There are two types of therapy for attempting to shrink endometriosis—medical (drugs) and surgical. For many years, medical therapy meant the continual administration of birth control pills, which resulted in a strong “progesterone effect” that eventually caused the endometriosis tissue to become more “secretory,” shrink up, and disappear. This treatment became less popular in the late 1970s and 1980s, however, with the development of the heavily marketed drug Danocrine.

Danocrine was actually not much more effective than progesterone in shrinking up endometriosis lesions. Progesterone was said to have produced an “artificial pregnancy” effect, which caused lesions to shrink up over a long period of time, while Danocrine was said to have produced an “artificial menopause effect,” which caused the lesions to shrink up more quickly. Danocrine is simply a male hormone, a testosterone-like derivative, which had only a mild male-hormone effect. By giving Danocrine to a woman you inhibit her pituitary gland from making FSH and LH, and this puts her into an artificial menopause. By causing the ovary to cease functioning, and removing the estrogen that is stimulating the continued development of endometrial tissue, the woman will cease menstruating and her endometriosis will gradually shrink away. Danocrine had some very unpleasant side effects, because of its male hormone—like effect. Women complained of oily skin, acne, increased appetite, and weight gain.

Now Lupron has become the popular drug for endometriosis. Lupron directly turns off your pituitary, preventing the secretion of FSH and LH. It produces a clean, artificial menopause that causes your uterine lining and endometriosis lesions to shrivel up. You cannot get pregnant as long as you are on any of these drugs, and it could take a full year to shrink your endometriosis. While on the drug you feel like you are in menopause, and I doubt this treatment will increase your chance of pregnancy. In the long term, Lupron causes nasty menopausal-type hot flashes and a loss of calcium from the bones. I don’t recommend it being used for more than a few months.

Does birth control change your body?