Laparascopy / pain during sex

[fluffosaur]

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[RebaRezzelba]

Hi - sorry didnt want to read and run.

From what Ive heard/read pain during sex plus the painful perods (which I also have) can be a sign of endo. Im about to see my FS to get an appointment for a Lap myself. I dont know if its helps but Im sure there is someone on here that can shed some light for you.

Good luck with the procedure.

 

[Starbright]

Hi

Good luck with your lap. I used to find intercourse quite painful and have had a diagnosis of endo. Personally, when my endo symptons were bad having intercourse was soooo painful it felt like I was being stabbed - sorry that's the only way I can think to describe the pain. I also used to get cramps afterwards, like period pains.
My gynae recommended using Replense to help with the pain during sex. It's a lube aimed at post-menopausal women. This was before I had my last lap during which they removed the endo. Since then I have (thankfully) been mostly sympton free. I don't know if replense would be any good if you're ttc. Pre-seed might be better - I assume it would have the same effect (but not tried it)
Also like you I have awful periods.
I hope your lap goes well and gives you some answers about the pain you're having. Very best of luck, hon
xxx

 

[petitpas]

Hi fluffo,
My periods weren't as bad as yours, but I have mild endo that causes pain during intercourse. The bit that seems to be causing me pain is endo on the uterosacral ligament. Before my last endo in September, my gyno told me that he might cut out the ligament, but that I didn't really need it so shouldn't worry about fertility/pregnancy/prolapse or anything like that. In the end, he was able to scrape it all off without having to remove the ligament. By the way, it's called ligament, but as far as I understood, it is more of an area or a fold, not a string. Weird, huh?
Anyways, I hope all goes well with your laparoscopy! Don't forget to prepare a pillow for the ride home and lots of peppermint tea to help get rid of the gas

 

[brumbar]

Hey!!!
Yes I did!!!! In fact, my only endo symptom was painful intercourse….I have and always had light periods, and in the last couple of years not painful at all!!!!!!
I had endo removed in January from my bladder, back of uterus and left ovary…
My sex life is flourishing!!!!
Good luck hun!!!!

 

[ellieb31]

I've had endo for 10 years and have had surgery 7 times for it. We started ttc in Jan last year and I came off the pill. Until then I hadn't realised how much the pill had been helping me because the endo came back with a vengeance - to the point where we couldn't have sex at all, even with all the medication in the world. I had surgery in Dec and they confirmed my endo was back and severe - so severe that they needed a bowel specialist to help remove it. Had further surgery in March where they removed all of the trouble areas, including have to do a resection on my vagina because it had got so big that it was pushing through. It took me 6-8 weeks to heal properly (doesn't normally take that long but I had it extensively) and we're trying again now. Tried last month but I was still healing so we couldn't BD as much as we'd like but I'm back and pain free for the first time in five years (god, it's good to enjoy it again!!) and I'm hoping that this will be my month. Despite all the pain, at least I know that everything is in 100% working order now (according to my consultant) and I just pray that I manage to get pregnant before the endo comes back again. It seems to come back every couple of years for me so I should have a while.

Good luck with your procedure. Some women have mild endo but significant pain compared to another woman who has it severely with hardly any pain. At the end of the day, having pain during sex is dreadful, it's embarassing to talk about and people that don't have it really can't understand what it does to your head. I was sick of people suggesting it might have all been in my head or to do with my partner - even the consultants seem to be quite ignorant about what it can do to you mentally with my consultant testing me on where my ovaries are because he didn't believe that I could tell that's what was hurting.

 

[fluffosaur]

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[brumbar]

have they checked you for cysts hun... they are the worst!!!!

 

[petitpas]

I'm not surprised. The nurse at our doctor's surgery told me to 'relax more'.
Once you find the right doctor it all changes, though!
You'll have a better idea of what is the problem once you've had the op. You're on the right track now!

 

[fluffosaur]

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[ellieb31]

'I'm sort of looking forward to the lap now... bye bye painful periods & pain during sex!'

