Hmm...you need a new doctor. Endo feeds on estrogen. Endo tissue can produce its own estrogen, that's why BC pills and even Lupron doesn't always work on endo. That's why a few of us are on letrozole (femara). Here's a link worth reading:
http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/obgyn/divisions/biology/bulun/aromatase%20inhibitors.html

I just saw my doc today and he pretty much said that some women have higher estrogen levels and the ones with higher levels usually have endo

endo pain is helped by bc control pills, not the endo itself.
i had a hyst in 2000, and I had many hormonal problems, they tried everything, I thought i was going nuts(anxiety, depression)finally they tried "bioidentical" hormones, better now!
have you ever tried just progest? it helped me for about 6 mths.

Birth control pills are prescribed for endo in order to shut down the ovaries. Yes, birth control does have hormones, but the hormones in birth control is less than what your ovaries normally make. Without being on birth control, your ovaries actually produce MORE estrogen. A lot of people get confused because they think the estrogen in birth control will make the endo worse, but actually, you are producing more estrogen if you aren't on birth control. Kinda confusing I know.

I do believe that endo affects our hormones, probably a great deal. Also having ovarian cysts can affect your mood as well. I just had a cyst rupture last week, and I noticed that my mood had changed very much to depression. I think most doctors don't know what they are talking about when it comes to endo. I am lucky to have finally found one that seems to know what he is doing, but it has taken me a very long time.

Right now I am on Mirena and it hasn't helped with the pain at all. I may keep it in as for the actual use as a birth control method. My specialist originally tried the Mirena to stop my periods to see if that would help the pain some but all it did so far ( 6 months ) is make my periods come at weird times and make them last longer. Also these last 3 months, I start experiencing bad pain about a week or longer before i actually get it, which is miserable. Also in the past when i was on estrogen birth control, it completely whacked me out mood wise, so I refuse to go that route. I'm not sure what happens with the estrogen levels in our bodies when we take estrogen b/c but I know it messes with me. I can't entirely agree with it actually reducing the amount of estrogen. Perhaps I'm sensitive to it cuz I took it for so long. Hell, for all I know I may be going through perry menopause ( sp? ). But I will never know because I can't get any of my doctors to give me a scan much less check my hormone levels.
That;s another thing that has me vexed, I have been experiencing alot of pain on my left side for over a year. I was able to get an ultra sound done last March and it showed a 2.4cm cyst. I was told that this is why I'm in so much pain on that side. NOW this gyno says that it is in no way causing that pain because of the type of cyst it is, or WAS. It was a follicular cyst, the type us women get every month along with our period. It appears when you ovulate and dissipates once your period is done. SO I'm back to square one on my left sided pain. I ask this gyno about getting a scan and she doesn't agree that I should have one. She totally feels that once my periods stop, so will the pain and I can't seem to tell her any different.

I'm about ready to cry at this point!!!! It's not like I've given up, I'm trying to get the right kind of help. All these doctors want to do is mess with my hormones by giving them to me or taking them away!!! Most of them don't even recognize this as a disease, they just see it as an annoying women's disorder! We really need to raise awareness, especially with these "doctors"!!!!

Thank you everyone for your input!

I think you should find a new doctor! I do agree with you though, hormones mess with me too. If I didn't need the pill for birth control, I think I would just stop it all together.

carriekitten, thank you very much for your support. You are a great asset to this group as you do give sound advice and I really appreciate it. Thankfully, she is NOT my doctor. My pain psychologist set me up with her for a consultation as he thought her to "think outside the box" and that I would benefit from this. This was due to me explaining how stressed I was about my specialist during one of our sessions.
I'm seriously thinking about sending her some literature about different views on endo. Perhaps it will "plant a seed", but I'm sure that's just wishful thinking. It couldn't hurt though. :)

Thanks!

whatever. it does affect our hormones. i have had my period for the last 16 days and I am sick of it. Im moody angry bitchy..hate everyone treat my boyfriend like shit and i know its not ME! I have to have my 5th lap next month and i dont even know what to think i am so sick of this. why cant they just cure it!

veggie, are you on birth contol? I'm just curous as to how many who aren't on birth control still have bleeding. Sometimes I think if I would stop birth control, I would stop bleeding.

you know....i've never been able to take any form of birth control carriekitten (aside from POP's) and i have never experienced the endless bleeding so many on here seem to have. heavy bleeding yes, but not for over a week straight.

and sswarning~ i totally agree with this having something to do with our hormones being screwed up. you would think that perhaps instead of all this trial and error crap that they could check out levels and possibly personalize our treatments accordingly...at least as far as trying to balance our levels out.

What's POP's?

The endo doesn't effect your hormones....your hormones effect the endo. As has been mentioned here Endo thrives on estrogen. That's why lupron is so readily given...because it shuts down the estrogen.

I'm not on any birth control...and I do not have extra bleeding, only during period.

When I'm not on birth control, my periods can last anywhere from one to two weeks. The times I took birth control it NEVER WENT AWAY. This was the case for both pills and depo provera. I would bleed for weeks or months on end, and I wanted to jump off a cliff. Lupron made me have zero bleeding, and my doc said it's because the Lupron doesn't have any estrogen like actual birth control does.

There are birth control pills out there that dont have estrogen in them. I think they are called progesterone only pills. They may be a better choice but i couldnt take them because i wanted to kill myself for some reason and i was a week away from graduating from nursing school.

I have heard that progesterone only pills make you bleed more, and that they aren't as affective. But I've never taken them.