Medical menopause and endo

[Lostandtired1]

I saw a gynae consultant yesterday she highly suspects from my symptoms I have endo. Plus I had an ectopic about ten years ago and when they removed my tube and ovary it was covered in scarring. She doesn't want to do a laparoscopy to confirm as she said it will only cause more scar tissue.

She has suggested medical induced menopause for six months with breaks for three months after every six months of injections and carry on like this until I go into natural menopause (I'm 41). Also
to start HRT on the second round. So I imagine the first six months will be pretty rough.

I'm happy to try this to help with my seriously heavy painful periods and severe pmt.

I'm really just seeking anyone who has had a positive experience with this route? As I am highly anxious about it but I am going to go for it.

Hey.

I had similar.
They wanted to remove my ovaries due to family history of ovarian and breast cancer but due to my age they gave me prostap injections and HRT to try. The postal injections put my ovaries to sleep so they could see how removing them and starting HRT would affect me.
I had no issues on either.

Hope that helps.

Have you tried the less aggressive meds first? I am unsure of what you have tried in the past.

So usually it goes combined pill to control the hormone levels,
or Mirena coil (contains progesterone) which you may or may not want
Progesterone pill (Provera, Primolut, Duphaston)
Depo-Provera which is an injection

Then they usually move onto GnRh analogues or chemical menopause. I did it at 27 but my endo was described as "aggressive" and I had a lot of scar tissue and they wanted to try to give my body a break for 6 months to heal. The chemical menopause is no picnic, I also had HRT right from the start and suffered mood swings and hot flushes. I am now 47.

It did work for a time but the second I stopped the endo came back again but I hadn't had children so the decision was made to try for a baby as I had run the gauntlet of all the meds, the chemical menopause plus surgery.

The repeat cycle of these drugs needs to be monitored very carefully, they are only supposed to use it for 6 months at a time due to the side effects and most importantly bone thinning. Hence the 6 months on then a break.

If you haven't already discovered www.endometriosis-uk.org/ it is a great site.

@NotATreacleTart

Thank you, I've had the coil but had to take it out after 7/8 months as it effected my mental health badly. When I initially went about my symptoms to the GP they said I was told old for the pill, and as I say I couldn't cope with the mirena.

Yesterday at my appointment the consultant said it was either this or hysterectomy which she was not happy to do and I don't want to either if I can help it.

I am slightly concerned about her saying I cannot start on HRT until the second round due to the osteoporosis aspect.

@Justwingingit2005 thank you that is good to know!

@NotATreacleTart

If you haven't already discovered www.endometriosis-uk.org/ it is a great site.

Yes I've been researching everything. Thank you though.

I feel like it's a choice between hell and purgatory

My GP prescribed naproxen for the pain which does Zilch! They have been terrible every time I've been and I had to fight for the consultant appointment

@Lostandtired1 it literally is a shit decision. I would be asking for stronger or different pain meds just because this is not how to live. The only thing that helped me was codeine but then they had to prescribe another drug to counter the side effects of that. It usually is a case of try it all and see.

I think given the whole age and pill and increased risks, your reaction to mirena which also stops the whole progesterone pill I don't see how you really have much of a choice. NHS wise they are reluctant to perform the laparoscopy due to cost and the risk of adhesions from the incisions. I did have that to confirm diagnosis but by then I was on Dh's private health insurance and a miracle, I could have a laser lap and dye.

But I did overhaul my diet, not too drastically but cut down on stuff that feeds into it, took natural supplements etc to do as much as I could for my body.

We shouldn't have to fight like this to get sorted. I don't know whether it would be better to post this in Women's Health rather than here just due to the endo part. There are several of us who have endo and post. I name change regularly so I will be on there just under a different user name.

Thank you so much @NotATreacleTart

I will try posting it there.

It's going to be a couple of weeks before I get called in for my injection so I have time to think if it's what I really want.

I've already started today in the best diet for menopause and ordered some vitamins etc and stepped up the exercise to give me a fighting chance

@Lostandtired1 all I'd say is there are often as many opinions on treating endo as their are drs.

I think in your case I'd shop around and get 2nd and 3rd opinions.

If you can access private appts, there are several really expert gynaes on endo in London and most likely in other cities. They'd give an opinion even if you reverted back to the NHS for surgery or ongoing treatment.

I'm not sure how effective hrt is if it's used for a few months at a time for 10 years (till you are 51) in helping your bones. It will mean you still get only 50% of the estrogen you ought to have.

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