Endometriosis - please help me with my pain!!!
Hi all!
I'm Amy...new to this sort of thin but thought I’d give it a go! Surely someone has to have an answer for me!
I'm 20 years old and was confirmed to have endometriosis in May (2007) following a laparoscopy.
In February last year (2006) I went to my local GP and informed her of my symptoms. She put me on monofeme to try and stop the pain I was having. After a month, I decided that it was bad! I felt very unwell in the stomach and was very moody! And it didn't help my pain in the slightest! So the doctor prescribed loette as an alternative - it’s not as high a dose apparently so it was meant to stop me from at least being sick. Anyway...that was pretty useless too! So I went back on the monofeme and took it at night rather than in the morning. This made the side effects of moodiness & the general feeling of unwell disappear. However, did not assist in my pain!
My GP then referred me onto a gyno. I went and saw her but was not very confident in her because I had a lot of questions that she couldn't answer properly and basically just said "have a laparoscopy"...so I got a second opinion! And this dude said that he wouldn’t do it on anyone as young as me unless there was no other way! (Which apparently there wasn’t!) So I went back to the first gyno and decided I would go ahead with it. I was SO scared!!!
I had the operation on the 21st of May this year. I had my follow up appointment 5 weeks after the operation. I had my period twice in that time and the pain had actually gotten worse! I was notified by the gyno that they had found endometriosis on both my ovaries and a lump in the middle. The lump was unidentfied because it was stuck to a whole lot of vital organs and if they had to remove it for a biopsy, they would have had to take everything else with it. I.e. a hysterectomy! But they were quite confident that it was endo.
So, the gyno suggested a couple of options. One being zolodex and the other implanon. And I have heard far too many cases that have not been of benefit. So I am not too keen! She also suggested one other drug but don’t remember what it was called but I wouldn’t use it because she said that it would inhibit my chances of conceiving in the future.
So, I invested in a naturopath! I went to see him and he put me on a few herbs etc. and they did nothing for a month, so he added magnesium. And that did nothing. And now he’s put me on some other stuff that tastes gross and that’s done nothing either! He was quite confident that they would work...but knowing my luck...they haven’t!
The gyno suggested that I have children before I’m 25 or it will become quite difficult to conceive and if I do conceived after 25, the pregnancy will be almost as bad.
Now I just don’t know what to do! The naturopath asked my boyfriend and I are serious...which we are...and then suggested that I just have a baby so at least I’ll have 9 months without too much pain. I know that the longer I leave it...the more it affects my fertility...but I’m only 20!!! (And I have to get married first!)
I have taken every over-the-counter pain killer and none of them work....but if I take anything stronger i.e. prescription drugs, they tend to be too strong and I become dizzy, have hot flushes and just generally feel very very unwell.
If anyone has any suggestions on what I can do to stop my pain...I would really appreciate your help!
Getting pregnant mighn't help that much
I'm 32 and have had endo for 17 years. Unfortunately it took the medical profession 15 years to make the diagnosis. I thought getting pregnant would fix everything, so many people seem to think it does. I got pregnant 5 days after my first laparoscopy (the surgeon told me after the surgery that I'd need to have IVF because the endo was so severe but we got lucky). Until the laparoscopy I was on prescription painkillers 24/7. Once I found out I was pregnant, I expected the pain to stop, but it went on for another 5 months. And the worst part was that I couldn't take the drugs any more. The last 4 months of the pregnancy were great, I couldn't remember ever being pain free for so long, I wanted to stay pregnant forever. Then I got my period again when our baby was 7 weeks old. When she was 11 weeks old the period pain was so bad I couldn't look after her for 2 days. But I was quite happy because the pain was only coming during my period, not for the whole month. Now my baby is 19 months and I am starting to get bad endo pain during ovulation and also during my period. And the period pain is as bad as it ever was, worse actually. So I guess I'm saying that while it is the best thing ever to have a baby, it mightn't necessarily fix the pain. But if you're worried about not being able to conceive later on, that would definitely be a reason to start trying now.
To be honest, I haven't found any drugs that really work. Once when I went to casualty because I thought I was going to die, they gave be Innocid (spelling?) suppositories and they were good. Generally the only thing that works for me (sort of) is to get into a boiling hot bath, take whatever painkillers I can find and get into bed (if I haven't passed out in the bath). But I did some research on endo, I think one of the theories is that is is caused by too much oestrogen. One of the things that seemed to work for me for a while was cutting out red meat, dairy, eggs, refined carbohydrates and foods packed in plastic. I also ate lots of fibre, saturated-fat free food, cabbage, broccoli, beans, legumes, onions and garlic as these are supposed to help get rid of oestrogen. Plus Vitamin B6. But it wasn't much fun. I wish you the best of luck in finding a solution for your pain.
