I have always suffered from painful periods from the age of 11, the pain runs through my legs and is unbearable, my doctor gave me mefanamic

[shannon21]

acid tablets which are a form of anti-inflammatory which I would have to take to the run up of my period and during to ease the pain. for years this worked for me, until the tablets became unreliable. My aunt and my second cousin have both had endometriosis and have had to have a full hysterectomy. when my doctor discovered this information he advised I went for a laproscopy to decide whether or not I had endometriosis, to my joy I was told I had the all clear back in aug 2012. I recently got diagnosed with ibs, which I believe is to be true as I can differenciate the pain between that and this awful pain I still get in my pelvis, when im on period and when I ovulate. my last period was awful, to which im dreading my next one, I was sick and went ever so light headed and had to lie down to stop myself from passing out at work. my doctor has told me not to work when I am on my period? but obviously I cannot live life like that!

What my question is.. even though I had a laproscopy 2 years and was given the all clear is it likely that I can still develop endometriosis?

I am only 21, Shannon

[Impatient]

Sounds more likely you might have adenomyosis than endometriosis .

adenomyosisadviceassociatio...

if the website for all things adeno.

It would certainly be easier to get that checked out by having an MRI.

If you have all the signs of endo - but no visible endo during a lap - then adeno is the next step to check out. It cannot be seen in a lap as it is very like endo only in grows and bleeds withing the uterus muscle wall. And it is curable unlike endo.

You can have both - but that is much rarer than having one or the other.

Whether the problem is endo or adeno - if you are not coping with having periods why are you continuing to have them each month?

There are several ways to stop them.

The most common way is to take BC Pill packs back to back for 3 -4 months at a time then break off to have a period then back on them again. This obviously means taking a tablet each day but does reduce the agony to 3 or 4 times a year instead of monthly - and you could try and time it so it is when you have booked leave instead of going off sick.

Or Implanon arm implant - or Depo-Provera 3monthly injections - or norethisterone

or Mirena Coil IUD which in my view is the best of the lot of them as it does take a few months to settle in and get working - but if you can get through that then it gives up to 5 years period free - no periods no period pains no PMT no ovulation pain or bleeding either , no tablets, no tampons or towels and gives you back so much free time once more.

It doesn't suit every one but is certainly worth a try.

If it doesn't suit you or you want to have periods back with a view to starting a family then it can be removed by a nurse pulling on the strings.

Yes you can develop endo later in life - and are much much more likely to if you still have periods, so there is another really good reason to cut down or stop how many periods you have each year.

You don't need to have either endo or adeno to stop your periods - all these methods are freely available from your GP or family planning clinic in the UK. You just have to ask for them.

Hope you manage to sort yourself out and get back to normal life again soon.