Bladder pain, pressure, blood, etc. & ovarian cysts, please help!

I am feeling incredibly desperate and hopless. I've suffered with severe pain during periods since I was 12 (my first period). I am now 28 and have undergone surgery 2.5 years ago to remove endometrial lesions. I tried the hell of Lupron, and nothing has helped. I had my first ruptured ovarian cyst at 16. Now, I've had 2 in the last 3 months, that always seem to come from the right ovary. I also was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis in April this year.

After my last ER visit, the doctor said I probably had a bladder infection due to blood and clumps of tissue in the urine. They didn't give me the results and said to call. I called, and now I have to go back in person or mail in a release (frustrating!!!) to get my results. I just never noticed this before I had to pee in a cup. Now that I look back, I've had pressure on my bladder for at least 4 months. When I pee, the bladder hurts from a relief in the pressure. It doesn't hurt to pee, but the cramps are 10x worse during my period when I urinate. My past surgery revealed extensive endo on the bladder. My doctors insist that it can't have invaded the bladder, as I susspect. Can this happen? How do I find out? I've tried all the natural cures for bladder infections and they seem to only make the pain worse. I am very anti anti-biotics and won't take them just because something is suspected. I just can't handle the pain anymore. I even took AZO with no relief, seemed to increase the pain. I don't know what type of doctor to see and how to determine if something else is going on?

I am going to try increasing my progesterone, taking magnesium, and B6 for a few months (recommendations from Dr. Lee's book) to see if they help with the ovarian cysts. If not, then I am considering having at least my right ovary removed. Any advice on this?

I take at least 10 different vitamins and herbs daily and try to do almost everything I read that could possibly help. I've been getting weekly acupuncture for 2.5 years now and see a naturopath. I've pretty much given up on Western medicine, as I've seen over 10 specialist who keep referring me to someone else because they can't help or they want to push drugs, surgery, or birth control. Again, I am not one to do something just because the doctor tells me to. I've learned my lesson the hard way.

I really hope I can get some help from this forum. Several people have told me to get a complete hysterectomy, but I thought it wouldn't help, as I've read on this site. Thanks for any help in advance!

Let me see if I can offer you some information! I can't say for sure what is causing your symptoms but I can throw out some ideas based on my own experience and research!

Endometriosis can penetrate the bladder but from what I understand, that is a more rare occurrence. My urologist thought that this was happening for me and handed me off to an endometriosis specialist. Rather than having endo in my bladder, I actually had interstitial cystitis (IC). Unfortunately, many women with endometriosis also have IC.

Symptoms can include feelings of a UTI but no infection is present, blood in the urine, lower abdominal pain/pressure, and more. We do have information on this condition in our Resource Database so you might want to read through some of it and see if this might be a possibility for you. One thing that can be a problem if you have IC is all the vitamins and herbs you are taking! Many supplements have ingredients that can cause IC flares!

You should also consider a kidney stone. Are you seeing a urologist or a gynecological urologist? You might should consider an appointment with one to find out for sure what is going on with your bladder as it could be something major or something minor.

A complete hysterectomy with or without an oophorectomy (removal of ovaries) can help some women with endometriosis, depending on where the endo is located and exactly what is causing all the symptoms. However, neither a hysterectomy or an oophorectomy are cures for endo. So if endometriosis is the problem, you want to carefully weigh the pros and cons before having either surgery. You also want to know if there are other medical issues going on so you can treat those properly. A complete hysterectomy was necessary for me but I did not have an oophorectomy.

Though you are tired of bouncing between doctors, I would strongly suggest that you seek out the services of an endo specialist. S/he should be able to offer you the best help. You want a doctor who primarily treats endometriosis and possible chronic pain issues.

I know it is frustrating dealing with endo, bladder issues, and cysts so I wish you all the best!

Fist of all... I'm so sorry. I know how you desperate and hopeless you feel.

Secondly, I know it seems like all the specialists you've been to have not helped, but I think shorthoneys is right when she suggests going to an endo specialist. They will probably perform surgery, but that may be your best bet at sorting this out. Was your surgery 2.5 years ago with an endo specialist? I had several GYNs and GYN "specialists" suggest a wide array of hormones and other palliative remedies I was not interested in. (I too refuse to put a lot of synthetic crap in my body, and I too will not do something just because a doctor tells me to. Second/third/fourth opinions! Trust your gut!) They also wanted to do "exploratory" surgery to diagnose me. Hmph.

I would definitely also see a gyn urologist about the bladder issues. If you do have surgery with an endo specialist, ask them to have a urologist on standby in case you need extensive bladder repair.

Stay strong!

Hi,
I experienced the squeezing pain at the end of urination. That problem among others were addressed in my last surgery. It was endo on the outside of my bladder. I had symptoms of bladder infections occasionally but my urine tested okay. Anyway, The endo was removed from my bladder by a procedure called hydrodisection. There was a urologist present at my surgery but he did not do the procedure. The super skilled fertility specialist did. He was called in by the endo specialist that no longer does surgery. The fertility specialist excised the endo in all areas except the rectum. The colo-rectal guy handled that task. It has only been a year but so far so good.

If you are able to find a true endo specialist they will be familiar with endo and the bladder. For that matter they will be familiar with how endo can affect our whole bodies.

I wish you luck in your search. There are Dr's out there that can help improve our quality of life. They are just hard to find! Almost all Gyn's will say that they treat endo. In my opinion that does not make them a specialist.

Hang in there.