Always wondered about the pain

I started having periods at 11 years old. I remember the very first one. My mom had told me on my 9th birthday that one day something very special and beautiful would happen to me and I would start having a period. She made it sound wonderful. So wonderful, actually, that about a week after finding out about this thing called a period I started wearing my mom's pads in my undies just in case I started that day! After awhile, mom switched me to pantyliners...I think she got tired of me always wearing Maxis...LOL On the day I started, I was wearing a pantyliner. I didn't really know the difference. I told my mom, on our way out the door somewhere, that I had started. She made sure I was wearing a "pad". I said I was and she figured out I was wearing a pantyliner by my description of what I was wearing. She had me put on a pad. We went out wherever we were going, but didn't bring any extra pads. That day my dad found out too that I started my period because he had to tell me that the back of my skirt was red because I had soaked through the pad. Oh did it hurt, too. Every period hurt. It hurt so bad I cried. I would get migraines from crying because it hurt so bad.

The heating pad became my best friend. I became "regular" pretty quick...by about 13 years old, my period would come every 28 days on the dot. I thanked all the heavens when "Midol" came out on the market! I used the Teen formula and honestly it was the only one that ever worked on my pain. It didn't completely take care of the pain, but at least I could move around more. Relief came with my pregnancies, but of course the pain returned when periods resumed. After my children I had a tubal ligation.

After my tubal ligation, I cursed my doctor. I never wanted to see him again. I was convinced I had "post-tubal ligation syndrome" because my periods were worse than ever. Worst part about it was that my doctor wouldn't listen to me! My last appt with that GYN was in Dec. of 2005. I went in and told him that I was bleeding erratically (having periods whenever they felt like coming and for as long and heavy as they wanted to be) and was in tremendous pain. He said, "you're fine". I asked if he wanted to do an ultrasound, he said "no, you're fine". I paid and left and never looked back. I found a different GYN by the next month and he immediately suspected endometriosis. He scheduled a transvag sono and nothing looked suspicious. One day I fell down at work (not while on my cycle) because of severe pain in the left side over my ovary. The doctor said later that was my ovarian cyst bursting.

In March of 2006, my new GYN decided to do exploratory surgery to see if I had endo. Hysterectomy was not even an option at that time, he just wanted to find out what was causing all my pain. BC pills hadn't made the pain any better and cycles were getting more unpredictable every day. He found fluid behind my uterus from when my left ovarian cyst burst and my right ovary had a cyst on it the size of a fig. He said it was 4 times the size of my left "normal" ovary. He removed the cyst and stitched me up. He proceeded to put me on BC pills to ensure this wouldn't happen again. He didn't say, but I have a feeling that my large cysts were due to my tubal ligation 3 years prior.

Fast forward to June of 2008. I go into the ER from severe pain over my right ovary. So severe that I can't even stand up all the way. They do a transvag ultrasound, pelvic exam, and even a full abdominal CT involving the barium drink. They find absolutely nothing. The doctor thinks maybe I had a kidney stone that passed, but no evidence for this. I go back in July of 2008 to a different ER. They think it's my gallbladder...no clue why, the pain was over my right ovary. Nothing resolved, again. December of 2008 I have the worst period of my life. Periods have been getting worse every month to the point where I am bed-ridden 2 days out of every month and bleed all but 2 weeks out of each month. Ridiculous.

The last period I ever had.....

It started out great. I thought it was going to be the best period ever. Started out sneaky...no pain. No cramping. No PMS. Day one went by just fine for about the first 6 hours. All of a sudden, WHAM. Felt like my insides were being ripped out, piece by piece. DH got me the heating pad and 4 Midol. I continued taking Midol all day and every so often got up from the couch to potty and change my pad. Day 2, bleeding got worse, pain continued to worsen. Day 3, went through 24 pads in the first 4 hours of the day. Pain is severe. Finally I call the GYN's office. They want to see me immediately. They do a pelvic exam (messy!!!) and the doctor says he feels either fibroids or polyps. Transvag sono is scheduled for 4 days later and I'm given BC pills to take 4 X day to stop the bleeding. Bleeding stops and I go in for the ultrasound. Sure enough, there are the fibroids and another ovarian cyst. The doc talks to me about the pain, the surgeries, the tubal ligation.....the hysterectomy. I say "just do it" and walk out crying to my DH...I'm only 26 years old.

Had my hyster on Dec. 30, 2008. Everything went great. I went in at 1 week postop to have the staples removed. Doc had back the pathology report. We didn't really talk much about it since I pretty much already knew....fibroids, ovarian cyst, removed the cervix, scarring over the ovary that was removed....then he shocked me. He said "Oh, and did I already tell you? The whole back wall of your retroverted uterus was covered in endometriosis." I was shocked. We had originally looked almost 3 years ago for endometriosis when we found the ovarian cyst, but didn't find it then. Not sure if it was there and he just didn't see it because my uterus was retroverted and the first surgery was done laparoscopically, or if the endo just developed quickly. Whatever the case, the endo was there.

Thank heavens the pain is gone. No more periods, no more pain, no more endo.