Microgestin/Ponstel report

First month on the Microgestin was...interesting. More like the periods I'm used to than the ones I've been having: 7 days long, mostly clots, with intense pain before and during and some residual pain after (I'm still aching, and I stopped Monday). Plus, the Microgestin doesn't appear to have reduced the bloating one bit -- but it didn't increase it, either. My face is also breaking out more, which is not a deal-breaker but is annoying. I'll give it another couple of months; if they're more of the same, I'm switching back.

Sadly, the Ponstel was not the wonder drug I was hoping it'd be. Had to hit the Lyrica the first few days (on top of the Ponstel, not in place of) because the pain was excruciating. (It felt like an alien baby was trying to eat its way out.) Not sure how, or if, that's related to the clotting. I can say that it's got nothing to do with inactivity, because I only missed one workout.

I'm beginning to abandon hope of alleviating the symptoms. Maybe all I can do is deal with them. Or get pregnant. I hear that's a list of problems all its own, but still -- no periods for 9 months? Where do I sign up?

Miss me?

It's been a very, very long time since I've posted. Sorry. Didn't have much new to report. Pain's about the same. Lumpies are about the same. My handle on my stress level varies -- some days I succeed at being all zen, and some days (like today) I smile while screaming inside, wishing I could just throw a Mr. Mackey fit: "You go to hell! You go to hell and you die!" It's been that kind of week. And this is on the Lyrica!

So, where to go from here? Well, I've been exploring the exercise route. My parents bought me Wii Fit for my birthday (which, incidentally, was the date of my last post), and I've really been sticking with it. (No one is more shocked than me.) I love that I can customize my workouts based on what I feel up to that day (today, I'm cramping pretty badly, so I stuck to yoga and the easier strength exercises). So far, I can run a mile (some days), do 100 jackknives (evil situps), and *finally* touch my toes (which I've not been able to do since I was a kid). The consistent exercise, whether vigorous or gentle, does seem to help the pain. I'm hoping once the weather cools off, I can talk my bf into walking with me on weekends. (I even bought a pair of teeny tiny walking shorts, to inspire him. :) If nothing else, maybe I'll finally get all buff before everything starts sagging.

Diet. Well, my attempts at controlling my sodium intake have done nada to reduce the bloating. (Also made it damned hard to eat anything besides cereal, yogurt, and steamed veggies; I've lost 5 lbs.) I talked to the doctor about it today; he's trying me on another pill, but says some women just bloat. I told him I understand that, but gaining 5.5 lbs in a single day is a bit uncomfortable. Going on Microgestin; neither of us can remember what pills we've tried in the past, so I'm hoping this isn't one that made me crazy.

Pain. My dad pestered me to ask the doctor for different pain medication. He (Dad) is concerned about the burn the heating pad has left on my back. Dr. gave me Ponstel, another NSAID. Says for some women, it works wonders. Hoping I am one of those women. Also told Dad I would look into getting a new heating pad. My other ones never left burns on me; maybe it's just this brand.

Other than that, not much new to report. Had my annual today; all is well. Somehow managed not to start my period in the middle of it, which is nice. (I do not recommend getting a pelvic exam while cramping, though...yeowch. Not even the Lyrica helped that.) Got my lump drained (not Evil Lump, just a garden-variety cyst) -- easiest lump I ever had. No pain, no bleeding; he couldn't even find the hole to stick the Band-Aid on. Wish they were all like that. I'm good to go for another year. Provided these pills don't make me crazy.

Here's hoping.

Stress?

A new line of thinking. I've been realizing the effects stress has had on my health, life, and outlook, and have recently made efforts to alleviate and eliminate it. Some of it is situational, and some of it psychological. The situational stuff I can't change; however, I can do something about the psychological stuff. A friend gave me a really helpful book: The Worry Cure. It's helped me see how my reactions were, in many cases, making mountains out of molehills. So before I ground my teeth into powder, alienated my family and friends, and stressed myself into an early grave, I decided to put some of the theories from the book into practice.

And guess what? This period was better. Lighter, shorter, and less painful. Granted, the lighter/shorter part could just be because last month's was so long. But I usually hurt regardless. And while I did hurt this month, it wasn't unbearable. A little stiffness, some bad moments on the first and second days. That's it.

I'm giving it a few months before I determine if this is really cause and effect. But for the most part, destressing is apparently full of win. No starvation required.

I tried the diet

For roughly 36 hours. And I felt like hell the entire time. I thought at first it was caffeine withdrawal...then I realized I was just starving. I normally eat around 1400 calories a day; with this endo diet, I was eating less than 1000. No wonder I felt like crap. The food to bring me down wasn't bread or cheese, either...it was tater tots. Made a Sonic run at 9 p.m. two days into the diet -- something I never do.

