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Post by loveshoes on May 7, 2012 12:41:57 GMT -5
Hormones are actually dropping prior to your period - progesterone, specifically. Progesterone levels drop off a few days before your period and that's what triggers the bleed. You're right, I meant to say dropping....obviously was distracted when I posted. Sorry about that!
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Post by 1234 on May 7, 2012 14:17:50 GMT -5
From what I've understood, the inflammatory process that endo creates in your body also leads to nausea. I know it does for me--that and pain often have me quite nauseous, or even actively hurling, which is attractive.
It would be interesting to know if your temperature shifted at the same time--that would argue that hormones are involved.
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Post by jessabug on May 7, 2012 15:54:47 GMT -5
Interesting, thanks for the responses gals! Karen, I am on BC, and yes it does take a few days for my period to actually start when I take out my nuvaring. I do happen to also be very sensitive to hormone fluctuations in my body, so if you're right about nausea having to do with hormone shifts, that would make sense to me. Thanks!
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Post by Karen on May 7, 2012 16:19:15 GMT -5
Consider tracking it next month, and see if the nausea correlates to when you stop BC for the month. I'm curious now!
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Post by loveshoes on May 7, 2012 18:03:31 GMT -5
Just wondering why you remove the nuva ring and have a bleed - why not just put another in and do that like continual BCP's? I haven't had a period in over a year now - my gyno said with my endo, that's the best treatment plan for me - just wondering if your plan is different and requires you to have a break?
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Post by jessabug on May 7, 2012 18:28:03 GMT -5
Karen -- will do! Loveshoes -- firstly, I don't think we've met. HI! Secondly, I remove my nuva ring out of choice. For me, leaving it in causes spotting and random cramping. I'd rather bleed and cramp on a clock than have it happen unexpectedly, so I choose to have a regular period. For me, that's a lot less painful than the cramping. Also, at this point my endo is under control so I don't have to stress TOO much about it.. I just need to be on some sort of contraceptive to control the pain that accompanies my presumed potential adeno. I still had quite a bit of pain after my surgery with Dr. Redwine, so he suggested using contraceptives to control it until I am ready to consider a hysterectomy.
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Post by loveshoes on May 7, 2012 19:39:31 GMT -5
Ok, I understand.
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Post by alivenkicking on May 8, 2012 0:51:02 GMT -5
hello again! i've been reading about your ups and downs, and everyone's encouragement, and it's been a nice and comforting thing for me, too. not to hear about your pain, nonononono, i hate that for you; but to see it with a little distance, and recognize that yes, good times do follow bad, and we do make it through the times that feel the toughest. kudos to you, jess, and to your entourage! i love feeling all the love! interesting you recently brought up nausea: that has always been my most debilitating symptom, and i was JUST TODAY given an straight answer by the gastroenterologist i saw for the first time. he said nausea is a response to pain in the body. simple enough, but too simple i thought. so i asked him what about when i feel the nausea before the pain? his response was that i have developed a threshold to much of the pain because i've lived with it for so long, but even though i'm not perceiving it, if the nausea is there, then so is pain. and/or inflammation, like rust said. his example for me was that i had described my pain as deep inside, but was very tender when he palpated my abdomen, saying i've developed a tolerance to it. amen for that, jiminy christmas! in typing it out, it actually sounds confusing...but his confidence was reassuring! yeah, i'm with jenaya - we endo gals are hardcore.
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Post by jessabug on Jul 7, 2012 10:57:16 GMT -5
Wow! That's super cool! I feel bad that I never saw this post.. yes, good times really do follow bad! And sometimes bad times do follow good, but it's made me so much more optimistic even just remembering that first part and reminding myself that "this too shall pass!" I'm actually here to whine over the fact that my I-feel-awesome days appear to be winding to a close. I was high on life about a week ago thinking that I had found my own personal solution -- exercise and healthy eating -- to my pain problem because it had been 3 weeks and ZERO pain OFF birth control, which is the longest I've ever gone so far with results that positive. Then yesterday it all started creeping back, and today I've got my full blown cramps and skewers going (I call it skewers.. I get this piercing pain in my ovaries as though a little gnome is in there squeezing them or poking them or something hahaha). If my calculations are correct, I shouldn't be getting my period for another week. I'm a little down in the dumps over the fact that I hurt this much right now.. especially since I swear this always happens when I need it NOT to happen the most (2 midterms monday, a quiz tuesday, paper wednesday, paper and quiz thursday, and work every single one of those days). I've decided that endo is really lucky that it's not a human being because if it was, I'd take jujitsu classes and then I would attack it in its sleep and make it wish it were dead -- since that's what it does to us all the time!!!
