Being a girl sucks!
Hi so I'm new to this forum stuff but really would like advice! I've had RRMS for nearly 10 years and I'm currently taking Aubagio along with gabapentin and baclofen daily. The nurse has recently upped my gabapentin due to more pain / pins n needles / spasms etc in my legs but this hasn't helped because nearly 2, 3 weeks out of the month I seem to struggle due to my period! It makes my body feel like it's short circuiting and the fatigue is dreadful! I end up in bed off work so much and I'm only 39 I can't keep going like this! I had breast cancer in the past...all good now but because of this I'm not able to take any contraceptive pill, device that uses hormones!! So cant even stop my period coming...any suggestions / help very welcome!???
I have recently begun taking gabapentin and think it is helping my spastacity and spasms but has upped my blood pressure and instead of making me drowsy I think it is making me a bit hyper instead ;-0 when I'm hyper the world is in trouble! A Dr friend of mine advised that there is a slow release version of it and I hope it is a bit gentler on the system and would last through the night to help with sleep it is called Gralise and I have a call in to my Dr to have my prescription changed over to that. Hopefully I can pick up today. My daughter found that Ibuprofen helps some with monthly pain. Can you try that? She was so bothered by it and it was disruptive in her life that she went on the pill. Doesn't sound like that is an option for you but that is what helped me in my teens as well. There are many different versions with different hormones...are none of them safe for you? There are also IUDs that may help control the cycle and severity? Another friend of mine has such flow during her cycle that she was going anemic and had fibrous tissue and all sorts of issues so had a hysterectomy. I'd find a good reproductive Dr...they surely will have some options
@victoria_morgan I have always avoided hormonal contraception (despite many reasons it would help me in lots of ways with the MS and because I also have PCOS) because I am at a high risk of getting hormone dependent breast cancer. I do find my cycle affects my MS symptoms, especially fatigue. Being a girl really does suck sometimes. Have you seen a gynaecologist or endocrinologist? It sounds like you would have a good case for asking to see one. For me, I'm very heat sensitive and one of the reasons my MS symptoms are made worse is the increase in body temperature at ovulation. Are you able to correlate your MS symptoms increasing with each stage in the cycle? If you can do that and understand what the hormonal change is that's happening, there might be some things you can do to mitigate them through being aware and making changes to your environment/behaviour/lifestyle.