my options.

Let us know how everything goes. I got some info. today from my neighbor who works at my Docs office. She was very reassuring on my decision to go forth with the surgery. It really helps to have some positive words from someone who sees these things a lot. My thoughts are with you! )

Hi,

Endo can cause a number of problems. I was diagnosed with stage 3 several years ago during a lap procedure looking for the cause of severe pain during BMs. The endo was strangling my colon. Also, by then my fallopian tubes were so gummed up that I would never have more children. Luckily I had two already through so miracle as far as I am concerned.

The stages refer to organ involvement and how extensive the lesions are, I think. I finally underwent the TAH/BSO because I had recurring ovary infections that were threatening my life. The medicine I took for arthritis lowered my immune system and my response to infection and made it difficult to tell if I was sick until I was basically overwhelmed with infection. This landed me in the hospital twice for IV antibiotics.

I don't think that the stages are as important in the decision as the effects you are having from the endo. Each case is different.

Best wishes to you...

Jennifer TAH/BSO w app 1/14/05

thank you all for responding! i go in two hours to see. i've cried already today. i'm very ready to get in there and see what can be done. i'll let you know what happens, i'm sure !!

I don't know what stage mine is either. My last laparoscopy to look was 3 years ago. If pain is any indication, I'd say the endo is MUCH worse now then 3 years ago. I've decided to have TAH/BSO now, even though we have no children. We've tried for many years, and it seems we've both had enough. It's not an easy decision. Have you tried/considered Lupron? It didn't work for me, but I'm very glad I at least tried it. You may want to at least ask your DR about it. Good luck!

Have you tried anything else, I went through all the options over a 15 year period, with varying lengths of time before it recurred. I was always told that even with a hysterectomy there were no guarentees of it returning so this was one of the reasons I didn't have the surgery sooner, for me it wasn't endo that ultimately made a hysterectomy necessary. My surgery so far has been successful and I sometimes think , maybe I should have ended the pain years ago but the million dollar question is "would it have??" I see alot of sisters still having problems with endo after surgery, it could still come back for me, I'm just enjoying the good health I have for now and if it does come back I won't have that sense of regret or dissillusion that it was the answer to my endo problems. Goodluck only you can decide when you've had enough, weigh up your options and make an informed decision so you won't have regrets, very best wishes to you Charmed.

I've had two laps, and never felt any significant relief. Most hormonal treatments I've tried didn't work and have made me sick, and I now have colitis because of one of them. The only med that works for me is a strong dose of progesterone (40mg) called Megace, and it is so strong that the doc will only let me take it for 6 months at a time. It is supposed to have lasting effects, but it never has with me. When not on any treatment, I required 24-hour Demerol for the pain. I've never had any significant growths (only stage 1), but had tremendous pain.

I plan to never have children, so a hyst was the next logical step. Doc gives me a 93% chance of living pain and med free after the hyst/BSO plus excision of any endo he finds. I think I can live with that. I feel I've done everything possible, and would only be prolonging the inevitible for no particular reason. The end of each person's rope is different, but I know I am 2 weeks from the end of mine!