Just a reminder of why this blog is called Hormones and Handbags...

LC - don't read any further. This post is about "women's problems" and I don't want to upset you.

I was going to leave a comment on Spinsterella's post but it was turning into a bit of an epic, so I though I might as well post it, as it's been a while since I've ranted on about my hormones.

I suffer from very, very bad period pain to the point of either passing out or being sick as Spinsterella described. I was prescribed co-codamol and ibuprofen to help, which although they left me feeling a bit spaced out, did take the edge off the pain until I had a really bad reaction to the codeine and had to be signed off work for a week. Which left me with just the ibuprofen.

When these failed to do the job, I was referred to a consultant to rule out anything sinister. Various tests and scans showed that there was nothing wrong with me (I was described as "structurally sound", which would be fabulous if somebody was trying to take out a mortgage on me) and advised that a Mirena coil might help. I was told that I probably wouldn't have any side-effects as the level of hormones in the coil was very low. This seemed great, as various other hormonal treatments, such as the pill, are not an option for me as they trigger my migraines.

For the first seven or eight months everything was lovely. Then I started to get the period pain coming back again. Then my boobs decided that they would alternate between cup sizes, and be incredibly tender and painful when on the increase, so that I ended up having to sleep in a top with built-in support. Then the pain decided not to go. At all. So I now have period pain constantly.

My GP has very kindly agreed that I can take up to 2400mg of ibuprofen a day, but as I don't want to become a candidate for kidney cancer, I'm not exactly overjoyed.

I have now been passed back to the consultant, as my GP doesn't know what else to do with me, and I suspect is sick of the sight of me. Despite being between a rock and a hard place with regards to getting rid of the coil, I think I'm going to have to, while demanding something else to cope with the pain. I've tried a TENS machine, but I had to have it on such a high level that the pulsing and vibrating just made me feel sick.

In the meantime, despite living on water, air and spinach, I can't lose any weight because I'm in too much discomfort to exercise. I'm also sick of having to cancel things because I'm in too much pain to leave the house.

Anyway, my intention was not to try to compete with Spin but to empaphise. Sorry for the whining.

Although you'd have a bloody griz on if you felt like this...