Birth control for treatment and side effects

Alicia tried various birth control treatments to help with her endometriosis and had many symptoms including weakness and fatigue and is using diet to try and help






This is Alicia’s story ….




My Endometriosis story is like most of you on here, I am 28 and married. I have been officially diagnosed with endometriosis since 2019. I suspect I have had endometriosis when I started getting migraines in middle school. I had not started my period but my change in hormones brought on migraines very badly for a few years between the times I was 10-13 years old.

 

I got my period very late. I was almost 18 at the time and from that moment on I have always been in extreme agony. I had complained to my gynaecologist about the symptoms in 2015 when I was 23, she stated nonchalantly that there is only one way to find out what the problem was by doing surgery, but she basically blew me off, with the whole attitude that everyone has menstrual cramps, and you should just deal with it, kind of attitude. 



I then moved to Dallas in 2016 and decided to get on the three month birth control pill called Seasonique from the patch Ortho Evra (which by the way patch worked great for me for 6 years). I approached my new gynaecologist in Texas and explained the symptoms I had, which I thought were to be PMDD and he decided to put me on YAZ, a low hormone birth control specifically for PMDD.

 

I cannot stress this enough - do NOT take Yaz ever if you have endometriosis or any low hormone birth control pills.

 

I became a complete wreck without enough estrogen, crying all the time, suicidal, mood swings, wouldn't get out of bed for days I would work, come home, go to bed, it made me horribly depressed and I hated myself and the world. I looked up YAZ online and realized my story was like a lot of other women out there and I got off that pill right away.

 

I then met a new friend here in Texas named Jennifer through a mutual friend. She and I swapped stories and she explained her diagnosis was Endometriosis. Jennifer’s story of symptoms was extremely similar to mine, and what scared me the most is that I was not told in 2015 is that if you do not treat endometriosis it advances and gets worse, especially when you get off birth control altogether.

 

My symptoms of endometriosis are as follows; I have a period that only lasts about 4 days max, heavy bleeding only on the first day and the first day is like hell!! My pain radiates through my abdomen out towards my lower back, my lower back feels like a 50 lb weight has been put right in there and then kicked a few times for good measure and it feels like extreme bruising, my legs ache very badly and standing or walking for long periods of time is out of the question.

 

One of the most serious symptoms began more recent. I began to be extremely tired, no matter how much sleep I got.

 

I would be sitting at my desk on the verge of tears due to my exhaustion. I was also very sensitive and had extreme mood swings from the change in hormones where I just want to fight about everything, and then I just wanted to cry.

 

My abdomen swells to an enormous size, and my cramps double me over and I am in the fetal position in bed, or on the couch a few days of my life wasted in pain.

 

The only medication that helps and sometimes it's only for only an hour or two is Advil Gelcaps. In 2017 to 2018 I had stopped taking any birth control as treatment and my symptoms began, and fatigue began to get worse, and I was scared to go on any more pills since the last one made me so crazy.

 

I then knew just by talking to my girlfriends they did not have pain anywhere near like mine, and talking to someone with endometriosis I knew I had it.

 

I changed gynaecologists from the one who put me on YAZ, and saw a new gyno (I made it a rule to only see specialists and only doctors who knew about endometriosis and or were endometriosis surgeons). I talked to the doctor and basically forced him to do the laparoscopy for a diagnosis.

 

In Nov of 2019 I had my laparoscopic surgery and guess what they found; I had adhesions on the front and back of my uterus, implants on my bladder and right ovary. When I woke up all I could do was cry because I knew it and now the scary truth was a reality.

 

Right now I am on the ortho-evra patch to keep the endometriosis from advancing. My husband and I are going to go off the birth control early next year to try and get pregnant.

 

My pain symptoms are 50% better than they used to be, my back pain is minimal, and I have used Arnica gel on my abdomen and back when it gets bad and that has helped a lot. My cramps can get pretty brutal still.

 

My emotional symptoms have greatly improved. I am still weepy and sensitive but I am not as irritable, or angry as I used to be, and I am blessed to have a really supportive husband who understands that the hormonal changes are not something I can help.

 

I have also paid more attention to my diet and trying not to eat too much of anything that is on the bad list on the endometriosis diet. I also take a daily supplement of Selenium. I basically run my health, now I do all my research and I run endometriosis, endometriosis doesn't run me.

 

I want to say this to everyone out there who thinks they have endometriosis, listen to your gut and talk to other women if your pain is not comparable, and that tiny voice in your head says there's something wrong, there probably is. 

 

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