To progesterone or not to progesterone? That is the question

Before you ask, no I'm not morphing into 'the bard', but I do want to see that new Hamnet film! But I digress...

Today I wanted to open up about the decision I'm having to make in connection to managing my endometriosis, well it's more of a brain dump really! But then again that's essentially what this blog has been from the start. As you know, I've now found out that I have endometriosis, albeit only stage 1 (mild), and although this is only an incidental finding and not causing me any issues, it is still something to add into the mix and manage. Also, without management it has the potential to progress and start causing problems on top of everything else. The most common method of managing endo is with progesterone, used to help stop periods and slow tissue growth. Infact, I even had the option for a coil to be placed during my laproscopy to start managing it straight away, but it's something I've never really felt comfortable with (the pill has always been my go to), so I left that door open to allow me to make an informed decision if any endo were found. 

So why the question about progesterone? Well I'm feeling a little stuck as to what to do as, from experience, it took me a long time to find a pill that suited me when I first started it at 15, having lots of the horrible side effects until I hit the sweet spot. I was on this for 13 years until I became unwell, and it was just an extra medication I didn't want to take if it wasn't necessary. Which leads me to the conundrum, so here's a little pro con to stop me waffling:

Pros of going onto progesterone -
- Know the Endo is being managed and not likely to become worse or start causing issues
- I can almost forget about it and focus on everything else as I know it's being taken care of 
- It may help relieve some of my other symptoms such as helping reduce some of the bloating if the Endo is contributing to it.

Cons -
- Progesterone has been shown to cause Gastro issues/ increase gut sensitivity (definitely don't need that!)
- May take a while to find a pill that suits me and then it's dealing with the negative effects of the ones that don't
- Can have a negative impact on mood which definitely isn't needed!

Other aspects of consideration -
- Having been on the pill so long before will have been managing it, and so for all I know, if I hadn't then my Endo could be worse and actually causing issues 
- Not taking progesterone will mean the Endo isn't managed and could cause fertility issues later on 
- It's just another treatment in a cocktail of others and I won't know for sure what is and isn't helping 

So there we go, a little insight into my busy confusion over what to do! Needless to say I'm seeking advice from my 'main consultant' as to what they think and the bigger picture. I do know that if I was otherwise well, it wouldn't be a question as to what I would do, and one day soon I hope I get to that point!

Ta ta for now! 

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