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Post by disturbedme on Oct 17, 2011 20:50:27 GMT -5
Redwood - Yes, it has made me sort of crazy with worry... LOL. Which I know is bad for endo too, so it's like AHHH. lol.
I did want to say that I have talked to someone who had an endometrioma and she took birth control and it did shrink her endometrioma and then supposedly it burst (but it was shrunken to small enough that when it burst, she did not feel it or give her adverse reactions). I forget how large she said it was, but I think it was at least medium sized. So that's some hope for not having to ALWAYS have them surgically removed, but I think that, yeah, for the majority of cases, they have to be removed. :-( Which just sucks!!!
I'd also like to know why it seems like some women with endo have more of a propensity to get endometriomas and some do not. There are some women with endo who never get an endometrioma and then there are some who get them a lot. :-\ It's scary!!!
Endo in every way is terrible, but I think endometriomas make endo THAT much worse!
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Post by redwood on Oct 17, 2011 21:02:04 GMT -5
hmm, interesting. When I had my first endometrioma, which was on my ovary, the symptoms started when I began taking the pill again. I had stopped for 1.5 years. I had no ovary pain before that and after I started the pill, I had monthly ovary pain which got worse by the end of a year. So I don't know if it shrank it or what, but I never even knew it was there until I started taking the pill again (well I found out I had a cyst a year later). That was a combo pill though, so I'm not sure if the progesterone alone is better for that. One thing I must say is that I never had endo until I stopped taking the pill. I took it for 17 years of my life and endo was not in my life until I had stopped for 1.5 years only. I really have no idea if it prevented me from having it or if I just got it at age 37. But I had no history or symptoms of it earlier. After that first surgery, the doc didn't think I needed to take the pill again for preventative reasons. And then unlucky me, I got one in my liver then two and a half years later.
It seems bad if an endometrioma ruptures to me as then the endo tissue is spreading everywhere instead of staying inside the cyst, so that would be a bad thing to happen.
I'm not so sure that "regular" endo is better than an endometrioma as then it's out there in the open and not encased in a cyst. perhaps more likely to spread? just guessing.... all of it is bad. I'm so sick of it! I did have some regular endo on my colon too, that was removed when the last endometrioma was removed. I don't think it was a lot though.
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Post by disturbedme on Jan 20, 2012 23:02:07 GMT -5
Just wanted to update to say I am now taking Camila (the brand name is Micronor). I'm only on day two, but so far so good. I really hope it stays that way. I am hoping and praying for no bleeding/spotting and no other side effects/symptoms.
I did progesterone cream for a while and it helped noticeably with my pain and a few other symptoms, I am just so sick and tired of having a period that I wanted something that could possibly stop me from having a period for a year or two--or longer. The cream did help my menstrual cramps a lot, but I still had some pain and the pain that I did have was unpredictable. The one cycle that I used the cream, my period wasn't very painful, etc. But then this time, the pain the one day was so intense I felt like I was going to vomit and faint, etc. I was so close to just going to the ER because the pain was that bad. I am sick of dealing with that every month! :-( So here's to hoping this helps!
I was wondering if anyone is taking Micronor now or is going to start? We can share our progress since I just started.
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Post by redwood on Jan 23, 2012 18:10:37 GMT -5
Good luck with the Micronor. I may consider it if the next few things I try don't work (although in the past it gave me a period every two weeks, so it might not have been strong enough to knock out my period completely). Switching from troches to cream (bio-identicals) just made it all so much worse, so I'm not going to continue with the cream (tried two different doses also). I will try oral progesterone before giving up on bio-identicals. If it doesn't work, then I may look into that new one that is now available in Canada (but not the USA yet). Visanne or something like that - there's a thread on it in this section (I think brussie posted it). I feel like I'd like to not have a period too. Although that didn't happen to me while taking the mini-pill, but it may happen to you. I heard that can happen to some people, esp. after taking it a while (I tried it for 6 months as you may remember from previous posts). I've also considered the nuva ring too. I like that it's not a pill. Wish they had that in just progestin. Estrogen pills give me migraines, but maybe that wouldn't.
Will be interested to see how it works for you. I hope it helps you.
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jtean
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Post by jtean on Feb 6, 2012 20:09:03 GMT -5
haha, disturbedme, we already have so many similarities in our story, and my doctor just prescribed me micronor too! I don't want to do birth control that contains estrogen, because my mother and grandmother both died of breast cancer, and i know there have been studies that link estrogen birth control with that. I haven't started taking the micronor yet, because they were out of it at the pharmacy, but I'm excited/ scared to see what happens. I apparently had 4 endometriomas on my right ovary!! Three growing inside, and one big one outside. I barely have any ovary left on that side, so hopefully this stuff works, and it doesn't get taken over by more endometriomas
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jtean
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Post by jtean on Feb 17, 2012 15:28:09 GMT -5
well, i've only been on this for a week, and so far i've had no nausea like with nuvaring, but it's day 7 and i'm STILL on my period. I know that is normal for some people, but I've never had a period this long in my whole life...
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Post by redwood on Feb 17, 2012 16:14:56 GMT -5
when I took micronor back in 2007. The first period I had (and I started it on the first day of period) lasted 10 days (normally they were 5 days). But after that first month, that didn't happen anymore. Although, as I mentioned in my previous posts on this subject, I had a mini-period every two weeks after that for 6 months. Hopefully that doesn't happen to you too.
I am also just starting on a progestin-only pill, Visanne, and there's a thread in this category on it too, if you want to follow that. I'm curious to see if it behaves differently from the micronor. I think it might be a bit stronger, based on what my dr. said. It's actually NOT a birth control pill, but has been tested only as a treatment for endo. Probably it has a similar birth control effect as pills like micronor, but because it wasn't tested as that, it's not prescribed as such. It's not available in the USA yet though, and just became available in Canada a few months ago and has been available in Europe for a few years (although not in the UK, from what I understand).
