Question for ladies

[houghchrst]

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this or knows if one can affect the other. Kind of a delicate subject so I will get right to it. :o

I have pretty bad PMS, my pdoc is just short of diagnosing PMD, I don't know what her wait is :rolleyes:, anyway, I find that during this time my arthritis and Fibro is a lot worse. My arthritis in my lower back is especially severely irritated. To the point that my new pain meds are not even touching it. I feel almost like I am having back labor :eek:. My regular cramping is not terrible just my lower back where my regular pain, lower lumbar and entire sacral pelvic region is 5x worse. I can feel it all the way down to my knees like a bone ache.

Has anyone else experienced this and did you find anything that helped?


P.S. I posted this here cause I wasn't sure where else, everything else looks like a ghost town.

[stef80]

Yeah when i get into PMS mode, i get horrible back aches(even more than normal) nauseous and get pains like having my pelvic bone in a vice and sometimes i have pains going to my knees too....
I have had mild endometriosis and i have IC (basically irritable bladder but can cause horrendous pain)...
and so therefore my doc has basically just said i have chronic pelvic pains that are diagnosed and undiagnosed (whatever that means)
i am sorry i can't help ya there...but i know how painful it can be....
I had success with a drug named ponstel (generic name is mefenamic acid)
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/mefenamic.htm

anti-inflammatories do help but you can have extra bleeding from them....
muscle relaxants are nice too since they take the edge off so you can sleep it off.....of course that doesn't help if your trying to do stuff....
can't really help ya with what works since i haven't found anything either....
at least not any real solution since i had to stop that ponstel stuff since it hurt my bladder real real bad....
anyway just thought to let ya know your not alone...
sorry i couldn't help that much....
take it easy and take care
*hug*kitty

[houghchrst]

Thanks Stef. I already take Salsalate which so far seems to be the only NSAID I have been able to tolerate. Tried too many others to even count. So I am at a loss there. I sat/laid on some ice packs for a while and that seems to take the edge off but man am I miserable lol.

Geez I am sorry, I can't imagine the bladder pain thing. Must be horrible.

thanks for the response. This is the slowest I have seen things in a long time.

[Kathi49]

Christina,

I have had some problems with lumbar/sacral area, minor prolapses, fractured tailbone in two places and basically pelvic floor dysfunction. I have had a total hysterectomy though so I didn't know what this was either. Anyway, there should be some old posts out there that I wrote regarding what I had to do. It may or may not help because I really don't know what exactly you might be experiencing other than the pain you speak of. What helped me 100% besides a couple of injections was pelvic floor PT. I will say it took me quite awhile to get it all sorted out; went back and forth between my PM and Urogyn and Ob/Gyn before it all started coming together and sorted out what was causing what. I feel badly for you and Stef both...this lower pelvic stuff really hurts...caused me a lot of sit pain along with pressure. I hope this helped a little bit. But again, this might not be what your problem is...I am just relaying what I had to do and mainly due to the spinal issues.

[welsh]

Hi Christina Im sorry to hear your suffering so much hun but it is something I too can relate too, althought I had a hysterectomy 7 yrs ago now when I was just 30yrs old ! Anyway I too was on the medication that Stef80 mentioned and I had no problems at all with taking them, over here they`re called Ponstant forte, and I found that they also made the bleed somewhat lighter too. I also used heat rather than ice Christina hun, so maybe you could give that a try, as I found my hot water bottle to be the only comforting thing unfortunatley! Im sorry I cant be of more help to you my dear friend, but wish you well and hope that you find something that eases things for you if not cure you real soon hunnie, Love Demi *********

[Nana4&cntn]

Christina, I also wish I could help, I had to have a hysterectomy at 26, I know the pain you are talking about. I was taking Tylox prior to my surgery and that was the only thing that helped. I wish you all the best!

[Tbackpain1]

Christina,

I ended up, after much discussion with my GYN, to stop taking BC pills and go with the Mirena device. I was on BC to help alleviate the symptoms of severe PMS (migraines, pelvic pain, vaginal pain, severe cramps), and even with trying about 8 different BC pills over the past 3 years (triphasic and monophasic), I was getting no relief. I pretty much had to lock myself in a dark cool quiet room for 4 days before things would become manageable, and this is all while on pretty heavy narcotic pain meds. My GYN was at a loss and I mentioned using a progesterone only method and he mentioned Mirena (IUC). I have since stopped menstrating completely, just a bit of spotting here and there and I don't have to think about BC for another 4.5 years, when I'll probably have another IUC put in.

Its not right for everyone, but for me its been a boon. Its such a relief to feel "normal" with regards to the "womanly issues". I really hope you can find some relief.

Theresa

[houghchrst]

Thank you guys.

Now today my cramping is not so bad so the pain in my lower back and pelvis is back to it's usual awful painful level instead of that excruciating throbbing burning level. It seems that as the months/years go by it is getting worse. The cramping seems to be moving from the front to the back lol. I tried taking a full dose of pain med yesterday instead of the usual half and that didn't even work.

My doctor and my pdoc have recommended that since I have such horrible depression and mood swings during my menses that I am probably better off staying on the pill and I do have Xanax that I am to take during that time if I need to.

Maybe it is time for a set of ESIs. Thank you for the ideas.

[stef80]

The mirena IUS is a good thing....if you want to go that route too....
I had it in for a year and it was great until my uterus was not happy with it anymore so i had to get it taken out.....but it was so great to me....hardly any cramps and hardly any bleeding....
and i have been through a lot of birth control pills and such.....i like the progesterone only pills myself...since my body hates it if the pill has any estrogen in it....i either get worse nausea than i normally have and/or my bladder hates it and puts me into an IC flare....which was so horrible....nothing helped me through that so i figured it out that it was the estrogen...so that dulled that pain...i take it now as therapy to stop ovulation since my bladder flares then too....
so are you on a birth control pill?? antidepressant??
just wondering....
since maybe you could try a different BC pill since sometimes if you have a stronger pill then it helps....and also if you are on an antidepressant, some of them have been found to make patients bleed more...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041123113444.htm
just a thought....of course don't stop things till you talk to the doc...
(i do take effexor, one of the drugs that they think has a link to abnormal bleeding but for me personally i couldn't function without it so i choose to stay on it...but figured to send you the link just in case....since if it can make you bleed more then it would make you have more pain....)
anyway i hope you find some relief....
its good to get that...:rolleyes:
take care and take it easy....keep me posted...
*hug*kitty