by Pam
(NY, USA)
With the start of puberty I had terrible endometriosis but no one diagnosed it then. Some years later I went on birth control pills which made me feel so much better I stayed on them for the next twenty years. When I was forced off of them by my then OB-GYN, he shrugged off my concerns about my endometriosis, saying I'd be in menopause soon anyway.
Within months I had a cystic ovary, which he removed (I refused to let him take out all my reproductive organs!) and I was in menopause like someone thrown off a cliff. I had terrible mood swings, insomnia, and fatigue. I tried two different kinds of HRT, but things would improve for a while and then get worse.
I stopped the pills and nothing happened, good or bad, but now my hormones were in a terrible state. I was getting 2-4 hours of sleep a night and was constantly exhausted. I also had to keep suppressing the urge to run amok with an axe because I had no stress handling left.
I had all the symptoms of low cortisol but tests indicated I was making too much. At least this got me involved with a treatment plan to re-sensitize my cells so they would take in cortisol and my adrenals would stop making so much.
I still had some remaining problems which progesterone seems to be helping with, very much! I'm using it according to symptoms, as directed on this site. I'm wondering if I'm going to need to take progesterone for years?
Not that I mind... anything that works! I just figure after all this time, my natural abilities to make it just won't ever recover, or even be enough?