Hi all,
I've written a lot more about what I'm doing and why I've started this on the week 1 post and there's more about my background in my bio.
That's me into week 3 now. It's been tough. I really haven't experienced the improvement that I was hoping for. Instead, I've had an increase in my symptoms. My back pain has been the worst it's ever been- constant pain, especially throughout the night, making sleep really difficult. I really try to not use painkillers as I believe they just add another problem into the mix but I will take them if I'm exhausted and need to sleep. This was beginning to be every night which was worrying me. But, my period started yesterday and since then, my back pain has reduced dramatically. This is my usual pattern of my back pain building up before my period and then reducing as soon as it starts but it's just more intense.
My fatigue has also been worse. Before I started the cream, I always felt fatigued but the extent of it would vary over the week- I'd say that most of the time, I was functioning at about 40% of what I'd consider normal. Every day, I could manage 20 mins of light yoga, get washed and dressed and maybe a 20 min gentle walk, while making some light meals and a few bits of light housework (very light). I would have to lie down a lot throughout the day and would feel everything was a struggle. That became my new normal. Maybe 1-2 days a week, I'd struggle to even do that and maybe 1 day a week, I could manage a bit more or it would feel a bit less of a struggle. But, the past 2 weeks, it's been a lot worse. Every day now is like the bad days before. I'm struggling to do what was my baseline before. It's been really tough.
I stopped the cream 4 days ago and my period started yesterday, which was bang on time, day 28. I didn't have any cramps before my period which is very unusual- I don't have horrific period pains but I'm usually well aware it's starting and will have a day or 2 of pain in the lead up but I didn't have that. I've also had a headache the past 2 days which feels hormonal and is the same type of headache I had when I started using the cream. I've also had night sweats the past few nights.
My abdomen feels very odd. It feels as though things are happening- lots of unusual sensations- pulling and sharp pains that don't last very long.
I have a few theories- one is that this cream is making the situation worse. I've read that for some, progesterone can be used by the body like estrogen so can make estrogen dominance worse. So that could be happening. But my other theory is that the progesterone is causing my fibroid/mass thing to shrink/break down and as it's attached to my sigmoid and possibly my ovary/ies then it could be pulling, causing some more back pain and abdominal sensations. I thought also, if the mass is breaking down at all, then this could be putting all kinds of 'stuff' into my system to be broken down, which could explain my fatigue.
Due to my second theory, I've started taking milk thistle for my liver and serraptasse which can help the body break down dead tissue.
At the moment, I plan to carry on for the next cycle but I will keep looking into what might be happening and will stop if it's looking most likely that it's making things worse. I've contacted the naturopath who recommended the cream I'm using and has experience of using it with women for endo and fibroids to see what she recommends.
I should say, I have also been very stressed this month so I'm sure that's not helped. Actually, it's been a lot longer than a month. I'd say I've had a really hard time since I was diagnosed in May and it's just been one curve ball after another since then and my life was pretty stressful before that too! At the end of Aug, when I was told about having this chaotic endo/fibroid mass that they weren't going to remove but instead treat with chemical menopause, I think I felt the rug was pulled from under me and the hope of normality stolen. It was my 40th birthday and I just didn't want to deal with it and I think I closed up emotionally and focused all my attention on researching an alternative. That culminated in me sending off the letter to the head of the endo service. I think all of that has had a huge effect on me emotionally. Sending a letter to demand better care is not my usual way of coping- normally when I feel people let me down, I'll just close off from them and focus on trying to fix things myself. But I get the feeling this time, I do need some help.
The feelings of being let down, being over looked, no one caring about me are all very familiar feelings that are linked to my past and I don't cope very well when they are brought up. The endo diagnosis and how I've been treated by the doctors has been big for me emotionally. I am trying to work thorough these things and do a lot of emotional work but it is a lot to be dealing with especially when feeling so unwell. I've also got huge financial issues as I've not worked in a year. I am juggling a lot of balls. Plus I don't really have much support or friends. Chronic illness certainly shines a light on the state of your relationships! No one is ill in isolation of other issues in their life, it just makes everything harder.
This is lot more philosophical than I intended! But that's how this week's been.
Progesterone cream brought on another period
Pain that people just don't understand 
Hi everyone just wondering if anyone can help with zoladex injection?
What is your pain like?
