Post by bridgetf on May 29, 2013 16:59:35 GMT -5
Hi I'm a 22 year old American originally from Philadelphia living in Dublin. I've been living in Ireland for the past 4 years. I have been suffering from "spasmodic dysmenorrhea" since I was 13 years old. I am now convinced I'm actually suffering from endometriosis. Every few months I used to get horribly painful cramps that used to keep me home from school. I was seen by a doctor when I was 15 who put me on a low-hormone birth control pill. When that didn't seem to help I was put on a higher dose of hormones when I was 16. At 18 I had an especially painful month and my grandparents rushed me to the emergency room- in fear that something was wrong. There they gave me an internal ultrasound and discharged me with a referral to a gynecologist. The gynecologist told me that they could find nothing abnormal from the ultrasound- and basically told me that I was being a baby and to take pain killers the day before my period starts and I should be fine- HA! By 19 I had been on several different types of birth control, including the 'Deprovera' shot. It did not seem to help me and I had had enough of the severe side effects I was experiencing and decided to go off of them completely. Within a few months I felt like a different person. I was actually able to control my emotions and my life began to really improve. I still had the cramps I had before, but it was still only every few months. I had sworn never again to burden myself with those artificial hormones.
Almost exactly a year after I had gone off the birth control pills I had a period that would change the course of my life until this day. The cramps came and they were like nothing I had ever experienced before. Any period before this seemed like child's play compared to what I was feeling. I couldn't move, and I couldn't even cry- it was just too painful. Luckily I was living with my mother at the time in Galway, Ireland where codeine is available over the counter. It took me three codeine and ibuprofen pills to calm the beast, despite how sick they made me feel. Every single month since then to this day it has gotten progressively worse with new symptoms.
I had gone from what I thought were severe cramps every few months to actual SEVERE cramps every single month without fail. Now present day, I get pains randomly throughout the month sometimes, and cramps days before I even start my period. Then when my period does come they always seem worse than the last month- and in the past 6 months I have developed an entirely new symptom. I now get a white hot sharp lightning bolt nerve type pain that shoots up my rectum/uterus randomly (especially when I bear down to urinate or have a bowel movement) during the first 3 days of my period when the cramps are at their worst. I have also noticed my period's are beginning to become more irregular. My last period was 11 days late but my period before that was a normal 28 day cycle, and a few months before that I had a 23 day cycle. It fluctuates greatly at times but mostly it's right on time though I feel that is starting to change.
Needless to say this has disrupted my life to a degree I could have never fathomed. I have been let go of several different jobs because I have to call out too frequently. I was working as a waitress in fine dining and it was just too physically and mentally stressful for me to cope with going into work all drugged up and still in pain. I have been unemployed for the past 9 months because I am unable to find a better suited less physical office type job because of my lack of experience in that field. And my Husband is at the end of his rope trying to help me cope with it. I can tell he's terrified by what he has to witness me go through every month and there is little he can do to help me. It's also not something I openly want to discuss with some family and friends as it's quite embarrassing and I find myself struggling to come up with different lies and excuses as to why I have to cancel plans with them suddenly.
As money is very tight for us at the moment, my husband and I are unable to afford Private health insurance so we are relying on Ireland's public health care system which is free but very restrictive and requires long waiting lists to see a specialist. After waiting a long time for an appointment I started seeing a gynecologist a few weeks ago after another emergency room visit prompted to move up my appointment. The first doctor I saw was very cold, and gave me the impression she did not want to listen to me or my past history at all. She examined me internally- told me she could feel nothing out of place and prescribed me 'Yaz' despite me telling her I was very uncomfortable taking it, and advised me to keep using the pain killer 'Ponstan' that I was prescribed in the emergency room that I'm told is just a very strong form of ibuprofen. Like I said before, my period came 11 days late after that appointment and it came with a vengeance. Even after doubling up on the 'Ponstan' it did very little to ease the pain and I had to wait in absolute agony for the 'Ponstan' to leave my system before I could take my usual codeine and Ibuprofen - Brand name = 'Nurofen Plus'.
