To my follow endo sisters: My name is Heather McNamee Rensel. I’m 20 years old. I was married on May 21, 2004 to my high school sweetheart. I’m the moderator/owner of a listserv called EndointheHeartland. I’m a member and a crisis call listener for the Endometriosis Association. I'm new to this group and I figure that I would introduce my self I have always suspected that I had endometriosis every since I was 16. My mother has been diagnosed with endometriosis a long time ago. About that time (when I was 16) my mother was having serious female health problem. I was doing some research for her about her different health problems and when I finally got to endometriosis I read a statement that really scarred me. The web site said that women who have family members that were diagnosed with endometriosis have a 5 time greater chance to getting endometriosis. After reading about the symptoms I was always even more scared. I had been having very bad cramps and had been put on birth control pills (Alesse) to control it. The birth control pills worked for 2 years. I started to have serious pain but it was not around the time of my period. I went to the doctor and as it turns out I have a infection called bacterial vaginosis (bv). I was treated for the infection but it came back. It came back four times. After seeing five different doctors at the college health clinic one doctor finally suggest that the reason why the infection might be coming back was because I might have a cyst on my ovary. After going through all the red tape with my insurance I finally got a permanent doctor and gynecologist here in the area. I went see my gynecologist was soon as possible. On the first visit he told me that he thought that I had endometriosis and wanted to do a laparoscopy. A week later (July 26,2002) I was officially diagnosed with endometriosis. I had four cysts two on each ovary. They were anywhere between 3 cm and 5 cm. After that the pain was ok for about a year then it came back with a vengeance. My doctor had me try several different medication. I changed my birth control pills from Alesse to Levlite. Which didn’t help lower my pain level at all. I tried Lupron for 3 months but it different help at all. My doctor was so shocked. He said that he had never seen a patient not respond to Lupron before. He might not be the best doctor out there but he is definitely better than most. I was put on Celebrex for a couple of weeks which again didn't help. I always had an ultrasound done that didn’t show any cysts or adhesions. But that didn’t really mean anything. My doctor finally decided that I need to have an another laparoscopy on December 31, 2003. This time he found two cysts about 3 cm long. After the surgery I switched birth control pills again this time to Seasonale. It is a three month long birth control pill. It has been great at helping the pain. Right now I’m taking naproxen, acetaminophen and tordol (for only when it get bad). The pain is slowly getting worse again and I’m not sure what the doctor is going to do about it. I don't want a hysterectomy because my husband and me want children. So who knows what is next
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