You are very lucky that you were able to have children. One of my daughters has battled with this since she was in her early teens and she was told at aged 18 that if she wanted children she best have them soon. She was not with someone that she wanted to go through life with so kids were not on the cards. Now in her early 30’s she knows she wont have children

Hands up over here. I had a oblivation done, I’ve had 1 child and I know it’s back. Every month is getting worse again. I don’t think there much we can do other then keep having procedures

It’s different for everyone for me pregnancy did help. But it does grow too

I think mine settled while pregnant, but it has since come back with a vengeance despite being on an IUD etc. It has now gotten so bad i will have to have surgery to remove some of my bladder and maybe bowels. Talk to you gyno.

Not me. My sister in law suffered for years. She had to have a hysterectomy….no kids for her and my brother

I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. I hope you can get some relief.

Sadly, I was also told pregnancy would help endo but from what I’ve read this is more of an old myth before they really understood the disease. I also have stage 4 endo (diagnosed via surgery when I was 24), and I had my first and only baby by IVF earlier this year (I’m now 36). I’m almost 10 months pp and the pain has definitely come back for me as well. My gynaecologist said there is a chance the pregnancy helped to ‘break up’ the endo as I have deeply penetrating lesions and adhesions all over my organs/bowels/etc., which he said could make surgery to remove it again easier after the pregnancy. I’m considering this once my baby is a bit older. I’d recommend seeking a gynaecologist who specialises and is well known for treating endo, and getting your options to deal with your symptoms whether this is surgery/birth control/etc. Good luck and best wishes!

Glad that your pregnancies temporary seemed to help, but that’s not guaranteed. I would go back to the doctor to have it checked and see what’s possible treatment wise

Definitely see a doctor and get a health check done

Sadly, pregnancy doesn’t really help with endometriosis. Thankfully I had my children at a young age, otherwise, if I had left it till years later, my gynecologist told me, I may never have fallen pregnant. After the birth of my last, my endo, got worse and worse. I had many surgeries to have the endo dealt with, but it continued to persist. It got that bad, my gynecologist recommended I have a hysterectomy. About 2 years later, I bit the bullet and underwent the surgery. Best decision I made was having the surgery, haven’t looked back since.

I was in that much pain I could fill a pad in an hour and couldn’t sit or stand for long periods of time. I tried everything before I decided to have a hysterectomy at 42. It was a huge relief however after 5 years I suffered a front, back and vaginal prolapse. I’m now 3 weeks post op pelvic floor surgery. I found hysterectomy is good if you’re done having kids. At least the heavy bleeding is gone forever. Good luck

It took them nearly 10 years to work out what was wrong with me. I was in agony with my periods and they were so heavy I would have to replace my pad every hour or so. I started having the trouble when I was 15 and nothing was done until I was around 26 years of age. They put me on tablets to stop my period but still had quite a lot of pain but more manageable. Then when I was 27 they stopped the tablets and I had the lining of my womb lasered hoping that would fix it. That worked for a while but at the age of 29 I went for a laparoscopy to see how things were going and the visiting specialist decided I needed a laparotomy and removed 1 and 3/4 ovaries. Because of his stupidity (my usual specialists’ words) I went into early menopause. They then put me on oestrogen and progesterone tablets which brought back all the pain and bleeding again. Decided to stop them and just suffered through the menopause which was much better than all that pain. Everyone will have a different story to tell about their endometriosis journey so hopefully you will be able to work out what you want to know by reading them all. Good luck

Hey love,
Endo is such an incredibly personalised battle, in that it manifests itself so differently from person to person. As such, if it ever goes away, and how, is also so individual. Pregnancy MAY help aleviate symptoms for a while, forever, or not at all. Some women have noticeable endo symptoms after being pregnant when they had none previously. In short, there’s no rule book for endo and it sucks.

Hey! I struggled for years with painful periods and obviously found the right hormone balance with the pill I went on at 16. While I still suffered bad periods, they were manageable. Fast forward to going off the pill to conceive and my periods were back with a vengeance. After 3 years of trying I had my daughter at 34yo and after I had to stop breastfeeding after my milk supply wasn’t sufficient enough, my periods came back and I bled for months. I’d had constant horrible period pain every day (even when not bleeding) tried the pill again, no luck tried piggybacking it off the implanon, ended up bleeding for 5 months straight! I was severely anemic and rundown all the time, So I ended up seeing a Gyno and he booked me for laparoscopy to suss what was going on(coz scans didn’t show much). Sure enough I had endo, had obviously had it for years, it was everywhere, I also had heaps of fibroids that were seen on ultrasounds while pregnant and I also had a cyst next to my left ovary. I now have a Marina and can honestly say after 1.5 years it’s been wonderful. I’ve been getting a bit of pain again, but fingers crossed it doesn’t develop.

I’ve heard varying stories of people like myself only having real issues after child birth with a switch in the hormones. And same goes the other way with it helping peoples endo. Try to find a supportive GP and Gyno and see if they can give you some scans. If nothing shows it’s possible you need a laparoscopy again to see what is going on. Laparoscopy is not that bad if they can help you and answer questions. I’d want to know for quality of life too.

Good luck

I also had endo before I got pregnant. My gynaecologist suggested that if I got pregnant within 2 years of having it removed through laparoscopic surgery it would help. But for how long depends on each individual. My period returned 6 months post partum. It’s now nearly 3 years pp and I can say that although I don’t have the pain I used to, I definitely have other potential endo symptoms like heavy periods, bloating etc.
I think it’s just all the hormones from the pregnancy that initially help but I think surgery is the only real short term fix.

I also have endo and have just had my first babe (5months pp). As far as I was aware I didn’t think that anything in particular really helps it especially because it’s all linked to hormones etc and pregnancy causes all sorts of shifts with hormones. In saying that, I’ve definitely heard that pregnancy has helped some people. I guess it’s just one of those things that something works for one person but not another!

I’m personally so anxious about my monthly returning (whenever that is) and working out if and how my endo has been affected!

Sending positive vibes your way!