@correctiledysfunction are you an hcp?
Because to be honest you sound like one, and you also sound like one of the worse ones.
IUD’s are being hard sold to women with gynae issues WITHOUT Them getting a diagnosis (and therefore knowledge of possible contraindications) first.
In addition women are then having great difficulty in having them voluntarily removed if they don’t help and even if they cause other major symptoms. Imo it’s a hidden national scandal what’s happening with these!
my dr said if after 3 months I didn't like it, he could take it out. many of the women who have reported difficulties in getting it removed had also been similarly reassured BUT when it came to the crunch they were told “no appointments available with the ONE person in the gp surgery qualified to remove it for weeks/months” “just bear with it a little longer” “I’ll prescribe you x y z for the symptom you’re experiencing caused BY the coil but I won’t remove it/yet” “you have to keep it in x length of time” etc etc
@TweeBree - only 2 out of over 100 women I know who’ve had the coil HAVEN’T Had major problems with it. I strongly believe the problems aren’t being reported. These are women all over the Uk, different socio-economic backgrounds etc
Secondly - no there is no 1 cure for endo but the first step to possibly getting a treatment that works is again diagnosis - which can only be achieved with a gynae referral and suitable tests. There ARE treatments both medical and surgical that can and do help a lot.
I have endo myself and have had numerous treatments, some have had no effect, some made things worse and some helped a lot. There are CERTAINLY painkillers more effective than the ones you mentioned (at this point I sincerely hope you’re not an hcp - Wow! Your post at 1454 suggests you are and yet you seem woefully ill informed on something as basic as painkillers!)
Yet so many hcps are ridiculously fatalist about this condition and treat us as if we just have to put up with it and stop complaining!
The one point I do agree with you on is that far too many gps have EXACTLY the same useless approach!
The reason for reluctance to refer to specialists is financial and relates to how gp surgeries are funded. And before a gp comes on and tries to tell me that’s not true - save it! I know the financing is more “nuanced” than that but that’s the bottom line.
Yes you should change gp op, but before you do get “recommendations” from other women you trust and have similar health issues.
Sadly far too few gps are genuinely understanding and supportive even once you have a diagnosis.
I’m lucky at the moment to have a relatively good gp who accepts the diagnosis, accepts what I’ve told her about the treatments that have and haven’t worked for me and works with me to manage it, currently using noriday and tramadol.
Op you deserve and need a referral to gynae, a diagnosis and effective treatment and I wish you great luck in achieving that - it is not easy and you have to be the “squeaky wheel” not least because of the widespread misogyny in Medicine and especially when a woman DARES to experience any kind of even minor mental health aspect to their conditions.
Part of the reason I am on the treatment I am is because me and my then mh hcp noticed I was MUCH worse mh wise pre menstrually.
Given all we know about pregnancy related mental health it utterly baffles me that it is STILL not acknowledged or accepted that it totally makes sense that these set of hormones might mess with our mh at other times!
@bluetonic41 - op hasn’t had her referral, gp said they’d do it then has apparently “forgotten” something I had happen to me several times - it’s appalling behaviour. Also MANY women are reporting horrific issues with hcps and especially gp practices REFUSING to remove coils once placed, there’s numerous threads on here about that, plus there’s been a lot of news articles though it hasn’t made “headlines”. Again myself and others strongly feel the reasons are financial. There are incentives for gps to get women to accept the coil, incentives which are impacted if the woman wants it removed “too soon” and even women who’ve wanted it removed because they want to ttc or are having MAJOR health issues with it have had horrendous experiences. In THEORY it can be removed quickly and easily in practice it’s not happening.
@jinglinghellsbells tagging you re removal issues with coil too, and I too find your posts patronising and dismissive
Seriously - look for threads on here or even google “refusal to remove coil” and you’ll find many stories from women who’ve had absolutely disgraceful treatment on this.
When I was discussing contraceptive options with dd when she was in her first serious relationship I began to mention my discomfort with the coil and I’d barely said anything before she came out and said it was a well known local issue that gp surgeries here pushing it hard, including on young sexually inexperienced girls for whom it’s NOT recommended, but that there are major difficulties getting those same gps to remove them.
Took me 14 years to get a diagnosis and even then it happened by “accident” during the surgery for my 2nd mc. I lost 3 babies and also had ovarian torsion and various other issues, tons of time off school and work sick, that could well have been prevented had the first gp to whom I reported CLASSIC endo symptoms had done the RIGHT thing instead of the easy, cheap thing and instead of prescribing the pill (which helped initially) which merely masked the issue, referred me to gynae to get a proper diagnosis and treatment.
And that was over 30 years ago and women and girls are STILL getting fobbed off and dismissed.
Makes me so angry.
Re the neck stuff op - check as everywhere is different but here we can self refer for physio.
Personally I think we should be able to self refer for everything.
Gps have their place but there are certain things that they simply don’t have the expertise or the authority to deal with and they need to accept that and stop preventing patients from accessing the help they need.
I totally understand your reluctance re the coil and I agree if the hormones made you worse orally then there’s definitely a chance via the coil could also be problematic.
Here’s an interesting thing NONE of the gynaes I’ve been under have been particularly keen for me to use the coil BECAUSE of the endo, I have scar tissue in my womb and one Fallopian tube anyway that’s caused me problems and their concern is the coil might be affected by that or create more scar tissue, which can happen even in healthy patients.
That to me means in my personal opinion all women considering the coil should be checked first for scarring etc
@justasking111 so sorry your Dil is going through that, unfortunately not surprised.
That your problems started from having your child 2 years ago suggests it’s possibly not endo, but also possibly related to the birth? I’m actually quite shocked that possibility hasn’t been investigated! It could be an infection or minor injury that’s been missed. Was it a vaginal or section? If vaginal was it assisted? You don’t have to answer just things to consider.
@emmathedilemma - the pill/coil when a woman has gynae issues doesn’t really treat the cause just the symptoms and for most gynae issues it’s rarely a permanent fix
@vampirebill - pps could post of their experience with the coil being positive WITHOUT being dismissive of ops understandable reluctance
but decided that the doctors had read more than me and had even done study and exams and worked for 30 years so probably knew more than me gp’s receive very little training on gynae issues unless they actively seek it out, I believe (willing to be corrected) that it was even removed as a compulsory part of gp training
GPs get slapped financially for over referring exactly! Which is a disgrace!
This thread is pretty much full of people inc apparently hcps who are equally if not more dismissive and patently unhelpful to patients like the op.
It’s unacceptable, impractical and long term it costs the nhs and the country as a whole MORE to NOT diagnose and treat patients properly.
I missed almost 2 years of work in total, think about how much that cost? Plus the numerous gp appointments, a&e admissions, pointless ultrasounds, even the loads of pregnancy tests even though I was TELLING The relevant hcps I hadn’t been sexually active for over a year on some admissions!
The vast majority of this could have been avoided/prevented if I’d been referred, diagnoses and treated properly when I first presented with the obvious symptoms of endo, certainly it was obvious it was a gynae issue.