Breast cyst

[thekarens]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and kind words. Once the diagnoses is confirmed I'm going to ask my gyn about going off the pill. I'm only taking it to control bleeding, not for birth control so there's got to be other alternatives.

[thekarens]

I'll just copy/paste the post I put in another thread a few days ago (mentioned to avoid confusing anyone).

I take a form of progesterone for heavy periods. It doesn't have the side effects that full bc has. (Medroxyprogesterone acetate). Have considered doing an ablation, but not ready to go there, yet.

Thanks Muirenn! I'll mention it to the gyn. I was fine with the idea of the ablation, but the gyn wanted to try the pills first.

[zoom-zoom]

Ablation won't do anything for erratic/short cycles, FYI. If I didn't hate the way BCPs kill my libido I'd be back on them. At 42 my cycles are stupid short (21-24 days, typically), but I bleed for a solid 8 days. After ablation my periods are mostly spotting, but it's still a PITA being visited by AF so much.

[thekarens]

Ablation won't do anything for erratic/short cycles, FYI. If I didn't hate the way BCPs kill my libido I'd be back on them. At 42 my cycles are stupid short (21-24 days, typically), but I bleed for a solid 8 days. After ablation my periods are mostly spotting, but it's still a PITA being visited by AF so much.

I guess it affects everyone differently. I have 2 coworkers who had it done and neither of them has had a cycle since.

BC has the same effect on me, but it's worth it not to have have those heavy short cycles. However, it's not worth breast cysts.

[zoom-zoom]

I guess it affects everyone differently. I have 2 coworkers who had it done and neither of them has had a cycle since.

They're still having cycles, even if they're not bleeding (but I envy their total lack of flow...lucky!! Mine is greatly reduced, but still there). Short of removing ovaries there's no way to actually stop the hormonal cycle before menopause, unfortunately. I suspect I've been battling perimenopause for nearly a decade, already (IIRC I was ~35 when my cycles went from ~26-28 days to 24-26...and now <24) so I hope I'll stop with the cycles nonsense early. I almost certainly had endo since my first period at 12 (heavy bleeding, severe pain)...wasn't diagnosed until my tubal at age 30. My doc tried me on 10 days/cycle of 200mg Prometrium for a few months to help regulate things, but it didn't do squat. Fortunately I otherwise feel great and haven't had any other issues, am just tired of the inconvenience of it all.

I wish I could remember if my first cysts were while on BCPs. I think they probably were, but I don't know if they were due to the hormones or not. 2nd time I wasn't on BCPs, I don't think. Not sure how wonky my hormones would have been while lactating, though. I didn't get my periods back until DS was maybe 9 months old and I think the cysts came and went around the time he was maybe 6 months old.

[thekarens]

They're still having cycles, even if they're not bleeding (but I envy their total lack of flow...lucky!! Mine is greatly reduced, but still there). Short of removing ovaries there's no way to actually stop the hormonal cycle before menopause, unfortunately. I suspect I've been battling perimenopause for nearly a decade, already (IIRC I was ~35 when my cycles went from ~26-28 days to 24-26...and now <24) so I hope I'll stop with the cycles nonsense early. I almost certainly had endo since my first period at 12 (heavy bleeding, severe pain)...wasn't diagnosed until my tubal at age 30. My doc tried me on 10 days/cycle of 200mg Prometrium for a few months to help regulate things, but it didn't do squat. Fortunately I otherwise feel great and haven't had any other issues, am just tired of the inconvenience of it all.

I wish I could remember if my first cysts were while on BCPs. I think they probably were, but I don't know if they were due to the hormones or not. 2nd time I wasn't on BCPs, I don't think. Not sure how wonky my hormones would have been while lactating, though. I didn't get my periods back until DS was maybe 9 months old and I think the cysts came and went around the time he was maybe 6 months old.

I can't blame you for hating the inconvenience. I'd hate it too. That's a major PITA.

I never had problems until my 40s and then my cycles went wonky with the heavy irregular bleeding, which is why I got put on the BCP. To my knowledge I've never had a breast cyst or if I did it was small and I never noticed. Certainly I never had pain in the past.

[OakLeaf]

Ow. Hope you get it sorted ASAP.