I understand this completely, another thing the Depo took away - but it wasn’t every other period for me, it was the Mittelschmerz, which I never knew had a name until reading about it in Tales of the City. If (and I sincerely hope not) I have PCOS, its on my right side only. The bi-monthly stabby stabby pain is the main symptom that has reduced drastically rather than disappearing altogether.
I know it isn’t the answer for everyone, but I love my Depo shots.
Oooh, that’s awful. What you’ve got here is a scathing indictment of the medical profession as it relates to women.
I, too, have experienced that thing where if you diagnose ityourself rather than letting the docs do it, they won’t listen to you. But when I worked for a hospital (not as a medical person) this was one of the number-one problems. And we did not solve it.
(I have also found that if you go in and ask for a specific drug, the doctors don’t like that, either–no matter what the drug is. For instance I said I wanted to quit smoking and could I get a prescription for Chantix and the doc said, “Hey, how about Wellbutrin?” No. Then (much later) I asked for a prescription for Ritalin, which I’ve had before and which worked well. “Hey, how about Wellbutrin?” What, is she getting a kickback from Wellbutrin? I can’t believe she’d be swayed by just the pens and the notepads. When I wondered if Fosamax might be beneficial she said, “You’re not old enough.” I am precisely old enough.
Conversely, I had a couple of things done which could have resulted in pain. I mentioned that I don’t do too well with painkillers. She said, “How about some Vicodin?” Me: “No, that’s one I’ve had trouble with.” Doc: “Well, here’s a prescription for it, if it doesn’t work or makes you sick, stop taking it.”
So they don’t give me the drugs I do want, they do give me the drugs I don’t want. I practically had to browbeat her into giving me a referral for a bone scan. Long story, but I self-paid for the bone scan, and she she got the results the doc grudgingly admitted that I might indeed benefit from Fosamax.
As to the pain thing: Some people have a low tolerance (me!) and some people have a high tolerance, but doctors are supposed to be treating the individual patient. Pain is pain, and we ought to be advanced enough, medically speaking, to treat it. Also, doctor-shopping ought to be easier. I’m finding that in my market, the doctors recommended by friends are the ones who aren’t taking new patients–hence, the only doctors who are open are the bad ones (who don’t listen).
I also second whoever suggested a chronic pain management clinic. I recommend networking in order to find one. Specifically, if you know someone who works in the medical field, or have a friend who knows someone, see if you can go that way.
I have also had good luck at Planned Parenthood. I don’t know if they still do it, but I know a friend of mine got a hysterectomy referral from a PP doctor when she was in her 20s and no children, and she’d been given a hard time and told it was impossible by other doctors.
Good luck, and hope some of these ideas work out to get you healthy and pain-free.
Sometimes, it seems that women still are being treated for “hysteria” in the old sense of the word. I was finally able to get a hysterectomy when I was in my 40s and was losing a lot of iron each month. I managed to get a tubal ligation before I was 25, by telling a number of (male) doctors that I wasn’t going to have sex in any way, shape, or form, until I had my tubes tied. I guess they sympathized with my husband.
I hope that you can find a doctor who will listen to you, and get you your relief. I can really sympathize with you.
Sorry, I miswrote. It was ovulation pain, like yours.
I would say that I feel your pain, but my problems were never as bad as yours is. I have been there on the frustration part (it just makes you want to stab someone, doesn’t it?) You have every right to feel anger and frustration at your experience with your doctors.
I have had the joy of trying to convince doctors that there really was something wrong. You’ve already gotten some good advice, but I do have to put my 2 cents in.
My first piece of advice is document, document, document! Many doctors are very detail oriented coughanalcough, so providing details tends to sway them more readily. I would keep a diary from a month or so, with event, date, time, duration, location, description, strength (in the 1-10 pain scale and comparative and impact). Do this before you go to a new doctor; then, continue doing it so that you can demonstrate to your doctor the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the chosen treatment. I really wish I had known to do this when I was having problems with my period - it would have made it much more apparent that the procedures they were using were not working.
If after that, they have the gall to say that you are imagining things, ask them how you can prove that you really do hurt that much. I suggest vomiting.
I will third going to a psychiatrist (or a psychologist). You know yourself very well, but the obgyns see a lot of people every year so they don’t know you very well. You know that you have no desire to have children, but they have probably run into women who were convinced that they didn’t want to have children, then decided they did want children one month later. This is another form of documentation as well.
To Zyada’s advice, I add: “I suggest vomiting” on their shoes.
And to her “document, document, document,” print out and include your OP. You may have intended it as “just” a rant, but really, it is very well said.
Ahhh, the venting feels good, don’t it? I hope you feel better emotionally for having shared your burden, and I hope also that you find some relief from the physical pain too, though I have no suggestions as to how.
If it makes you feel better, I have some experience with the “it’s all in your head” phenomenon too. Back when I was in high school my mother and I both suffered terrible fatigue, got depressed, yadda yadda. Our doctor told us it was all in my head - especially me, I was faking to get out of school. We ended up seeing a different doctor in the same practice who sent us for blood tests. Turns out my mother had glandular fever and I had an elevated white cell count (which meant I had probably had glandular fever, even though it was no longer apparent in my blood tests). So stick it out! Eventually someone will listen.
I’m assuming that most of your doctors over the years have been male? The practice I currently attend has mostly female doctors and the kind of specialise in women and kids. Even though I don’t have children I’ve found them to be a lot more understanding and better informed about reproductive health as a result.