visanne, take or drop?

[NewEndoMember]

Hi, I'm new to the whole endo thing. My doctor prescribed Visanne 2mg for me but as I went through the side effects, I didn't feel good about it anymore. It says that it might cause depression, weight gain or breast cancer. I am already on anti-depressant and pretty chubby as it is and don't even wanna think about the breast cancer (clearly).

I have no pain out of my period whatsoever. does it make sense to take this medication? what percentage of women usually experience each of these symptoms? what other side effects did you experience?

[Nbubz]

I got a three month prescription of Visanne (UK name Zalkya) after surgery and I didn’t even last two months on it. The mood change was horrendous- I was miserable all the time- and I couldn’t put up with it any more! To be fair, that was the only side effect I experienced but it wasn’t worth it for me. I didn’t see any real benefit in improving symptoms either, but I had just had surgery so that may have helped improve symptoms anyway! Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it. But everyone is different and it may work for you!

[NewEndoMember in reply to Nbubz]

Thanks a bunch for your response. And sorry to hear that. I already am dealing with mental problem (though really mild). Hope it doesn’t get as bad as yours.May I know what did you replace? Another medicine? Or what?

[Nbubz in reply to NewEndoMember]

I went back to the progesterone only pill, which I’d been on for 6 years prior to surgery. Its benefits are that it stopped my periods (they used to be horrendous) and it didn’t impact my mood as much. I would much rather not be on anything, but sadly that’s often not always a great option with endo!

[Lindle]

Any management of endo is to treat pain and/or infertility. So if your pain is manageable then it is your choice entirely whether or not you want to control periods.

The pill suppresses inflammation and while it might slow down early endo progression (evidence is inconclusive) it can still progress with symptoms masked. It is well documented that this can lead to the development of severe endo down the line without you knowing. It might be preferable to be able to monitor any symptoms without taking hormonal meds so that if there is any change you will be aware of it and can then have any surgical treatment sooner rather than later before it has a chance to become severe.

But as said it is your choice entirely. You are the judge of how the symptoms impact on your life and whether you want them treating, not your doctor.

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[NewEndoMember in reply to Lindle]

Thanks for your reply. I really would like not to take the pill, but isn’t it a progressive disease? As far as I know there’s a chance of it involving bladder and etc. Do you know if one can remove it by surgery?

[Lindle in reply to NewEndoMember]

The problem is that endo is unique to every woman and there will be many who don't even know they have it all their lives. In some women it seems not to progress beyond mild while in others is it very progressive and resists all treatments. The problem is not knowing. Without stopping periods medically then this can potentially cause new endo to form and there may be other means also how new lesions can form that don't involve the periods or even the womb lining - we do not know the pathogenesis of endo yet and there are likely to be many factors at play. So hormone meds attempt to just stop periods and reduce inflammation which may slow progression but there would be no way of knowing if any such woman had non-progressive endo anyway. As said before the official reasons for hormonal meds are to add dress pain and/or infertility and not to stop endo growing and also as mentioned endo can progress to a severe stage while on the pill whilst masking symptoms. There are many women who stop taking medical treatment, eg to try and conceive, only to then discover they have severe endo that was masked. It is a conundrum and which ever course you chews be vigilant as to any symptoms that might suggest the progression to severe disease - such as lower back pain with pain in the buttock, thigh and/or leg. This is most usually on the left side but not always. Also problems with bowel movements - not so much IBS type symptoms as they are one of the main symptoms of endo generally - but pain/difficulty with bowel movements and thin stools/blood. Also severe pain with deep sex like you have a stone up there being rammed.

[NewEndoMember in reply to Lindle]

Thanks a lot for your detailed response. I know a lot more about this disease, thanks to you. Do you know if the side effects of vissane eases after a while? If so, usually how long does it take for the symptoms to go away?

[Deemctee in reply to Lindle]

I feel it's a trade off.. take the hormones now & potentially feel better of take everything out, go HRT & potentially feel better..

[Lindle in reply to Deemctee]

What do you mean by take everything out?