Treatment for adenomyosis?

I was diagnosed with Adenomyosis in November 2011. We just finally decided after dealing with too much pain that a hysterectomy needed to get scheduled sooner rather than later. Lupron was not something we wanted and we needed the time to think about what we wanted. No one ever mentioned Mirena. It's free and its a possibility. I'm not giving up hope yet. I'm not even 30 and have never had kids...I can't give up. Are there any success stories out there?

I had my hysterectomy at 47 mainly due to adenomyosis and some other issues. I was done having children, so my doctor didn't think it was necessary to go through all the hormonal medication ways to try to see if it would control it. I stalled while in daily pain for about 3 years before it finally go so bad hysterectomy was chosen.If I had been younger and not done with my family I would have explored every option available first.Is your quality of life so bad yet that you can't stall a bit? Does your doctor feel it is a health emergency? Keep researching and exploring a while before you do the last resort of a hysterectomy. I'd get a second opinion also before you get major surgery just in case another doctor has other options for you

My doctor said some of her patients with adenomyosis take the pill to control their symptoms and get by with that until the enter menopause. Mirena wouldn't be a good option if you want to have kids later. With adenmyosis, the risk of Mirena causing scarring that would lead to a hysterectomy is pretty great.

Having been through ademyosis, my advice would be to have your kids then have the hysterectomy as soon as yoy''re done having kids. Adenmyosis isn't life threatening, it's just miserable, so if you know you want kids, then hold on to your uterus.

The only true cure for adenomyosis is removal of the uterus, but again, it is not a life threatening disease.

I've always had problems with my cycles, so we had 3 kids back to back and then I had my hysterectomy.

Debated saying anything, but after asking for my own opinions, think you might want to know some experiences. I don't have adenomyosis, but have had the Mirena IUD. I too have not had children and the placement of the IUD was very painful. After having it for only a month, started having extreme pains on my right side. Went back to dr and had it rechecked, said it was fine even did an US and said it looked great. Continued to have pains for two years. Found out had a continuous high white count for months and was even tested for leukemia at one time. Finally got tired of my doctor and switched. First thing she did was an US and found what she thought was infection. Treated it. Pain went away for awhile, but came back in less than a month. Went back and she tried to remove the IUD and could not as it had shifted. Had to have it immediately surgically removed during a D&C as I was running a temp yet again where they also tested the lining. Turns out had an infection yet again. New dr thinks I had an infection the entire time as white count has gotten much better, not normal yet, but better. It might have damaged my uterus from the ongoing infection that was going on.

Sounds from above posts your condition would not do well with this type of BC. I agree with Abagayle to try other types of BC. Some worked for me for over a year until I had to try to find something else. Yet again, you might think it works great in order to try to have children at some point. It's worth a try. There are lots of different types of BC out there, trust me, I think I have tried about all of them and they might find one that if perfect for you.

I did well with the BC pill Tri-Levlin 28 for 10 years. It controlled my bleeding enough to be tolerable. My doctor said anything lower dose wouldn't have controlled the bleeding. There were stronger pills that may have worked better, but I'm sensitive to high dose pills. They make me vomit. BC pills not only help to shorten and lighten periods, but they also help to decrease the intensity of cramps.

Have you tried Aleve for the pain? In prescription strength it's called Anaprox. I started taking Anaprox for my cramps when I was 14. It also was what worked best for me.

How many days a month are your bad pain days? Are you married? If so, have you two thought about having a baby soon so you can have a hysterectomy afterwards?

I have 3 young children. I'm very glad I had all my kids and then had my hysterectomy. I have no regrets.

I never had bad periods, cramps or any menstrual/PMS problems until I had mirena inserted. I had it for about 3.5 years before I finally had it removed. I began having lots of pain and mood swings. It came down to my husband waking me up at 3am and telling me we needed to divorce.

Let me back up a bit. I had began researching mirena and starting reading forums of woman who have it or had it and all of the problems they began having. I went to my doctor that inserted it and talked to him about removing it and all of my pain/mood swings. He wasn't very happy with me telling him I thought the mirena was causing it and strongly suggested I not remove it unless I wanted a child. He basically told me he would not remove it unless I wanted a baby. I decided to find a new doctor.

I found the doctor I have now. Told her of my suspicions and she didn't really agree with me but we tried other things to help my pain/mood swings. The morning my husband told me we needed a divorce I called my doctor and she had me in that day and removed my mirena. My mood swings pretty much went away almost immediately. The pain continued. We finally did laparoscopic surgery and she found fibroids on my uterus and said it looked funky (not her words but can't remember what she said). She told me that she suspected adenomyosis but only sure fire way to know for sure that is what it is and to treat it was for me to have a hysterectomy. So at the age of 33 I had a LSH and only uterus was removed. When I went for my post op at 2 weeks my pathology came back that I did in fact have adenomyosis. I have no clue for sure if mirena caused this or any of my problems as doctors do NOT like to say there are any side effects. All I do know is that I never had any problems what so ever before I had it inserted.

I have to agree that I would go ahead and have the children you want to have and then have the hysterectomy. It has been the best decision I have ever made and wish I had done it sooner.