Endometriosis Awareness - Questions to Ask

     Looking up information can be highly overwhelming. Luckily the Mayo Clinic provides some questions to ask your doctor. 

"For endometriosis, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:

• How is endometriosis diagnosed?
• What medications are available to treat endometriosis? Is there a medication that can improve my symptoms?
• What side effects can I expect from medication use?
• Under what circumstances do you recommend surgery?
• Will I take a medication before or after surgery?
• Will endometriosis affect my ability to become pregnant?
• Can treatment of endometriosis improve my fertility?
• Can you recommend any alternative treatments I might try?"

I think I will add a few to the list:

• If surgery is on the table - what kind of surgery will be done?
• Who will be performing the surgery?
• How long have they been doing this kind of surgery?

I think it is good to look up the answers for these questions to see if what the Dr is saying lines up with the (credible) information you found. For example, endometriosis can ONLY be diagnosed via surgery. However, some doctors will tell you they can find out via ultrasounds or MRIs. These tests can rule out other conditions but cannot see if you have endo. Sometimes Drs will rule out surgery and say they are pretty sure so why not go ahead with medication. That can be a route to take if you do not want to have surgery for whatever reason (finances, fears, etc).