7 Endometriosis Surgery Recovery Essentials I’m So Glad I Had

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I’ll never forget the moment my reproductive endocrinologist told me, “It doesn’t matter if you have endometriosis.” Talk about an eye-roll moment. I’m pro-doctor, pro-science… but dang, buddy.

After two years of exactly zero positive pregnancy tests, weird bloating and weight gain, and years of heavy periods, I decided it did, in fact, matter. I was determined to figure out why we couldn’t conceive. After dozens of calls to doctors across the country, I finally got a surgery date to find out if I had endometriosis. When I woke up, my doctor confirmed what I suspected: I had Stage 2 endometriosis. I was relieved. Weirdly, incredibly relieved. After years of wondering what was wrong with my body, I finally had an answer. I never thought I’d be so happy to learn I had a chronic disease with no cure!

Turns out, my story is far from unique. Endometriosis, a condition where endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus, affects around 1 in 10 women, and possibly even more. Yet it can take years to get a diagnosis, leaving countless women without answers for symptoms ranging from heavy periods and pain to digestive issues and infertility. 

Inside the Endo Experience

My experience got me wondering: How many women are walking around with endo and have no idea? I wanted to dig into that question a little more, so I asked Lulu Ge, founder of Elix, a women’s hormonal health company rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, to share her own experience. Ge recently underwent excision surgery herself, so I was especially curious to hear what she had learned along the way.

TQE: What’s one thing you’d tell another woman who’s about to have excision surgery or is just starting to suspect she has endometriosis?

LG: Knowledge is power and do not assume that endometriosis will look a certain way. I thought I understood endometriosis. I associated it with excruciating periods, emergency room visits, vomiting, and pain so severe that it disrupted every part of a woman’s life. By the time I was diagnosed, Chinese medicine had helped resolve the debilitating period pain I experienced years earlier, and I had virtually none of the symptoms I thought were required to have the disease. It was only after four unsuccessful rounds of IVF, despite otherwise “normal” labs, that my doctor suggested testing for “silent endometriosis.” I remember thinking, “I know what endometriosis is. I definitely do not have it.”

When the results came back, I felt shock, disbelief, shame, disappointment, gratitude, and validation all at once. Then there was the relief of finally being told that there was a real explanation for what we had experienced. You can feel validated and devastated by the same diagnosis.

TQE: How is Elix supporting women with endometriosis and other hormonal health concerns? Are there any products or initiatives you’re especially excited about?

LG: I built Elix because women deserve support in the enormous space between a ten-minute doctor’s appointment and an operating room.

Chinese medicine does not begin with the assumption that every woman with the same diagnosis needs the same solution. We look at her individual pattern: her pain, bleeding, digestion, sleep, stress, energy, temperature, mood, and how those symptoms change throughout her cycle.

Through Elix, women complete a comprehensive health assessment and receive a personalized Cycle Balance herbal formula based on that pattern. They can also meet one-on-one with our Doctors of Chinese Medicine for more individualized support.

TQE: What’s a common misconception about endo that you want to help change?

LG: The myth I most want to bust is that excision surgery is automatically the end of the endometriosis journey. Surgery can be an incredibly important and, for some women, life-changing intervention. But endometriosis is a chronic condition, not something for which surgery offers a guaranteed cure. Symptoms or lesions can persist or recur, and long-term care may include medical treatment, pelvic-floor therapy, pain support, mental-health care, fertility care, and ongoing symptom management depending on the individual.

What I do know is that endometriosis does not have to be loud to be life-altering.

Our List of the Best Recovery Essentials

Of course, knowing you have endometriosis is one thing. Recovering from the surgery is a whole other thing. If you’re heading into an excision surgery yourself, there are a few things that can make those first days and weeks a little more comfortable. Lulu had similar advice, but she also made a great point I wish I'd heard before surgery: sometimes the biggest recovery must-have is simply the permission to rest.

Here are the recovery essentials I used a ton or wish I’d known about before my surgery: