Endometriosis

Warning: Girlie content to follow. Not too graphic though, I promise.  

http://endometriosis.org/endometriosis/

I'm having a laparoscopy on December 20. I had a good visit today with my OB. After telling him everything and an incredibly painful exam, he feels that endometriosis could be playing a significant part in everything that's going on. Dave and I think so too because of the timing of my pain. I trust my doctor's opinion on this because he is the one who gave me the initial diagnosis in 2007.

He gave me two options. He said we could do this surgery or do Lupron Depot shots once a month for six months.

The Lupron forces your body into menopause so the hormones that stimulate endometriosis aren't present and therefore endometriosis doesn't grow for that time period.

The benefit to doing the shot is that he said it can kill endometriosis in places that he can't get to during surgery. There is a possibility it is growing in my upper abdomen so that would be a great thing.

The problem is the side effects. It would mean six months of hot flashes mood swings and night sweats, bone loss (temporary or not), possible heart palpitations, generalized pain, headaches, nausea/vomiting, fluid retention, weight gain, joint pain, acne, depression, dizziness, nervousness and many others. Quite a few forums I read tonight verify that the side effects are common. It could give me relief in one area but cause a whole lot of other problems. I am very sensitive to medications. I am on 1/4 and 1/8 of the normally prescribed doses of the meds I am taking now. Pain meds and birth control also make me sick and dizzy. I have a feeling that it would be a bad road to go down, especially in the state my body is already in.

Initially after talking to my doctor I thought the shots might be a good idea but after reading the side effects and reading other women's experiences I just don't think it would be right to put my family through six months of that. I spoke to a friend who had endometriosis until her hysterectomy at age 38 and she said that from her research and from the experiences of women she knew, she avoided the shots as well.

The main benefit of the laparoscopy is that he can go in and clean out any lesions or growths he can find. Plus we could get a visual of what is going on in there. He showed me pictures of lesions from my last surgery and told me that those would never show up on any scan so this is the only way to know. My last laparoscopy gave me instant relief and I'm hoping this will be the case as well. It would be so nice to have some answers.

The downside is that it's surgery, it's expensive, it's painful. I feel bad costing us and our insurance so much money. I can't make this decision based on money though. The shots would be expensive too and the other alternative is to do nothing and that doesn't work for us.

The other downside is that it's right before Christmas but it's my doctor's last day available this year and if there is a chance I can get some relief soon I want to take it. I'm not too worried about the holidays because we were planning to take it easy anyway and just enjoy our family. All we have left is some pretty extensive wrapping but we have plenty of time for that.

Dave and I pray for guidance when making decisions like this. We both feel strongly that this is the way to go. It may not solve all of the problems but it will take us down the path we need to be going down right now.