Friday, July 30, 2010

Now What??

Well, it seems my gyn has thrown in the towel. She shoved me over to my primary care doctor to discuss pain management, and basically doesn't know what to do next since I refuse to start lupron. I am just so afraid of that stuff!! And what if it works?? Then what am I going to do, have a hysterectomy at 27?! I don't think so!! Don't get me wrong- I don't envy my dr. I know this has been a long road with me. Obviously you run out of ideas at some point but it's just so sad. So now my dr. has me on vicodin, which sucks and usually does nothing for the pain. I hate this. I just needed to vent. :(

5 comments:

  1. Sounds exactly like the boat I was in a couple months ago. My (now previous) dr told me Lupron was my only option. I really didn't want to, but after a trip to the hospital for severe pain, I relented. I had to get Zoladex instead, because my insurance wouldn't cover Lupron. This dr wanted me to have six months of Zoladex and then he wanted to try a laparascopy for the third time. He had operated on me twice with no success. I had a three month dose injected into my belly.

    Then this same dr stopped prescribing the vicodin I so desperately needed and sent me to pain management. That was when I finally had enough of him. (It took me too long!)

    So I found another dr. One that could perform a robotic laparascopy and prescribed vicodin. This combination saved my life! Please let me know if you want more info. I don't know your whole story, but it may be worth finding a dr you could speak to about it. The robot is called daVinci. I'm not sure where you live, but my doctor is an amazing endo surgeon!

    I hope you find relief!

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  2. Oh and the Zoladex did not help me at all!!! My new dr said he never would have prescribed it for me.

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  3. KD,

    I found you through Jenn's blog, Endo Friendo. I'm so sorry you are struggling right now. :(

    I have lived with endometriosis for 28 of my 41 years. In my experience, having a doctor recognize his/her limitations is always better than the ones who are arrogant and work past their training and capabilities.

    I realize that may be a small comfort in the short-term. However, in the long run you'll be better off with a more skilled, more experienced doctor than the one who "threw in the towel".

    If there are pelvic pain specialists or reproductive endocrinologists in your area who deal with endometriosis all the time, you might get better results than with the doctor who reached a "dead end".

    It can be difficult to find a doctor for treating endometriosis. Some docs rave about their qualifications and turn out to be horrid.

    If you have an endometriosis (in-person) support group in your area, I highly recommend checking it out. I attended monthly meetings from 1992-2008. The 2001-2008 meetings were after I moved to a new community and started an endo support group from scratch.

    I can't tell you how much I learned from fellow patients! If you have access to a group, its members may be able to give you clues regarding finding a new doctor.

    Over the years, I reached a point where Traditional Western Medicine alone (i.e. drugs & surgery) just weren't enough for me. I investigated various alternative therapies (far too long for a blog comment but my personal favorite is acupuncture). By taking the best of both worlds (Western medicine and "alternative medicine"), I have much better control over my situation endometriosis-wise than before. (I have numerous other chronic conditions too... several of which are linked to endo).

    Things will get better. Hang in there!

    Best wishes,

    Jeanne

    P.S. If I write any more, Blogger will surely give me an error for my comment being too long... but I encourage you to check out my blog. You may find info you find helpful. :)

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  4. Ladies, I haven't been on for awhile and I just saw your comments... THANK YOU!! I might email you tomorrow (I'm on my phone commenting right now). Thanks for the support! :)

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