2nd period

I got my second period since I got the IUD on the 15th, so a week ago. I'm still on my period, but it has lightened up as of today.

But, the week before, I was a crazy thunder storm of anger. I picked a fight with 3 good friends, then almost picked one with my roommate but didn't because I knew I was a hormonal mess. I cried, I was angry, I was depressed, resentful and just overwhelmed. It sucked. Then, I got my period, which gave me another rousing dose of killer cramps. Like, contraction level cramps. I would be kneeling over in my kitchen as I cooked from the pain. Between ibuprofen and magnesium, I survived. But not only that, the cramps lasted for 5 to 6 days, although they lessened but sometimes, they got pretty bad.

So, the periods are rough. This will be day 7 since I started and there are none of the usual signs that a period is coming to an end. Which, happened last time too, so I'm not worried. Basically, I don't get clots, nor is there any of the brownish blood that you see before and towards the end of your period. It's pretty much just bright red blood. 

Also, I can't really say that they are that heavy, but this one was heavier than my last one. I felt the need to wear a tampon on more than one day, which really wasn't the case last time. But, I just needed the regular tampons, not the super plus that I would usually need for at least one day when I had periods with BC whatsoever.

Alright, that's all I can think of to report. My OBGYN said it takes 3 months before your periods gt lighter and less crampy, so one more to go!

Still going

It's been 8 days since I started my period and it's still there. Only yesterday did it show signs of easing up. Now, it's more like spotting again, and brownish in color, which to me, would signal the end of my period. So, that is frustrating. It's not heavy enough for a tampon, but it's there enough to need a pad, so I've gone through a lot of those. 

But, no pain! Not even one instance of a cramp for a few days now and that is pretty fucking awesome in my book. 

A few days later

I've had my period for 6 days now, which has not happened in years. But, it is really just blood. It doesn't have any clots, or tissue. And it's bright red, no dark brownish color like I'm used to seeing, except for the very first day. Also, mild cramps here and there, nothing major though.

Basically, this is a weird period. It doesn't show any signs of stopping either. There's no change in color, it's been on the light side this entire time. I've read other posts about first periods on Skyla and no one seems to have had the same reaction. A few talked about raging mood swings, but I really don't feel like I had any more PMS rage than usual and it happened right about when I expected to get my period. I also got mine right on schedule....

I guess I'm just frustrated right now because there is no consistency to the side effects, especially ones to my body's redactions to it. But at least with Implanon, I could relate to a few people! Maybe it's just because Skyla is so new. I can say that I don't regret getting it at this point! Still pretty afraid to have sex though, the thought makes my vagina cringe :/

The next day...

Alright, the pain appears to have subsided. 

I'm not sure if that is just normal for having the IUD or if the hot yoga inspired that episode. Either way, it has passed! I've only taken one more dose of ibuprofen and that has been doing the trick beyond 4 hours. I've had some mild cramps this morning, but much more manageable. I'm also going to be doing hot yoga again tonight... hopefully that isn't a mistake.

I have noticed that my period is more like spotting. Super light, only really there when I wipe (sorry, tmi), and a small amount that actually leaks. I could probably get away with a panty liner and I'm not even sure there is enough to warrant a tampon. At first, on Sunday, it started out more like a period. I actually had to wear a tampon, but only really bled for s few hours. I won't complain about a light period, but I will complain about pillow punching cramps. Good god, that was horrible.

Oh Dear God... The pain

So, yesterday my period came. Right on the 20 day cycle schedule. At first, I had the occasional shooting pain. I took some ibuprofen and I was great for the next 24 hours.

Which leads to me to now, 24 hours later and I am in horrific pain. Like, punching pillows, writhing, fetal position pain. I recently looked up this stuff on forums and one lady was talking about these pains. She said they felt like labor pains! Obviously, I have no idea what labor pains feel like, but good god, these might be close. Right now, I'm laying on a heating pad, hoping that the ibuprofen is kicking in and I will actually be able to get some sleep, because the pain has gotten lesser as I write this.

