I’m 30, and I genuinely don’t even know where to begin with the amount of medical trauma I’ve accumulated over the last several years. I think I mostly just need to get this out somewhere people might actually understand.
My medical issues started in my early 20s when I was misdiagnosed with PCOS, despite not meeting any of the diagnostic criteria. I would later learn that I never actually had the condition in the first place. Around that time, I also developed kidney stones that led to a severe kidney infection, which ultimately progressed to sepsis. What should have been an opportunity to properly investigate my health became the beginning of years of misdiagnoses, complications, and unanswered questions. I had no idea at the time that this would turn into nearly a decade of medical issues, multiple surgeries, infertility, and repeatedly having to advocate for myself just to be taken seriously. In 2019, I underwent laparoscopic surgery for extensive pelvic adhesions. The surgery lasted approximately four hours because of how much scar tissue there was. I had a history of PID, so naturally, that became the explanation for pretty much everything that followed. During that surgery, my surgeon also documented adhesions around my liver consistent with Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome. The doctor didn’t remove them even though the whole point of this surgery was adhesion removal and exploration.
Except the pain never really went away.
Over the years, I’ve seen multiple doctors, undergone numerous evaluations, and repeatedly tried to explain that something wasn’t right. I wasn’t expecting anyone to have all the answers immediately, but I did expect someone to take the bigger picture seriously. Instead, I felt like I was constantly starting over, explaining the same history, and being reassured without ever really getting to the bottom of anything. You’re overweight. Periods just can be painful. Ovulation pain can be normal. Have you tried birth control?
In 2021, I had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that resulted in the removal of my right fallopian tube. Despite this, I was essentially reassured that everything else looked normal.
I continued struggling with infertility. For years, I was prescribed Clomid and letrozole, sometimes developing multiple mature follicles in a single cycle. I was ovulating. That was never the issue. Yet we continued treating ovulation as though it were the problem, despite my history of extensive adhesions, ectopic pregnancy, and tubal damage.
I’ve had unprotected intercourse for approximately eight years, and my only pregnancy was ectopic.
And this wasn’t a situation where I just never sought medical care. I saw multiple physicians. I asked questions. I followed treatment recommendations. I kept going back when things weren’t improving. At some point, you start wondering how many different doctors you have to see before someone actually connects the dots.
Meanwhile, my pain continued getting worse.
I’m talking debilitating ovulation pain, painful periods, pain during intercourse, and pelvic pain that would leave me practically couch-bound. I also experienced pain underneath my ribs, around my liver, and into my back. Sometimes taking a deep breath or laughing hurt. Sitting in certain positions hurt. Even wearing certain clothing could aggravate things.
For years, I felt like I was constantly trying to explain that something was wrong with my body, only to be left feeling like I was exaggerating. After enough appointments and reassurances, you really do start questioning your own perception of what you’re experiencing.
Fast-forward to October 2026.
I finally underwent another surgery, this time robotic-assisted, to address the adhesions around my liver and throughout my pelvis.
And surprise, things weren’t exactly normal.
My surgeon found extensive adhesions involving my pelvic structures and liver, along with abnormalities requiring additional surgical intervention. There were ovarian/paratubal cysts, issues involving the fimbrial structures, and endometriosis, including near my bladder and uterus.
Pathology also identified endosalpingiosis, along with reactive changes and calcification of my adhesions.
So now, on top of everything else, I’m trying to understand a condition I hadn’t even heard of before this surgery. I’m also trying to process the fact that some of these findings aren’t necessarily explained by a PID diagnosis from seven years ago.
I understand that adhesions can recur. I understand that surgery itself can create more scar tissue. What I cannot wrap my head around is how I could see multiple medical professionals over the course of several years, with documented reproductive complications and progressively worsening symptoms, and still feel like nobody was looking at the entire picture.
Why was I repeatedly given fertility medication when I was already ovulating?
Why did I spend years being reassured that things were normal when I had documented adhesions and significant reproductive complications?
How did I go through so many appointments, with so many opportunities to investigate further, and still end up here?
And perhaps most frustratingly, what happens now?
Both sides of my reproductive anatomy have now required surgical intervention. I’ve lost one fallopian tube, had issues involving my remaining reproductive structures, and have undergone multiple procedures that could themselves contribute to additional adhesions.
I want children. I’ve wanted children for years. And I’m struggling with the possibility that my chances of conceiving naturally have been compromised by issues that weren’t adequately investigated or addressed.
I’m also terrified of the inflammation and adhesions continuing to return. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life cycling through pain, surgeries, temporary relief, and more scar tissue.
I don’t even necessarily want pain management to be the entire conversation. I want to understand WHY this keeps happening and whether there’s anything that can actually be done to prevent further damage.
What makes this so emotionally exhausting is that I’ve spent years questioning myself. Wondering whether my pain was really that bad. Wondering whether I was being dramatic. Wondering whether I just had an unusually low pain tolerance.
And now I’m looking at surgical reports, pathology results, and photographs of my own internal organs, realizing that there were very real physical problems behind what I was experiencing and begging doctors to help with.
I’m relieved to finally have some answers, but I’m also incredibly angry.
Angry about the years of pain. Angry about the fertility treatments that didn’t address the underlying issues. Angry about how much of my reproductive health feels uncertain now. And angry that despite seeing multiple doctors and repeatedly advocating for myself, I still ended up having to fight this hard to be taken seriously.
I’m only a week out from surgery, so I’m still recovering physically while trying to process all of this emotionally.
I guess I’m posting because I’d really like to hear from anyone who’s dealt with extensive adhesions, endosalpingiosis, endometriosis, Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome, or infertility after multiple pelvic surgeries.
Did you ever get meaningful answers about why the inflammation and adhesions kept occurring? Were you able to prevent recurrence? Did you eventually find a physician who looked at the bigger picture instead of treating every symptom as a separate issue?
Because at this point, I’m just exhausted. And I think the hardest part is realizing that I wasn’t imagining any of it. I just wish someone had listened sooner before I had permanent damage and chronic pain. I don’t know how to stop being mad.