(no subject)

[blessedmess.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone, Thank goodness for this community! This is my first post and I apologize if this has been answered before. But here goes: I am a 33 year old who has been taking Birth Control since the age of 16. I was put on the pill at that age to make my periods/cramping less severe. I stopped taking the pill for 18 months before, during and after my pregnancy. My son is now 7, so that has nothing to do with this problem.

I have NEVER had breakthrough bleeding EVER. You could set the calender months by how "regular" my cycle normally is. I take the three weeks of blue pills, then on the fifth day of no pills, my cycle starts. Cycle lasts 3-4 days and that is it. ALWAYS. My period is fairly light, normally just a little pink on the toilet paper. The past two months, my cycles have been VERY heavy. I thought it was odd, but really didn't freak out about it. I just finished my last cycle about two weeks ago, I still have blue pills yet to take and I am having ANOTHER period. I haven't messed up my pills, haven't forgotten any, etc. PLEASE someone tell me what is going on. Do I need to go to the dr?
I am really in freak-out mode here, because this is SO abnormal for me.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Aimee

Comments

[winifred.livejournal.com]

If it will ease your mind, by all means talk to your doctor. It never hurts to get medical care if you suspect something might be wrong with your reproductive health.

From personal experience I can tell you there's a strong chance that all they'll tell you is "your body is always changing/this is normal for now/don't be concerned unless bla bla bla happens" -- and I'm one of those patients that does her homework beforehand and asks lots of questions during visits. While what they say may be true, it doesn't make it any less scary.

Have you recently changed your pill? A drop in your normal dose of estrogen may be the culprit. You may also experience menstrual changes from a change in diet or activity levels, or if you're taking an herbal or vitamin supplement you haven't before.

[blessedmess.livejournal.com]

Well I went ahead and called the clinic that I get my birth control from, and she said exactly that...your body levels have changed, blah, bla bla,...She is having me come in tomorrow to get a different pill.

I haven't changed not ONE thing, that is why I am so scared about this. The only thing that happened was I had a b'day. I realized after my post that I am NOW 34, my b'day was on 11-21. She says now I am "peri-menopausal" and that is probably the reason for the change. Still sounds fishy to me. My regular exam is in January, maybe that will ease my mind.
Thank you so much for responding. If you think of anything else, please let me know. Still not sure after all these years, that this is normal.
Aimee

[winifred.livejournal.com]

Peri-menopausal? Good lord, is she trying to give you a coronary?

I went through something vaguely similar recently, but it was due to my body adjusting to a new form of birth control. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that all this is just some strange fluke associated with the recent solar flares.

[blessedmess.livejournal.com]

*Peri-menopausal? Good lord, is she trying to give you a coronary?*

bwahahaaahaa, don't know if she was trying to, but it nearly did!
I hope you are saying that I am NOT peri-menopausal, that would help me out a little!

*strange fluke associated with the recent solar flares.*

Those damn solar flares!, I KNEW they were nothing but trouble!

You have made me laugh today, and that is good, other than that I have been about the business of cramping, then worrying. Neither thing is fun at all. So a good laugh was welcome. I go in the morn to get new pills, I guess if no breakthrough happens next month, I am cured?

Another quick question, if you don't mind, will there be any weirdness associated with starting a new kind of pill after ALL THESE 18 years? Just curious...like weight gain, risk of pregnancy, etc.
Thanks again for caring enough to answer.
Nice people on the internet, never cease to amaze me!
Aimee

[winifred.livejournal.com]

You and I are about the same age, but I have no children. :( There are a number of younger women in this community and in other women's health communities, so there's a lot of age- and experience-specific questions and answers going on. The good part about that is that the younger women are usually very informed about new medications. The bad part is that they can't answer my questions regarding reproductive health in one's 30's and 40's. Sometimes they try, though. Gotta give 'em that.

All I know is, if I were in your shoes and talked to a nurse over the phone who didn't know me from Adam, *I* would probably keel over if "peri-menopause" came out of her mouth. MY doctor was absolutely positive that my breakthrough bleeding was due to being off of hormonal birth control for years and called my symptoms "adjustment," and that was after the nurse on the phone had scared the bejeezus out of me with words like "endometriosis" and "miscarriage."

Weirdness depends on the pill they put you on, and unfortunately there is no good way to predict what kind of weirdness will pop up for any one individual. There's a chart out there on the internet with recommendations for what pills to take to counter various side effects, but I couldn't tell you where to find it--it was that URL that led me to choose Ortho-Evra. I'd had depression and weight gain with bcp's in the past, and it was recommended that I choose a lower dose of estrogen to counter it.

AND...

[winifred.livejournal.com]

...when I talked to my doctor about Ortho-Evra, she was very concerned about how effective it would be at my weight (I am currently at 205). The prescription information for O-E says that those over 198 will have to use a back-up method. Since I have been steadily dropping weight since September she went ahead and prescribed it for me.

Take that with a grain of salt, because over in the birthcontrol community there are several women who have called balderdash on that limitation, citing weights over 250lbs.

As far as I know, O-E is the only hormonal bc that makes note of that. Pills may be different.