The pain that has hounded me since my early teens are all but gone

Dear Dr Seckin,

I have made a tremendous recovery since my surgery in January 2011. The pain that has haunted me since my early teens are all but gone. As you know, I had my first laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis with another doctor in September 2007 and then had a c-section with the birth of my son in June of 2009. I had constant pain post-partum in the lower-left portion of my abdomen with difficult bowel movements and in the sacral-iliac/ quadratus lumborum region on the right side. I experienced increasingly limited mobility as the months wore on in my hips lower back and right-sided lateral flexion of my spine in spite of a rigorous 3-6 day a week exercise regimen that has been part of my life for many years now. Post-surgery, I continued to exercise at the same intensity and experienced tremendous relief in all areas. The most extreme relief came on the right side. Even with my dedication to fitness, I did not think it was possible to experience this kind of relief. I simply assumed it was a defect in how I was made.

Recovery in itself has required some degree of diligence and self-awareness on my part. I feel like I struggled with the return of some scar tissue at about 7-8 months post-surgery which I worked through with physical therapy and exercise. I was also diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism in July of 2011 and started taking a 75 mcg dose of levothyroxine. The dose has since been lowered down to 25 mcg in the last few weeks and in the scheme of hypothyroidism in the minor. In the last 4 months, I have experienced some fluctuating pelvic inflammation and shorter menstrual cycles of around 21 days. The reasons for this could be numerous; age, stress-exercise or psychological in nature, low body fat, slight hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis dysfunction. Progesterone suppositories during the luteal phase of my cycle seem to help with these symptoms. These are just the minute details of what I feel is necessary for me to maintain my own health, and the battle might be different for someone else with endometriosis.

My point in sharing this information with you is that I believe being a healthy person is my responsibility; I take it upon myself to do good things for my body and mind, and I fought for my own health by seeking you out. It is with this attitude that I hope the endometriosis will not return to what it was before. I feel fortunate to have found you and thank you for your expertise and continued dedication to this condition.

Sincerely,

Emily R.