Are LIVIA's worth it?

Have you discussed with a doctor why you are having so much pain? You can mask your pain with pain relievers, but it’s best to know what is causing the pain and perhaps take care of it through surgery or with doctor prescribed medication.

I was on birth control, and I take Naproxen which sometimes helps, sometimes doesn’t.

I do want to get more tests. It is horrible, horrible pain that has caused me to leave work. Nothing is a good fix, just a “sometimes it helps, sometimes not”.

All the solutions above (BC, naproxen) were given by doctor for this.

What does the doctor say about the horrible, horrible pain, other than prescribing birth control and Naproxen, @SergeantQueen?

Nothing? They prescribed that and that’s it. They don’t mention tests. I have a doc appointment next week, I’m adding this to my list.

My old doctor (pediatrician) just told me to take ibuprofen 3 days before. They are never that consistent to prepare for and my current doc said that makes it worse.

If you don’t find an answer consider switching to female doctor. There is research that has found male doctors discount female pain and even more so with non-white patients.

I think part of the problem is that she’s young, and maybe doesn’t advocate that well for herself, @kruger_d. I know if it were someone older, the patient would be more demanding of answers or something, not just getting pushed out the door.

My doc is female.

Whoops, She is a Nurse Practitioner. So I shouldn’t say “doctor”

@jca2 the issue is I am unsure what exactly to advocate for… Testing? But what sorts of tests? What type of meds?

@SergeantQueen I’d say I am in very bad pain, it’s not normal and we need to figure out what it is, and then ask questions. Do other people have pain like this and what was their diagnosis? What could be causing this pain? Would surgery help? Are there any remedies that don’t involve pain killers? I would emphasize that this is debilitating pain and it caused me to leave work, it was so bad. Now it’s impacting my life, if I’m in so much pain that I have to leave work.

Thank you. I have for sure mentioned leaving work and the pain, but I will ask more specific about possible causes, surgery etc.

@SergeantQueen: I’d also request to see the doctor.

The NP is who I see exclusively. I do not have a doctor at the moment to actually visit.

It is in a hospital and she has her own office.

@SergeantQueen In my experience, NPs can be caring, competent and wonderful. If you have trust in her, keep going and talking to her.

@SergeantQueen: You just need to push her for answers or for information. You said you’ve seen her before but don’t seem to have much information from the visit, so this time you need to advocate better for yourself.

@jca2 It’s been way over a year so I just don’t remember much other than the prescription.

I want to keep seeing her @janbb

@SergeantQueen: You’ve been in such pain and haven’t been to the doctor/PA in over a year?

This has been going on since I was in middle school. Why go to a doctor when it’s been pointless so far? I am able to tough through it most of the time, and I am lucky where it doesn’t always happen at work. But it has certainly been a hinderance.

And not going to lie, I was taking the BC and skipping the sugar pill to not get my period, but I stopped doing that because I wasn’t sure I should have been. So I was also just skipping the period and not getting pain at all.

But I stopped BC because I don’t know why. I impulsively stopped that and my anti-depressant after the break up. Which is why I made the appointment, to maybe test a different kind of birth control, that I can skip my period on like the shot, and to see about anti-depressant again.

Ask us instead of your doctor? Big mistake. You must explain the full situation and ask questions until you understand what to do.

It could be more serious stuff too, like cysts or endometriosis. Pain is usually your body trying to tell you something is wrong. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do, and you have to learn to manage your pain, but many times there may be an identifiable source that can be treated. If it’s severe enough to cause you to take off work, that’s a major quality of life impact and shouldn’t be ignored. I agree with the above to get checked out. Explain just how debilitating the pain is and ask what can be done to rule out some of the most serious potential causes of your pain. I’m sorry to hear about your pain and wish you the very best getting it resolved.

@YARNLADY

I AM going to a doctor on Tuesday!!! There is a difference between relying on Fluther solely and looking for other opinions/experiences to help me when I go to a professional.

@jca2 for example giving my advice on how to navigate the discussion with doc more effectively.

More specifically, this was a question about a tool sold online. I have read mixed reviews, and wanted to see what you guys thought + maybe experience with it.

I get what ya mean YarnLady, but I have no interest taking anyone advice here over that of a medical professional.

@SergeantQueen What are LIVIA’s?

@si3tech @SergeantQueen posted the link in the details.

@all – Just an aside, I went to the Livia site and later saw 5 of these in my Bitdefender report:

Suspicious web page detected 18 hours ago

Feature: Online Threat Prevention

The webpage https://track.mylivia.online/view?clickid=61a82089f92ca00001c6ea5c has been detected as suspicious. Although the page is not blocked, it is not recommended to continue browsing this page.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy anything from a site with warnings.

This LIVIA sounds like total BS to me.

I had horrific first day period pain for years. I wasn’t willing to take drugs for years. Eventually, I took 600 mg Ibuprofen and it worked great! It takes about 50 minutes to kick in, so you have to try to stay ahead of the pain if your pain is very bad. 600 mg every six hours. Take with a full glass of water and a little food or a whole meal (can be a cracker) to protect your stomach.

Naproxen works similarly, but a different dose and different timing.

You might try ibuprofen if the Naproxen hasn’t been very effective. Another option is Ibuprofen plus Tylenol.

Check with your doctor obviously.

Is your pain throughout the entire time of your period or just the first day or two?

Have they done any diagnostic tests? A lot of the tests don’t show endometriosis, which is likely the problem, but it could just be your cervix opening. Young women often have very bad period cramps because we have very small cervical openings and opening the cervix is painful, also the uterus contracting, just like a labor pain. The difference with labor is the pain comes and goes, but flipping periods it is constant.

An ultrasound would show fibroids, but likely you would have pain all month if you had fibroids pressing on something.

I think before you get it you should see a doctor and see if you should try it.