Adenomyosis : Treatment
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, the information on these pages is gathered from my own experience, books, websites, and other people's experience. I will not be held responsible for any injury resulting from this information. If you have a medical condition, you should seek qualified medical advice and supervision at all times.
How is it treated?
The preferred method of treatment is a partial or full hysterectomy. For those sufferers who do not have endometriosis, a partial hysterectomy or endometrial ablation will most likely get rid of the disease and the symptoms, also avoiding the hormonal change to menopause (because the ovaries are left in). Sufferers who have endometriosis aswell will need a full hysterectomy, if the ovaries are left in, the endometriosis growths will keep growing (the ovaries will still produce estragen, feeding the growths).
Obviously all methods involve becoming infertile. A full hysterectomy causes the shift to menopause (no matter the age) as the estragen producing ovaries are removed. Typically this results in the sufferer needing to take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for many years, and can cause or speed the development of other diseases, including osteoporosis.
Because most sufferers are typically close to menopause anyway, these options work well. For those rare cases who develop adenomyosis at a much younger age the choice of treatments is horrible (especially if they want a family).
Continuous high progesterone birth control (BCP) is often used to control the growth rate of the adenomyomas and the pain by avoiding periods.
A newly developed Intra Uterine Device (IUD) called Mirena has been trialed on adenomyosis sufferers and has been found to decrease the severity and in some cases remove symptoms. It does not treat the adenomyomas (growths) at all, but delivers a low dose of progestogen directly into the uterus lining, slowing and sometimes stopping the growth of the lining (and thus periods). It seems to be more effective than the continuous pill as there seem to be much fewer side effects. Those who also suffer from endometriosis would be recommended to stay on a very low dose pill to stop the action of the ovaries.
This IUD is available from family planning centres and doctors by prescription, and requires a qualified professional to insert the device. It may require a local aneasthetic for those who have a low pain tolerance. It can be removed by a doctor at any time, and does not seem to affect fertility after removal, unlike the pill and it has a low failure rate with contraception while worn.
