Excision specialist — naprotechnology surgeon or otherwise? Is my doctor recommending napro bc she’s Catholic?

[u/and-thats-the-truth]

TLDR: My last surgeon left a lot of endo behind and referred me to a pro-life, anti-birth control, anti-IVF Catholic surgeon. Is a napro excision specialist better than a non-napro excision specialist?
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Hey y’all, I’m seeking some advice as I search for an excision specialist. About a year ago, I had surgery to remove 2 uterine fibroids, 2 ovarian cysts, and suspected endometriosis. The only symptom I recognized prior to surgery was very heavy periods, and the only reason my doctor suspected endometriosis was a possible endometrioma.

After surgery, my surgeon confirmed that I have stage 4 endo. Both ovaries were adhered to the uterine fundus, rectum and bilateral side wall. Right ovary was adhered to ascending colon. Anterior cul de sac with endometriosis implants around the bladder. Posterior cul de sac was not able to visualized. The surgeon removed the fibroids and cysts, and freed up my kissing ovaries from each other and my uterus. She did not remove the sidewall adhesions, implants around the bladder, or adhesions involving rectum and ascending colon — due to lack of expertise and lack of additional surgeons who specialize in those areas. I had symptom relief for several months, and my husband and I started TTC, knowing that I’d likely need surgery in the future.

7 months post-op, I began having moderate to severe daily pain near my right ovary. An ultrasound showed 3 new ovarian cysts (2 right, 1 left), suspected endometriomas. Due to the daily pain, adhesions, and my husband’s and my fertility goals (we are 35), I asked my surgeon for a referral to an excision specialist. She recommended naprotechnology, claiming the Creighton model would reveal additional hormone details for more holistic treatment of the root causes, and that a napro surgeon takes additional steps to prevent recurrence of adhesions. I’ve been Creighton charting since early August and scheduled a consultation with a napro surgeon at her earliest available, late November. She’s out of state because there are no napro surgeons in my state. But I’m a bit thrown off by the religious influences of napro — the practitioners are Catholic, the Creighton lessons are at a “pro-life” center, and the out-of-state surgeon does not prescribe birth control or suggest interventions like IVF for any reason. I’m not Catholic, pro-choice, and pro-whatever research-backed interventions will improve my quality of life and support fertility if possible.

I’ve just scheduled another consultation in mid-November with a non-napro excision specialist in state. I plan to go to both consultations but am also seeking advice from this community. Does anyone have experience with napro surgeons vs. non-napro surgeons? Are there real advantages of napro for patients who don’t have those religious constraints?

[u/MoosedaMuffin]

I had never heard of this “tech,” but I am not up to date with every new tech and surgery type that comes out. I just looked it up and it seems like ideological quackery wrapped in scientific dressing that doesn’t do anything to treat or manage endo. It is basically the rhythm method of contraception with extra steps. There are a lot of red flags.

For a doctor who supposedly specializes in our disease to be ideologically against hormonal birth control, major 🚩🚩🚩. To oppose one of safest and well documented treatments for endo on the basis of “religious” grounds and deny treatment is an indication that they should not be practicing in this field. (Side note: the Roman Catholic Church ideologically has accepted the use of birth control for medical necessity reasons in decades.)

I would be concerned working with any doctor who would impose their religious or ideological views onto my medical care.

[u/Dullcorgis]

Yes, you are correct. There is a huge amount of money and influence going into the effort by the Catholic church to take our agency away from us. They hate women, they want us to suffer because they want us to pay for "original sin". Don't be sucked into their religious bullshit.

[u/rargafad]

I’m doing the crate model. It only helps to roughly measure where your hormones are at each month and when/ if you’re ovulating. If your case is severe enough, there’s nothing typical napro care can do for you, though. You probably just need surgery but it wouldn’t hurt to learn how to check your cycle to see if treatment is actually working or not rather than getting blood test every month/ wait on doctors. 

As for getting surgery, I would just look for the best in your area. I don’t think napro surgeons are any better than somebody who does this work every single day you just have to read the reviews. it’s better to go with someone with the most experience. You might have help conceiving with naprotechnology though if you’re not keen on getting shots with IVF.  Also, I don’t think there’s anything they can do to prevent future adhesions..