Very very painful periods close to passing out

[Hairdresser1988]

Hi. I suffer with terribly painful periods. I have had the pain each month from my very first period. Hasn't got worse it's always been the same. I've tried being on various pills but the pain is no better.
Last nights example:
I woke up about 2am with awful pains, I took a methamic acid tablet as soon as I woke up as I knew I was going to feel terrible.
This normal for me. I come out in terrible hot and cold sweats. The pain is so bad I almost pass out. I have been told I look possessed, I go green and very pail. Sometimes I vomit, but all of the time I need to go to the toilet not diarrhea but I need to go a lot.
My body seems to get taken over by the pain, I can't think straight, I can't have a conversation. Most times I feel like I should be taken to hospital as the pain is so bad. I most often roll around the floor not being able to stand up, it's always best on the cold floor of the bathroom.
I don't suffer with heavy periods or any kind of pain after sex. It's just terrible on the first moment that I properly come on.
I have been to the doctors and specialists but they seem to think there is nothing wrong.

Has anyone suffered like this, or can give me any advise?
Thanks

I suffer like this every month,I had endometriosis a few years ago so out it down to that, you should get your GP to refer you,you shouldn't have to suffer like this good luck!!

Yes, I have endometriosis and my periods were like this until my early forties. You need a gynae referral from your GP - do some research first and ask to be referred to a gynae with a special interest in endometriosis. Not all consultants are completely clued up about the effects of this rotten disease on women's lives, and the devastating pain it can bring.

I would agree with the other respondents. Even before reading their replies on reading your message, my first thought re yourself was endometriosis. I winced in recognition at the rolling around on the floor, I used to do that (I was eventually diagnosed with endo) and feel very much like you currently do as well.

It is a very much underdiagnosed disease.

Endometriosis is usually often only diagnosed through a laparoscopy which is a keyhole surgery type op. My guess is that you have never had such surgery either but probably internal ultrasound scans. If so, these do not detect endometriosis anyway as the deposits are so small.

I would return to the GP asap and insist that you are referred to a consultant gynae at a hospital in the nearest town or city to you. Ideally you need to speak to a gynae with an interest in endo. Also mefanemic acid tablets only try and address the symptoms and come nowhere near actually addressing the cause. Its the cause here that needs to be properly determined.

I would also suggest you keep a daily pain and symptom diary noting levels of pain on a scale of 1-10. This can also give the gynae clues.

You will need to be persistent in order to get answers. DO not put up with this!!!.

www.endo.org.uk is a good website.

Hi thanks!
I have had lots of tests and scans, every time I go to see a specialist or doctor they come to the conclusion that I am fine and I don't have anything that shows that I have endometriosis, they say that I am just "unlucky".
I am going to go back as they offered me a scan through your belly button, but they said they didn't think it was worth it!? But I feel like I should insist!
My nan suffered the same as me until she had children, the doctors say that maybe it's hereditary. But I just need something to help every month as it's just awful how I feel!
Thank you for your responses :-)

Yes, insist on a referral to a gynaecologist for a laparoscopy. I have endometriosis, but it's been kept at bay for 8 years now. I only had a couple of spots on my womb, but they were enough to give me the pain you describe. Mine was diagnosed by a lap.

"I am going to go back as they offered me a scan through your belly button, but they said they didn't think it was worth it!? But I feel like I should insist!"

Yes that is the lap they are describing there. And yes insist on having it done. A caveat here; you need to get a cons gynae surgeon who knows his stuff properly to do this; not just any old gynae.

How can they say you're fine if you are having such pain!. You are not just so called "unlucky" here; there is a definite cause.

As mentioned before, other types of tests and scans DO NOT detect endometriosis if it is there.

Also endo can go down the female line (there can sometimes be an hereditary element) so I was not altogether surprised that your Nan had similarly suffered.

Agree! All 4 of us girls in my immediate family suffered and it looks like my DD is heading down the same route.

I suffered like this for years. Scans always looked fine including the one in the months before laparoscopy. Yet the endometriosis was so bad in places that it couldn't be lasered off in day surgery and I had to go back again and have more cut out very deeply. So to me a clear scan means nothing. Only this surgery through your tummy can say for sure.

You shouldn't put up with this pain. Also perhaps if mine had been treated earlier I might have been able to have a baby naturally.

Having had a baby I can say for me periods could be worse than labour!