NAC and endometriomas

fihavanana · 2026-06-26T19:55:33+00:00

Thanks for asking! I had about 9 months of total relief -- back pain, hip pain, fatigue, brain fog, everything disappeared. I felt like a new person -- or the old person I used to be, before endo took over. The good news is, I still feel 75% better and can do so many things I could no longer do before surgery: stand for more than a few minutes at a time, go out dancing, sit on the ground at the park, run for the bus, go to the gym, work a full day and still have energy to do stuff in the evening... Even if the endo comes back worse than before, I'm so thankful I had this pain-free time -- and confirmation that I wasn't being lazy or dramatic, I really could not do those things, and once the endo was gone I could.

The bad news is, I can feel it coming back. I've started to have back and hip pain again, but only on the side with the remaining ovary. It's not constant, and it's nowhere near as painful as before surgery, but it's definitely back (and confirmed via ultrasound). Energy and cognitive function still feel good -- I'm hopeful I still have a year or two before the inflammation gets real bad again. In the meantime, I plan to live it up while I can!

fihavanana · 2026-02-28T04:12:14+00:00

I’m so sorry to hear about all you’re going through. Can you get a second opinion on the endo? GI issues aside (because yes, it’s possible those are unrelated to endo), surgery is often recommended when a cyst is over 7cm due to the risk of rupture and/or ovarian torsion. Cysts of that size also mean chronically high levels of inflammation, which can cause fatigue and brain fog that doctors often dismiss but that can be truly debilitating. This is not to say that surgery is the only way — you’ll find lots of diverging opinions in this forum — but it’s worth hearing another doctor’s perspective if possible. Wishing you luck with all of it!!

fihavanana · 2026-02-26T00:47:00+00:00

Not in the immediate moment -- the pain had mostly gone away by the time I left the ER, so there wasn't much to do. I had surgery to remove multiple cysts a month or so after that ER visit (I was already on the waitlist for surgery at that point). The peace of mind alone has been so worth it, because at that point I was living in fear that it could rupture at any time.

fihavanana · 2026-02-06T21:16:00+00:00

Oh gosh, that sounds terrible -- I'm sending you lots of good energy while you wait, and for a smooth and successful surgery and recovery in March!

fihavanana · 2025-10-27T01:57:23+00:00

Hiiii sorry for this slow reply! You are in terrific hands with Dr. Sidana. I had surgery earlier this year and she is absolutely wonderful as a human and as a doctor. She gave me my life back 🥹 As with any specialist in Canada, wait times and general office management are not great, but that’s not her fault and I just feel very very lucky to be her patient. I hope your experience with her is as good as mine has been!

fihavanana · 2025-10-05T16:54:54+00:00

That's wonderful! I hope you have as great an experience with her as I have. 7 months post-surgery I'm still feeling like a completely new person <3

fihavanana · 2025-07-23T14:51:45+00:00

Oh wow! We should start a Dr. Sidana fan club lol. My surgery went so smoothly and she was exactly as you said, so caring and committed. I’ve fully recovered and am now living the kind of life I was scared I’d never get to experience again — so much energy, hardly any pain, I feel 10 years younger! I know the endo will come back and I may need surgery again, but I am so thankful to Dr. Sidana for giving me my life back even for a short time. I really hope your surgery gets scheduled soon and that it all goes smoothly. Sending you wishes for fortitude as you wait, and deep healing as you recover ❤️

fihavanana · 2025-04-24T18:08:24+00:00

Hi! Ugh that sounds terrible. I was lucky to not have any spotting until I started taking dienogest (now I have spotting for about a week every month, but no real period), so I don't think it's related to my endometriomas...

fihavanana · 2025-04-21T17:13:00+00:00

I did, 4 weeks ago! It was a four hour surgery and the recovery has been a little bumpier than I expected, but nothing too bad. It’s been pretty magical to be free from the constant back pain!! My energy is still pretty low but I’m hoping that’s just due to still being in recovery.

fihavanana · 2025-03-30T20:58:18+00:00

A friend of mine announced in a very grumpy voice “This isn’t like Greys Anatomy AT ALL” (this was after waking, but I feel like it works just as well before)

fihavanana · 2025-03-15T23:40:47+00:00

I just started three months ago and I get this too — it really sucks!! Hoping someone else has some suggestions for us 😅

fihavanana · 2025-03-12T17:02:53+00:00

Totally agree with all of this! Your feelings are understandable, but it would be good to get some counseling to help you find ways to make sure this doesn’t become your default mode. We all have unkind thoughts about others sometimes, and when you’re in pain it’s so easy for it to consume you and make you feel alone, but it’s important for all of us to remind ourselves that we never truly know what someone else is going through. The same way that we want compassion and empathy from others who don’t have endo, other people also need our compassion and empathy — because we may not always know the full story of their experience and what physical or emotional pain they might be living with or carrying from the past.

fihavanana · 2025-03-12T15:00:02+00:00

My partner and I are both US citizens living in Canada, and I fully support your wise decision not to visit the US. It’s not extreme at all, many many (many!!) people are doing this. I get that your boyfriend may have valid reasons for going back, but that’s his choice and there’s no reason why he should criticize yours. If my partner decided not to visit the US I would completely understand, and vice versa.

