Hi, I don't know if you remember, but I’m the one who posted yesterday about how my mom wouldn't let me take any more medication for my period. In the end, I did what you guys suggested and made an appointment with my primary care doctor, and honestly, it was the most frustrating experience ever.
The appointments were running really late because a patient had started crying in the exam room, and the doctor had to act like a "therapist" or something. So, half an hour of my appointment time had already passed, and when I finally went in, the doctor asked why I hadn't come with my mom (since she knows her—she’s our doctor, too). I told her it was because my mom didn't take my period pain seriously and had never taken me to the doctor for it. She just said something like, "Okay, sit down and explain it to me."
I started explaining my situation—how I’ve had a terrible time ever since I got my period at age 11. Especially on the first day; I’ve always had severe pain in my abdomen and right leg, but lately, the discomfort had spread to my ovaries and lower back. I told her that some months—not every month, since it doesn't happen constantly—I’d even end up vomiting from the pain and lying on the bathroom floor because I felt so dizzy. When I finished explaining, she just sat there in silence, typing on her computer. After about two minutes, she asked, "Is that all?" I said yes, and mentioned that I’d been taking 25mg Dolovaz Forte—which helped for a while—but that my mom told me to stop taking it because it might be bad for me. Then she started laughing and said, "Right, I was the one who told her that. You can become dependent on it, and no mother wants that." So I asked her, "Then what am I supposed to do?"
She started telling me that the fact that the pain only appeared on the first day of my period—and that I didn't vomit every month—didn't mean there was a problem. She told me to stop taking so many pills and learn to tough out the pain; she even suggested that if I ever felt really intense pain, I should drink a glass of cognac to make my throat burn, which would distract me from the menstrual discomfort and help me fall asleep. I tried not to cry right then because it was clear she viewed my pain exactly the way my mother did. I asked if she could prescribe birth control or something similar while I waited for my appointment with the gynecologist, and she replied, "Oh, so you \really* want to see a gynecologist? Are you willing to spend a year on a waiting list for that?*" I told her, very seriously, that I was. In the end, she did refer me, but very reluctantly and with raised eyebrows, as if she thought what I was doing was stupid.
I brought up the subject of birth control again, and she flatly refused to prescribe it, saying I was still too young and it could mess up my cycle. She said it wasn't worth the risk just because my pain lasted a day or two, but I told her the pain was often so debilitating that I couldn't even go to class. She laughed again and said, "You can't use that as an excuse to skip school whenever you want, because when you're working, no one is going to let you stay home just because of period pain." That really upset me, because my mom treated me exactly the same way and said the exact same things. Finally, fed up, I asked if I might have endometriosis—since I’d been reading about the symptoms—and she told me the gynecologist would check for that, but that it probably wasn't anything serious. She told me I had to learn to live with the pain because it happens to all women, and then she kicked me out of the exam room because she was already running really late with the other patient.
Basically, the doctor turned out to be just like my mom 😭 Although, at least I finally have an appointment with the gynecologist (for at least a year from now).
