It took me like 3 doctors before one of them suggested the medications I’m trying now, and that was a doctor at a sexual health centre. This included one doctor who, when he saw I had low iron and I told him it was probably my frequent, long, heavy periods gave me a PPI (in case I had some stomach issue stopping iron absorption—because when he asked me if I had heartburn I said once every 2 or 3 months after eating like crap I have a little bit that an antacid fixes immediately), an endoscopy (in case I had, idk, a digestive issue? this required sedation, fasting, and a day off work so wasn’t exactly Fun), and finally said it probably was my period and I should probably go on a different BC (so I’d resigned myself to trying an IUD, which is its own kind of pain, and if I’d had the sexual side effects I attribute to my last IUD again I’d have to have it removed after only a month or two so FUN).
So I went to the sexual health centre to discuss options for other BC (since I was also considering the shot) and she was like “you could try this medicine?” and I was confused because the medicine while not free was cheap enough (about AU$30 per cycle, or less than an hour’s pre-tax wage for me). I went back to my original doctor to refill the prescription and asked why he didn’t recommend it to me and he said kind of dismissively “it doesn’t always work” and after that I read research on it and apparently it works 30% of the time which for me is, you know, A PRETTY GOOD SHOT.
So yeah, I don’t know how firm or insistent you’ve been with doctors, or how accessible doctors are in your country, but being very firm (“these cramps are no good and I need to do something about them! Is there something we could try?”) might help? Is going on a hormonal BC an option for you—I can’t have estrogen but if I could it would just be a case of taking “the pill” without the placebo weeks which would stop my period altogether.
But yeah, I’d take my previous long periods over a 4 hour debilitating cramp with a regular, say 3 day period, so I’d encourage you to keep asking doctors as those cramps sound so intense.
It took me like 3 doctors before one of them suggested the medications I’m trying now, and that was a doctor at a sexual health centre. This included one doctor who, when he saw I had low iron and I told him it was probably my frequent, long, heavy periods gave me a PPI (in case I had some stomach issue stopping iron absorption—because when he asked me if I had heartburn I said once every 2 or 3 months after eating like crap I have a little bit that an antacid fixes immediately), an endoscopy (in case I had, idk, a digestive issue? this required sedation, fasting, and a day off work so wasn’t exactly Fun), and finally said it probably was my period and I should probably go on a different BC (so I’d resigned myself to trying an IUD, which is its own kind of pain, and if I’d had the sexual side effects I attribute to my last IUD again I’d have to have it removed after only a month or two so FUN).
So I went to the sexual health centre to discuss options for other BC (since I was also considering the shot) and she was like “you could try this medicine?” and I was confused because the medicine while not free was cheap enough (about AU$30 per cycle, or less than an hour’s pre-tax wage for me). I went back to my original doctor to refill the prescription and asked why he didn’t recommend it to me and he said kind of dismissively “it doesn’t always work” and after that I read research on it and apparently it works 30% of the time which for me is, you know, A PRETTY GOOD SHOT.
So yeah, I don’t know how firm or insistent you’ve been with doctors, or how accessible doctors are in your country, but being very firm (“these cramps are no good and I need to do something about them! Is there something we could try?”) might help? Is going on a hormonal BC an option for you—I can’t have estrogen but if I could it would just be a case of taking “the pill” without the placebo weeks which would stop my period altogether.
But yeah, I’d take my previous long periods over a 4 hour debilitating cramp with a regular, say 3 day period, so I’d encourage you to keep asking doctors as those cramps sound so intense.