Hello everyone, I have never turned to a forum of any kind for any reason before but I am now because I don't feel like I can really talk to anyone in my personal life about what I'm dealing with every day & have them actually understand.
I am 22 years old. I have had 4 laproscopy's in the past 4 years (the last one being a week ago today) & 3 DNC's (along with the past 3 surgeries - not this most recent surgery) to clean out the endometriosis & everything. I am fine with having the surgeries, they help me year to year with pain.
My main issue is that I have been on birth control since I was 15 years old (to obtain better periods & pain management). I got my first period when I was 11 years old. I am feeling very concerned about my fertility levels, because my body only had 4 years to do its own thing before I started forcing it to do things I wanted it to do with birth control. I will be getting married soon & wanting to have kids within the next 5 years or so & I am so afraid of hearing that my fertility levels are compromised in any way. My history with birth control methods started with the pills, then switched to an IUD & then combined the IUD with the Depo-Provera (my symptoms were bad & my doctor said using two contraceptives could reduce the rate of the endometriosis growth). I also tried the AWFUL Lupron shot, I only made it ONE MONTH because I was so miserable from it. I also got infections from the IUD, so I took that out after about a year & continued with the Depo-Provera & was not that for 3 years. My last Depo-Provera shot was in December & I was supposed to either get the Implanon before my surgery last week or another Depo-Provera shot. My doctor suggested the Implant because I haven't used it yet & the Depo-Provera had made me gain some weight over the years.
I'm at a complete loss. I am not on any type of birth control currently. I don't know what I should do. I talked with my partner about not being on birth control & letting my body do what it does naturally & let everything get back to being natural & putting less hormones in my body. He was totally supportive & said if we get pregnant it will be a blessing & nothing else, because the odds are already kind of against me, until we talked about it last night & he said we need to do something for contraceptive. I hate the idea of condoms because I don't like the idea of latex or anything like that being inside of me. But at the same token, I want my body to cleanse itself right now & figure out what my fertility levels are in a couple months. I want my body to do just BE itself. I've dealt with weight-gain, pain, & everything under the sun associated with endometriosis & birth control hormones. I'm torn between wanting to make my partner happy & wanting to be selfish & not put anything more in my body.
Before surgery, my doctor also discovered that I have PCOS, so along with the birth controls & everything I am also taking Metformin to help my pancreas & insulin levels & hopefully subdue the PCOS as well.
I know this post is long & ramble-y. I'm sorry. I'm just so lost & I need advice from some unfortunately seasoned women with endometriosis.
Thank you all in advance.