Just checked contraindications for the GnRH injections....

Hey everyone. Sorry I've been living on here lately, posting a lot of questions etc.

My last question was about what questions I should ask at gynae, and that I want to request a hysterectomy (gynae appt came through yesterday - 2nd Jan). A few people asked if I had tried the injections yet, suggesting that they would be better, and some even saying I will not get a hysterectomy (no offence but isn't that up to my gynae? So how would people know I definitely wouldn't get one? I don't mean to have a go, just that that upset me a little being told "you won't get it")

Anyway my history, and my family history especially, isn't brilliant. I've listed it on the question thread (endometriosis-uk.healthunlo... if anyone wants to look at it in full. But looking at contraindications, couple with me already having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and one of the common side-effects being depression, I really don't think I'm suitable for them.

It says this for contraindications

"Check with your physician if you have any of the following:

Conditions:

Tobacco Smoking, Increased Cardiovascular Event Risk, High Blood Pressure, Heart Attack, Stroke, Surgical Removal of Both Testicles, High Blood Sugar, Pregnancy, A Mother who is Producing Milk and Breastfeeding, Obstruction of any part of the Urinary Tract, Cancer Metastasis to Bone, Spread of Cancer to the Spinal Column, Diabetes, High Cholesterol, High Amount of Calcium in the Blood, Overweight"

7 of those list apply to either me or my parents!!! They are

Increased Cardiovascular Event Risk (me), High Blood Pressure (both my parents), Heart Attack (mum), Stroke (dad), Diabetes (both my parents), High Cholesterol (both my parents), Overweight (me)

So what do you ladies think? Cos going by family history I don't think I'll even be offered the injections. Hmmm

[jojo777]

Hi there

I understand why you are worried, if I had this history too, I wouldnt want any type of hormones in my body at all.

I dont have any family history like yours and I'm still reacting really bad to hormones, to the point I had to quit them.

Whenever you are going to see your doctor, please insist on your medical history as it is very important.

Jo x

[Hidden]

Thanks Jo. I will be stressing it. And whatever they suggest in the way of medications I will check that it doesn't clash with my family history x

[Chrissie66]

Also bear in mind that they are legally bound to report every single contraindication and side effect, even if there has only been a problem with one in a million people.

I bet that practically everybody on Zoladex or Prostap falls into at least one category on that list. I match 3.

If you really, really don't want this medication, you don't have to have it. But if you tell them all of your concerns I am sure they will be able to reassure you. If it was that bad, it wouldn't be so widely used.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with researching this stuff, especially given your concerns, but you're bound to find more horror stories on the internet than stories from people for whom GnRH has been a Godsend. It might be better instead to research why hysterectomy does not cure endometriosis

Lots of love xxx

[Hidden]

Well I have already done that, and it actually seems to only come back after hysterectomy in up to 40%, but that's the same for it coming back after laparoscopy removal anyway. I'm not reading "horror stories" about hysterectomy and endo etc etc, this is the only forum I'm on, and I only read medical websites/papers regarding scientific/medical facts from their data etc. I'm not reading things that will scare me cos "x, y, z happened to someone else, oh god it'll happen to me" etc. I'm pretty level headed. I look at things like side-effects and contraindications and decide from there what I want to do regarding the medications, have done with everything im currently taking. My post here was merely to see what the ladies on here thought, if it sounds like I'm unsuitable, if anyone was in a similar situation and had been given the injections or advised not to have them etc.

As I said in another thread, my mum had terrible endo to the extent where she would bleed through 2 maternity pads AND her knickers and leave a trail of blood on the carpet on her way to the bathroom (I thank god that I'm not that bad!), but after her hysterectomy she was fine, it didn't come back at all. There's more factual chance of it not coming back than there is of it coming back.

Trust me chrissie, I have done and am still doing plenty of research!

Thanks hun x

[Chrissie66 in reply to Hidden]

Hi again

I'm sorry if you thought I was patronising you, that wasn't my intention and I sincerely apologise.

Clearly everybody is different and you are weighing up your options based on your own circumstances which is obviously the best thing to do.

I just get upset and annoyed when I read that ladies have been told by their gynaes that hysterectomy is their only option and that it will solve all of their problems. You are of course right, it can happen - but in the 20 years since I was diagnosed I have only personally known one person for whom it worked. And then it wasn't as simple as that; her gyaneacological problems were solved, but because she had her hysterectomy so young, the discs in her back are now crumbling one by one; she's only 50 but she's suffering the kind of bone and joint problems of a woman twenty or thirty years older.

It also puzzles me how some ladies can think that having their womb removed will solve problems caused by endometriosis on their other organs. Obviously these ladies are going to trust the professionals, but it scares me when the doctors are getting it wrong, or not explaining the risks involved. Endometriosis has been around for thousands of years, it's frustrating that it's still such a mystery even to the health professionals

Anyway, ignore me, I'm premenstrual today. Probably best if I step away from the computer and go and beat the hell out of some housework instead

Lots of love, C xxxx