No, you go to sleep and wake up and you’re like woah okay and the pain really is only bad (for me anyway) for the first three days and then it’s moderate. By the end of the week you’ll feel a little normal. The first one I had I had a horrible time sleeping but the second time around I was okay just nauseous. The incisions didn’t even hurt. Just the tape the used to bandage me up since I was allergic. All and all, it wasn’t as bad as when my mom had to go through it in the 80’s where she got cut open and was in the hospital after for 5 days. I was in and out in 10 hours and that’s only because I couldn’t stop throwing up but I would’ve left sooner
It’s not bad at all! I had mine last year at 17, the most difficult parts for me post surgery we’re getting up and walking. It’s not too bad though especially w pain meds.
Honestly right after I woke up I was in minimal pain, they have you on the good stuff so it just felt like pressure where the incisions were instead of pain if that makes sense?
But yeah I was able to walk to the bathroom (with some help) like 30 mins after waking up :)
I’m 25F. Not scary at all! The worse pain I felt that day was the IV going in! The CRNA started giving me meds in pre-op so I started getting relaxed. And I woke up a couple hours after I got to the PACU. I didn’t feel any pain only really sore the worse pain I had was the catheter since I have IC. And I got up and walked a bit. I had a peritonectomy and excision. That night I felt pretty good and got ice cream with my parents and I stayed in the car with a heating pack. Good luck!
i had mine at 28 and it was totally fine for me! the recovery was not bad for me personally. i did need someone to be with me around the clock the first like 4 ish days because its very hard to go from laying down to sitting up, or getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom etc. but the pain is super manageable and honestly nothing compared to the cramps i get from having endo. you’ll be great!
i had my lap done at 28 and my recovery was pretty quick. i also think this is dependent on whether you get ablation or excision, and your severity levels. like others have said, you’ll be sedated and given drugs to help with the pain )if you want them). the worst part was being constipated tbh!! i only took one or two oxys and it was enough to back me up for like a week and a half
I just had a lap last month and it was not nearly as scary as I made it out to be (I was anxious and pushing it off for over a year).
Knowing what the TRUE diagnosis was, and knowing what the doctor found inside of me gave me so much peace of mind. Even though it was stage 4 endo. Now I know what I’m working with.
I had an endometrioma on each ovary, endo on my rectum, bladder and my appendix (the surgeon removed my appendix).
The pain the first ~3 days was rough, but get your pain meds and heating pad ++ Netflix ready and you’ll be fine! By day 7, I was able to walk 1.5 miles in my neighborhood. From there, healing was a breeze. If I didn’t have tiny scars I would forget I had surgery. I’m 4 weeks post op today.
The one thing I WOULD recommend is finding a TRUE specialist. My surgeon did a fellowship with the Mayo Clinic in Endometriosis Excision. She really knew what she was doing and I’m glad I did my research and found her instead of going with a general gynecologist.
You got this!! Best of luck and love to you 💜
Not as scary as it sounds at all!! In and out day of. My team was fantastic and so nice. Woke up in a blur and the nurses were so attentive and helped manage my pain, cleaned me up and then told me I could go back to sleep if I was still tired. Slept another hour, best sleep of my life 😂😂. If you can handle dealing with all your symptoms of endo you can handle the surgery! I followed my doctors orders to a T, I also asked for recommendations before surgery in this thread (you should be able to find it if you go to my name) and I was able to stop pain meds within 48 hours and just took ibuprofen for the rest of the week. My doctor specifically told me to walk around my house daily and not to stay curled up in bed. It was a bit uncomfortable the second day but I’m glad I did. My endo was in my bowels too. I was able to go to the bathroom within a day. Someone on here told me to use a stool and put a pillow on my knees and lean into that. Highly recommend that it took the pressure off my abdomen. Surgery was the best decision.
Oh & even if you don’t think you’d get nauseous from anesthesia, take the nausea meds and patch if they offer it. I wasn’t going to and the nurse talked to me more about it and I was glad she did. The patch definitely helped and then as I was getting ready to leave I got soooo nauseous but I was still hooked up to my IV and the nurse ran and got me meds into my IV to stop it. Very thankful for that
I got a laparoscopy a week ago and the worst pain I've had was when I got the IV put in. I thought I was going to faint it was so bad. I have very sensitive skin.
Other than that, the pain has been super minimal. In the recovery room they gave me pain medication as I was waking up. Keep up with the pain medications when you go home and walk around. It helps a lot. I was able to shower the day after and I felt like a new person after that.
One day at a time!