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Post by semicolon on Jul 7, 2012 14:15:51 GMT -5
This might seem too obvious but your life sounds über stressful now- you think it's the pre-cycle plus stress? I'm thinking maybe off the BC your cycle is coming earlier....hoping anyway! I always hope it's a fluke or weird cycle- its the optimist in me.
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Post by painttheseconds on Jul 8, 2012 21:31:20 GMT -5
Thinking of you Jess. Endo pain always comes at the worst times.
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Post by 1234 on Jul 9, 2012 15:15:32 GMT -5
have you considered temping, Jess? I'd be curious if your pain spikes correlate with temp changes, which would mean hormonal changes. And also thinking of Semi's comments--stress definitely makes pain worse, and learning how to manage it without tensing in your body (making more pain) is a challenge. So sorry you're still struggling with this.
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Post by jessabug on Jul 12, 2012 14:01:57 GMT -5
Kristin, I haven't tried that! Maybe I'll do some reading on it and give it a shot. This might sound funny, but I've found I'm hesitant to do things that involve "tracking" my pain, because the hypervigilance tends to get me down in the dumps... it's like I suddenly start living life always waiting for something bad to happen -- not saying that's how it is for those of you who do, but that's how I tend to get. Not the most fun outlook! I would definitley be curious about that, though. And thanks Nicolle I talked to her the other night when I suddenly had HORRIBLE and intense pain that not even the painkillers I have could cut. Unfortunately I just had to tough it out, whimpering in my bed hahah. I'm feeling pretty bad at the moment too, I'm pretty sure I"m going to start my period any day now. Suffice it to say (and much to my chagrin), birth control regimens are my saving grace and I think it's time I just accept that. I was super excited thinking that I could get away without them, but only managed to get through about 2 weeks out of the 4 in the month before my lame old symptoms came back. Another weird thing, I keep trying to remind myself that my endo is gone. You know, like Redwine got everything in there (most likely)... so it just boggles my mind as to what could be doing this. As he suggested, there's a pretty fair chance that I've got adeno, but often times my pain extends all the way up to my ovaries (which are outside the uterus, aren't they? sorry if i'm having an idiot moment) so I don't really understand the connection -- or lack thereof -- there. Any thoughts? Any chance it could just be cysts or adhesions? It's often my left ovary that gives me the most grief (the one that was glued to my pelvic wall), so I'm thinking maybe I've got some adhesions though, or some cysts. The pain there is usually of a piercing type, as though it's gotten tangled up somehow and yanked hard all of a sudden, or as though it's being prodded with something pointy and sharp. Anyone else familiar with this feeling and perhaps have an explanation for it?
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Post by Karen on Jul 12, 2012 14:21:48 GMT -5
Pelvic physical therapy is always my suggestion when surgery doesn't kick the pain. It can make a serious dent in pain and really makes you realize how jacked up things are down there. I swear by it! Even if you can find a massage therapist that does it, totally worth it! Surgery doesn't fix your body's reaction to pain, ppt can totally help.
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Post by jessabug on Jul 12, 2012 14:57:15 GMT -5
Karen, I'm so torn on PPT. I know you're a huge proponent of it, and that you've recommended it to me before.. but I am just such a weenie. I have had so many bad experiences with hands being in my vajay (lol) that I think I struggle quite a bit with getting up the guts to give PPT a shot. I'm really curious about it, but at the same time I feel like when push comes to shove, I just can't get myself to make an appointment
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