I thought I was going mad
I thought I was going mad. I had always suffered from painful periods. Every month was a round of aches and vomiting. I just put up with it. Sometimes missing days off work.
After I had my first child, I started to take the mini contraceptive pill, but decided it didn’t feel right for me – a dull ache in the pelvic region all the time, so I decided to stop taking it when my daughter was six months old. Suddenly I was hit with post-natal depression but 30 years ago it was not recognised. It was ‘pull yourself together’ with doses of valium and then eventually anti-depressants. Eventually I had to be referred to a Psychiatric hospital. More pills. Eventually after suffering for two years, I gradually got better, but not completely.
Now it was a set pattern, two weeks out of every month I was depressed and very bad tempered, on the verge of being extremely violent. I don’t know how I got through every day. I used to set myself difficult tasks and jobs I hated doing so I could focus my mind on something else and not my depression, just to get me through the bad times. Sometimes it worked. Every month felt like trying to climb Mount Everest This was my norm for the next ten years. I then became pregnant again.
Once I had given birth, I recognised all the signs of post-natal depression again, so I immediately sought medical advice. My GP referred me to a Gynaecologist and after several kinds of treatment she prescribed Danazol. What a difference that made, it stopped my periods completely. For the first time in my life I felt normal.
I took Danol (Danazol) for nine years without a break, then at 42 I suffered a heart attack
My cardiac consultant insisted that I stop taking Danazol straight away as he thought it might have been this that had caused my heart problem, as I didn’t have any other factors which may have contributed to this.
I had wretched periods after stopping the Danazol but things started to improve as I got older. I am now 53 years old and I no longer have periods which is wonderful, as most of the time now I feel well. I am going through the menopause with all the usual symptoms including bouts of depression but hopefully it will be over soon.
PMS is a very real illness not only affecting oneself but the whole family.