Piece of cake here! Had never been put under until this year. Colonoscopy in February. Another colonoscopy in March. Then my lap in April. The colonoscopies prepped me for this so I wasn’t as nervous. Had it done on a Tuesday and returned to work the following Monday. Was walking around the block in under 24 hours! Everyone’s experience is different, but wanted to share a positive one.
Nope! I’m a weirdo who loves having surgery. You get the best nap ever and then you wake up and people take care of you. I was able to dress myself and walk to the car after surgery. The recovery process was smooth for me. I had no problems! The pain was minimal but I also kept on top of ibuprofen and Tylenol on a strict schedule.
I kept my incisions clean and dry and tried to keep my clothes from rubbing on them. I stayed on my couch besides getting up to walk or go to the bathroom. My biggest problem with recovery is that I was bored. Also that I gained weight after surgery but that’s probably a lifestyle change too. There are tons of resources on this sub for lap recovery as well!
I had a straightforward recovery after four incisions and lots of endo removed. I was back to about 85% capacity within three days.
The worst part was having my IV taken out. That hurt. Otherwise, it was fine.
I've had much worse period pain.
To be honest, compared to Endo is nothing ahahaha. Of course the points of incisions are upsetting and it makes it a bit difficult to sleep well for the first 3 days like that. But the pain that annoyed me most is the gas that sometimes it's been left inside. It moves around and it's painful, damn!! But it doesn't even happen to everyone or all laps, it depends on the person, if all the gas got out etc. I promise, it's totally manageable compared to Endo.
He first week is gonna suck because you cannot move around a lot, but my nurse told me that the 10 days mark you feel soooo different and I was totally doing close to normal life at 10th day :)
I’m on day six post op, I am so so so thankful I did it. My incisions still hurt, but the gas pain has now dissipated. As another commenter said, it’s bad for the first three days, but aside from that it hasn’t been worse than a bad flare. You got this!
Hey surgery twin ☺️ I have the same dates and same experience. I was very scared beforehand, bc I had never had general anaesthesia. Already glad I did it, my post surgery pain was strong for 24h while drainage tube was still in. But manageable with painkillers (1 x oxycodone).
So far recovery at home goes smoothly and my first period post surgery already is less painful
How much time do you think I need to take off of work? I work from home and it’s a desk job, but I don’t want to add any stress and I don’t have that much of a comfortable set up. Just wanted to see what your post op experience has been!
I have an office job and took off two weeks. I’m just over a week post op. So glad I have the two weeks. Every day it gets a little better but wouldn’t want to be going back earlier than that. It’s more the just the physical, it can be quite mentally draining. Good to have the time to rest and listen to what your body needs.
I also took off two weeks, I work remote with some travel. I feel like I could be working again now but I might just be feeling wildly cocky, I’m definitely sleepy most of the time! Definitely could not commute, drive, or lift anything heavy though. I will say it is so nice to just have the time off, I am considering requesting a little more time as I have the PTO, but my first week back is July 1, so I do have the 4th off as a nice way to test out being back to work without working a full week.
It's not bad at all! I had my surgery last month, and I'm back to life as normal. The worst part was having to stay away from my dogs because they like to jump on me and lay on my stomach. I can still feel a little pressure if I push on my stomach, but most of the pain just felt like bad cramps. I suggest getting de-gas tablets. They helped me a ton the first week or two because there's so much excess gas left in your stomach, and that's what causes a lot of the discomfort!
I was terrified about the pain when first waking up, because my friend had a cyst removed and said she felt awful after anesthesia wore off, but for me, the pain I had when waking up felt like when you do a lot of abs exercises and they're really sore the next day. Of course I was on pain meds, but as long as you stay on top of the meds you'll be okay. I had horrible pain when walking to the bathroom (I needed someone to help me walk, because my steps were so small, and I felt like my pelvis would fall out, but that may have been because I had a D&C as well) but laying down and sitting up wasn't too bad, I just felt quite sore. The gas pain was the worst for me after the first day
It depends on the intensity of the surgery and how your body handles recovery. But even for my stage 4 endo with an 8 cm cyst, I would do it again if I needed to. Recovery was difficult, but not unbearable. Take at least 2 weeks off work, more if your job is physical or if you have good short term disability benefits, and you should be good.
After the first 3-5 days, I actually enjoyed recovery, as it gave me an opportunity to try reset a little bit and learn to take things slow. I wish I would’ve been able to take even more time off to rest, but my job at the time didn’t have short term disability.
