Hi :wave: , my name is Kira. Im only 15- im asking anybody who has suffered from endometriosis~ what were some of the symptoms you had? I have been dealing with health issues for about a year now, at first i thought i had problems with my digestive tract because of my BM and i was having horrible pain in my abdomen below my hips. My mom has a friend at work who had endo. and she said her BM changed, she had lots of urinary infections, and her periods were painful. Well i started my period at 12- never had heavy periods or cramping during my periods just back pain. when my health issues started my periods became really heavy and irregular and the cramping was really severe, but i still thought my problem was with my digestive tract. My GI specialist couldnt find anything serious so he says i have ibs- spastic colon. He says this is why i always have a bulge in my low-low abdomen and he says this is why you have the pains. well i have been taking antispasmatic meds for it and now im on a chronic med and even trying colonics(helps), but i still have the pains.
my pains are always below my hips- crampy, sore, ache, and sometimes sharp shooting and they happen everyday. I have been having lower back pains even when im not on my period. my bowel movements have changed. i feel urges of full bladder and ill only pee a little and be back there in 5-10 min. im really fatigue. i have a bulge all the time below my hips. im on GI pains meds and during my periods i have to take ib profen and do the heating pad and also want to take more ib profen, but i dont cause i already take tons of meds. i have never had pains with my period and i do and there heavy and irregular.*Does this sound like endometriosis? or some other female problem?
*When i had my cat scan done- they found large cysts on my ovaries, but my family doc said of course it was nothing, but could it be somethng?

thanks for your help in advance. God bless- kira

Kira,
It's good that you are taking initiative to learn more about your health problems. I suffered from endometriosis at a young age. I never knew what caused my problems until I reached my mid-20's. They were:

Extremely heavy painful periods. I stayed home the first 2 days of every cycle. The only place I was somewhat comfortable was fetal position in bed or on the toilet.
Spastic colon This would strike mainly during the first two days of each cycle but could happen any time. Extreme nausea also was present. I basically hurt from my gut down.
Fatigue I was always tired.

Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is a laparoscopy. I would schedule an appt with your gyno, if you have one, or find a good one. Talk to them about your symptoms and concerns. You may have to go to an Endocronologist to cover this subject, since many gyno's aren't extremely familiar. However, a gyno can check for endometrial cysts on your ovaries. That was how mine was found. I had cysts so large I could feel them when laying on my back in bed and running my hand over my abdomen. I went to the gyno and he felt it as well, had me take a tumor marker blood test which showed high numbers (I thought for two days I had cancer....not so.) After a lap, I have beautiful full color pictures of all the endo that had grown all over my body. GROSS. The sooner you can get a diagnosis the better...you will be able to get closer to a normal life.
Best wishes on your search for answers!

I started my period at age 13. I always had very long and heavy peroids that caused severe cramping. 800mg of ibuprofin didn't even touch the pain. I got married right out of HS at age 18. I finally went to see a dr about all my pelvic pain and he said it sounded like endometriosis and that I needed to have a laproscopy done. I did. He said that it was so severe because it was located all over my insides. He recomended a full hysterectomy and told me it was so severe that I would not be able to have children. I was only 18 and had been married for a couple of months. I wanted to have a baby really bad. So I decided to not do anything at that time and just live with it. Well... 2 months latter I got pregnant with twins. It only took 2 months of trying also so much for infertility. Then 3 years latter I got pregnant the first time I tried with my third son. It was obvious I wasn't infertile like the dr said. I then saw a dr again about my endo and he recomended a male hormone called danazol. I said ok and got the script. Well I had no insurance when I went to get the script filled the pharmacist said that the medicine was over $500/month. So I continued to do nothing for my endo. When I was 32 my fellopian tube twisted 3x and killed the blood supply to my right overy. It caused severe pain to wear I couldn't even stand up. I had emergency surgery and the dr removed my right overy. He also told me that I had severe endo and should do something about it since it causes internal bleeding. I tried a very contraversal drug called lupron for 6 months and gained 50 pounds. This medicine doesn't reverse the endo it just stops your period and prevents you from getting worse. You can't take this medicine for longer than 6 months. I didn't fully understand what the lupron could or couldn't do. If I had to do it over again I would NOT have taken the lupron. The pain came back right away after the lupron was stopped. Since I was 32 and done having kids I opted for a complete hysterectomy. It was the best thing that happened to me. They also removed as much endo as they could. I do not have any metapause symptoms and do not take hormone replacement thereapy for if I did it could activate the endo to start growing again. The decisions and treatments for endo are not easy ones to make but you should talk to a dr and know what your options are and get a definite diagnosis. Good luck!