Hellobee Boards

I don't have a formal diagnosis, because I chose not to do a diagnostic lap (the surgery). My RE "diagnosed" me based on my history of heavy, painful periods (and pain during sex), as well as the fact that two of my aunts and my sister had been diagnosed with endo. It runs heavily through families. We actually think that my mom and little sister have endo as well, now that we know more about it. But my mom didn't have fertility issues, so she never suspected. My older sister and I only found out after we both had been TTC for 2 years. She did laparoscopic surgery to see if that would help before going to other ART, while my RE suggested going straight to IVF. My sister and I both ended up with IVF twins. Looking back at my history, I should have suspected that my periods were unusually heavy and painful, but honestly, the other women I discussed things like this with (mom and older sister) had the exact same issues. I didn't realize until my informal diagnosis that it's not typical for 13 year old girls to be bleeding through super tampons and overnight pads every hour of the school day. My sister and I used to beg our parents to let us stay home from school because we had cramps, and my dad would get mad at us and tell us to suck it up. But we'd be curled up in our beds crying from the pain. I just thought that was what everyone went through because all the women in my family had that same experience. I wish I'd known earlier so I could have been on birth control all that time and try to save some of my fertility (I never took hormonal birth control prior to TTC). I'm definitely going to be aware of that for my own daughter, since there's a genetic link and she could very well have Endo as well. I'm wishing you good luck with your TTC journey. I know there are women here with Endo who were still able to get pregnant on their own. I hope some of them chime in too.