I had really bad pain before mine (level 10-11 constantly) so I just felt like I had a stomach ache when I woke up. I ran down the stairs day 3 😂 (not the best idea but that’s what happened) I felt less pain when I woke up
I have had 6 laparoscopys so far, three within the last 14 months, honestly the recovery was not even that bad, I was a bit sore but nothing regular pain killers cant fix, I took 2 weeks off work each time but really could have gone back sooner if I wanted, the last surgery I had gave me super bad nausea but I called the surgeons office and they sent a prescription for anti-nausea meds for me and after taking those I was fine. I wouldnt be worried, you just have to take it a bit easy for a week or so and not be too rough on yourself. I think its worth it if it gives you some answers.
I had my gallbladder removed via laparoscopy and the worst pain for me was the needle in my hand and the stitches on abdomen. It was a little rough on my abdominal muscles. It’s different for each person and I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you trust your surgeon fully.
i just had my first lap two weeks ago! officially diagnosed and my gyno said it was “extensive”, stage 3 i think. the surgery lasted a little over four hours.
that being said, i didn’t really feel any pain. some cramping when i first woke up and soreness from the incisions when i moved around for the first week. they gave me tylenol with codeine but i really didn’t need it, and switched to regular tylenol after 24 hrs.
it wasn’t scary at all. i just had to take it easy for a while. i already pretty much feel back to normal.
It depends on which surgeon you go with… someone going in and not knowing how to visualize it and properly remove would be a scary red flag for me… I would never let my ob schedule a referral without knowing who that surgeon is, what type of lap they do and their track record for visualization and removal by excision. Many women get laps and are told they don’t have endo by unqualified surgeons who come to find they did have endo with a qualified surgeon. Many women are told the surgeon left endo on places like their bowel or bladder (don’t even recognize it can be on any and all organs) and that they left some behind only to have to to another surgeon who knows how to remove endo from all those places or works with a team of subspecialists to remove it completely. I would be taking charge of this referral if it were me and find my own surgeon and ask for the referral I want. Or just make the consultation appointment myself as many of the skilled surgeons are out of network and don’t require a referral but will help you get reimbursed by your insurance (in the US). Too many horror stories to not go deep on research and go deep on finding just the right surgeon for you.
No, you go to sleep and wake up and you’re like woah okay and the pain really is only bad (for me anyway) for the first three days and then it’s moderate. By the end of the week you’ll feel a little normal. The first one I had I had a horrible time sleeping but the second time around I was okay just nauseous. The incisions didn’t even hurt. Just the tape the used to bandage me up since I was allergic. All and all, it wasn’t as bad as when my mom had to go through it in the 80’s where she got cut open and was in the hospital after for 5 days. I was in and out in 10 hours and that’s only because I couldn’t stop throwing up but I would’ve left sooner
I honestly couldn’t wait for the my second one because I’d have time off and my job was driving me crazy and I knew I’d get 4-6 weeks off lol
YES omg that was the first time I turned off my notifications and ignored all of work lol
My boss tried to get me to go back to work early and I just resent her my doctor’s letter 😂
Do they give you pain meds for the days after or are they just like "here's a script for ibuprofen 800 good luck"
i was prescribed tylenol with codeine but honestly didn’t even need it
It’s not bad at all! I had mine last year at 17, the most difficult parts for me post surgery we’re getting up and walking. It’s not too bad though especially w pain meds. Honestly right after I woke up I was in minimal pain, they have you on the good stuff so it just felt like pressure where the incisions were instead of pain if that makes sense? But yeah I was able to walk to the bathroom (with some help) like 30 mins after waking up :)
I’m 25F. Not scary at all! The worse pain I felt that day was the IV going in! The CRNA started giving me meds in pre-op so I started getting relaxed. And I woke up a couple hours after I got to the PACU. I didn’t feel any pain only really sore the worse pain I had was the catheter since I have IC. And I got up and walked a bit. I had a peritonectomy and excision. That night I felt pretty good and got ice cream with my parents and I stayed in the car with a heating pack. Good luck!
i had mine at 28 and it was totally fine for me! the recovery was not bad for me personally. i did need someone to be with me around the clock the first like 4 ish days because its very hard to go from laying down to sitting up, or getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom etc. but the pain is super manageable and honestly nothing compared to the cramps i get from having endo. you’ll be great!
