Tuesday 13 January 2015

Flicking the Hormone Switch

Dr V kind of gave me 'the doctor look' when I went to see her in late November.  Endo girls, you'll know what I mean.  The look a doctor gives you when you keep going back to see them and you're still in pain and yet, they sit there and the look on their face says 'now what am I going to do with you.'

Each time I go to see her, she keeps on reminding me that "you only have mild endometriosis." 

This is true in one sense, as there was more Endometriosis present at my diagnostic laparoscopy (performed by a different Gynaecologist ) than there was when she went back in 8 weeks later to remove it.  I know, strange but true! However there was also more Endo found during my third surgery another month after that.  Overall, my level of Endometriosis is about Stage 2.

Dr V tells me that I only have "mild Endometriosis" in her opinion and I respect that.  I'm sure she sees much more severe cases every day in hospital and clinic.  Bearing in mind though, there's no correlation between the amount of Endo found and the amount of symptoms you may experience.

Now, to the Pill...

So, I've been on a contraceptive pill for just over 6 weeks now, as Dr V put me on it back to back (skipping the sugar pills) when I last went to see her.  Trying this to see if it helps the severe pain I was in every waking minute.

Yes, it has helped with the pain quite a bit, to the point where I'm now only in pain 2 - 6 hours per day, instead of every waking minute.  This is really nice, as it is giving my body a break from being in pain every day since December 2013!

However, as much as it's nice to have less pain, I've begun to wonder...

+ Will I have to be on the Pill long term (I'm talking years here) just to keep my pain under control so that I can function?

+ How long will the Pill be able to control whatever is happening on the inside for?

Bearing in mind here that I have Endometriosis, Adenomyosis and a questionable misbehaving right ovary!

+ What will have to happen when, like another Endo girls experience, the Pain starts to get really bad again while I'm still taking the Pill? 

+ Then, when my only weapon in the Endo battle (the Pill) has failed me, what then? 

All these questions that I have no answers for.  Endo is such an unknown quantity that it's impossible to predict what will happen tomorrow, let alone in 6 or 12 months time!

Off to see Dr V on the 23rd, so will listen to what she has to say about all of this.

In the meantime, now that I have got all the thoughts swimming around in my head written down here, it's time to stop asking myself questions I can't answer and just focus on one day at a time. ⌚

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