Zoladex, Mirena coil and hrt! Has anyone else had this as treatment?

[Adventure101]

I had a laparoscopy to remove Endo large cysts from my ovaries, cyst on my right ovary was 15cm and cyst on my left ovary was 10cm I already had the Mirena coil in situ and after the laparoscopy they started me on zoladex injections. I had a check up with my consultant after 5 weeks and they did a ultrasound and the cysts are already growing back and there is no sign of the coil. I now am waiting for an appointment to have the coil put back in and the consultant also started me on hrt. I am 26 and have not had children. Has anyone else been on all 3? And does anyone know if it can effect fertility? I have tried asking my consultant and never got a straight answer. I am awaiting an apapointment with another consultant who specialises in Endo. Just finding it stressful waiting for answers

Any experiences or advice is appreciated. Thanks

[LittleG22]

I am not a doctor so I am not sure but from what I have read and the other sufferers I have spoken to I think it is very unusual to be put on the Mirena and Zoladex at the same time. Normally they try one then try the other, separately as they do different things. The reality is that there is no cure so they just play around with medication to help the symptoms until they find something that is ok for you.

The thinking is that men and women have a balance between oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Current thinking is that if this balance is not right in a woman then too much oestrogen worsens Endo symptoms. Therefore Zoladex and the Mirena are used to treat endo in different ways:

Zoladex will chemically induce the menopause. It restricts the production of oestrogen. You may have side effects such as commonly associated with the menopause, hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia, mood swings, weight gain etc. This is usually used short term (less than 6 months) as long term use can lead to loss of bone density. HRT is used to deal with the side effects. It "adds back" some of the missing oestrogen. Personally I was on this for four months and the side effects, although not great were bearable. Normally they will only give you HRT if your side effects become unbearable as I believe that HRT has its own list of side effects.

guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/reso...

The Mirena coil gives you additional progesterone (therefore more effectively balancing out the oestrogen). My understanding is that this chemically fools your body into thinking that it is already pregnant and although pregnancy has a much more complex impact on the body, it often (though not always) reduces endo (during those 9 months).

My hormones have been all over the place just going from menopause to Mirena to Cerazette and Mirena then back to just Mirena. Don't underestimate the effect that hormones have on the body as being on both at the same time sounds tough!

By the sound of it, your consultant is not an endo expert, I hope the new one will be good. There is so little knowledge/research into endo in the world that it is important to see someone who knows more. Try and get referred to a BSGE centre: bsge.org.uk/centre/

With regards to fertility, he probably isn't giving you a straight answer because he doesn't know. Nobody knows until they try. Even then, some people can't get pregnant for years then one day it just happens when they are least expecting it. From my point of view it has been hard to come to terms with worries over fertility. A stupid doctor told me endo=infertility, which is INCORRECT. Statistically, in the general population 15% are infertile, endo increases that to about 1 in 3 or 33%. Try not to worry until you have to and it depends on your partner as well so who knows what will happen.

Best of luck. x

[Adventure101]

Thanks for your answer helps to understand more

I have been referred to a specialist at a hospital that has a specialist endo team so hopefully be able to get answers

Its just frustrating being trialed on everything and so far nothing seems to be working. Hopefully will get more answers from a specialist