Endometriosis

[clutter]

Oh no! My first thought after reading this is "I'm not very nice now...I can't take this stuff and get WORSE!".

I've suppressed my period with BC pills since I was 15 (so, for 16 years) and the endo continues to get worse. If the only thing Lupron does is suppress your period, why is it any better than taking the pill?

Exactly. My understanding about the history of endo treatments is that at first, they recommended pregnancy. Why? Because you go through 9 months without a period. Then they started using Danocrine, the drug with testosterone in it. (Does wonderful things to your bikini line and your voice, let me tell you.) Both drugs supress your cycle, but they also, because they mimic menopause, not pregnancy, tend to reverse some of the scar tissue.

In my opinion, and this is coming from someone's who's symptom of endo is pain during (and after) a period, I have no problem if my endo continues to get worse at a slow pace. Since I'm supressin gmy period, I'm not affected by it. If I was to try to get pregnant again (I won't I'm too old, and having severe endo gives you weird pregnancy pains, too) I'd definately do the surgery/Lupron route. Is it your endo or your endo symptoms that get worse? The reality is that there really is no way to prevent endo from getting worse, you just never really get rid of it. (Case in point, a co-workers mom that had a hysterectomy due to endo still came down with uterine cancer. When you have endo, you may not be able to get rid of all the uterine tissue, even with a hysterectomy.) My goal has always been simply to eliminate pain.

Yeah, I wasn't that nice before Lupron, but I was a holy terror on it! One side affect of all the hormone rollercoasters I've been on is that I'm hyper sensitive to hormones. A little bit of estrogen and I'm so sweet and nice. Give me generic estrogen and I'm paranoid and snappy. Take away my estrogen and I'm a maniac. Give me too much, and I can't sleep. And before all this I never had pms or homone moods. Go figure.

 

[TerriP]

Is it your endo or your endo symptoms that get worse?

Wow, you have been through a lot, haven't you? My goodness...

My symptoms are getting worse, I now have some level of pain every day. I don't need prescription pain pills every day (some days just some Motrin will reduce it to an acceptable level). The point of the lap surgery next month is to see if the endo itself is progressing or if it's just the symptoms that are.

I'm 31, DH & I don't want children...but there's something about having a hysterectomy that scares me. I can't really put my finger on it. Seems so final to me.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

All this information is fascinating...thank you! I found out I had endometriosis 2 years ago when I was trying to get pregnant. I had an HSG and my ob/gyn realized pretty quickly why I was having trouble. The thing is, I had never complained of period pain (I thought cramps were cramps - they're supposed to be bad!) so my dr. never thought to check for endo.

I did get pregnant and I've been suppressing my period with BC pills since I had DS but I have yet to find one that I like.

My main concern now is only that we want another baby in the future and I don't think I could go through what we went through with DS. The pain isn't all *that* bad although I do think I have a high threshold for pain. Enough about me!

Good luck to you, OP.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I was also told that I could take Lupron and was given the material to look over. I decided that it was not the way to go for me. I heard a lot of horror stories of women that took it.

 

[Mandy_in_NC]

I have had 2 very beautiful DDs and we are done having kids. I started getting my period when I was 11 and the first couple of times I got it there were no problems but as I got older they got worse. I missed at least one day of school a month due to my period. I was in so much pain I could not get out of the bed. I finally when I was about 14 or 15 got put on birth control pills to help regulate my period and to also help the cramps. Being on birth control pills helped somewhat. When I got married in 1997 I came off the birth control pills so I could get pregnant. Got pregnant had a daughter and went back on BC pills. Got pregnant while on BC pills and had another beautiful daughter in 1999. I had my tubes tied in October of 1999 so really no need for BC pills. Fast forward a couple of months and I am back in the same boat painful periods so bad I can't get out of the bed so back on BC I go. However in this time I develope migraines so I quickly find out that I can not take BC pills. Decided to try the BC patch put it on on Sunday night and by Tuesday morning I was jerking the patch off because I was having the worst migriane I have ever had. So not BC pills or patch for me. And when I went to the GYN yesterday that is the first thing he suggested. But me and Dh were quick to tell him that BC pills cause migraines so that is not an option. He also said I could try to take anti-inflamtories but I can not take large doses of anti-inflamtories because they hurt my stomach. So he said there was a shot I could take that was used to treat Endo but it would throw me into a menopause state. He also said that I could only use it for a total of 6 months and it would cost $2000.00. And after I stopped the shots in 6 months I would most likely be right back where I am now. So my hubby and I decided that the Lap procedure would be best because the DR can actually look in and see what is going on inside. He said that he would remove any growths that he found and wanted to know if it came down to it would he have the permission to remove the ovary if neccessary and I told him yes that if he needed to he could remove the right ovary. I have a pre op appt on October 6th so I will talk about everything you guys have suggested. But I really think if he told me I needed to have a full histo I don't think it would bother me that much. Thanks for all the info.

 

[Mandy_in_NC]

Thanks for the info. The web sites have been helpful.