Perfect periods to misery in 1 year. Will I be taken seriously?

[budgeroo]

Sorry for long post.

I came off the pill (Ovranette, which I'd been on for ~7 years) as I thought it was making my skin bad. I was fine for about 6 months, and then my periods got weird. The time between them was becoming more erratic, and my bleeds lasted longer (10 days as opposed to normal 4-5). I wasn't really worried at this point, I just assumed this was my natural rhythm kicking in.

I experienced period pain for the first time ever aged 26 in December (crazy, huh?) which I actually initially thought was gut pain related to IBS/coeliac disease, as it was new to me. After that, every period was painful and long, to the point where my bleeds were lasting longer than my breaks.

I went on a new pill (Gedarel - supposedly good for skin) which messed up my cycle completely. I bled more, had loads more pain, and had permanent nausea, and was sooo emotional. At one point I bled for 5 weeks continuously. Was a miserable wreck, my work was struggling, using double protection just about cut it..

I stopped Gedarel and was given Noriday and Tranexamic Acid. Doc mentioned Endo at this point, but wanted to see how I progressed. Since then, I have been having breaks from the bleeding, but on average (after 3 months) I bleed for about as many days as I don't, and there seems to be no pattern or predictability. My "Flo" app has stopped predicting my periods because it's that random. I don't know which bleeds are periods, and which are breakthrough bleeds or whatever else is going on.

My pain is pre-, during, and post-bleed, and sometimes randomly through the month. More recently, slight pain with sex, and pelvic pain and bleeding for a few days after. Bowel/rectal pain at same time as bleeding. Sometimes I get cystitis symptoms (but with no detectable infection). Bleeds are varying colours and usually clotted.

Saw doc last week and he has re-prescribed Noriday and said if I feel like I'm not coping with medication alone, that he will refer me to a Gynaecologist to investigate for Endo by surgery.

Is it weird/unusual to go from completely normal/healthy periods, to Endo diagnosis within just 1 year?? Has anyone else experienced this?

Could it be that Ovranette had been holding Endo back all those years?

Will Gynae take me seriously, as my symptoms are still kinda new?

[Nina1980]

I went from normal periods to having problems in a matter of months. I did however have painful periods but manageable with paracetamol and ibuprofen since I started periods. I knew I had problems when I started to bleed excessively and pain increased and developed IBS symptoms.