Hello. I’ve been back and forth with my gynecologist for over two years. She mentioned endometriosis as a possibility pretty early on. Now we’re down to endo or a reaction to my IUD. She says endometriosis is pretty common but there is a possibility, though rare, that my IUD was causing the pain. I’m starting birth control pills now and will have the IUD taken out at my next appointment. Then we will wait another month to see if the pain goes away or not. She said if it doesn’t, I would have to get a laparoscopy to see if I have endometriosis.

I was wondering if laparoscopy was the only way to diagnose endo. I have a close friend who has endo and is getting the surgery soon. She is from Brazil though she lives in the US but she has been seeing her doctor in Brazil and will have the surgery there. She said that, similar to me, nothing showed up on the ultrasound. But what’s different is that her doctor had her have an MRI, which showed the growths and where they were. Now her doctors know where it is before they even go in there.

My doctor said the next step is laparoscopy. Have any of you been diagnosed before surgery? I don’t want to go through any unnecessary procedures.