After my last period and the failure of the pain killers that they had promised me would work I called back to schedule a second opinion. I was told they didn't "do second opinions" but they would let me see another junior doctor if I insisted. I did. I had my second appointment two days ago and I was greeted with the same disregard and disrespect. The junior doctor didn't know what to do with me and called in one of the senior doctors. She argued with me for awhile and tried to convince me my reasoning for not wanting to take the 'Yaz' was absurd- and tried to tell me the reason the 'Ponstan' didn't work was because I did not take it correctly. I finally stuck up for myself and insisted I absolutely did use it correctly and there was nothing she could say that could make me take the 'Yaz'. She then asked me in a very patronizing tone "well, what do YOU want us to do?" I told her I'm not a doctor, but I had been down this road with taking birth control and masking the pain with pain killers and it caused me more problems than it solved. I also worry for my future fertility, which I was told by the previous doctor to ignore until I was actually failing to get pregnant for at least a year. Which I found absolutely ridiculous and absurd. I told the doctor I have suspected endometriosis for quite some time and I am convinced by the research that I have done- that this is my problem. I had been told by previous doctors over the years who had been prescribing me the birth control that the only option left for them to do was to go in for the laparoscopy because it is the only way to be sure I actually have it. The first doctor I had seen a few weeks ago told me that If I went down that route- I would need to repeat the surgery every two years after the initial surgery and I am too young to start doing that. The doctor I spoke to yesterday told me she doesn't whisk every patient she has with bad cramps into the operating theater to diagnose endometriosis. After I had asked her about possibly trying all natural bio-identical progesterone cream to correct the hormone imbalance that we suspect might be the cause of all of this IF it is endometriosis she literally laughed at me and jokingly asked me where these women I have read about on the internet apply this cream that she implied was as useful as hippy crystals although she had never even heard of it! In short she told me they do not have or use this cream in Ireland and she wrote me a prescription for 'Provera' 10 mg oral pill for 60 days to take consecutively and told me she wants to see me back in 4 months time. She told me If I responded to the pill at all she would have a better idea if It was endometriosis and maybe then we could discuss going in for the laparoscopy. As far as pain relief goes she told me to keep using the over the counter codeine for the pain relief even though it makes me sick and I was shooed out of the office.
So here I am, feeling very depressed, alone, and confused. I do not want to take the 'Provera' that was prescribed to me because I feel it will do more harm than good. I am very curious about using the all natural progesterone cream and my husband and I have looked into spending what little money we have ordering it and using that instead of the pill she told me to take. After the way I was treated I'm not sure I even want to go back for that 4 month check up, but since I am on the public health system I don't think I have any other options for treatment. If someone could please advise me on what course of action you think I should take? Has anyone experienced anything similar? Any success stories using the progesterone cream? Please help!!
Thank you for reading my long winded explanation of my story. I apologize I wasn't able to sufficiently summarize.
- Bridget.
Almost exactly a year after I had gone off the birth control pills I had a period that would change the course of my life until this day. The cramps came and they were like nothing I had ever experienced before. Any period before this seemed like child's play compared to what I was feeling. I couldn't move, and I couldn't even cry- it was just too painful. Luckily I was living with my mother at the time in Galway, Ireland where codeine is available over the counter. It took me three codeine and ibuprofen pills to calm the beast, despite how sick they made me feel. Every single month since then to this day it has gotten progressively worse with new symptoms.
I had gone from what I thought were severe cramps every few months to actual SEVERE cramps every single month without fail. Now present day, I get pains randomly throughout the month sometimes, and cramps days before I even start my period. Then when my period does come they always seem worse than the last month- and in the past 6 months I have developed an entirely new symptom. I now get a white hot sharp lightning bolt nerve type pain that shoots up my rectum/uterus randomly (especially when I bear down to urinate or have a bowel movement) during the first 3 days of my period when the cramps are at their worst. I have also noticed my period's are beginning to become more irregular. My last period was 11 days late but my period before that was a normal 28 day cycle, and a few months before that I had a 23 day cycle. It fluctuates greatly at times but mostly it's right on time though I feel that is starting to change.
