New here-Need some guidance

KitKat51008, sorry to hear what you are going through and for the loss of your sister. Hopefully we can help provide you with some information and experiences.

I was unfamiliar with Provera so looked it up on the internet to find out more. One interesting thing (among many) I found was this:

Contraindications

Provera is contraindicated in women with any of the following conditions:

• Undiagnosed abnormal genital bleeding.

Contradindication basically means that it is NOT intended to be used for these cases.

Has your gynecologist provided you with a diagnosis for your abnormal bleeding? If not - or if you are unsure - you may want to call his/her office and ask for more information. If there has been no diagnosis, you may want to ask whether using this drug is appropriate (as opposed to having additional tests in order to get to a diagnosis).

If they are unwilling to provide you with the information that you need/want, I agree that getting a second, third, etc. opinion is in order.

Good luck to you and, like Nellasing said, keep advocating for yourself! Kim

Hi KitKat!

So glad that you found us here and hope we can be of some help. It may be your sister's gift to you that she is going to save your life having made you more aware and alert to possible cancer warning signs in yourself. There really isn't much education about uterine cancer out there like there is for breast cancer. Pap smears don't detect it's presence at all, so just because yours was negative doesn't mean you don't have something going on especially given the other symptoms you have.

That ultrasound and your other symptoms are certainly concerning and so is the trial and error approach your gynecologist is taking. You have a number of risks factors for the hormonal version of this cancer (there are several kinds, some more aggressive than others) and I think that ultrasound warrants a biopsy at the very least to understand why your lining is so thick. If you are unhappy with your gynecologist not taking you seriously and you are very worried that you may have cancer that is going undiagnosed, it would not be a bad idea to go to a gyn-oncologist as they diagnose women's cancers as well as treat them and would be less likely to take a watchful waiting approach before deciding if you need cancer testing or not.

Some risk factors for the "garden type" (i.e. most common) endometrial cancer are:

Early onset menses before age 10; never having been pregnant; PCOS; Diabetes; Obesity; Late onset menopause (between 55 and 60 or later); tamoxifan use; family history, Lynch Syndrome (diagnosed by genetic testing); endometrial hyperplasia

The right sided pain may not have anything to do with your gyn issues as your gynecolgist feels. It could be something like a pinched nerve given how it's on one side and radiates down your leg, so a neurologist might be another doctor you may want to see.

Things you can do in the meantime is keep educating yourself about endometrial adenocarcinoma because if it turns out that you haven't progressed to having it yet, there are things that you can do now to reduce your chances of ending up with it. Things like dealing with your PCOS symptoms (are you under an endocrinologist's care for this?) and doing what you can about your diet, excercise, and weight. Estrogen really drives this cancer and fat cells produce their own estrogen in addition to what the ovaries put out and that along with elevated blood sugars and body inflammation can trigger the cell mutations that get this cancer going and feed it. 

Consider getting genetic testing, even if it's just for Lynch Syndrome. Having it puts you at higher risk for a number of cancers, but especially endometrial and colon. If it turns out that you don't have endometrial cancer now, but you find out that you have Lynch Syndrome, you'd know you'd have to give some thought to having a prophylactic hysterectomy as you approach menopause and your doctor's would be more vigilent watching you for symptoms of it. You'd also know that you'd need to start having colonoscopies at a younger age than others and more frequently. At least there's a screening test for that cancer! Sure would be better than going through the surgery and chemo for it!

This branch of the discussion board is huge and not the easiest to search for particular information, but there is a lot of informational and eye opening stuff here if you can take the time to slog through it. Do not be timid about getting to the bottom of what's going on with you. You have good reasons to be concerned, so don't be afraid to make doctor's explain their reason's for how they are treating you and go and get second and even third opinions if you are still concerned. There's no being timid if you suspect you may have a cancer brewing that has no screening test for it.

Good luck!