Update: Almost a year later
Hi all,
Sorry I didn't follow through with updates throughout the whole course of treatment. I ended up getting very busy with work, life, etc., I'm sure you know how that goes. :-)
Anyway, I finished up the Lupron with no problems whatsoever. My doc had me immediately start Lo Loestrin Fe the day after my Lupron course ended. This was to be sure that it would stop the endo from coming back for a long time. It has worked great, and I actually still had not had a period for months. I called the doctor, and he said the birth control pills he put me on quite commonly will make it so one either just lightly spots, or has no period whatsoever (apparently they forgot to tell me that part). I was definitely relieved after that, because I kept expecting to get this horrible period afterward, and nothing kept happening.
I can tell you that after stopping the Lupron for a month, the menopause symptoms had also completely stopped. No more hot flashes, yay! I had heard some horror stories about those staying for years, so I was glad they were gone.
I also had a noticeable decrease in my back pain. I never realized how much of that pain was endo--I thought it was my back muscles this whole time! What a difference.
I wanted to update this thread because I finally did get a period, but sort of due to things out of my control. The company that manages my insurance and benefits through my workplace had royally screwed up my account, and I discovered that they cancelled my insurance by mistake! It took a few months to get it all straightened out. Luckily, I had just gotten 90 day refills on my meds--that is, all but my birth control pills! So, as of today, I have been without them for almost a month, and I have been cramping for a week. I just started a period today (after almost 11 months without one). The good news is that the birth control is in the mail from the pharmacy and should be here tomorrow, but I think I'm gonna let this period run its course before I start the BCP again, just because it is obvious that lining has built up, so I don't want to stop my period before my body is done shedding that lining. I have had a decidual cast before (don't google image that term unless you are not squeamish btw!), and since I'm prone to them, it's something of which I need to be mindful.
Honestly, it's not that bad of a period. The only issue I'm having is COMPLETE AND UTTER EXHAUSTION, which I haven't felt this badly since I was in high school. I slept for 14 hours last night, camped out on the couch today with cramps, and I'm currently fighting sleep after only being awake for 7.5 hours. The cramps aren't awful, but they're definitely worse than I have had in the past several years. However, I've mostly had standard PCOS periods as an adult, which are rather light. When I was younger, I had more typical endo periods (heavy, extremely painful, missing school 2 days a month sort of stuff), so I've been spoiled when it comes to my period throughout most of my twenties.
I still think that this is due to the Lupron and the fact that the first period is usually unpleasant, even though it's been like 6 months since I stopped the Lupron therapy.
Anyway, I just felt like this thread was unfinished without an update, so I thought I would post this just to share the information.
I hope that this information will be helpful to someone out there who is struggling with the decision of whether to take Lupron.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend Lupron to everyone, as it is an extreme form of treatment, but I am determined to have a baby in the next couple of years, and this is what I consider to be the best treatment option for me--everyone is different, so that may not be the decision others make, and that's cool too. If anything significant happens, I'll continue to update.
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