Then I realized I was doing it all wrong. Yes, I had a 12-day period this month. And a 10-day one a couple of months ago. But in between there, I had a 4-day one. The variable factor has not been my diet…it’s been stress. This diet doesn’t help that, either. (Particularly not the no-caffeine part.) What I really need to do is not revamp my diet (despite what my mother thinks, I eat pretty well already), but work on exercising more and stressing less.

I’m not abandoning the idea, though. I will try to eat more veg and fruit and less wheat and cheese. But I’m not going to starve myself, which is the direction I was heading before the tater tot run. (I didn’t eat dinner because nothing sounded good. Then tater tots sounded wonderful…more wonderful than they were, honestly.)

And if I have another 13-day period (yes, this month's period was nearly 2 weeks long), I'll go talk to the doctor again.

New book, new resolve

Bought a recipe book for endometriosis. (I got the e-book; it is so very cool to buy a book online and have it immediately!) I'm contemplating her other book; I guess I'm just not sure how far I buy into this stuff yet. For instance, there's a section on soy in the recipe book that confirms my experiences with it, and my thoughts (based on research into soy) about how a food full of estrogen would affect me. However, it devolves into a paranoid-sounding rant about the evil soy farmers brainwashing the masses...not sure I quite believe that. So I guess I'm taking much of the intro with a grain of salt.

At any rate, I'm going to start the diet next weekend. I figured the beginning of my cycle was a good time, and since I'm far from regular (I started three days earlier than the pills say I should, and nearly a week before I expected to), I have to rely on the pills for a cycle start date. I may not hit 100% right away -- I still don't have all my food stuffs assembled, and my parents are not exactly supportive of the idea. (My boyfriend's cool with it, even though it will affect him much more than it affects them. One of the many reasons why I love him.) But I figure even if I don't follow it to the letter at first, I can work up to that.

The other thing I need to deal with is my stress level. A friend said something that made me see I don't deal with stress -- I just live with it. And I've been under a fair amount recently. Which is probably why I started early this month. No diet in the world will help with the endo if I don't also get my stress under control. I need to stop seeing stress as an unavoidable aspect of life, and start doing something to deal with it. How, I do not know.

Adventures in vegetarianism

While it's not conclusive proof, I'm even more suspicious of soy now. Last month's period was ten days long; this month's was four. The difference: Last month, I ate soy tacos for a week. This month, no soy. Makes you wonder, huh?

In fact, this month was better all around, though by no means enjoyable. The worst part was this past week; I had a migraine that lasted several days, which may or may not have been period related. (They usually are, but this week was also quite stressful.) Still, a vast improvement over last month. I'm now forbidding myself to eat soy.

I'm also preparing to go mostly vegan (no wheat, no dairy) for a month. Most sources recommend you eliminate one, then the other, but I'm just gonna let 'er rip. If I don't see an improvement after cutting most of the joy from my diet, I'm going to eat whatever the heck I want. I was going to do this for the month of April, but then Mom announced her plan to make apple pie for Good Friday. And there's a cake recipe I want to try as well. So now I'm waiting until after Easter, and doing research in the meantime.

The results of this research:

- I tried Uncle Bob's Red Mill Homemade Wonderful GF Bread Mix. I was dubious about the "wonderful" part...no matter how you look at it, bread made with garbanzo bean flour can't really be expected to taste as nummy as bread made with wheat. What I didn't expect was the first mouthful to send me gagging to the trash can. I don't puke easy, but this stuff is just revolting. A friend has recommended rice bread, though, so I've not given up on wheat-free peanut butter sandwiches.

- I also tried rice milk (purchased to make the GF bread above, but I was also curious). It tastes and smells like...nothing. Compared with soy milk, however (the flavor of which horrified and disgusted me), "nothing" is perfectly acceptable. (I will miss my dairy, though.)

- I've decided (at least for the moment) to loosen my diet plans; since I can't eat that many of them anyway, there's no point in excluding eggs. (Besides, most of the vegan substitutes I've found are mostly soy.) In this spirit, I picked up a can of powdered egg whites, since I can never keep fresh eggs/egg product in the house. Which leads to lesson #2 (same night, unfortunately, as the GF bread debacle):

- Brownies made with egg white powder don't gel. I had to bake those things ten extra minutes before they were even semi-solid, and while they are edible, they're a bit on the crunchy side. One more lesson...

- Brownies don't cure migraines. (It was worth a shot.)

Time for some recipe research. I'll let you know if I find anything good.

Get off yer duff

Confirmed today the theory about movement helping cramps. Bad pain day (Lyrica + Darvocet), yet have been doing some light spring cleaning. (I'm not moving furniture, but I'm doing everything else.) And so long as I keep moving, the pain is tolerable. When I stop (like now), it feels like someone's got my hips in a vice.

So I'll get back to it. Just thought I'd share that.

(Longer post to come...I'm finally going to do the vegan thing. More on that later.)