Endometriosis? Or just HORRIBLE symptoms?

     SOME BACKGROUND: I am 24 years old, and have been in a monogamous relationship with my boyfriend of 2+ years. I have always struggled with very painful periods, even when I first started getting them at the age of 12. My cycle goes something like this:

     - Day 1: Usually starts as a heavier flow, with horrible (and I do mean TRULY HORRIBLE) cramps and lower back aches/pains. If I don't catch the cramps before they start with a double dose of ibuprofen, then it is unlikely that I will be able to get rid of them right away. I need to take between 10-20 ibuprofens throughout the day to make it through, and the fatigue is horrible.

     - Day 2: The heaviest flow, with many blood clots, and milder cramps. Fatigue is also particularly unbearable on this day.

     - Day 3: Moderate flow with some occasional blood clots.

     - Day 4: Moderate flow, no pain, but a "pressured" feeling in the lady parts.

     - Days 5-7/9: Light period that eventually tapers off.

     It's Days 1 & 2 that completely kill me. In fact, it started to become so bad during my last year of college that I began to take birth control, a recommendation by a new gynecologist I was seeing at the time. She told me that my symptoms sounded very much like endometriosis, and that if I did not get on birth control, I could likely become infertile.

     Well, birth control was a bust... I spent a year trying to find a dosage that was right for my body. While my pain symptoms had gone away, I experienced all kinds of other ones: 2 periods per month, high emotional stress, extreme bloating, puffy skin, UTI's, you name it. I got off of birth control last April, after I was admitted into the hospital for a very bad UTI infection, which doctors had originally (and incorrectly) mistook as pelvic inflammatory disease (my lab cultures ended up being completely normal).

     At this point, my body is back in its pre-birth control mode, back to horrible period symptoms, and here I am, a YEAR LATER, and I still have no definite answers. I have done a lot of independent research on endometriosis, and it seems easy enough to identify and cure. 

     QUESTIONS: What do you recommend my next steps are? Should I see a new specialist that deals specifically with endometriosis cases? Should I insist to my current gyne that I need a laparoscopy? How normal does my level of pain and blood clotting sound? Do any of you out there have endometriosis, and were you still able to have children? I am most worried about infertility, so if any of you have personal stories and/or recommendations, please share them with me!

     Thank you!