Pain after menopause

[foosey]

Hi all, I haven't been around for a few years. A brief back story.

I had always suffered from painful heavy periods, since 16 years old. Numerous visits to the doctors over the years, being told it was normal or later on as I got into my 40s being told it was to do with the menopause, I finally got diagnosed in my mid 40s. No I wasn't crazy as I had been made to feel for years, there was actually a problem. I was prescribed Zoladex for a 6 month period. This worked really well for the pain and bleeding. After finishing the Zoladex I was fine for a few months but then all the symptoms returned. It was then decided that an endometrial ablation was the next step. While this solved the bleeding the pain was still there. Second round of Zoladex for 6 months. During this time I naturally went through the menopause and have not had any issues for about 8 years until about 4 months ago. I have started to get "that" pain again. So far it has only resulted in one day off work with severe pain. I have had to start taking pain killers again. I was led to believe after the menopause the symptoms would cease, which they have for 8 years. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. 😏

[Lindle]

Have you taken any HRT and do you know what stage/severity you were diagnosed with and have you had any surgical treatment or just the zoladex?

[foosey in reply to Lindle]

No HRT, the only surgery I had was a endometrial ablation. I had numerous scans, Ultrasound, internal and MRI. I was led to believe that the menopause would stop my symptoms. This was the reason for the second course of Zoladex and holding off on giving me a hysterotomy due to my age as it took nearly 30 years to be diagnosed.

[BloomingMarvellous]

Hi Foosey, Am sorry to hear what difficulties you’re having especially having had a break in your symptoms. Like you am post menopause and I experience nasty adenomyosis and endometriosis irrespective of that after years of problems unrecognised. Scarring and soreness in areas that are restricted by past endo don’t necessarily only flare with irritants /growth promoters such as hormones . Other irritates and pathways can set the endo off, or further upset the Co morbid diseases that come with the endo bundle. This is where limited knowledge as to the process by which the disease functions in the cells hampers understanding. So poor pelvic functioning can hamper bladder and bowel bringing infections, swelling and poor blood supply and worsening already weakened and fibrotic tissue.

Recent guidelines draw attention & underline the necessity for medics to recognise that endo does operate beyond menopause for a some women and doesn’t just die out wholesale as previously thought. Some of these problems maybe active ongoing endo tissue spread and some maybe complications of the disease coming home to roost. Tissue thins post menopause bringing vulnerability to the pelvic region which in turn can make already weak tissue very tender and prone to inflammation. Trying to identify which is which is helpful as there are things you or your medical team can do to but the approach will vary. There are things that either way you can do to look after yourself while you work it through and get the help you need. I’ve found it super difficult to get the help I need because of the myth that it doesn’t go post menopause and it’s largely /solely oestrogen fuelled. Oestrogen is one of a range of growth promoters, but it is not alone and the sooner we have more in depth knowledge the better understanding we'll have.

[foosey in reply to BloomingMarvellous]

Thanks for your reply. I was definitely led to believe that the menopause would stop the symptoms. This was the reason for the second course of Zoladex due to being of menopausal age and the hope that I would go through it naturally, which I did. This was also the reason I was given by the gynecologist that he held off giving me a hysterectomy. It took nearly 30 years to be taken seriously and diagnosed. To know that it still is a condition they know very little about is very disturbing considering the volume of women that suffer from it.

[BloomingMarvellous]

For lots of sufferers menopause eases symptoms to a liveable level for others it’s not been the case. Getting that on the official table has been a step forward but it’s not the whole picture as it’s also getting it into best practice. Given that the beleaguered NHS is a slow moving beast at the best of times now under the overwhelming circumstances of backlog etc it’s not going to be necessarily on the horizon of less aware medics for attention. I suspect there are a number of on going health issues for women who have endo that aren’t necessarily recognised pre or post menopause as being endo connected. The various pointers that have been present in the course of my journey that I’ve said I think this is connected to the problem ( then undiagnosed) was dismissed that now research shows is part of the picture I’ve lost count of. The result is that I’ve grown to trust that what I’ve observed is okay and hope that eventually we are seen as a resource, a well of information to unravel the puzzle. There are enormous opportunities for discovering what that network of symptoms and Co morbid actually maps out to look like as we move on which will benefit those following at the very least. For you now - perhaps worth drawing attention to the guideline changes for your medics so they can get behind your care ?