Re: For those for whom birth control pills failed to help your endo...
From: amy (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sat May 11 13:22:20 2002
THanks Wendy for your story - from the anecdotal evidence I've gotten it
seems that the pain is more strongly associated with estrogen hormone
levels then with the size of cysts. Also, I am seeing a lot of cysts
increase in size with bc's that have estrogen in them. GREAT. Hope you
are doing well now - I've been off bc's for 4 months and after the first
two months of it slowly getting out of my system I am back to the
manageable pain I had before I went on them - EVEN THOUGH my 7cc cyst
has NOT decreased in size at all.
thanks again,
amy
At Sat, 11 May 2002, Wendy wrote:
>
>I had a similar experience with two different types of BCP. In both
>instances, my doctor wanted to try it for 6 months but the first time we
>gave up after 6 weeks because it so obviously wasn't working and a
>laparotomy was done. The second time was after a 6-month course of
>Lupron. Again, we gave up after a month due to incredible pain,
>non-stop bleeding and extreme depression. The ultrasound showed that my
>ovary had enlarged to about 10 cm (this after a previous one had shown
>it to be smaller). I'm now back on a second course of Lupron and am
>taking Progesteron pills instead- so far, so good (except for elevating
>my hot flashes). The ovary is still enlarged but pain is better
>managed. I definitely had more pain while on the BCPs and must say I
>have an incredible doctor whose atitude is "if it causes you more pain,
>then let's try something different because you are already having a
>tough enough time as it is!"
>Good luck.
>
>At Wed, 8 May 2002, amy wrote:
>>
>>I'm trying to gather as much info as possible from people that this has
>>happened to... would you be willing to tell me your story in more
>>detail? Anyone with stories please send them to amybeacom@yahoo.com -
>>thanks so much for sharing,
>>warmly,
>>amy
>>
>>At Wed, 8 May 2002, anonymous wrote:
>>>
>>>Amy:
>>>Just wanted to say that the exact same thing happened to me -- bc pills
>>>definitely played a role in flaring my endo.
>>>
>>>At Tue, 7 May 2002, amy wrote:
>>>>
>>>>I don't know what pill you are on - but MAKE SURE it does not have
>>>>estrogen in it. I was on ortho-cyclen and it made my pain so
>>>>unbelievably dreadful that I couldn't function... they kept saying
>>>>"give it another month. at the 5th month I said this is insane and they
>>>>finally did an ultrasound to find that an endometioma had grown to 8cc
>>>>on my right ovary. The doctor suspects it was the estrogen from the
>>>>pill. I went off the pill 3 months ago and each month have been in less
>>>>pain. Unfortunately the cyst has not decreased in size and I have had
>>>>to schedule surgery for next month... I note this because I have seen
>>>>lots of research that indicates it might be the hormones that cause the
>>>>pain rather than the actual size etc. of the endo... this rings true
>>>>for me because my pain has diminished DRAMATICALLY while my cyst has
>>>>stayed the same size. Good luck!
>>>>amy
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>>
>>>>>From:
>>>>>To: Multiple
>>>>>recipients of list ENDO
>>>>>
>>>>>Sent: 5/3/2002 1:18:10 PM
>>>>>
>>>>>Subject: For those for whom birth control
>>>>>pills failed to help your endo...
>>>>>
>>>>>I'm just wondering at what point you decided that they weren't
>>>>>working
>>>>>
>>>>>for you and when to ask your doctor for something else. I am
>>>>>completing
>>>>>
>>>>>month two of my second type of birth control pill. Everything I
>>>>>see and
>>>>>
>>>>>read says to try the pill for three months. I just don't know if
>>>>>I can
>>>>>
>>>>>stand to go another month. I am miserable, in constant pain, and
>>>>>I am
>>>>>
>>>>>beginning to doubt that things are going to improve drastically after
>>>>>
>>>>>the third month of being on this pill. It seems more like things
>>>>>are
>>>>>
>>>>>getting worse each month.
>>>>>
>>>>>Should I hold on for another month or at this point, is it pretty much
>>>>>a
>>>>>
>>>>>conclusion that this pill isn't working for me? I would just like to
>>>>>
>>>>>hear from some others who have been through this. Thanks.
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