What to do?

[Lokicat]

May have triggers

Evening all, long time lurker, first time poster. I am having a really down day today and don’t know how to pull myself out of it.

I have recently been diagnosed with possible endometriosis and am awaiting a laparoscopy. 3yrs ago I came off the combined pill because it made me suicidal, and instead went onto the copper coil.

With this copper coil I had having bleeding (which was listed as a side effect) and awful pain. Deciding it was the right time to start a family, and rid myself of these issues, I had the coil removed.

After trying to conceive for a year and noticing that ovulation was not regular, if it occurred at all, and that the pain had intensified I contacted my gp. Who put me on the mini pill while awaiting diagnosis.

Suspected endo was found during an ultrasound and I have been referred.

I have now been on the mini pill for 14 weeks and 3 days, and have bled or spotted for 14 weeks and 2 days. Today my doctor tells me the only way to stop this is to go back onto the combined pill.

I am now at a loss of what to do. In my head I’m already trying to cope with the fertility issue, the endo, the pain, the bleeding, and now have been told the only way to stop this is to use a pill which previously had me considering suicide.

I don’t know how to cope. My husband just says well you need to decide what’s worse, the bleeding or the risk of depression. But the bleeding doesn’t exactly help my mental health either.

I’ve just had enough of it all, and wish they could just remove everything, but even then it doesn’t guarantee it won’t come back.

Sorry for my rambling, but I have no one to talk to.

Any advice, or anyone going through similar, it would be great to hear from you.

Thanks

[Cailleach]

Sorry it’s a belated reply and I do not know how much help I can be. I hope things have improved for you since you wrote your post.

Having suffered from depression myself I would not want to risk a recurrence, especially as you say you were feeling suicidal when on the combined pill before. I don’t know enough about the pill to know if a different brand might not have the same side effect, but your GP should be able to advise you about that.

It sounds as if the mini pill is doing nothing for you at the moment. Has the continual bleeding only been since you have been on that?

First line treatments for endo seem to be mini pill, combined pill and Mirena coil. If none of these are options that work for you, then your GP/ consultant will need to move on to the next options. I found the coil awful, I know it works well for many people but not everyone!

While waiting for your laparoscopy, could you ask your GP for some decent pain relief to get you through and keep going back if necessary till you get something that works for you?

Underlying all this of course are your fears about your fertility and hopefully once you have had the lap and spoken to a gynae you can get a better idea of the situation. I really feel for you with that. Xx