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Post by disturbedme on Feb 18, 2012 12:01:14 GMT -5
I thought I should update how I'm doing with Camila (Micronor).
I've been happy with it so far. I just started the second pack of it. I've been on it for almost a month or so. I started it last cycle before I ovulated and it seemed to make me ovulate -- which I guess isn't THAT surprising since it is a fake progesterone and that is what progesterone does... makes you ovulate. So anyway, two weeks later, I got my period, but it was a MUCH nicer period. Not as heavy and barely any clots. My natural period I have so many clots, it's horrible. This period though, was really nice. I could wear only a pad to bed and not worry about getting blood all over the sheets because the flow was much less. I flowed for my usual three days, and then spotted for almost a week and a half, which isn't normal. I usually only spotted for two days and then it would stop, but the spotting to me is no big deal because it was only spotting and not very much.
In the last few days, I've stopped spotting but now my breasts hurt again like I've ovulated (my breasts always get tender after I've ovulated -- been that way since I was 12). Not sure if I've ovulated because my basal temp in the morning hasn't been consistently high like it should be if I ovulated. Not sure if I ovulated this time or not or if my breasts just hurt because I've heard that can happen with this BC. So we'll see.
So far I like the Camila.
jtean - how are you doing? I've read many, many reviews of Camila/Micronor. Some people have a lot of bleeding before it gets better. Some people have a ton of spotting, etc. It's different for everyone. Some people said they bled for a long time but then it eventually stopped and they stopped having a period for a while. Which is really what my goal was with this BC -- was to stop having a period for a few months or longer. I know that supposedly the estrogen and progestin BC are better at stopping a period, but I refuse to take estrogen. :-\
Hope things look up for you, jtean. I hope the Micronor starts treating you better. :-)
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Post by redwood on Feb 18, 2012 14:16:47 GMT -5
yeah, that sounds like what happened to me the first month. I had a really long period, like 10 days, but it was light and the end part was just spotting. it wasn't like that in the following months. It was more like 3-4 days of spotting/light period. My breasts hurt also (and swelled up), but it was more like all the time the first few months, worse the first month. I can't remember when that calmed down. I also heard that some women's periods stop, but mine didn't (after taking it 6 months). I hope my period will stop on the Visanne drug I am taking now, but since it's progestin also, it also has the tendency to cause spotting and bleeding any old time.
yeah, I don't want to take estrogen either. it gives me migraines.
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jtean
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Post by jtean on Feb 20, 2012 22:28:55 GMT -5
well, i'm pretty sure my period is finally over with, though i'm still having very very light spotting. I also feel sort of bloated, but those are the only side effects i've experienced so far.
My ovaries have been hurting a lot (they had a lot of work done to them during the surgery, so not surprised), and I still have a lot of inflammation and joint pain, so it's hard to tell if anything is happening with the pill so far. I guess it usually takes a month to notice anything anyway.
One thing that worried/ confused me, is i read that this pill can actually cause ovarian cysts? I already suffer from painful ovulation/ bursting functional cysts (aside from my endometrioma cysts), and i thought that birth control helped that, so that information was a little confusing...
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Post by redwood on Feb 21, 2012 1:21:01 GMT -5
it's the progestin only pills that seem to cause functional ovarian cysts. I didn't notice anything when I took it before, although I vaguely remember some cramping (nothing major though). I was getting those cysts while I was on bio-identical progesterone too, so maybe it's just a progesterone thing. They didn't hurt me or give me symptoms though, but were seen on ultrasound and MRI in different months. Each time, they disappeared later.
It's the combination pills with estrogen that prevent cysts from forming as then you don't ovulate at all. I think I read that about 50% of women don't ovulate on the mini-pill, so if you don't, then you won't get the cysts.
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Post by redwood on Feb 21, 2012 1:40:16 GMT -5
oh, here is where I read about the 50%: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progestogen_only_pillmicronor is low dose, at least that is what my dr. said. seems like it's a better bet not to ovulate if you take cerazette (which is mentioned in the article). haven't heard of that one before. the one I am taking is a higher dose (probably medium is my guess) and it says it inhibits ovulation (doesn't give a percentage). but we shall see that happens. but yeah, it'll be a month probably before you'll be able to tell how it's working for you. I'm impatient with mine too, esp. since I still have pain (not a huge amount but it's still not gone) from my last cycle and I'm on day 11. the first month can be funky too, so it's hard to judge just from that. I remember when I started taking the natural progesterone and my pain was worse the first month (although my period was really light), which was really disappointing.
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jtean
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Post by jtean on Feb 22, 2012 14:43:55 GMT -5
Ughhh, does the cyst making go away after awhile, do you think? I definitely have one on my left ovary right now (my cysts always give me the same pain/pressure symptoms)
I guess i will wait it out. I'm at least happy that i have no nausea or weird moodiness like with combined bc.
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Post by redwood on Feb 22, 2012 17:42:21 GMT -5
I really don't know the answer to that question. I think it depends on someone's body as to whether or not they'll ovulate on it. I just know what I read about online and that's it. Actually, I realized that I didn't take micronor before, it was called Nora-be. BUT, it was the same progestin as micronor and the same amount, so I'm assuming it would be the same.
My guess is that it would be less likely that you would ovulate after you have been taking it a while and that it might happen in the beginning.
By the way, did you read the other thread on Micronor that is in this category? It's quite old, but it seems that one person had long term (a year) luck with it.
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jtean
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Post by jtean on Feb 23, 2012 13:48:06 GMT -5
Mine is also not called Micronor, it's Errin, which i'm guessing is just generic micronor.
The other thread definitely gives me some hope!
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