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Endometriosis Treatments • Laparascopic Surgery is the very first surgery you will have with this disease. This surgery is used for diagnosing Endometriosis. The doctor makes a tiny incision in your abdomen and inserts a laparascope (a small camera) to scan your organs for evidence of Endometriosis. If Endometriosis is found, they will either use a laser to burn it off, or they will do excision surgery and cut it out. • Laser Surgery during a Laparascopy can be performed as an outpatient surgery. During a Laparascopic Surgery the doctor will burn off the Endometriosis sites that he/she sees. It doesn't have a very high success rate, but does help minimize pain for most women for up to 6 months. Some women go through this procedure shortly before trying to conceive so that their tubes, eggs, and uterus are cleared of Endometriosis. This destroys any barriers the Endometriosis might have made for trying to conceive. • Excision Surgery has a 90% success rate. Some women find relief for up to 5 years, some for life, and others for a short time. During this surgery the doctor will cut the Endometriosis sites out. This is more accurate than laser surgery because ALL of the Endometriosis is taken out. This gives the Endometriosis less of a chance to grow back. It is important to only schedule this type of surgery with a skilled surgeon that has performed this surgery several times before. • Continous Birth Control Pills (CBCP) is another method doctors use to try and treat Endometriosis. This method of birth control is suppose to control the Endometriosis by allowing so much of each hormone to be made and balanced. This method of treatment is where you skip the non-active birth control pills and continue on to the next pack. It is important to have a menstrual period every 3-4 months, though. Otherwise, you may notice spotting down the road. Your body needs to shed the toxins and built up lining. • GnRH Agonists (Lupron) are also used to treat Endometriosis. Some women can deal with the side effects of Lupron, others can't. And like all of the treatments, Lupron works for some and not others. Lupron works by getting a shot every 3 months. This stops the body from making hormones. So, most doctors will put you on addback therapy. Addback therapy is where you get hormone shots or take hormone pills to allow your body the hormones it needs to not make you have early menopause-like symptoms. Such symptoms include but are not limited to flash backs, hair loss, vision problems, weight gain or loss, and memory loss. • Pregnancy is an option most doctors want to throw out there. Be cautious. Although many woman have experienced relief after pregnancy, many others have not. In fact, they have experienced more pain, and a lot of pain during pregnancy. Only use pregnancy as an option if you are ready for children. • Natural Progesterone Cream (NPC) is an option some women use. It works by lessening the estrogen dominant symptoms women with Endometriosis experience. As an added bonus, it helps reduce cyst size, as women with Endometriosis are prone to PCOS. It is important to check with your doctor to see if you need progesterone. A simple hormone test can tell you this. A saliva test is more accurate. You don't want to start NPC without checking your hormones first because too much of any hormone is not good. |