u/catsalot25

Hi everyone! I searched but the last Montreal post was made 10 years ago!! Wow!

I'd love to make some new friends in Montreal, I'm 30s, F, happy to get to know some people in the area as I moved back during covid and with work, I've never had much time to go out and make new friends.

I have a lovely spouse, so if there are any couples in MTL looking for another dink couple to hang with, he's open to meeting new people too.

I love organizing little events and activities, and also hosting dinners, grabbing coffees, trying new restaurants, long walks in the city, I'm also a big gamer so happy to have gaming buddies as well.

If it's ok with mods, just writing a copy in french too-
J'aimerais vraiment me faire de nouveaux amis à Montréal! J'ai 30 ans, femme. Je suis revenue à Montréal pendant la COVID et, avec le travail, j'ai jamais vraiment eu le temps de sortir ni de me bâtir un nouveau cercle d'amis.

J'ai aussi un conjoint qui aime rencontrer de nouvelles personnes et d'autres couples DINK.

J'adore organiser des petites activités et des soirées, prendre un café, nouveaux restos, longues marches en ville... Je suis aussi une gamer, donc je serais vraiment partante pour me faire des amis avec qui gamer aussi!

Merci!

I should add- all ages welcome, as long as you're an adult. :)

Hi, I've hit kind of a crossroads in my journey and I'm looking for some opinions/advice.

I've had chronic severe pain in my abdomen lower right quarter, for ~6 years. The kind that would come on suddenly, sharp, severe, have me clutching my stomach and unable to walk, and then over hours turn into a lingering strong burning/pressure pain that would last for days. I'd been back and forth to the ER for it. A couple times it did turn out that I had a large ovarian cyst on my right ovary, that burst. Biggest one was 5cm so far. Other times there was no cyst. I would just be in severe pain for days, someone would convince me to go get checked for appendicitis, I'd go, no danger, get dismissed with naproxen, and come home to ride it out.

My GP sent me through the whole loop, gynecology, gastroenterology, nutritionist, psychiatrist, I've had blood work, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs, a colonoscopy, the works. I got thoroughly worked up for 6 years. Various treatments of brain meds, elimination diets, physical therapy. Everything. It wasn't until 2025 when my gyno sent me to a pelvic pain specialist, who took one look at me, said lets try something, and put me on visanne.

Prior to visanne, I had been on tri-lo sprintec BC for a decade. It was fine, no adverse side effects, my periods were light and not painful. I started visanne in august 2025. The fall was rough, all the menopause-like side effects happened, insomnia, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, etc. I rode them out and in december 2025, suddenly life was calm. From dec to feb, life was great. Mood was calm, insomnia was gone, no more hot flashes. And best of all, the pain had stopped. I hadn't realized how long it had actually been since I had pain in my abdomen. It was fantastic. I had a follow up with the pelvic pain specialist at the end of feb 2026, and basically bounced in saying how amazing I felt and how free and painless life was. I was happy, he was happy. He said it's likely that my issue was endometriosis and that this medication helping proved it clinically. So I should stay on it, long term. I asked if we would do laparoscopy to confirm, but he said he'd rather avoid surgery if the medication was helping me properly.

It's June 2026 now and I'm feeling a bit less pleased with my condition. I am having other side effects that I would say, maybe aren't great QOL-wise but I was okay living with them so far. I gained weight, went from 57kg to 63kg, it didn't bother me initially, but my face has also become quite puffy which I must admit is bothering me in photos of myself. I don't know if it's weight gain or maybe fluid retention. I also developed pretty bad cystic acne which again, I don't care about cosmetically but some of them are super deep and painful. I'm pretty consistently bloated and my GI tract has slowed down considerably. I've seen a derm and my GP again and they suggested spironolactone to combat the acne and maybe reduce puffiness. So I just started that a month ago at 25mg, and will titer up. I've got a lot of acid reflux and nausea now unfortunately. I still get occasional LRQ pain, usually triggered by sex or physiotherapy now, but it's never as severe as it used to be or as long.

My question is, how much is a clinical diagnosis of endometriosis really worth? I feel like only 90% sure that I have it but that 10% of me is wondering, what if I don't have it. The Visanne clearly helped my pain for a while. Should I push for a laparoscopy? What if I don't end up having it and I'm on Visanne with all these side effects for no reason? What if I get a laparoscopy and they find it and take it out and then I don't need Visanne any more? I'm trying to figure out how not to be miserable basically, stuck between a rock and a hard place, as they say.