Could painful periods be something to do with me FTC?

[BeccaBlue]

Hi all,

I am new to this so bare with me!

I have always had painful periods, the first time it made me pass out was when I was 16 in my art GSCE. Over the years I have been passing out a couple of times a year - usually at work, on on the way to work (v. embarrassing being trollyed of the railway station platform!!).

• It always happens in the morning
  
• It always start with moderate period pain
  
• Then I go in to a faint not loosing consciousness, just bright lights and I can not hear anything
  
• Then I get really hot and sweat like anything
  
• I am really uncomfortable at this point and move between feeling I am going to be sick with my head down the loo, the need to expel loose stools (sorry if you are eating your tea) and lying on my back trying to cool down but keeping my ovaries warm
  
• Then as the heavenly release comes, and I can stand a little, I start getting really really cold and shaking
  

All this takes about 2h to 2h30 but the time my male work colleagues are utterly freaked out! (i am an Architect so there is lots of them!). I don't warm up again until I have had a little sleep.

I have always regarded this as inconvenient but DH and I have been TTC for 18 months and are currently starting fertility treatment. Because of these dramatic symptoms I have already had a vaginal scan and a laperoscamy which revealed nothing but a little PCO scarring and a slight heart shaped womb.

Has anyone else had these kind of problems or have fund out what it is? I feel like a freak as my male colleagues (obviously) don't have these problems and I really don't want to appear like the 'weak' women that they need to make allowances for.

Currently in my mind as it happened today and they sent me home - which was very sweet of them.

Thanks for listening ladies,
BB

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Hi,

I have always had painful periods as well and in my case the underlying cause was endometriosis.

I would be looking to speak to a gynae with a specialist interest in endometriosis (NOT a general gynae who may not be knowledgeable enough or have the vast experience required to treat the endo properly). All that you describe could well be attributed to this and it is a very common and much underdiagnosed gynae problem.

The lap is usually done if endo is suspected.
What were the lap's findings, were you told this properly?.

PCO scarring - have never heard of this, what did they mean exactly?. Scarring would not in any event be caused by PCO. A vaginal scan would not have detected any endometriosis deposits either.

You can have a condition called polycystic ovaries (which is where multiple cystic follicles cover the ovaries) but PCO is not painful.

You will need to be persistant in order to get answers; do not be fobbed off.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

//www.endo.org.uk may be helpful to you.

[BeccaBlue]

Thanks ever so much.

I got fed up with the GP fobbing me off with the pill (which I refused to take) so I had the Lap and Scan done privately. The consultant was looking for Endometriosis as this was his suspicion. He said that there was no evidence of Endo from the Lap.

He referred to the scaring on the ovaries as PolyCystic Ovaries that I may have had in the past but didn't have at the moment (it was over a year ago now).

I am going to have a HyCoSy in a couple of weeks as part of the fertility investigations, I wonder if that will bring me any closer to the answer.

I am pretty sure that it is made worse with stress so I am going for acupuncture on Wednesday which I had booked before I have this latest episode.

Thanks so much for your help, I will continue asking the question until I get answers.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

BB

My guess is that he missed the endo during the lap; they don't always spot it and it can be atypical. It can take a very skilled gynae to treat endo if it is there.

If endo is there I do not think a hycopy will bring you any more answers as this will not detect it.

PCO does not cause scarring; the cystic follicles associated with this condition can and do disappear but can recur over time.
Any test result over six months old should now be discounted; you need up to date test results.

I would seriously consider now seeking a second opinion from a specialist gynae consultant.

Good luck to you, be persistant with these people!.

[BeccaBlue]

The website you have sent me is really useful. It certainly resembles many of the symptoms I have been experiencing.

Do you think it could be inside the fallopian tube so the Lap wouldn't pick it up? I wonder if it was Endo was the scarring that he saw not PCO.

I will ask for a second opinion from the fertility clinic as it seems to be quite a common cause of infertility.

Many thanks, talking it though is so valuable! xBB