June 2024 – My life, an update
Hello everyone, it has been a while since I have written a personal update so I thought it was definitely well overdue and I also wanted to be open about a few things I have going on at the moment around my health. Partly because they are starting to affect everything I do on my site and partly because I know there might be readers who are having similar issues. I guess too there is an element of a problem shared is a problem halved and all of that!
Women’s Issues when I was younger
I don’t know about other women but I find that there isn’t much support and understanding with women’s issues out there. We are all under the impression that our cycles must be normal. When we go to the doctors it feels like often things are written off as “just part of being a woman” or, “you’re approaching menopause”. It also seems near impossible to get a referral to a specialist.
I started my periods at age 15 and always believed my cycles were heavier and more painful than average as friends they rarely talked about being doubled over in pain. As I got older and needed contraception I was put on the pill, as with many young women. I have also tried the injection and the implant over the years. Alongside this I have always had issues with depression since I was about 12 or 13. I talked about that previously in my aboout me articles. In hindsight was this linked to my hormones changing?
When I feel it started getting worse
Ten years ago I was put on the contraceptive implant due to heavy painful periods. About 5 years ago, I went to the doctors again as despite the implant nothing had really changed. They suggested it was just because that implant was due to be changed and things would improve. On another occasion, I saw another doctor about horrendous period pains and was told it wouldn’t be those it would be IBS and to eat more oats!
Shock Horror – changing my implant and eating more oats changed absolutely nothing so yet again I went back to the GP for help with irregular painful and heavy periods. This time they put me on the pill in addition to the implant in the hope that combined things would improve.
The pill made matters worse almost overnight. Suddenly I was suicidal and so scared that I could even keep myself safe. It apparently is common to feel suicidal on the pill but I had never heard of it previously, have you? So the GP stopped that straight away and also referred me as an emergency to have the implant removed (it was too stuck for her to get it out!) as she thought that would be impacting my mental health too.
Following the implant removal and stopping the pill I had nothing artificial in the way of hormones and was still on antidepressants but that was it. I had to wait for 6 months before anything else could be suggested as those hormones could still be coming out of my system and my body settling down etc.
Nothing changed regarding bleeding or cramps, in fact they got progressively worse and worse. My mental health was a little improved though so that was a blessing, I still needed antidepressants but felt a little more myself.
Had enough of it all
My cycles were getting worse every month and by March this year I was bleeding for 20-26 days every month with no regularity at all. Tranexamic acid didn’t help and I was getting more and more anaemic. Using reusable pads was becoming the best decision of my life and saving a sheer fortune! I was finally referred to gynaecology to investigate! I was constantly tired due to being so low in iron (even on iron tablets!), mentally drained, and generally just felt dirty and fed up!
Then in April I ended up in A&E in agony literally crying in pain and as I had already been referred to gynaecology they could only offer stronger pain relief.
May was no better, the month started with day 24 of bleeding for one cycle which abruptly stopped followed by 8 days of life back to normal then it started again! Within a few days of starting bleeding again it was awful, worse than anything I have ever experienced, even after giving birth! I was having to sit on piles of towels, completely changing clothes hourly. The GP sent me to the Gynae emergency unit. The examination was horrendous with blood literally running down me and even they were shocked at how severe it was.
Then came a game changer, a consultant spoke to me and went through everything, suggesting possible endometriosis but they agreed I could not carry on like this. Given my previous reactions I couldn’t have anything hormonal and they suggested an injection to stop my ovaries from working.
I was given a Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue injection to stop my ovaries to see if that would help. If it did they would know my issues are definitely linked to the hormones, if it didn’t then other things needed to be looked at. I was sent home and booked in for a scan a few weeks later.
Where am I now?
My bleeding stopped a couple of days after the injection. I had another injection last week, they are given monthly or 3-monthly. The Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue put me into menopause immediately. Whilst it is reversable by stopping the injections, that wont be an option for me as I will explain shortly. I also can not have HRT with the injections to prevent symptoms of menopause due to the hormones issues I have.
My menopause symptoms have been horrible, so in essence I have gone from being “possibly perimenopause” to full blown menopause overnight. After each injection my mood has severely dropped for a few weeks, I have a lot of joint/bone pain, very fatigued, and generally feeling pretty rubbish physically and mentally. At 43 I didn’t imagine I would suddenly be thrown into menopause so that is a little strange too!
What happens next
I am due to see the consultant in just over a fortnight to discuss the plans moving forward. When I was in the gynae emergency ward that doctor said the next step would probably be hysterectomy. I will possibly move to 3 monthly injections after seeing the consultant before hysterectomy. Without the injections they are sure my problems would return and without knowing the cause this isn’t an option.
The severe mood drops I am having after the injections is concerning me so this may change the plan moving forward but I need to discuss this with my consultant.
Due to my current weight I am concerned they will delay a hysterectomy until I have lost more weight but I am currently working hard at that and have lost just under a stone in the last 3 weeks. The injection and menopause can lead to weight gain though so I will just try my best.
What could be wrong?
Until I see the consultant I am not really sure what is the cause of all these issues.
Perimenopause? – From what they have said already I believe it isn’t as simple as perimenopause that has caused this due to my ongoing issues for quite some time.
Endometriosis? – This is a possibility and as this is often diagnosed due to symptoms and after a laparoscopy I guess I will find out if they think this when I next see the consultant. That said I believe it is something they might not look to diagnose now and just look inside me when they do a hysterectomy, but who knows I am not a doctor!
Cancer? – My scan was clear and I am under the impression they are not suspecting any kind of cancer but again, until I see the consultant I am not sure what they think. I believe in any case cervical cancer would be extremely unlikely due to the procedures I had a couple of years ago.
Something else? – I guess there are so many things it could be. My gut instinct is that it is related to my hormones, and I feel like my symptoms over the years do fit endometriosis, but I don’t know.
What do you think?
I would love to hear what you think, what your experiences are and whether you agree that women are often told everything is normal and it is hard to get any distinct help with “women’s issues”.
