Dr wants 15yo dd to consider going on contraceptive pill

[Flamingoose]

I'm uncomfortable about how normal it is for women to start taking a daily hormone adjustment in early teens and to continue with that for the rest of our fertile lives. Is it really a good idea?

Dd has horrendous menstrual cramps. It's only one day a month that is unbearable, but on that day she is barely able to get out of bed. She has missed a day of school every month for about 6 months, and on and off before that. She cries in pain. It's awful. She is not generally one to make a fuss, and she hates missing school.
She has been prescribed very strong painkillers (which have risks of their own, but at least it is only one or two days a month).
The doctor is keen for us to consider dd going on the pill. Dd wants a solution to the pain, but she's not keen to go on the pill.
I have absolutely no moral or silly objection to her going on the pill, but I hesitate to start messing around with her hormones already.
Any thoughts?

I went on the pill at 15 for PCOS. Put on weight uncontrollably, painful enlarged breasts, IBS and constipation and anxiety/depression. I didn't realise at the time this was due to the pill and no doctors ever mentioned these side effects or that it cld be due to the pill. I was on the pill for years before coming off it for an unrelated reason and all these issues almost immediately went away. Even the weight just fell off and the difference in my mood was amazing. maybe I'm just sensitive to hormones. If your daughter does go on it just be away the pill can have severe side effects and definitely keep an eye on this. Its not a completely benign side effect free magic pill.

DD is just 14 and has been prescribed the same after she tried tranexamic acid and mefenamic acid and it made little difference. I'm loathe to start her down this path but she just wants the pain to stop.
I've bought an Oovi to try for her next period (small tens machine) and if that doesn't work, we'll do the pill. I feel then that I've exhausted all alternative options.

@stopthepain my DDs experience has been the opposite - she started her periods age 10, they were every 21-25 days for the first two years but not painful. Her cycle lengthened to 27-31 days but with that has come the debilitating pain on the first day, and it's been like that for 2 years.

1 day a month is enough though if it's making her bed bound. That's not your usual period pain.

Personally it wouldn't take a thread on here for me to way my options up .. I think you have probably pushed your own thoughts onto your DD.

She's old enough to take contraception and may really need it in a couple of years anyway.

I was put on the pill at 15 for similar reasons. Turns out it was endometriosis and the pill masked my symptoms. It was only when I came off the pill it became clear there was an issue.

I went on it at the same age, for the same reasons. Life changing (in a good way) for me.

People talking about the pill “masking” the symptoms of endo are missing the point. The pill is used as a treatment for endo. Being on it isn’t going to affect the diagnosis. It’s a bit like saying “my headache was actually migraine but taking Nurofen masked it”! By all means consider investigations for endo but don’t leave the poor kid in pain every month until the diagnosis is achieved/not! It’s worth keeping in mind that most people with period pain don’t actually have endometriosis.

@Eelicks I went on the pill at 15 for PCOS. Put on weight uncontrollably, painful enlarged breasts, IBS and constipation and anxiety/depression. I didn't realise at the time this was due to the pill

I never gained weight nor did I have enlarged breasts. I’m borderline underweight. However, I had horrific anxiety whilst on Marvelon. I’ve also tried Brevinor and that didn’t stop the heavy bleeding and agonising pain (I also had spotting). I know lots of women who haven’t had side effects. I just seem to be unfortunate. I had endo and I refuse to go back on the pill because it didn’t help.

The pill might help OP’s Dd (I know it’s helped plenty of girls and women). Our bodies are different x

Why do you assume it's for the rest of her life? Her body hasn't matured yet.
She could try The Pill for a few months and see if it helps.

My teen periods were disabling-painful on day 1, like your DD's until I got to university where my new female GP advised three months of hormone treatment (NOT contraceptive) which cured the problem for good. I wish my male GP at home had done that years ago and saved me years of misery.

It worked for me at 14, I haven't been on the pill all my life though. The pain settled down as I got older and I've had plenty of years not taking anything

GP put me on the pill when I was 15 due to horrendous period cramps. It was wonderful to be virtually painfree!

I messed up my A Levels because of a horrendous heavy painful period just at the wrong time - I lost my first choice university place because of that. They were linear A Levels (no coursework) so basically depended on about 2.5 intense weeks of exams.

Yes, long term life worked out for me, but going on the Pill would have saved so much pain and embarrassment when I was a teenager.

As someone who suffered from horrendous vomiting up to 12 times a day with my period I would definitely go for it. It’s medication, it happens to be a contraceptive. I take HRT, most commonly prescribed for menopausal symptoms, I’m in my early 30s and not menopausal.

I was prescribed it in the late 1970's for that very reason - truly unbearable period pains. An alternative might be to ask for a referral to a gynaecologist at the hospital, as there might be other options that her doctor doesn't know about. GPs are not as clued up on menstrual issues as they should be.