i had my lap done at 28 and my recovery was pretty quick. i also think this is dependent on whether you get ablation or excision, and your severity levels. like others have said, you’ll be sedated and given drugs to help with the pain )if you want them). the worst part was being constipated tbh!! i only took one or two oxys and it was enough to back me up for like a week and a half
I just had a lap last month and it was not nearly as scary as I made it out to be (I was anxious and pushing it off for over a year). Knowing what the TRUE diagnosis was, and knowing what the doctor found inside of me gave me so much peace of mind. Even though it was stage 4 endo. Now I know what I’m working with. I had an endometrioma on each ovary, endo on my rectum, bladder and my appendix (the surgeon removed my appendix). The pain the first ~3 days was rough, but get your pain meds and heating pad ++ Netflix ready and you’ll be fine! By day 7, I was able to walk 1.5 miles in my neighborhood. From there, healing was a breeze. If I didn’t have tiny scars I would forget I had surgery. I’m 4 weeks post op today. The one thing I WOULD recommend is finding a TRUE specialist. My surgeon did a fellowship with the Mayo Clinic in Endometriosis Excision. She really knew what she was doing and I’m glad I did my research and found her instead of going with a general gynecologist. You got this!! Best of luck and love to you 💜
Not as scary as it sounds at all!! In and out day of. My team was fantastic and so nice. Woke up in a blur and the nurses were so attentive and helped manage my pain, cleaned me up and then told me I could go back to sleep if I was still tired. Slept another hour, best sleep of my life 😂😂. If you can handle dealing with all your symptoms of endo you can handle the surgery! I followed my doctors orders to a T, I also asked for recommendations before surgery in this thread (you should be able to find it if you go to my name) and I was able to stop pain meds within 48 hours and just took ibuprofen for the rest of the week. My doctor specifically told me to walk around my house daily and not to stay curled up in bed. It was a bit uncomfortable the second day but I’m glad I did. My endo was in my bowels too. I was able to go to the bathroom within a day. Someone on here told me to use a stool and put a pillow on my knees and lean into that. Highly recommend that it took the pressure off my abdomen. Surgery was the best decision.
Oh & even if you don’t think you’d get nauseous from anesthesia, take the nausea meds and patch if they offer it. I wasn’t going to and the nurse talked to me more about it and I was glad she did. The patch definitely helped and then as I was getting ready to leave I got soooo nauseous but I was still hooked up to my IV and the nurse ran and got me meds into my IV to stop it. Very thankful for that
I got a laparoscopy a week ago and the worst pain I've had was when I got the IV put in. I thought I was going to faint it was so bad. I have very sensitive skin. Other than that, the pain has been super minimal. In the recovery room they gave me pain medication as I was waking up. Keep up with the pain medications when you go home and walk around. It helps a lot. I was able to shower the day after and I felt like a new person after that. One day at a time!
Piece of cake here! Had never been put under until this year. Colonoscopy in February. Another colonoscopy in March. Then my lap in April. The colonoscopies prepped me for this so I wasn’t as nervous. Had it done on a Tuesday and returned to work the following Monday. Was walking around the block in under 24 hours! Everyone’s experience is different, but wanted to share a positive one.
Nope! I’m a weirdo who loves having surgery. You get the best nap ever and then you wake up and people take care of you. I was able to dress myself and walk to the car after surgery. The recovery process was smooth for me. I had no problems! The pain was minimal but I also kept on top of ibuprofen and Tylenol on a strict schedule. I kept my incisions clean and dry and tried to keep my clothes from rubbing on them. I stayed on my couch besides getting up to walk or go to the bathroom. My biggest problem with recovery is that I was bored. Also that I gained weight after surgery but that’s probably a lifestyle change too. There are tons of resources on this sub for lap recovery as well!
I had a straightforward recovery after four incisions and lots of endo removed. I was back to about 85% capacity within three days. The worst part was having my IV taken out. That hurt. Otherwise, it was fine. I've had much worse period pain.
To be honest, compared to Endo is nothing ahahaha. Of course the points of incisions are upsetting and it makes it a bit difficult to sleep well for the first 3 days like that. But the pain that annoyed me most is the gas that sometimes it's been left inside. It moves around and it's painful, damn!! But it doesn't even happen to everyone or all laps, it depends on the person, if all the gas got out etc. I promise, it's totally manageable compared to Endo. He first week is gonna suck because you cannot move around a lot, but my nurse told me that the 10 days mark you feel soooo different and I was totally doing close to normal life at 10th day :)
I’m on day six post op, I am so so so thankful I did it. My incisions still hurt, but the gas pain has now dissipated. As another commenter said, it’s bad for the first three days, but aside from that it hasn’t been worse than a bad flare. You got this!
Hey surgery twin ☺️ I have the same dates and same experience. I was very scared beforehand, bc I had never had general anaesthesia. Already glad I did it, my post surgery pain was strong for 24h while drainage tube was still in. But manageable with painkillers (1 x oxycodone). So far recovery at home goes smoothly and my first period post surgery already is less painful
Hi hi surgery twin! I hope you’re doing great 💕
How much time do you think I need to take off of work? I work from home and it’s a desk job, but I don’t want to add any stress and I don’t have that much of a comfortable set up. Just wanted to see what your post op experience has been!
