Hi ajpa,
It's a fairly common approach, to treat anemic pre-menopausal women with BCP to help control monthly bleeding. Even though the doctor said you might have endometriosis, could it be that she was thinking out loud? Sometimes my doctor does that and scares me half to death. The thing is, endometriosis really needs to be ruled out with specific tests. And I am happy to give my anecdotal story if it helps calm your fears. My mother had endometriosis and had to have a total hysterectomy. My sister also has it, so you can imagine when I started experiencing horrible periods and cramping, I was certain that I had it too. Well, even with all those odds against me, it turned out I don't have it. But I did have to have alot of evil tests to rule it out, so you should really press your dr. to at least do an ultrasound to see if there is anything abnormal.
Second, regarding BCP. I find in my experience that gynecologists are rather inclined to hand out these exotic and rather expensive BCP that the drug reps are pushing. That's not to say it isn't a perfectly appropriate pill for you. It may be. My doctor put me on something that had the potential to raise potassium levels and was a "mood elevator". It was also 30 bucks a month. This seemed rather silly to me because the pill has been around forever. After I balked at the price at month 2, I asked her to find something equally effective but without the added risks and the high price and the glamorous packaging. She put me on a generic BCP that even has iron pills during the placebo week. So, I am telling this to perhaps explain the rationale for being put on Seasonale. It may not be a choice that proves to be practical to the patient. And if you find this is the case, please don't be afraid to ask for something else. There are literally hundreds of BCP types out there.
Lastly, I understand your fears of the pill. I had them too. If you expressed your negative experience with the pill many years ago to your doctor and she still put you on them, it's probably because BCP is a much lower dose than when we took it in the old days. I read or heard somewhere that the BCP they gave women in my mother's day had enough progesterone to sterilize an elephant. Even the pill I took in my twenties had waaay more hormones in it than they have now and the side effects were similar to what you describe. Maybe it's because I am **cough** OLDER, now and my body handles it differently, but I'm not having the weight gain or the acne this time. So they are mostly safe and worth a try in order to help your anemia, which has higher risks comparatively, but that's my opinion. I'm starting on month 5 of taking the pill and I am still waiting to see if my anemia improves. I felt so lousy because of the anemia that I would take or do almost anything to feel better. You just reach that point where fear and feeling crummy start to battle it out and the fear loses, you know what I mean?
Keep us posted. I am sure there will be stuff I can learn from your experience, since ours are very similar.
Good luck!!
