Endometriosis?

Question

ive recently discovered that i have endometriosis. my dr has suggested starting hormone pills. what kinds of effects will i have? low sex drive? weight gain? i will put up with the severe cramps w/ pain killers if i have to. Dr also suggested surgery, has anyone ever had surgery to remove growths?

im not worried bout fertility (tubal) and i can't take bc pills, i get very nauseated. dr tried for 2 yrs to find pill that didn't make me sick.

Answer 1

Hi. I have been struggling with endometriosis for a while. I had the surgery (laparoscopy) in 2003, and since then I have been on continuous birth control pills so I do not menstruate. For the past three months, I have had all of the endometriosis symptoms I had before my last surgery, except worse, and every single day. Probably close to what you are going through. My doctor put me on Danazol, which is a synthetic male hormone. It does have potential side effects, but I have only experienced slight facial acne. Here are some side effects:
Weight gain.
Muscle cramps.
Decreased breast size.
Flushing.
Oily skin and hair.
Depression.
Acne.
Increase in male characteristics, such as deepening of the voice and increased facial hair and body hair (hirsutism). A change in voice can be permanent.
Increased cholesterol levels.
Skin rash.
Like I said, I only experience one of these side effects, so don't be too intimidated. Anyway, it really depends on what your doctor wants to prescribe. There is also a medicine called Lupron which is commonly used as well. (If you Google 'Lupron', you will find tons of info).
In my case, the Danazol did not work as well as the doc's had planned, so unfortunately I just had another surgery on Monday. It's not that bad- just the first few days are a little rough. But it's worth it! After you recover it's like you never even had it!!!! Hang in there. I know how bad living with this disease is. It is the worst pain I have ever had in my life!!!

Answer 2

I've had friends that have had the surgery. They were sore, but it wasn't too bad. Usually you'll be put on birth control pills following the surgery. This helps to suppress future growths. Definitely go through with treatments. Left untreated, this can really impair your fertility. Birth control pills aren't too bad. There are many formulations out now, so you can try different ones to find out which will give you the least amount of side effects. Good luck!

Answer 3

Hormone pills can cause all kinds of effects, weight gain and low sex drive are both somewhat common ones. You could also, however, have the opposite, weight loss and higher sex drive. It's really dependent on the person and how their bodies tolerate it.
I don't know anyone who has had surgery though so I'm not much help there, sorry!

Answer 4

I don't know about hormone pills. But I have had the surgery to remove the growths. My endo is severe and aggressive and my surgery didn't eleviate my pain. If you have mild or moderate endo then surgery could really help you. It is a day-surgery that has very little recovery time. Your insurance should pay for it completely so I say go for it.

Answer 5

i was told i had it about 4 months ago. i too was told to take the b/c pills to keep the problem from getting worse thats it. i am not sure about you but the second month on the pill i had 10 days of severe pain that brought me to tears. after that i get like 3 days of pain now. bearable with motrin. she said the pills help shrink the growths. good luck

Answer 6

My mom did. It was easier then she thought it was going to be. Good Luck!