Can't figure out what's wrong.

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I've had pretty bad menstral cramps since I started... and have had many doctors visits over the years trying to figure this stuff out. Women on my mom's side of the family have had issues with endometriosis, uterine/ovarian tumors/cancer... and I'm worried I'm heading in the same direction. At my yearly physicals, they give me the hand checks for endo., but say they can't feel any real scar tissue, although it DOES hurt like heck when they do that hand check, as well as the rest of my pap in general. I've had several abnormal paps, colposcapies, ultrasounds, colon probes, switched birthcontrol pills a million times, my hormones are all normal... they have no idea what is wrong with me... other than I have ovarian cysts.

but I am in daily pain. I get random sharp pains that can drop me to the ground on a daily basis... And the docs say those are the cysts... but I'm also getting other kinds of pain as of the last few months... along with some other things. Before the summer, I had an abnormal pap (polyp) and had a colposcapy to remove them... they also biopsied all the tissue and said the displasia is approaching precancerous, but is not there... they removed all the abonormal tissue and told me to come back and repeat the pap at the end of the summer (this is a familiar cycle for me)...

After the removed the polyp and surrounding abnormal tissues, a lot of my pain diminished (not the sharp random ones, just my general cramps)... Last month, my period did not go away... and I pretty much bled for the entire month. I went back to redo my pap right after my "period week" (im on birth control) cause the bleeding DID stop and I was able to do the exam... they didn't mention seeing another polyp at the exam, but i'm still waiting on the results.

That was less than a week ago... and I'm bleeding again.... And I'm having terrible crampy pains. i'm afraid I'm gonna continue to bled for a second month in a row.

I forgot to describe those... I've had these kinds of pains transiently (although the sharp ones are a daily constant) and they seem to be worse some periods more than others. As soon as I started continually bleeding all last month... They've been REAL bad... Laying me up in bed some days.

But I've noticed some things about them... They tend to be worse if I have a full bladder, or need to pass a bowel movement/gas... I find that doing any of those three things helps it a lot. But there's a trade off... Sometimes, even if I don't need to have a bowel movement, and I get a bout of these cramps, they kind of induce diarreha... but if I can't get to the bathroom or something in time and can't relieve the pain simply by passing something, then my next bowel movement is normal.... ie- I'm only having the runs if I go while having the cramps.

I've told all this to my doc and they haven't had any helpful ideas... They switched my birthcontrol AGAIN.... and if my redo-pap comes back abnormnal.... it's another round of ultrasound and colposcapy for me. As for all my ultrasounds I do... all they ever see are my ovarian cysts.

Has anyone had issues like this? they can't seem to figure out what is wrong with me... And as I said, all my hormones are normal... I just keep getting polyps and my cysts can't seem to be controlled. I'm worried it's endo, but you can't ID that without exploratory surgery-- Something I'm afraid of and the doctors never seem to push for--caues they can't seem to feel scar tissue.

I'm just so tired of being in pain.

thankfully, not any longer.

i'm not a doc, so i can't say what's causing your problem. however, i did learn early on that pain medication (ibuphrophen, etc.) needs to be taken PRIOR to the pain starting. once it started, it used to magnify exponentially if i was tense, stressed, or afraid it was going to hurt. so, while this didn't take it all away, i started taking my pain meds around the time i expected a period. and never missed a dose.

surprisingly, it made quite a bit of difference.

good luck, hon.

Look up Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, or PID. It has a lot of the symptoms you describe, and can be missed by doctors.
I agree that something must be wrong.

thanks...

though i've never had an STD nor a partner with those (the sites i looked at seemed to suggest PID is caused by bacterial STDs)... my discharge is fine as well as intercourse (usually)... and it persists through abstinence.... i've only had sex once in the last 2 yrs (lol last month, FINALLY!)

and it seems to cause scar tissue, which the doctors have not been able to feel on me... though again, it seems surgery is the only way to be 100% sure. i have read that the degree of scarring is not linear with the amount of incurred pain for endo.

i guess i will have to probe the doctor more about surgery if my latest results come back abnormal again... which i'm afraid of happening.

is there a teaching hospital near you? it sounds like you need to be seen by someone who's got a fresh approach, and my experience is that you can get some really good docs at teaching hospitals.