Needless to say this has disrupted my life to a degree I could have never fathomed. I have been let go of several different jobs because I have to call out too frequently. I was working as a waitress in fine dining and it was just too physically and mentally stressful for me to cope with going into work all drugged up and still in pain. I have been unemployed for the past 9 months because I am unable to find a better suited less physical office type job because of my lack of experience in that field. And my Husband is at the end of his rope trying to help me cope with it. I can tell he's terrified by what he has to witness me go through every month and there is little he can do to help me. It's also not something I openly want to discuss with some family and friends as it's quite embarrassing and I find myself struggling to come up with different lies and excuses as to why I have to cancel plans with them suddenly.
As money is very tight for us at the moment, my husband and I are unable to afford Private health insurance so we are relying on Ireland's public health care system which is free but very restrictive and requires long waiting lists to see a specialist. After waiting a long time for an appointment I started seeing a gynecologist a few weeks ago after another emergency room visit prompted to move up my appointment. The first doctor I saw was very cold, and gave me the impression she did not want to listen to me or my past history at all. She examined me internally- told me she could feel nothing out of place and prescribed me 'Yaz' despite me telling her I was very uncomfortable taking it, and advised me to keep using the pain killer 'Ponstan' that I was prescribed in the emergency room that I'm told is just a very strong form of ibuprofen. Like I said before, my period came 11 days late after that appointment and it came with a vengeance. Even after doubling up on the 'Ponstan' it did very little to ease the pain and I had to wait in absolute agony for the 'Ponstan' to leave my system before I could take my usual codeine and Ibuprofen - Brand name = 'Nurofen Plus'.
After my last period and the failure of the pain killers that they had promised me would work I called back to schedule a second opinion. I was told they didn't "do second opinions" but they would let me see another junior doctor if I insisted. I did. I had my second appointment two days ago and I was greeted with the same disregard and disrespect. The junior doctor didn't know what to do with me and called in one of the senior doctors. She argued with me for awhile and tried to convince me my reasoning for not wanting to take the 'Yaz' was absurd- and tried to tell me the reason the 'Ponstan' didn't work was because I did not take it correctly. I finally stuck up for myself and insisted I absolutely did use it correctly and there was nothing she could say that could make me take the 'Yaz'. She then asked me in a very patronizing tone "well, what do YOU want us to do?" I told her I'm not a doctor, but I had been down this road with taking birth control and masking the pain with pain killers and it caused me more problems than it solved. I also worry for my future fertility, which I was told by the previous doctor to ignore until I was actually failing to get pregnant for at least a year. Which I found absolutely ridiculous and absurd. I told the doctor I have suspected endometriosis for quite some time and I am convinced by the research that I have done- that this is my problem. I had been told by previous doctors over the years who had been prescribing me the birth control that the only option left for them to do was to go in for the laparoscopy because it is the only way to be sure I actually have it. The first doctor I had seen a few weeks ago told me that If I went down that route- I would need to repeat the surgery every two years after the initial surgery and I am too young to start doing that. The doctor I spoke to yesterday told me she doesn't whisk every patient she has with bad cramps into the operating theater to diagnose endometriosis. After I had asked her about possibly trying all natural bio-identical progesterone cream to correct the hormone imbalance that we suspect might be the cause of all of this IF it is endometriosis she literally laughed at me and jokingly asked me where these women I have read about on the internet apply this cream that she implied was as useful as hippy crystals although she had never even heard of it! In short she told me they do not have or use this cream in Ireland and she wrote me a prescription for 'Provera' 10 mg oral pill for 60 days to take consecutively and told me she wants to see me back in 4 months time. She told me If I responded to the pill at all she would have a better idea if It was endometriosis and maybe then we could discuss going in for the laparoscopy. As far as pain relief goes she told me to keep using the over the counter codeine for the pain relief even though it makes me sick and I was shooed out of the office.
So here I am, feeling very depressed, alone, and confused. I do not want to take the 'Provera' that was prescribed to me because I feel it will do more harm than good. I am very curious about using the all natural progesterone cream and my husband and I have looked into spending what little money we have ordering it and using that instead of the pill she told me to take. After the way I was treated I'm not sure I even want to go back for that 4 month check up, but since I am on the public health system I don't think I have any other options for treatment. If someone could please advise me on what course of action you think I should take? Has anyone experienced anything similar? Any success stories using the progesterone cream? Please help!!
Thank you for reading my long winded explanation of my story. I apologize I wasn't able to sufficiently summarize.
- Bridget.