Endometriosis Surgery Leaflet
Whilst looking for a leaflet about endometriosis, i found one that is given to patient before having surgery to diagnose and remove endometriosis. Speaking from personal experience, my own research and my own time spent speaking with various doctors and nurses over 9 years. I have broken the leaflet down to make comments on each section.
From the outset, the leaflet mentions that it is a laparoscopy which is minimally invasive keyhole surgery. One key part of the surgery is that carbon dioxide is used to inflate the abdomen allowing the surgeon more movement and vision within the abdomen. This i will come back to later.
Here the leaflet described what endometriosis is. If youre having surgery to diagnose and remove endometrial tissue, this should be very clear already. The patient should have tried medical methods to reduce the symptoms of endometriosis before getting to this point. The wording is also very weird. The document is very professional yet it says "tummy" and "sticking together" without explaining what that means. It also says that endometriosis is a non-cancerous condition but some studies have suggested there is a link with endometrial cancer.
The list of symptoms below is very selective. I myself have only experienced 4 of the symptoms listed below. It doesnt list heavy bleeding, mood changes, weight gain, abnormal hair growth, fatigue, chronic pain, migranes, lower back pain, nausea. This is just a selection of symptoms other websites list so i am curious as to why these few made the cut.
The next section claims to discuss available treatments for endometriosis. Again, this should have been tried prior to surgery. This section doesnt mention any other treaments other than just saying medicine is the first line of treatment. This section should be "When is surgery required" or something along the lines of that.
There are usually two types of removal for endometriosis. One does involve cutting but the most commonly used is a laser. The laser reduces the risks of adhesions caused by scar tissues when the incisions are healing. These options arent made clear. Cysts are usually to do with PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome). Having had a particularly nasty one myself, i was advised that the best thing to do is monitor it and in time, it will disperse or pop. Removing them seems unnessesary and could cause more harm to the ovaries.
The leaflet is dismissive of writing down risks and complications stating that it will be discussed with the surgeon. However, in the previous part of the leaflet, it lists things that should be well known by now. I dont understand why the symptoms and treatments of endo are mentioned but no risks are discussed.
There are certain risks of the surgery but one of the most common is adhesions through scar tissue. This is something i have dealt with in all of my surgeries yet it it not mentioned here.
My experiences of surgery have all been day surgery. Here it is written as taking 2 - 5 days before leaving hospital. If there are complications then sure but it is usually day surgery.
One of the biggest things i didnt see mentioned in the leaflet, is that during the surgery, carbon dioxide will be used to inflate the abdomen. This can cause pain in one or both shoulders.
This leaflet is very selective about what it does and does not mention. Its not informative and it does little to inform you of what a laparoscopy is.
Here the leaflet described what endometriosis is. If youre having surgery to diagnose and remove endometrial tissue, this should be very clear already. The patient should have tried medical methods to reduce the symptoms of endometriosis before getting to this point. The wording is also very weird. The document is very professional yet it says "tummy" and "sticking together" without explaining what that means. It also says that endometriosis is a non-cancerous condition but some studies have suggested there is a link with endometrial cancer.
The list of symptoms below is very selective. I myself have only experienced 4 of the symptoms listed below. It doesnt list heavy bleeding, mood changes, weight gain, abnormal hair growth, fatigue, chronic pain, migranes, lower back pain, nausea. This is just a selection of symptoms other websites list so i am curious as to why these few made the cut.
There are usually two types of removal for endometriosis. One does involve cutting but the most commonly used is a laser. The laser reduces the risks of adhesions caused by scar tissues when the incisions are healing. These options arent made clear. Cysts are usually to do with PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome). Having had a particularly nasty one myself, i was advised that the best thing to do is monitor it and in time, it will disperse or pop. Removing them seems unnessesary and could cause more harm to the ovaries.
There are certain risks of the surgery but one of the most common is adhesions through scar tissue. This is something i have dealt with in all of my surgeries yet it it not mentioned here.
My experiences of surgery have all been day surgery. Here it is written as taking 2 - 5 days before leaving hospital. If there are complications then sure but it is usually day surgery.
This leaflet is very selective about what it does and does not mention. Its not informative and it does little to inform you of what a laparoscopy is.
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