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Luteal phase intense cramping pain
Women's Health | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (18)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for your post. Did you ever get a resolution to your pain? I know this is an older post, but considering I have the exact pain you described and it is causing my mental health to deteriorate, I figured I would check to see if you are any closer to a diagnosis? My pain starts every 28 days, and a few days into the luteal phase of my cycle. The pain lasts until about a day into my period. I have extreme pelvic pain that radiates to my back and down my leg. The pain comes in waves that last anywhere between 15-45 minutes. Itis so extreme that it wakes me up several times a night. During the worst part of the monthly episode, I become a zombie because of the lack of sleep. Aside from the pelvic pain that seems to be gyno related, I also have unexplainable digestive issues during the episodes. I get so bloated that I look pregnant for about 10 days a month. I was given birth control to see if it would help the symptoms, but it actually brought on my symptoms, even though I was outside of the normal window.
It has been 4 years and I am tetering on the edge of what I can mentally handle. The pain just gets worse and worse and every dr dismisses me because my test results do not show any real issues. I have had every standard GI and/gynecological test done at least twice and I am no closer to finding any answers.
With all of that said (sorry so long), have you had any luck figuring out what is causing your pain?
Replies to "Thank you for your post. Did you ever get a resolution to your pain? I know..."
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@kellystreet hi! I wasn’t sure if this reply was targeted at my comment, but if so your experience sounds really similar to my own. In particular that taking birth control (which I assume contained progesterone) actually triggered your symptoms. This is exactly what happened to me. Plus the digestive issues can be related to progesterone which can cause constipation, bloating, etc.
As for a solution, I have been going a bit off script with the oversight of a doctor. In particular a reproductive endocrinologist said this treatment plan, while unorthodox, sounded very safe and viable. His other option was to put me into early menopause which I didn’t want to try. Ok so for the treatment I learned that mifepristone (which is highly regulated in the US for political reasons and almost impossible to get prescribed for this purpose although it is very safe according to many clinical trials) is a progesterone antagonist. It is also in trials as a birth control in Europe. I have been taking mifepristone at around 50 mg every week (been trialing different dose regimens) and haven’t had cramps in almost three months! I am getting my bloodwork done every 3 months to check for any liver toxicity (highly unlikely given how low this dose is) and uterine ultrasounds every 6 months (to ensure the reduction in progesterone isn’t causing unopposed estrogen which can lead to endometrial hyperplasia and possibly then cancer).
Interestingly this medication is also prescribed for people with cushings disease at much higher doses but ultimately is very expensive and normally prescribed through a specialty pharmacy. So while I did find a solution it’s not an easy one only because the meds are hard to get but not because the treatment is actually difficult or invasive in any way. I hope this helps in some way!