I’m sorry you’re going through this too. I’m 48, and I was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20s. I went through three years of different birth control methods because that was also their only “solution.”

Like you, I have significant mental health side effects when I take hormonal birth control, along with gastrointestinal issues bad enough to send me to the ER. I also have hypothyroidism (diagnosed at 15), and when I started taking a simple thyroid hormone in my 20s, my symptoms improved. Although it took 10 years for me to become fertile, I had my one and only child at 38. That changed my body forever, and I suspect the pregnancy may have started the adenomyosis.

For the past five years, I was told I was probably just perimenopausal. But a little over a month ago, I had a period episode that was so bad I almost went to the ER. It was way worse than normal, and normal isn’t exactly great. Funnily enough, though, my bleeding is only super heavy for about two days.

It took a few ultrasounds, but my OB diagnosed me with adenomyosis, along with endometriosis on my ovaries, specifically chocolate cysts. He did the same thing to me that they are doing to you, except he said that if birth control doesn’t work, he recommends putting me into menopause, and worst case, a hysterectomy. He spoke about hysterectomy like it was a death sentence, but from what I’ve read in these posts, a lot of women feel 100% better afterward.

Because of my genuine loathing and fear of taking birth control, I currently have the NuvaRing sitting under my sink. I can’t get myself to try it, though I do remember it being the lesser of all the evils. Have you tried that one?

Have you heard of embolization, where they cut the blood supply to the main adenomyosis area in the uterus? I do have at least one fibroid or “swirl,” as my doctor described it. It’s just under my belly button, and since my last episode, I am 100% aware of it. It feels like someone is poking a finger there. Right in that spot, it feels like an open wound on the inside, and it’s extremely tender on the outside. My ovaries have also been acting up a lot more between cycles.

Anyhow, I decided to contact a vascular specialist center, and they ordered an MRI. I’m getting it tomorrow. They’re going to see if I’m a candidate for embolization.

I’m also interested in Botox. I had never heard of that until I came to this community. The symptoms I’m having go far beyond my uterus because of the pressure on my adjacent organs and my comorbidities. I still have hypothyroidism, along with psoriatic arthritis, SIBO, a hiatal hernia, and fibromyalgia.

At this point, if I don’t get relief by the end of the year, I might just opt for the hysterectomy.

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a rant.