This page consists of a growing list of things that never stopped the Endometriosis pain for me:

• Taking up to 1000mg of Tylenol until I was told that doing that will kill me… but less of it didn’t work. Can’t remember if 1000mg was working, it’s already 20 years ago. I went to Advil instead cuz my doctor said it was safer.
  

• Taking up to 1200mg at a time of Advil as soon as the bleeding started - nothing less than 1200mg worked. Taking that much only worked for a few years. My body got used to the dosage and I plateaued, and taking more would not have any further effect, I was told.
  

• Exercise by bicycle, gym workout, stretches, just walking, etc… it makes the pain WORSE.
  

• Praying to God (I was raised Southern Baptist Christian Fundamentalist, and I listened to Coretta Scott King every week on the radio up through my teen years. I left the fold in college).
  

• Taking on Wicca as religion/belief system, then leaving Wicca for general Pagan ideas, in an effort to manually effect healing in my body, mind and spirit. No ritual I have ever done, whether in group or in solitude, has stopped the pain of endometriosis, and has been as useless as Christianity in that regard. Don’t even get me started on the sheer numbers of Pagans with chronic pain and mental problems out there. If this belief system worked, these health issues would not be so prevalent, would they?
  

• Taking “mind over matter” type courses - I know I have the ability to quiet and/or redirect the pain. I’ve done it before in times of desperation, but it is difficult for me to know how I did this. I need a constant teacher, and have yet to find one I click with. I cannot do this on my own. I NEED the discipline.
  

• Doing Progressive Relaxation, as first learned in a study from Stanford University several years ago, and followed up via a friend who has some really excellent Progressive Relaxation tapes he has shared with me. Again as with the ‘mind over matter’ course work, I need a constant teacher, and have yet to find one I click with. I cannot do this on my own. I NEED the discipline.
  

• Taking the doctor-prescribed amount of Naproxen as soon as the bleeding started. Later it was called Anaprox, and later still it became over the counter in Aleve form, but it never worked for me for very long. I started taking more than the recommended doseage like I had previously done with ibuprofen, just to try to dent the pain. That’s when my doctor told me that taking more than recommended can lead to heart attack and/or stroke.
  Plus, after a four-day hospitalisation for pancreatitis and gallstones, I was told I was a high candidate for developing stomach ulcers, and put on meds to counter that. Naproxen (Aleve) is also really bad for people with G.I. issues.
  

• Having sex to orgasm during the pain to stop the cramps (I swear, this idea is STILL pushed to this day by ‘experts’ and doctors) - I tried this on at least three occasions over the years and it does NOT work for me - it makes the pain WORSE.
  

• Going vegetarian for six years. I thought meat might be making the pain worse. I was was right, actually - red meat is proven to be bad for endometriosis. When I found out in 2006 that I have gluten intolerance, I went back to eating meat, but I’ve tried to stay away from red meat. Poultry and fish are the main meats in my diet.
  

• Omitting corn syrup from my diet.
  

• Omitting yeast and gluten from my diet.
  

• Getting chiropractic care (for over a year and it didn’t help).
  

• Acupressure (it only begins to work as pressure has been applied and is held. Once the pressure is removed, the pain resumes).
  

• Surgery (the surgeon removed what she could of the Endo, but there’s still some on the back of my uterus at the bladder which can’t be removed due to fear of puncturing the bladder. The fact that it’s ON the bladder and can’t be removed means that even a hysterectomy will NOT stop the pain of this disease).
  

• Smoking pot (I’ve tried both street pot and medical marijuana) - it makes the pain worse AND makes me extremely bitchy for the next three days. Noted on two occasions; once in 1997 or 1998 where I clearly remember writhing on the floor in even worse pain after smoking street-bought pot, and once in 2005 with medical-grade pot that a friend had given me, and which subsequently led to more pain. Both times, I smoked it.
  

• Acupuncture (I had treatments for about five or six months. The pain was relieved only on the day of acupuncture treatment, but the pain and bleeding always resumed full force within 8 hours)
  

• Chinese medicine (this went along with the acupuncture treatments. The only thing it did for me was to make the blood brighter red instead of dirty brown, but the pain and heavy bleeding did not go away).
  

• Qigong - I need a constant teacher, and have yet to find one I click with. I cannot do this on my own. I NEED the discipline.
  

• Chi Nei Tsang - I need a constant teacher, and have yet to find one I click with. I cannot do this on my own. I NEED the discipline.
  

• Astrology - yes you read that correctly. Years before my mother became a christian fundamentalist, she drew up my natal birth chart when I was a wee child, because she could not figure out why I was always so sick. From time to time, I still look at what planets are transiting, to see if they have any bearing on why my symptoms are better or worse. Of course, I have yet to find anything definitive.
  

• Celebrex (makes me dizzy, gives me stomach pain and GI issues, gives me heart palpitations/panic attack, lent to weight gain)
  

• Muscle relaxers (Soma - Dissociates me so nicely from the pain but leaves me moderately to severely depressed after taking it for even one day, contributes vastly to weight gain)
  

• Oxycodone (I feel like I’m suffocating/drowning on even 5mg of the stuff, and then it passes into agitation and severe depression. If I take half the dosage, I still get very agitated and depressed afterwards).
  

• Darvon (leaves me moderately to severely depressed, sets off my TMJ, which is from a car accident, which I normally have under control, gives me severe headaches, likely from the TMJ. Can’t recall but I think I also suffered hallucinations on the stuff).
  

• Codeine Sulfate (Dissociates me so nicely from the pain but it’s like being on a nice drug trip that suddenly turns bad. I get heart palpitations and racing pulse, which turns into panic attack. Afterwards, I get agitated and/or severely depressed).
  

• Hydromorphone (Dilaudid - leaves me more nauseated than the other opiates, but once it kicks in, it dissociates me so nicely from the pain. Then it gets bad; continual GI issues, feeling of suffocation close to the level I experienced with oxycodone, and WITHDRAWLS!!!!)
  

• Vicoprofen - Currently on it as of October 2009. Like all the other opioids, it leaves me constipated, gives me nightmares, makes it really hard to breathe, makes me itchy, and makes me clench my jaw. I can only take half a pill at a time. Taking more than that is a bad idea for me. The closest I can think of is my bad experience on Oxycodone. I had to get off the Tylenol 3 though because of pending FDA decision to ban acetaminophen, and the fact that it kills my liver.
  

• Taking supplements religiously since 1999: Iron, No-Flush Niacin, Vitamin-C, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Potassium, Copper, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin D3, B-Complex, Vitamin E, Milk Thistle, Potassium, Evening Primrose Oil. I still take these supplements to this day (except for copper).
  

I left off The Pill, because when I took it way back in 1990 (Loestrin), and again in February 2007 (Yasmin), it did stop the pain …but it made me a danger to myself and others, so overall it too has failed.

Then there’s also the very fact that no matter which pain medication I’m on, sometimes it’s not enough to stop the pain which leaves me screaming.

People still ask me “hey have you tried…?”

Go ahead and keep suggesting things. Check this list first to know if I’ve already tried it. I’m open to your suggestions.