The pill and endometriosis

BIRTH control pills have been widely used to prevent pregnancy, but for women suffering from endometriosis, it provides a cheap and effective method for dealing with the horrific pain accompanying their menses.

Oral contraceptive pills usually contain a low-dose combination of synthetic oestrogen and progestagen which helps to suppress menstruation and inhibit the growth of endometrial implants, believed to be the source of these painful cramps.

"It is not usually my first line of treatment, but if one can use it, you have to use it continuously, you can't just use it and take the break like how you would normally use it, because then you will still be having a lot of pain," said gynaecologist Dr Lloyd Goldson.

"You have to use it for about six to nine months to see some effectiveness," he said, while explaining that a woman can take a break from it after the nine months or if she wishes to get pregnant.

"The pill itself does not affect future fertility... because people with endometriosis have gotten pregnant," he said.

The pill, which should be taken daily, has continuously been used safely for many years. However, endometriosis patients are susceptible to the same symptoms faced by other women on the pill — like weight gain, irregular vaginal bleeding, nausea, hair growth, acne, fluid retention, headaches, increased appetite and depression.

Endometriosis is a medical issue faced by a number of women in Jamaica and occurs when the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows outside on places where it is not supposed to grow, like the organs in the pelvic and abdominal areas.

"One of the theories is that when you see your period, your period is supposed to come through the vagina, but sometimes it can go back through the fallopian tube, so you have a lot of pain. Sometimes you can have pain even in the umbilicus and the bladder," said Dr Goldson.

Although the endometrial implants are benign (non-cancerous), it causes chronic pelvis pain, lower back and abdominal pain, irregular or heavy bleeding and sometimes infertility.

The cause for endometriosis is still unknown but that has not prevented doctors from prescribing various treatments to deal with the pain and heavy bleeding. Here are the treatments usually suggested.

1. Hormone treatments: these can delay conception if there is a desire to give birth, but they usually lead to the temporary improvement of symptoms such as heavy bleeding, painful periods, pelvic pains and sex during intercourse. These treatments work by suppressing endometriosis by shrinking the endometrial deposits rather than removing it. Some of the hormone treatments include contraceptive pills, progesterone hormone pills, Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH agonists) and the drug Danazol.

vaginapagina: Birth Control ways to stop your period.

I am so entirely sick of having my period. I just want to stop having a period. I know that sounds terrible, but every month I am in extreme pain. And I mean EXTREME. It makes me so sick, writhing in agony, even my thighs are in pain and feel almost too weak to stand on my legs at all. I take Naproxen and sometimes that doesn't even help - like today. I have been dealing with a horrible and painful period since high school. My period isn't even that heavy and only lasts for about three days, but it's just extremely painful and so hard to live with. - some kind of GnRH agonist, which shuts down the ovaries completely - I use Zoladex, but I believe Lupron is the equivalent available stateside. If you do go for this try to get them to give you HRT so you avoid the worst of the menopause symptoms - but (a) they seem to be reluctant to do this in the USA, and (b) they'll probably be reluctant to prescribe something this serious without evidence of a condition that necessitates it. Okay, so I'm based in the UK where we just don't get commercials for drugs so I'm having to guess at the kind of thing you've seen, but basically there are risks and then there are risks. For example, I don't take any kind of birth control containing oestrogen because I get migraines with aura, which means that the stroke risk is raised unacceptably - which actually means by only a few per cent, if I'm remembering rightly. On a similar note, I can't take progesterones because they make me very ill - but not in a way that meant it was unsafe to try them. Basically it sounds to me as though given you've had no problems with HBC in the past, you'd probably be okay (though obviously you should talk to a professional who actually knows your case history!). You MIGHT find that you disliked some of the common side effects (which can include acne, drop in sex drive, mood swings, etc) but the chances of lethal side effects are usually very low, or the drugs wouldn't be licenced for use in the general population! As I said, talk to somebody who knows your case and conditions and would be aware of potential complications, but it sounds like it's worth a try. :-)

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