I'm half tempted to go to the store right now (midnight) and get a huge thing of tonic water because it has quinine - a supposed wonder drug for period pains and water retention. 

I also did hot yoga today, because I'm trying to do 10 consecutive days. I couldn't even do some positions because of the pain, not even because I was tired (only on my 2nd class). 

So, that is where I am right now. Before, I had no spotting or weird discharge like I mentioned before. Everything was okay. Now, fuck my life.

And I'm still scared to even attempt having sex with this thing in. I feel like it's temperamental, and any hitting of the cervix might anger it. And that thought scares the living crap out of me. Like a whole new level of birth control: IUD anxiety!

Week 2

Things have gotten much better.

Little to no cramping. No discharge, no spotting. There is the very occasional spot of blood, but it doesn't bother me or show up in my underwear.

I am getting some PMS symptoms. Not sure what the means or when my period is going to arrive, but it started yesterday and I'm feeling it a lot more today. Sore boobs, mild cramps, and I'm also very tired! Hungry all the time.... Pretty usual fare for me around the time of my period. 

Before the IUD, my period came on the 15th, but the month before that it came on the 20th. If this pattern keeps up, my period will come in about 3 days. But, who knows! We will see.

Week 1

The cramps are still there, but again, more manageable each day. Sometimes I'm surprised at how painful they can be, but this doesn't usually last long. Still, annoying.

This is a serious TMI moment, but it's related to the IUD, so I'm just going to roll with it.

Since getting the IUD, I have had a major change in discharge. Usually, it's just the white or clear stuff, depending in if I'm ovulating, and if I am ovulating, I get the stringy, egg white mucous stuff. Only happens on the day I'm ovulating, and just once. 

Well, now I have that egg white mucous stuff almost everyday. It's kinda gross, and sometimes it has a tinge of blood. And this is also a common side effect I did not come across upon my initial research. Most women say they just get used to it, one woman said it very, very gradually eased off. Whatever happens, I guess I just have to deal with it.

Day #3

Still very crampy as of today. After reading some reviews online, I realize this is normal.

Cramps are to be expected for about the first month, off and on. I keep seeing the first week is the worst though!

Other than that, I don't have spotting, although I did when I first got it in. My doctor says this was because the cervical clamp (Satan's giggles) caused minor bleeding. It wasn't anything major, I used a panty liner but today, there is no spotting.

I have also read that investing in black underwear is advisable because spotting will occur and for an extended period. So, I'm probably going to do that sometime soon. And get more panty liners, which are cheap and you get a lot of them. 

Right now, I'm not sexually active, but I was for about 6 months and it totally freaked me out to be having sex without two methods. Even though me and my partner broke up, I still wanted birth control. But, at this point, I can't imagine wanting to have sex. This feels just as gross as being on my period, all crampy and bloated like! Blah.

Alright, I will probably wait a week for another update, unless something major happens, but hoping all I'm in for is cramps and spotting!

Day #2 of IUD

The cramps are lesser as of today, but they are still nagging at me a bit.

Of course, it would be lovely to be wrapped up in bed, cozy with my heating pad, cat, and some netflix but class comes first. I guess. I have noticed that putting the heating pad on my lower back helps more than on my lower stomach and that pressure helps too. Luckily, my cat loves heat, so she settled on top of the heating pad, which is how I realized that pressure helps too.

But, today is a new day and I have class and homework and a long day ahead. So, I took some aileve, which is quite possibly the best cramp cure ever, and am sucking it up because there is too much other shit going on to let some annoying, and at times quite painful, cramps get in the way. They really are no worse than bad period cramps, anyway. Which we all can manage.

I don't know where this upbeat attitude is coming from. Maybe from all the support I've gotten from friends who also have an IUD and know that its all worth it in the end?

Later that day update...

Okay, this is getting painful. Waves of mild to very painful cramps and just general discomfort in that whole area. 