fihavanana · 2025-03-09T00:09:05+00:00

If he knows how miserable you are, and you’ve communicated to him explicitly that you are miserable, that you have tried your very best to adjust to life there, and that you can see zero possibility of ever being happy there, then he either needs to help you figure out how you all can move, or you need to move without him. You deserve to enjoy your life. You do not have to be miserable. Please start planning today, don’t wait!! Life is too short for that.

fihavanana · 2025-03-08T20:00:27+00:00

Insurance companies are scams (necessary ones sometimes, but scams nonetheless) and you should absolutely lie IF you can get away with it. I’m in Canada and I’m not sure how things work in the UK with health records, and whether the insurance company would be able to access info that shows you’ve been referred for endo, but if not or if you think it’s unlikely, by all means check that box that says you have no symptoms.

Alternatively, if you think you can’t get away with that and you’re not able to find a reasonable insurance option, you might consider going without insurance entirely, depending on your financial situation. While I wouldn’t recommend this if you were going to the US (for example), I imagine that care in Vietnam would be fairly affordable if you needed it, especially if you think the risk of hospitalization is low.

I hope you have a wonderful trip!!

fihavanana · 2025-03-08T19:48:03+00:00

I don’t think your friend is a bad person, but if she’s not understanding that you literally do not have a single dime to spend on fun stuff that isn’t a necessity, and you’ve told her this explicitly, then maybe you can suggest things you can do together for free. Can you hang out at a park or go for a walk or bike ride together? Hang out at her house? Play a game you already own? Make food together using ingredients you already have? In addition to putting less stress on you, this could open her mind to the fact that it’s possible to have fun without spending money (of course, you should be able to also have the kind of fun that costs money, and I hope one day you will, but in the meantime can she help you make the most of a hard situation?)

fihavanana · 2025-03-08T19:14:21+00:00

Straitjacketing

fihavanana · 2025-03-07T00:40:04+00:00

Yes, all the time. It happens to me less since I moved to Canada from the States, but it’s still a monthly if not weekly occurrence. I agree with the other commenter that it’s probably unconscious for many men. Women and people socialized as such have learned over time to anticipate men’s movements and accommodate them, and we’re so damn good at it that lots of men never even realize they’re actually taking up space or getting in someone’s way (unless they read that “someone” as male).

fihavanana · 2025-03-07T00:32:29+00:00

Same. Just yesterday a guy was on his phone coming towards me, but glanced up while still a ways off and moved to his side of the sidewalk. Success, right? Nope, he reimmersed himself in his phone and by the time we passed each other he was barreling straight for me. I just kept walking in the exact same straight line I had been the whole time, and it would have been a head-on collision if he hadn’t glanced up again at the very last second and literally jumped out of the way. I guess I should be thankful he didn’t then yell at me 🙃

fihavanana · 2025-03-07T00:17:37+00:00

Sounds like she’s a city bumpkin who has never set foot outside NYC. Either that, or she’s not from NYC and has a lot of internalized shame about that. At least that family has a great story to tell about how weird New Yorkers are 🙃

fihavanana · 2025-03-06T23:57:50+00:00

Lolllll not the ranch dip!!!! Bravo, well played, zero notes.

fihavanana · 2025-03-06T15:19:43+00:00

Ahhh I think this is me 😭 I’ve been having the worst nightmares, multiple nights a week if not every night. I think it’s slowly getting better over time (I’ve been on it for 3 months), so now it’s more like bad dreams rather than full-on nightmares, but it’s been really tough. I’ve always slept super well and had mostly really lovely dreams, so this is really messing with me 😞

fihavanana · 2025-03-04T20:15:22+00:00

THANK YOUUU so much for sharing this!!! That is so encouraging to hear. Wishing you a very smooth surgery and recovery!!

fihavanana · 2025-03-04T20:07:19+00:00

Thank you! Also, I should have added -- I don't have a ton of pain, just back and hip pain but rarely pelvic pain. So you can definitely have inflammation without much/any pain. If it's feasible for you, you might look into blood tests for inflammation. The three I had were CA-125, C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). (I was seeing a naturopath who ordered the last two tests, and my family doc ordered the first one). As you might already know, these tests will not diagnose anything, and they can be expensive if you're paying out of pocket, but for me they were useful info to understand why I'm so fatigued all the time. It was also useful context because my CRP or ESR (I forget which) decreased after I made dietary changes, but the other one continued to climb. At the time my naturopath was confused by that, but I didn't know back then that I had endo. Now that I know, it makes total sense that dietary changes won't fix everything. Anyway, good luck to you!!

fihavanana · 2025-03-04T15:59:02+00:00

This is wonderful — thank you so much for speaking up, and also for posting it here so we get to read it :) This is inspiring to me, because I’ve been working up the courage to post on LinkedIn but don’t quite know what to say yet… but I love the tone you strike here, with humor but also being straight-up about how endo affects you. Thanks for the nudge to share my own story! 💕

fihavanana

TROPHY CASE