I am a 20 year old female and for the past 4 months have been suffering every single day with numerous symptoms.
Firstly a bit of background information, since been 14 years old I have also had problems with menstruation, bleeding for long periods of time (a typical period would be 10-14 days) extremely heavy bleeding with flooding, severe abdominal cramps, back pains and shooting pains up my bum. I had the implant inserted at 16 but after constant bleeding and weight gain decided this wasn’t right for me and had it removed. I then went on to the Yasmin pill (now known as Lucette) which has a 7 day break in the cycle and this seemed to suit me a lot better and calmed my periods so they lasted only 7 days and with much less pain.
Around the beginning of October I started to suffer with severe painful bloating that seemed to be present all the time and caused me extreme discomfort, I originally put this down to my poor diet as I had just returned back from a holiday abroad and then went back to university therefore I had stopped exercising and eating healthily. So I decided to change my diet so it was more balanced and cut out fatty foods and went on to also cut out gluten but this seemed to make no difference.
Another symptom which emerged when I went back to university were regular episodes of hot flushes, these would happen 4 or 5 times a day and I would get so hot and sweaty out of nowhere I would feel like I was going to faint and no amount of water or fresh air would stop them from happening I just had to let them pass which could take a while and be extremely embarrassing and inconvenient when in a lecture theatre! I spoke to my university doctor about this who started to treat me for anxiety and panic disorder however none of the medication seemed to have an effect.
On November 15th I finished my pill pack and had my period during the week off however I noticed it to be particularly heavier than usual and came with the pains I used to get when I was younger. I then found that even when I restarted taking my pill I continued to bleed for about 6 weeks with only a couple of days rest from it. During these six weeks, on the more heavier days I also suffered from quite abnormally large blood clots and more frequently than usual.
Since October I have also experienced a number of other symptoms on a day to day basis.
· Severe painful bloating - has continued to persist and is always there regardless of how much, what or when I eat.
· Abdominal pains – a combination of aches and stabs
· Pains predominantly down my left side which when really bad make it difficult for me to breathe as the pain worsens when I take a deep breath.
· Back pain – a constant ache across my lower back which worsens when bending over
· Nausea – I feel sick in my stomach all the way up to my throat pretty much 24/7 and there’s not much which I have found to subside this, however I have only been physically sick once since all this started
· Migraines – I have never suffered with headaches or migraines in the past however now it’s quite common I wake up with one most mornings and have to take co-codamol dissolvable tablets as this is the only thing that eases them
· Dizziness/light-headedness – this is not experienced too often but it usually happens when the nausea feeling it particularly strong or if I am having one of my hot flushes
· Fatigue – I am genuinely tired all the time and most days don’t even want to get out of bed
· Insomnia – although I’m tired all the time i find it nearly impossible to get to sleep at nights
· Weight gain – since all this has started I have gained 15lbs despite trying to eat healthier and exercise again or on some days barely been able to eat due to nausea – however all of my measurements are the same except my stomach which has grown 6 inches – this is where all the weight is going (this has really knocked my self esteem as clothes don’t fit properly)
· Spotted bleeding – I stopped the long bleed after 6 weeks but still have days with irregular spotting
· Alcohol intolerance – As someone who formerly had a very high tolerance for alcohol and was rarely ill, since this all started just one glass of wine will make me extremely ill.
These symptoms continued to worsen so on December 29th I visited my GP in my home town. She had a feel and pressed all around my abdomen and stomach area which made me double up with pain and then booked me in for swab and blood tests. I had these done on the 4th and 5th of January. I was also given two lots of medication (Mebervirne and Kolanticon Gel) to try and ease the bloating symptoms.
On the 6th of January my symptoms seemed to have all got dramatically worse and I was feeling so ill that my mum suggested ringing the surgery and asking my doctors advice however she wasn’t available so I spoke to another GP who told me my swab tests were fine but my blood results were showing my inflammatory levels to be high and said that from my symptoms it sounded like I may have an ovarian cyst growing. He prescribed me another medication to try and help the abdominal pains.
On the night of the 6th Jan I ended up been sent home from work due to the pain I was in and taken up to A&E to check nothing serious had happened. I had more bloods taken and then an abdominal x-ray taken which showed no perforation or blockage in my bowel and after been given some morphine because of the level of pain I was in I was told it must be IBS so i should go and buy some Buscapan and just take some Paracetemol. I came away feeling very stupid and annoyed with myself that I’d gone to A&E for IBS! I did as recommended and still no change.
On 10th Jan I had a letter requesting that I have my blood tests repeated.
I had a follow up appointment with my GP on Jan 12th and explained everything that had happened, I also told her about my family history – my mother had a full hysterectomy at 30 as a result of cysts and endometriosis and my grandma had a full hysterectomy at 32 due to ovarian cancer. She then did an internal examination – and pressed my abdomen whilst this was happening – extremely painful! She too then mentioned an ovarian cyst and has referred me for an ultrasound scan. She also gave me two lots of antibiotics which seem to be for gynaecological issues to treat any infection.
So now I am just waiting for my letter through with the date for my scan, unsure what to do to cope with the pain and reduce bloating (normal painkillers don’t touch it) I’m also getting worried as i am about to enter the most important part of the final year of my degree which I can’t imagine doing very well in when I’m dealing with all of this! I was wondering if anyone had a similar situation or could offer my any advice at all?
Thankyou x