Lower back pain during my period

[GirlFromBrazil]

Hi ladies, how are you?

I’ve had menstrual cramps my whole life during my period.
When my TMS symptoms started (lower back pain was the first), every time I had my period, besides the cramps, I would also have an increase in the lower-back sensations.

I’ve been on continuous birth control pills for six years to avoid getting my period. Almost every month I have some breakthrough bleeding — not much cramping, but a lot of lower-back pain, which hardly improves even with anti-inflammatories.

I’ve done imaging tests to rule out endometriosis (I have some other symptoms as well, like pain during sexual intercourse — but who doesn’t, with chronic pain?). The imaging showed nothing. People on the internet — even doctors — say that endometriosis can be difficult to diagnose through imaging tests.

I’ve tried the TMS approach for my lower-back pain during my menstrual bleeding, but I haven’t seen many results.
I keep going back and forth, wondering if it’s all TMS or if there’s some structural issue, like endometriosis.
What keeps me unsure is that outside my period, certain triggers cause my lower-back pain, and I have a lot of evidence pointing to TMS. But during my bleeding, the pain is pretty constant.

Any thoughts about this?
I’d love to hear from the ladies here and know if anyone has gone through something similar.

Thanks.

 

[BloodMoon]

I’ve done imaging tests to rule out endometriosis

If that imaging didn't also rule out fibroids, then I'd do that before putting these symptoms down to mind/body/TMS. I suffered lower back pain during my periods and just put up with it. It wasn't until after my menopause that I had an ultrasound scan (for something else) and the sonographer said, just in passing, "I see you have fibroids; I bet you had a lot of painful periods with those!". Up until then, I'd had no idea that I had fibroids and that they were more than likely responsible for my pain.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

And if you've got fibroids you're going to want to follow recommended treatment - if there is one. That being said, there's a very good case to be made that intense or long-term emotional stress can result in problematic fibroids or excessive growth in someone who is already predisposed to getting fibroids.

Just like the autoimmune diseases, many of us who end up with these "mystery" conditions are becoming more and more convinced that the stress-inflammation connection is at the heart of of our issues (mine is stress-induced rheumatoid arthritis).

 

[Ellen]

I'm going to refer you to my Success Story, which you can find by clicking on my profile. I had horrendous PMS and painful periods for many years. I eventually had a hysterectomy where the doctor confirmed evidence of endometriosis. Afterward I was pain free, but only for about 6 months. Then I developed fibromyalgia, which I had for 20 years until I discovered TMS and Sarno, et al. After about 18 months of working on my chronic pain as TMS, I fully recovered. My conclusion is that I had TMS all of my life and the nature of the chronic pain and other symptoms morphed into different syndromes over time. Only by recognizing and treating it as TMS, did I recover.

If I can recover, so can you--and so can anyone.

 

[GirlFromBrazil]

Thank you so much @BloodMoon , @JanAtheCPA and @Ellen for sharing your thoughts and stories.

I'm going to refer you to my Success Story, which you can find by clicking on my profile. I had horrendous PMS and painful periods for many years. I eventually had a hysterectomy where the doctor confirmed evidence of endometriosis. Afterward I was pain free, but only for about 6 months. Then I developed fibromyalgia, which I had for 20 years until I discovered TMS and Sarno, et al. After about 18 months of working on my chronic pain as TMS, I fully recovered. My conclusion is that I had TMS all of my life and the nature of the chronic pain and other symptoms morphed into different syndromes over time. Only by recognizing and treating it as TMS, did I recover.

If I can recover, so can you--and so can anyone.

Yeah, I can relate (my traditional diagnosis was fibromyalgia). Gonna check your success story.

I'm trying not to freak out and have a setback on depression.

 

[Ellen]

I'll add that endometriosis is a condition that doesn't always cause pain or other symptoms. It's like the back pain studies of findings on x-rays and mris. There isn't always a correlation, so one can't assume that it is the cause of pain.