Same story for me as a teen and young teacher - agony and virtually haemorrhaging every month. Went everywhere, tried everything until a pharmacist assistant quietly suggested. Ponstan. The trick was to start taking it 2 days before due date so muscle’s didn’t go into spasm in first place. Never looked back. Once I had children (4) the problem disappeared. Oh and don’t forget the hot water bottle

I wish I had done this when I was 15. I suffered like your daughter and by 20 I was also having severe hormonal migraines. The mini-pill made a huge difference to my life.

Mumsnet can be so bloody awesome sometimes. Thank you!
I posted this, went in the shower, got a powercut, and came back 12 hours later to find 90+ messages from all points of view. Thank you everyone who posted. Can't tell you how much I appreciate all points of view. This has really helped me work out my concerns and realise that some are unfounded. The responsibility of helping your own kids when they think you know all the answers can be heavy! I just want the best for her, and I want to feel confident I'm giving her good advice because she trusts me, and ultimately tends to think that I know best (even when I am honest that I don't!).

As most people realised, the fact that it's a contraceptive pill isn't the issue here. If she wanted to go on it for contraceptive reasons I'd support her. The worry is the side effects. Lots of posters saying they had none, which is encouraging. Equally, a fair few posters mentioning depression, numbness and weight gain. I relate very much to the poster who said she didn't really "feel like herself" on the pill. That was my experience and I don't want that for dd.

The women in our family tend to be heavy. I am slim now through permanent effort and exercise. Dd puts on weight easily - she plays a sport that requires 8 hours of training a week so she's fit now, but my gut feeling is that she would be prone to weight gain. I think she would find that hard. I also realise there's only one way to find out, and that if that's the case she can come off it.

I have thought about endometriosis. The GP said that it's:
step 1: pain killers
step 2: contraceptive pill
step 3: consider Mirena (but unsure about that too, tbh)
step 4: investigate endometriosis

She says that as I don't have it and my mum and granny didn't, it's unlikely. She said that it tends to be inherited matrilineally (prob getting terminology wrong here) but google suggests can come from father's side too? Should I get in touch with dh's sister and ask if any family history? I know dh's sister had a hysterectomy quite young due to ongoing issues, but don't know the details.

Has the new site update removed the 'show 100 posts' feature? I miss that for taking in a whole thread. I'm going to go back and read the whole thing again.

The pill doesn't cause weight gain. The big studies show roughly a third gain weight, a third lose and a third stay the same. It's easier to blame the pill than your food intake.........

The pill causes SOME women to gain weight - as your list states. Not all, but some.

That’s the thing with hormonal contraception, isn’t it? It’s so variable how it affects each individual. For some it’s brilliant. For others it’s awful. For me it caused weight gain, headaches, depression, loss of libido, IBS and a TIA. None of which I had before and all of which resolved when I stopped the pill. All of which are known to affect some others, too.

I don’t find it helpful to hear people quote findings from broad-brush population-level studies in terms of absolutes. It’s not helpful to hear a dr saying ‘you WILL find this happens’ or ‘that CAN’T have caused X or Y’, just because a majority of participants of a study didn’t experience that. There isn’t a medicine or treatment in existence that works perfectly 100% of the time. It’s more realistic to talk in terms of what is LIKELY or perhaps Hoped, to be experienced by a patient, with a caveat that not everyone is typical and responses can vary.

Tbf she doesn't need your permission. At 15 she can go get it herself and ask them not to tell you.

What a strange thing to say on a thread where the mum has stated her daughter isn’t keen to use the pill and trusts her mum for advice. Why would she need to do it without her mum knowing? OP isn’t against her daughter taking the pill as such, she just wants the best for her daughter, for her not to be in pain but is concerned about side effects and the effect of taking it from a young age. All normal concerns for a loving parent. My daughter would turn to me for advice and would value my input in this situation too, she wouldn’t want or need to not tell me and it’s clearly not the situation OP is in either.

Has the new site update removed the 'show 100 posts' feature? I miss that for taking in a whole thread. I'm going to go back and read the whole thing again.

If you go to the top of the page, there’s a down arrow on the right hand side. If you click that, then click customise, you can change the number of posts per page.

@Flamingoose the pill doesn’t cause weight gain. I tried different combined pills and they either caused breakthrough bleeding or affected my moods (I have endo though). The mini pill was the best of the bunch. However, most women I know haven’t had side effects from combined or mini pill.

Maybe she could try one for 3 months and if she doesn’t like it then try a different brand?

A few hundred years ago she would already be married and have at least one child, she would spend the rest of her fertile years pregnant or breastfeeding.

In the 1950s she would be looking to be married and pregnant within 5-8 years.

It is only recently that girls and women have had 13 periods a year for 10 years non stop.

I wish I'd been allowed the pill at 15, I'd have missed less school, I wouldn't have been sitting in class unable to think about anything but the pain.

It works both as a contraceptive and to make periods more barable.

I asked the GP if she meant mini-pill and she said no, it would have to be combined because that's the one that alters the hormones. That seems to conflict with what some posters are saying.