I'm laying on a heating pad, took some Ibuprofen, and smoked a little pot ( it's legal in Washington, otherwise I wouldn't condone illegal drug use!). I remember when I had a bad case of food poisoning and couldn't keep anything down, pot really helped with the nausea and back pain from dry heaving so much. Bascially, I'm a little defensive about smoking because I don't want readers to think I'm a pot head! I'm not, and I only do it to help me sleep, or minor pain relief, and this is only on occasion. 

Okay, now that I've made my peace with smoking, and just gave a general update of the pain status, that is all I have to say!

IUD status

Well, after much personal debate, research, talking with my OBGYN, talking to other people, and thinking long and hard, I finally decided to get the IUD.

As I type this, I have had one for about an hour.

I ended up going with Skyla, because its smaller, (and for those who haven't had kids, its a god send) it has way less hormones than Implanon,or even Merina, and Europe has had it for years with success (although it called Merina mini there).

So, my lady doctor's office preferred to have the IUD put in while I was on my period. I actually talked to Planned Parenthood when I didn't have insurance about this, and they said it made no difference. But, this office said that is what they wanted. Okay, cool.

WELL, for the past 2 months, I've been running on a 21 day cycle as opposed to my favorable 25. Which meant i got my period a good week before the appointment. So I had to reschedule, and even then, I was on the last day of it anyway.

That aside, I was instructed to take a pregnancy test that morning, eat something, and take 4 Ibuprofen. All went without any troubles. Not pregnant, had breakfast, downed the pain meds.

Now, I was scared outta my noggin about the pain for getting this inserted. One of my friends said she cried! Then there is all that talk about it being as bad as child birth. I have no idea what my pain tolerance is, but when it comes to cramps, I'm a wimp.

So, I got through all the blood pressure stuff, told to strip from the waist down, and happily skimmed my phone while I waited.

My OBGYN came in, made sure I wanted Skyla, and even had Merina out just in case I changed my mind. But my mind was made up! Skyla all the way! 

It took no time at all before we got down to business.

First, there was our good speculum friend. While never welcomed, always familiar. Then comes that less welcomed thing, the cervix grabber (I don't know the technical term, but lets call it Satan's cervical clamp). So that hurt, but it was like a bad period cramps. I breathed steadily and awaited the awful, no good, very bad uterus measurement. This device measures your uterus so the doctor doesn't puncture anything, it's also the tube that they use to insert the IUD. 

Okay. That shit hurt.

Now, you know those cramps that hurt so bad, the top of your legs hurt? There are like shooting pains and stuff? It's those cramps. Maybe, maybe just slightly worse. But I've felt cramps like that before. So, while is does hurt a lot, all I can say is that it's manageable and it goes away rather fast. Plus, the doctor is talking you through the whole thing, telling you what's going on, and so you have an idea when the pain will end.

It the end, it was a success! I laid there for a few minutes, waited for the faint cramps to subside, then went on my way. In fact, I felt so good I just walked home instead of waiting for the bus.

I'm going to go ahead and say that this was much less painful than Implanon.

But, I've also heard that the next 24 hours can get more intense. So, we will see.

For now, there is a bit of blood, and a slight bit of pain. But all in all, I'm handling it!

Period Shenanigans

Well, so far, I have enjoyed not being on birth control.

However, my period is being weird, and irregular, and more annoying than usual.

I download a period tracking app on my iPad as soon as I got Implanon removed. I figured having some idea of what my body is up to is a good idea since I am not longer controlling it with hormones or what have you. It has helped a lot, and it is how I realized just how weird my period is being.

As you might have read, I got my period like 5 days after getting the rod removed. It lasted for 5 days, then it was done. Yay.

The next one took 45 days to come along again, and it was one of the most heavy periods I have ever had - for like 2 days. Then it went away totally for a day, then it came back for another day, then it was done.

Wtf . . .

I had my last period the first week of March and it ended after 5 days, and as of yesterday, I have another one! That is a 23 day cycle. I went from a 45 day, to a 23 day! Annoying, right?