A healthy attitude counts for so much! I'm really impressed that you're going into it feeling like this. It'll help you stay sane and heal faster (imo!)

The first time I started having pain during sex, I had a lap and the doctor told me afterwards that I had a textbook perfect womb and then couldn't understand why I wasn't happy! Hello! I've been in pain for a year and having sex kills me - how can I possibly happy that everything is 'perfect'. Of course, the next surgeon (another year or so later) found endo which had been there the whole time. It's such a common disease that it's shocking how poor the standard of care is and, believe me, it makes a world of difference whether you go privately or NHS and it really shouldn't. I've had two laps on the NHS where they found nothing but surgery with a private consultant afterwards found it. Even when I'd had 5 previous surgerys and 8 years experience of it, they still didn't believe me when I said that's what the problem is.

At the end of the day, you know your body better than anyone no matter how many degrees they have and you have to fight these apparently all knowing consultants some times. If you hadn't guessed (!) I'm still really angry about the way I've been treated and, although the consultant does actually take me seriously now, it shouldn't be such a fight to be treated like a human being.

Sorry, rant over!!

 

[fluffosaur]

Do you recommend going private? I might consider it if the NHS take a lazy attitude! I don't like being cut up for no reason. ;P

 

[fluffosaur]

I just rang up for a quote with bupa who told me that they can't cover me for a laparascopy because it's a current symptom I am having investigating. hurrrrm.

If I come back in a year & don't have any symptoms then they'd be able to cover me. How did you manage to get private cover?

 

[brumbar]

Strange...I,m not with BUPA, but this is what I did: got a GP to refer me to a private consultant as I'm having pain with intercourse, bleeding inbetween periods,painfull ovary - and I knew I have a 3cm endo/dermoid cyst .... called company, company approved visit to consultant, consultant recomended Lap, cysectomy, hysroscopy and endo removal. called company again, said tht the consultant has recomended the procedures and they authorised it!

I saw the bill for the whole thing ( with an overnight stay in hospital) and the pre-op/post op consultations - it was about 6k!!!!!!
good luck hun!

 

[petitpas]

Fluff,
If you haven't already got private healthcare, there is only one way you might get cover for this (pre-existing condition). That is if either you or your partner can get private healthcare through work that DOES cover pre-existing conditions and then you can claim right away.

I had my first two laps done privately (BUPA/work). They went very well and the consultant was always available for questions. Then I switched jobs and hadn't been with BUPA for two years yet so they told me they couldn't cover me for endometriosis under a new policy. So I got a different health insurance that was cheaper and suited us more. Of course they didn't cover me for endo, either, and therefore the next lap was on the NHS. It was FINE, though! Yes, I had to go on a waiting list and my follow-up appointment was much later, but I chose the surgeon as he is a well-known specialist in endo and he did a very good job. Most doctors who work in the private sector also work for the NHS. It's just that when you go private you get faster access to the surgeons and after-care and the private hospitals are very lovely. Your operation and general medical care will be the same on the NHS.

I can't remember the exact costs, but I think it was somewhere in the region of £2-3k for the private laps.

 

[fluffosaur]

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[ellieb31]

I'd basically given up on getting treatment and put up with being in pain for two years (because the NHS had said there was nothing wrong with me and didn't seem to have any clue what to do next). After the two years I called my insurers and asked if they would cover it and they did because I hadn't mentioned it to my doctors during that time. I'm not recommending this, don't get me wrong, but I was so miserable and the NHS were so useless that I didn't see any other option. When I next had surgery they said that it was so extensive that it must have been there but missed during my previous lap.

My last two procedures were started on the NHS and when my private cover kicked in I saw the same consultant as I had been seeing on the NHS. Of course, these things very much depend on who you are dealing with but my consultant treated me completely differently once it was being done privately compared to the inital consultantions on the NHS (and the same thing happened with a different consultant who saw me privately then on the NHS and was useless the second time round).

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be worrying you or anything and it completely depends on the individual person you're seeing. It's just that I've had bad experiences on the NHS that are to do with the peoples attitudes and thoroughness rather than waiting times. NO reason to think that your experience will be the same though.