Lupron shots for endometriosis

After being diagnosed with endometriosis, Brenna was put on Lupron shots which caused many side effects and did not help with her pain and symptoms of endometriosis




This is Brenna’s story …..

 


My name is Brenna and I am from a little town called Spooner (in Wisconsin). I've been reading womens' stories about endometriosis from many places. I am 20 yrs old (21 in Nov.) and have recently been diagnosed with endometriosis (I had my laparoscopy on August 5th of this year). Here's my story, its short, compared to many... but you're the only one I've emailed who will actually understand.

 

I got my first period two days before 4th grade, I was 8 yrs old. I was so scared, and felt alone. As I got older I assumed that monthly period pain was normal because I have an older sister who told me of her cramps and irritability, and my mom too. Periods were always heavy until a few years ago. I had an ultrasound and my doctor had said that there was a cyst on my ovary about an inch in diameter.

 

He said that was a decent size for a 16 yr old, and probably wasn't done growing (not that he thought it was good or anything).

 

It was the kind of cyst that bursts right before or during your period where you are in so much pain that you can't move. It burst when I was in school one time; I was bending down to get a pen that had fallen... I couldn't get up for 10 minutes. I wanted to cry. I had another cyst burst when I was walking up my deck stairs at home after school one day. I had a backpack full of books when it happened, and all I could do was hold on to the railing for dear life... or else I would have fallen backwards. It hurt so bad.

 

I was put on BCP when I was 17, to control the cysts, no big deal. I thought it was working. I assumed it was working. But I continued to have mild pain before, during, and after periods. I dismissed it as cysts, and "toughed it out" month after month in the beginning. Recently (a year or more), there has been continuous pain between periods, and then some... but I continued to "tough it out".

 

Pain had been increasing during periods and for a little over a year now, the pain had become extremely horrible between periods as well.

 

Again I thought that was normal and just prepared for my monthly friend to drop by for a visit. Midol had become my best friend... but still didn't work. For over a year, the pain has increased greatly with sex, going to the bathroom, and even walking around. The only thing that keeps me going is the motivation of college. There have been many days that I could have easily (and should have) stayed in bed because of the pain.

 

I didn't understand it. I had never heard of endometriosis before.

 

I had finally made an appt. to see my family doctor after a horrible night of excruciating pain during and after sex. My boyfriend insisted that I see a doctor even though I just kept dismissing it as a cyst all the other times. My family doctor did a pelvic exam, and that hurt like hell. He said that he didn't feel a cyst but that could be because it may have ruptured when he was giving me a pelvic exam, so he made me an appt for the same day to get an ultrasound. No cyst.

 

So he recommended that I see a gyno. I couldn't get in for a month. Finally! I saw my gyno for the first time. He told me that we could either switch my pills for a few months or do a laparoscopy. The risks were either the pills wouldn't help or they would, or that a laparoscopy would find endometriosis or not and then I would have been cut into. I told him that I didn't care about scars from a laparoscopy because I had had one a few years before to get my gallbladder removed.

 

I didn't want to wait to see if another pill had worked, I had already been on a BCP for a few years... So I had the laparoscopy a week and a half later.

 

He wrote on my take home sheet that he found endometriosis and removed what he could see, and that we would talk about treatment options at my follow-up. My follow-up wasn't til 2 1/2 weeks later. And I was still in pain (and not because of the surgery). I went to my follow-up and asked him how much longer until I feel no pain. He said, "You're still feeling pain?" I said, "yes". He told me to wait a bit and come back and see him in a month. I made it no longer than a week before I went back to see him.

 

He told me all about Lupron and said that that would be my best bet for pain and feeling better.

 

So I scheduled an appt to get my first shot. I got my first hot flash the next day, and countless other times until now... they suck as well as the night sweats, migraine and borderline migraine headaches, body aches, fatigue, not sleeping at night, and everything else. I'm almost to my 3rd shot, and I am still having horrible pains that keep me up at night, make me doubled over, not concentrate on other things (like school), and cry. It hurts.

 

I have no close friends or relatives that have endometriosis to talk with, and therefore don't fully understand.

 

I don't even really have anybody to talk to about the "menopausal" symptoms... And everybody thinks I'm exaggerating. I don't want to continue Lupron if it’s not going to work for me. I lie awake at night, unable to sleep, in pain, with tears streaming down my face. I'm usually good at hiding that from my family... I've been so moody and rotten to them these past few months that I feel bad showing discomfort- although they can usually tell when my face is distorted, showing much pain.

 

I would try to exercise or do other activities to help, but at this point I have no energy. I have my appt in about a week, and was thinking of asking for a referral to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for a second opinion. I hate this stuff. Best of wishes to all... Feeling Lost and Alone With my Endometriosis, Brenna 



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