If you've got Endometriosis then theres a good chance you've experienced your fair share of doctors, GP's and specialists! We'd like for you to share your stories. Have you found a doctor that has been everything a doctor should be? Or have you had a bad experience and would like to share so that other women don't go through the same pain?

Well, I'll start with my story. The care I've recieved from a few doctors has been terrible. I was going back and forward to my GP with endo symptoms for over a year before Endo was even mentioned. I then started going to a gynecologist, Dr David Malloy, in Brisbane. The first few meetings were ok, he was very abrupt and to the point, which at first i thought was a good thing. He performed a laparoscopy and after the operation he said it had gone really well. He told me that he had to remove a lot of thick hard endo from a few places but all in all it was a success.....

The pain went away for about 2 weeks then came straight back again, with avengence. I went to see him to find out what might be wrong. He then proceeded to tell me that when he did the operation he could see that the endo had wrapped itself around my bowel and other organs and that he wasnt going to be able to get it all. He didnt tell me ANY of this after the operation, he simply said it went well and he removed the endo. I was absolutely furious, having been told one thing and then finding out the situation was infact very different.

It got worse, much worse. The first time he had examined me, he wasnt gentle at all and really hurt me. My partner was in the other room and could hear me crying, it was awful. Then, after the operation didnt help, he put me onto Zoledex which is an implant that effectively puts you into menopause for 6 months and can be very good at treating endo. However, the side effects were too much for me. I was almost passing out from the hot flushes, I was constantly sweating and I couldnt sleep at all. I decided to come off it.

I went back to Malloy to talk about my options and he was angry with me! He spoke to me like I was a complete fool. He then asked to examine me and I just couldnt let him do it, I knew how much it would hurt and he had already upset me. I told him politely that I just wasnt up to it and he was so rude to me. I tried to defend myself but I was crying and just couldnt deal with him anymore so I left and have never been back. I'm not saying he's a bad doctor, I've heard his fertility treatments have worked for hundreds of women but he was awful to me from day one and I wouldnt recommend him to anyone.

well where can i start, my parents really pushed me to go see my gp when i was 17. My gp was good she really understood that something was wrong and reffered me to the monash medical hospital to see the gynos there as i couldnt afford to see one privately. The bad thing about it was that being a public hospital i had to see different doctors every time i went in for consultation. I had the first procedure done at the age of 18 and the doctors sat me down a week later after my procedure and explained exactly what they had found and that i should begin to do my own research to understand the disease that i was being faced with, and if i had any more questions that i should consult with my gp. My gp was furious with this as she said it was their duty to discuss everything with me, but she took it upon herself to learn a bit more about it and encouraged me to seek maybe alternative remedies. My dad also took it upon himself to learn a bit more about so that he could understand what was happening to me. Between my gp and dad we came up with different herbal remedies but to no avail. I went on diferent pills and still no releif.
After my 2nd procedure to remove the endometriosis my gp gave me another referall to monash outpatients clinic to see a gyno as 2yrs later i had the pains come back. When i woke up from my procedure one of the doctors came by to tell me that they couldnt do anything as there had been too many adhesions that it was impossible for them to remove any endo. It was then that my gp refered me to Dr Lee a gyno based in near Dandenong. He was a bit more sympathetic and tried to explain a bit more about my disease and put me on Danazol. He was very gentle and after a few months went back to see him and i had no pains and everything was looking good. Danazol put me on menopausal symptoms and meant that i did not get my periods at all. As it happened Dr Lee said that a lot of the women who saw him were able to lead pain free lives and able to conceive with no problems.

