Recovery time from laparoscopy for endo

[flowerfrau]

Hi everyone,

I am considering doing the laparoscopy procedure to remove my endo in order to increase my chances of conceiving. Has anyone who has gone through the procedure tell me what kind of downtime to expect?

I work full-time, and would need to work soon after the procedure. How many days does recovery normally take? How many cycles do I have to wait before trying to conceive again? Did anyone see an increase in fertility after the procedure?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Juliet11]

For me it took a couple weeks to recover which I think was longer then expected. It was almost 5 years ago so has been awhile. Unfortunately I still have to go the IVF/FET route after many failed IUIs post laparoscopy. It probably depends how serious it is, like for me they found tons of scar tissue.

Has your doctor given you indications on what to expect? Hope you can get some answers soon!

Good luck to you!

 

[OhHappyZ]

I just had it done last week. I'm still in pain. it was supposed to be a dermoid cyst removal, but turns out, I had "extensive endometrial adhesions" and my cyst was actually endometrioma, and larger than my uterus. So a 45 minute procedure turned into 2 hours.

I'm not sure if that's why it still hurts, but I have been taking the pain meds (I told myself originally that I wouldn't but I ended up having to, and just had to get a refill on one.

But I'm pretty sure I have nerve damage. I don't know. It doesn't feel sore really anymore, but more like a stabbing, tugging pain. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow because she says this isn't typical. So we shall see.

I don't want to scare you off, but I do want you to be prepared that it may take longer than expected depending on what they find in there.

Either way, I'm so glad I did it. Good riddance.

 

[thunderbaby]

It really depends on how significant the endo is, I think. I've had two laps. The first one, I was recovering pretty well after a week or two but then had a relapse for some reason, the doctor thought maybe because I ovulated on the side that the endometrioma was removed from, and ended up being thrown back into pain. I ended up off work for about 3 weeks. I don't know if I had a fertility bump after because I wasn't TTC at the time.

My second one was a totally different experience. I didn't have any endometriomas removed. I had some adhesions burned off and a tube sort of disentangled from where it had ended up twisted by an adhesion, and they clipped the end of a hydrosalpinx I've developed. I had that on December 19 and by Christmas Day I was up and enjoying the celebrations with everyone, even went out to family dinner, etc. I felt quite normal really fast! I still wanted to wear loose dresses etc but I didn't feel as sore or worn out the way I did the first time.

I still had to do IVF after the second surgery, although I only tried naturally for about 6 months after because it had already been a 18 months before that, so I guess it's possible if we'd kept going it would have happened eventually.

Maybe ask your doctor how significant the endo is? If you're doing it for fertility reasons, even if there is an endometrioma they may not want to remove it unless it's huge because they risk damaging healthy ovarian tissue. That was the rationale for them not touching my ovaries the second time around, and at least in my case it seemed to make recovery faster.

 

[Rq120]

I had mine on a Friday and was back at my desk job on Monday. I had mild endo.

 

[OhHappyZ]

Ok so I have to go back and adjust my response. It took a full 2 weeks to feel better. And once I got the refill on the meds, they bumped up the dosage (apparently redheads need more pain meds?! I just learned this).

If I had been on the higher dose from the beginning I'm sure I could have returned to work full time after only a week. But since I was on the lower dosage, I could feel way too much. Once I was put on the higher dose, it felt more like a bruise. So I was reminded to take it easy, but it didn't take over my every being lol

Frankly, endo grows and grows. Do it now, before the endo gets worse. Every cycle makes it worse, and the sooner you get it out, the more likely you are to be able to conceive naturally.

I had stage 2 endo and a large endometrioma.

 

[Rq120]

Just wanted to provide an update to this thread. I had a 4 hour excision (more invasive than laser) endometriosis surgery Sept 20th. It was a traditional lap surgery where they went in through my belly button.
I was on pain pills for 2 days post op, but by day 3 I was only taking ibuprofen. I took off Wednesday (surgery day), Thursday and Friday and I was back at my desk job on Monday. Again, not much pain but I was very tired on Monday returning to work. I slept a bunch the first 4 days or so.
Everyone is different. I tend to bounce back quickly but some really struggle with endometriosis surgery (for weeks).

 

[Asterimou]

I've had 2 laps but both for tubal issues. Took me 4 days hobbling around and then I could walk properly again. Need to take it easy for at least a week. Good luck xx