On 20th November 2015 I had the first of my Zoladex injections to help relieve the symptoms of Endometriosis. I look at this as the final straw. The last option to my growing list of failed attempts to control pain, manage my symptoms.

“Zoladex (goserelin) is a man-made form of a hormone that regulates many processes in the body. Goserelin overstimulates the body’s own production of certain hormones, which causes that production to shut down temporarily.”

Less than a week later I go through a bad flare-up, extreme cramping, agonising pain and bloating. Having to take all my strongest pain medication and struggling to stand. I literally didn’t know what to do with myself, I was having to take heavy pain killers along with sticking heat pads all over my abdomen and back. However, I was told later that this was “normal” and is called a ‘post-zoladex bleed’. This can sometimes exaggerate the symptoms of endometriosis. I was also told that this settled down after a while…

And it did. The first month came and went, I was just heading into the second month, second injection, when the hot flushes started. As the injection works, it imitates menopause. The zoladex injection is like a chemical menopause, shutting my ovaries down so the endometriosis cannot grow or fluctuate in any way – hence, no pain. Or that is the idea.
For a couple of years now I have been listening to my mum (who is mid-menopausal FYI) whine about hot sweats and lack of sleep and mood swings, each time earning an eye-roll from me. I will NEVER roll my eyes at my mother again. EVER.
These hot sweats come and go all day, and they are ferocious and spontaneous. I wake up in the middle of the night feeling as though my blood is boiling beneath my skin. That awful feeling when you get stuck in a jumper that’s too tight? (I felt it briefly last year when I found myself, regretfully, stuck in a dress) I feel that for a split second, when waking with a hot sweat, feels a though I’m suffocating as I’m much too hot.

This is still happening to me. But it’s the lesser of two evils I suppose. Volatile body temperature or constant pain?

So I’m 2 thirds of the way into my course of 3 Zoladex injections. My last one was 18th December; each one isn’t as bad as the last. Although I’m left bleeding, sore and bruised after every injection, it doesn’t hurt as much. I figure I’m used to being a human pin cushion. I haven’t had a period in nearly 3 months now, I’ve had very little bloating and a minimal amount of pain. The only complaint I have are the side effects of the injection.

This tells me that the ultimate treatment, the only thing that can really help me (in the long room) is a hysterectomy. A hysterectomy will push me into early menopause, effectively doing exactly what the zoladex injection does and is a more long-term plan. I’ve finally found something that seems to work. But before I commit to menopause permanently…

…2016 is my ‘HAVE-A-BABY Year’

Happy New Year!!

A xo

*I’d love to hear about the treatment you’ve used for Endometriosis… comment below

*Any ideas to naturally boost fertility?