You my friend have hit the jackpot. There are two surgeons in California that are top Endo surgeons.
Dr. Andrew Cook
Vital Health (http://vitalhealth.com),
14830 Los Gatos Blvd,
Ste 300,
Los Gatos, CA 95032
T. (408) 358-2511
Specialisation: GYN only
Bowl/urinary tract surgery: Does most bowel/urinary tract work himself and has a colorectal surgeon on hand to assist when needed.
*Dr. Cook's practice offers a functional approach to treating endometriosis.
He also has a book called "Stop Endometriosis and Pelvic pain" It was an amazing book and he has the best description to explain Endo in that book. Here is the book http://www.stopendo.com/
The other is the man who put together the first Million Endometriosis March last year worldwide.
Dr. Camran Nezhat
Center For Special Minimally Invasive & Robotic Surgery (http://www.nezhat.org/),
900 Welch Rd
Ste 403
Palo Alto, CA 94304
T. (650) 327-8778
Specialisation: GYN only
Bowl/urinary tract surgery: Does some bowel/urinary tract work.
If you can see either of them you are in the best care and also very fortunate to be able to even get to have surgery with either one of them.
Thank you both for your input I am terrified of surgery but I have to consider it I know :( I'm only 21 and having to deal with this which is what gets me depressed. But I know I should look into surgery I am in northern California, any doctor near there?
Welcome to the Endometriosis Forum. :)
I think I can try to help you as I know exactly what pain you are having. I know you have not been surgically diagnosed with Endometriosis but that is a symptom of it. You have thousands of nerves that go to the clitoris so this is one of the many symptoms that are not mentioned often. If endo lesions are sitting on areas that push down on nerves or is on the nerve itself it can cause this as well you can develop pelvic floor dysfunction one of the many co-morbid issues.
I am not a doctor and I can't tell you what you should do I can only tell you from my experience and what I have learned.
Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery is the Gold standard to diagnose and remove endo through excision (cut out) If you are treated by an Endo specialist you will have up to 80% chance of being pain free although in reality it sometimes takes more than one surgery but that is usually years down the road or you could possibly not need another.
One of the problems that women face with this disease is that there are not many well known, well educated, well experienced Endometriosis specialist so many regular OBGYN don't know the different looks of Endo so some can be left behind which in turn continues to grow.
| can help you find someone in your area to at least have a consultation with before even deciding on what you want to do. Let me know :)
I went through the whole mess,but I had other issues but,the only way it went away was a total & complete hysterectomy,my youngest sister opted out of her option of hysterectomy, my middle sister opted for hysterectomy too,my younger sister chose treatment,my mid sister & I had other issues that treatment wasn't an real option,push for the test u doc.didn't want to do find out what's wrong,it's u'r body & u have to live in it & unless a person has or is living w/u'r issues they have no clue what's going on ,including doc.s they knw what things are they are highly educated but unless they have same or any medical issues they have no idea of what u are dealing w/ as far of pain &suffering,the best e.r doc I ever had was when I rupture my spineal disc, because he had had ruptured disc & had to have surgery,I wish he'd had a private practice so I could have him as my back doc.,I had female doc.s but none had any clue what I was going through & same w/my middle sister,she was in Cali,I was in Nv we both end up w/male doc.s who had understanding & compassion, so we got lucky & they both did surgery,where others kept trying to treat us lab rats ,but remember most importantan it's u'r body & u do what's best & right foryou,each person is different
I'm 21 now by the way and have had heavy periods and painful periods since 13