Posted by AnneL on October 17, 2001, at 0:10:19
In reply to Anne, thanks and with regard to your situation... » AnneL, posted by Kaysey on October 15, 2001, at 0:38:46
Hi Kaysey,
From what I understand, adenomyosis is a fairly common condition in women in the 30's and 40's who have had children. Adenomysosis is just a slightly enlarged uterus that has endometrial glands (that produce the lining of the uterus) growing inside of the uterine muscle layers. Many women have painful periods (thank God I don't), but the big tip-off is heavy, heavy periods! (Did I emphasize heavy enough?!!) Diagnosis by a GYN who is very skilled with transvaginal ultrasound is usually very accurate.
But the wierd thing is that most cases of adenomyosis are discovered after the uterus is removed! So symtomatically and by transvaginal ultrasound we are making an assumption that I have adenomyosis. All symptoms disappear with menopause, but I think I have about 14 more years to go!! Oral contraceptives work in a minority of women to help control bleeding, but for the vast majority hysterectomy is a viable option if you don't want to keep having blood transfusions (just kidding - but I am very anemic!) The Mirena
IUD (LNG 20) is an off-label use for adenomysosis and/or women with menorrhagia (excessive bleeding). It worked with my first period! I hardly had one. You can see why I am loath to give this up. I don't have a Pdoc at the moment but I spoke to the hopefully new Pdoc today and we will arrange the appt. for next week. I am doing better on this than any other hormonal agent I have ever used and this has the smallest amount of systemic hormones of any other method including Norplant. The good thing about Mirena, is that the serum levels of levonorgestrel are even. There are no peaks and troughs like the Pill. Wish me luck and thank you for asking about me. :) P.S. Do you think you might try Yasmin? Anne
poster:AnneL
thread:80411
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011015/msgs/81452.html