As my luck has it that after 3.5 yrs the pains came back with a vengence. I recently got married and since i had to move to the other side of the melbourne, meant that i could not afford to take a day off work and go see Dr Lee it was too far. I began to experience severe pains and spotting that my husband began to get worried i had my period for 4months and nothing was stopping it. Found a clinic nearby and requested that the doctor refer me to a gyno i had researched, the gyno i found to have experience in dealing with this type of "disease" was based in the cbd, dr gordon whose clinic was in eat melbourne was not far from work.
The first thing this doc said to me was, since you dont have private health insurance this consultation is going to cost you dearly. I told him look i didnt come here to be questioned about my financial situation i'm here because i have endometriosis and i need your help to see what can be done. He proceeded in telling me that i had no relevant education or qualifications to come up with that diagnosis. Eventually he listened to me when i told him that it had come back again so because i didnt have private health insurance he reffered me to Box Hill public hospital as an outpatient. In the mean time he ordered me to do some ultrasounds and to double check my diagnosis i had given him ordered me to do some blood tests. The ultrasound revealed that it was fact endo and that i needed to have another laporoscopy proceedure done. Mind you while going to the outpatient clinic i never saw doc gordon there as he had promised instead i saw at least 3 doctors before i was told that yes we needed to remove the endo that had come back. When i woke up from my procedure my husband was waiting by the bed when the one of the docs came in to tell me that all had gone well and that they had managed to remove cysts not only from my ovaries but from my uterus and bowels. But i was reassured that all had been removed and that i could go home that same day. Prior to my procedure that day i had told doctors that my blood pressure was always way too low for me to leave the hospital in previous procedures, but they said that they couldnt keep me in. My husband and i drove back that day feeling like they jsut wanted us out of there, no compasion from the doctors. After 3 days i went to get the stitches removed at the gp and whilst there i told him that i wasnt feeling well and that whenever i went to the toilet i had excessive blood coming out, so he immediately asked me to do urine sample but when he was taking my stitches out i passed out from so much pain so immediately he told to go back to the hospital as i had an infection. When i got there the nurses were beside themselves as they only had 1 junior doctor and 1 snr doctor int he er department, eventually when i began screaming from the pain the snr doctor came in and said that yes i was goign to have to stay overnight for more check ups. 3 days gone past and i hadnt had any bowel movements and the doctors were beginning to get worried they gave me different types of laxatives and enemas and nothing a week later and yet nothing but during this course no doctors who operated on me came to see me personally instead i had jnr docs and nurses. On day 6 i managed to have a very small bowel movememnt that i think the whole floor heard me crying and screaming. When the doc heard this they said i was fine now to go home as i managed to go to the toilet with no problem. They gave a lecture on changing my diet and told me that i should do some excercises to help my bowels, but they didnt really listened to me when i said i have a good diet and excercise adequeately.
A year later and i still have problems with bowel movements and they pains of the endo have come back even worse than before, recent ultrasound revealed that my right ovary is engulfed in cysts and instead of the radiographer telling me that the report wiould be sent to my gp i was told to begin worry as it did not look good. I am now seeing a different gyno who from day one has listened and has starting telling me that if i want to have any children tht i have to do this now otherwise i will not be able in the future. At the same time i am seeing an accupuncturist who has been helping with me with herbs and accupuncture and hopes that some relief can come to me soon as he is also trying different ways to approach my pains.
Quiet honestly it has been very worrying times for me and now all i have to do is wait for my gyno to tell me where to from here. All in all i have had very bad experiences with gynos who think that they are the only ones with the knowledge of this disease, but i feel that since its my body i am able to give a much better description of my symptons and also diagnosis. If they are not willing to listen to patients why on earth are some of this gyno still practicing when all they are interested in is the money they can claim at the end of the day.

Hey Lizevie,

Sounds like you've had a really terrible time of things. I'm so glad you shared your story as when we go through things like this, we feel so alone. I had a doctor that treated me like i was a complete idiot. My partner and i havnt been able to have intercourse because the pain is so severe yet after telling him this, when he examined me, i was crying, tears streaming down my face, he didnt stop, he just snapped at me and told me it was my fault for tensing up. This was just one time out of many that he acted badly and made me feel worthless. He told me after my laparoscopy that everything had gone well and that he had removed all the endo but after 2 weeks the pain came back much worse and when i went back to him he said...oh yes, well i could se that you had much more endo over your bowel and other organs but i couldnt get that!!!!! I was furious! He basicly lied to me, this is a guy that operates and deals with hundreds of women so how many more of us are going through this? Its just awful.

I'm sorry to hear about your story but really hope things get better for you from now on. You cant put a price on a good doctor and i think you've really earned one! Good Luck for the future, keep us updated on the site on how you're doing :)

Aletia