First off I am going to the gyno soon, I am only looking for your individual experiences and symptoms to prepare myself for what could be wrong with me. I am 21, soon to be 22, female, and overweight. I've always had heavy periods since I was younger. I got my period around 14 years old. I was told at about 16 that I had cysts on my ovaries. That gyno didn't do anything to actually prove that I had cysts, he didn't examine me at all. He just went off my symptoms. He put me on birth control and it did help. When I turned 18 he told me I needed to have an exam. I balked at the thought of it and haven't had one yet, and had to stop the birth control because I refused to the exam. So now here I am. I still haven't had an exam but with my husband and I thinking about having kids and not using protection for over a year we haven't gotten pregnant. Randomly I get these pains in my lower abdomen that are seriously crippling. Pains that period cramps can't touch. There is no predicting when these pains will come or how long they'll last. The only standard is that usually it happens within 2 weeks of me ovulating. Sometimes it happens every month for a few months, sometimes it's every other month, and sometimes it's only once every few months. The pain can be felt down towards my vagina and rectum at times but usually tends to be more in my pelvic regions. Does this some like endometriosis to you guys? Oh and by the way, my mom had major endometriosis and cysts to the point of her having to have an emergency full hysterectomy if that makes a difference.