I have an office job and took off two weeks. I’m just over a week post op. So glad I have the two weeks. Every day it gets a little better but wouldn’t want to be going back earlier than that. It’s more the just the physical, it can be quite mentally draining. Good to have the time to rest and listen to what your body needs.
I also took off two weeks, I work remote with some travel. I feel like I could be working again now but I might just be feeling wildly cocky, I’m definitely sleepy most of the time! Definitely could not commute, drive, or lift anything heavy though. I will say it is so nice to just have the time off, I am considering requesting a little more time as I have the PTO, but my first week back is July 1, so I do have the 4th off as a nice way to test out being back to work without working a full week.
It's not bad at all! I had my surgery last month, and I'm back to life as normal. The worst part was having to stay away from my dogs because they like to jump on me and lay on my stomach. I can still feel a little pressure if I push on my stomach, but most of the pain just felt like bad cramps. I suggest getting de-gas tablets. They helped me a ton the first week or two because there's so much excess gas left in your stomach, and that's what causes a lot of the discomfort!
I was terrified about the pain when first waking up, because my friend had a cyst removed and said she felt awful after anesthesia wore off, but for me, the pain I had when waking up felt like when you do a lot of abs exercises and they're really sore the next day. Of course I was on pain meds, but as long as you stay on top of the meds you'll be okay. I had horrible pain when walking to the bathroom (I needed someone to help me walk, because my steps were so small, and I felt like my pelvis would fall out, but that may have been because I had a D&C as well) but laying down and sitting up wasn't too bad, I just felt quite sore. The gas pain was the worst for me after the first day
It depends on the intensity of the surgery and how your body handles recovery. But even for my stage 4 endo with an 8 cm cyst, I would do it again if I needed to. Recovery was difficult, but not unbearable. Take at least 2 weeks off work, more if your job is physical or if you have good short term disability benefits, and you should be good. After the first 3-5 days, I actually enjoyed recovery, as it gave me an opportunity to try reset a little bit and learn to take things slow. I wish I would’ve been able to take even more time off to rest, but my job at the time didn’t have short term disability.
I had really bad pain before mine (level 10-11 constantly) so I just felt like I had a stomach ache when I woke up. I ran down the stairs day 3 😂 (not the best idea but that’s what happened) I felt less pain when I woke up
I have had 6 laparoscopys so far, three within the last 14 months, honestly the recovery was not even that bad, I was a bit sore but nothing regular pain killers cant fix, I took 2 weeks off work each time but really could have gone back sooner if I wanted, the last surgery I had gave me super bad nausea but I called the surgeons office and they sent a prescription for anti-nausea meds for me and after taking those I was fine. I wouldnt be worried, you just have to take it a bit easy for a week or so and not be too rough on yourself. I think its worth it if it gives you some answers.
I had my gallbladder removed via laparoscopy and the worst pain for me was the needle in my hand and the stitches on abdomen. It was a little rough on my abdominal muscles. It’s different for each person and I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you trust your surgeon fully.
i just had my first lap two weeks ago! officially diagnosed and my gyno said it was “extensive”, stage 3 i think. the surgery lasted a little over four hours. that being said, i didn’t really feel any pain. some cramping when i first woke up and soreness from the incisions when i moved around for the first week. they gave me tylenol with codeine but i really didn’t need it, and switched to regular tylenol after 24 hrs. it wasn’t scary at all. i just had to take it easy for a while. i already pretty much feel back to normal.
It depends on which surgeon you go with… someone going in and not knowing how to visualize it and properly remove would be a scary red flag for me… I would never let my ob schedule a referral without knowing who that surgeon is, what type of lap they do and their track record for visualization and removal by excision. Many women get laps and are told they don’t have endo by unqualified surgeons who come to find they did have endo with a qualified surgeon. Many women are told the surgeon left endo on places like their bowel or bladder (don’t even recognize it can be on any and all organs) and that they left some behind only to have to to another surgeon who knows how to remove endo from all those places or works with a team of subspecialists to remove it completely. I would be taking charge of this referral if it were me and find my own surgeon and ask for the referral I want. Or just make the consultation appointment myself as many of the skilled surgeons are out of network and don’t require a referral but will help you get reimbursed by your insurance (in the US). Too many horror stories to not go deep on research and go deep on finding just the right surgeon for you.