advice about excruciating periods/sickness anyone?

[piratecat]

hi just posting on behalf of soemone i know. She has always had irregular periods, and has always had a feeling she was infertile. She's in late 30's, and when with one bf for 5 yrs they were sort of tryin (about 8 yrs back) and she never got pg. When she looks back at the whole pictue, combined with these awful periods she thinks it couldbe linked.

They literally floor her, and make her be sick with the pain. Sometimes she'll have a 'normal' one, and as her periods are farily irregualr, she will get a normal one and then put off going to the gp.

I have now persuaded her, and she is also facing up to it that she wil ahve to go to the gp, but i was was wondering if any one has any experience of this.

Doesn't help with her mum sometimes saying things about procedures, that ok may have been the first port of call in 1972, but not now iyswim. She is scared of going to the doctor, and a recnet smear was very truamatic and painful.

thanks

Could be fibroids. If they are big a gp my be able feel externally, could also be ovarian cysts (I had mine diagnosed with a scan exactly the same as with a baby).

The Gp will be they best person to reassure her - I would think in most cases a scan would be done first before anything else!

yes!! i said, they would firstly do a scan, wether outward or maybe inward, like i had when they tested me for infertility.

She just needed a bit od reassurance that noone was gonna grab her and do a (as she said it) 'DNA' on her.

silly mare !!!!

could be endometriosis. I get these symptoms too... one reasonable month, one awful month. It does affect fertility too apparently.

emma have you been to gp?

I went to a gynaecologist, but she is not a very good one it turns out. She thought it might be endometriosis and suggested Voltarol for the pain and then she dropped the subject. That was the end of the consultation!

I know how they look for it though and at least for the first stage your friend should not be afraid because it is just a painless ultrasound. If they find endometriosis then being on the pill (so no real periods) seems to be the preferred option. If that doesn't work then it is an op to remove the affected tissue.

and has it improved for you? do you think you'll go back to someone else? I saw a gynae once who was really rubbish too, and i felt that i had not been listened too at all.

It does sound as if your friend may need a laparoscopy. My understanding is that an ultrasound scan will not detect endometriosis although it may show up any cysts.

After numerous trips to the doctors for period pain and countless different types of medication which didn't help in the slightest, I finally had a laparoscopy last week. Turns out I have very serious endometriosis and am now on a suitable course of treatment. The thing is they have no way of knowing if it is severe until they do the laparoscopy.

A laparoscopy is an op under general anaesthetic so it does have an associated reovery period, but may hopefully resolve the underlying problems.