I tried looking up if other women have talked about irregular periods after having Implanon removed, but they are all about pregnancy . . . ew. So, I guess I'm just going to hope its normal and my body sorts it all out. Before all this Implanon business, I had a 30 to 33 day cycle, which I would love to go back to at any time. But for now, I'm dealing with my out of whack hormones . . . grrrrrrrr

Also, I have not made any plans to get an IUD yet.

Week 1 - post Implanon

Today, my period stopped, so that is good news as always! My mood is good and I have lost a considerable amount of water weight, and even my roommate said I look a little thinner. That said, the scale hasn't tipped in my favor yet.

My mood is great, I'm not tired, and just enjoying being artificial-hormone-free.

As for the IUD, I go back nd forth! I'm liking the hormone free me a lot and I'm not sure if I want to put my body through another possibility of weight gain. Which is making Paraguard, the copper IUD, much more attractive. I actually know a girl who has it and she seems to really like it. On the other hand, periods- ugh.

I think I will wait to make the decision until I'm in a relationship. I mean, what the hell is the point of birth control if you aren't getting some?

Post Implanon day 5

I am now on day 5 and the tiredness hasn't been an issue but I am cramping soooo bad. It took me awhile to realize that these are menstrual cramps because I haven't had them in forever! I'm also a tad irritable, which leads me to my next realization . . .

I have tried looking up "Implanon removal side effects" and there isn't much out there! I've read a few posts but most of the women are vague about it. Then, the rest of the posts are women complaining about the side effects they had while ON Implanon when the forum is for side effects AFTER Implanon! It's really pissing me off! So, hopefully this blog will, again, help women out there wanting to know about the entire process of getting Implanon, beginning to end that actually stays on topic!!! (grrrr, and what is with all the bad spelling/no punctuation/or all caps? All caps are harder for people to read, so people are more likely to skip over your comments. Also, have these women decided to worship Faulkner and take on stream of consciousness writing a la Benjy, the man-child? Thats right - you sounds like an idiot when you don't punctuate! Come on ladies, it's hard to take your complaints seriously when you type like a 3rd grader!). Sorry for that terrible grammar rant, I'm a bit of stickler when it comes to punctuation and all caps typing. I think I also mentioned my irritability today, so chalk some of it up to that.

So, here is a summation of all the side effects for those who don't want to read this long ass post:

-Nausea
-Tiredness
-Cramps
-Irritability

Kinda sounds like I'm going to have a period, doesn't it? Well, after writing this post, I just discovered that I started my first period in 2 and a half years! Explains all the symptoms now . . . but I won't apologize for the grammar rant.

Post-Implanon day 4

So, my body is taking the break up with Implanon kinda rough.

Within the first 24 hours, I became pretty nauseous, which impaired my ability to sleep, which caused me to miss class both from lack of sleep but also nausea. Now, the nausea is gone but I'm tired all the time. At first it wasn't so noticeable what with an upset stomach but now I'm really feeling it. I'm hoping that by Tuesday I will start feeling better has the hormones leave my body, I'm just thankful the weekend is coming up so I can recover a bit.

I've started the research process with Merina and of course, there are tons of terrible reviews but I have learned to just take those for what they are worth. I won't know until I try, so I'm just going to go with it.

That said, I am on the fence as to which IUD, Paraguard or Merina. Basically; hormones or no hormones? I want to wait and see if I can't lose weight in a more timely manner, then decide which one to get. My gyno really put the pressure on to get the IUD ASAP, especially if I want to stay period free, but I can handle a flipping period for the love of <insert less offensive term here>!! Right now, I'm leaning towards waiting it out. I'm not to thrilled with all the post Implanon side effects I'm having, so I want some space from hormones for awhile.

Removal

Well, cyber space readers, I am writing to report that I just had Implanon removed.

First, let me explain:

The only reason I chose to get Implanon removed was because of weight gain. That is the only reason. And, to be fair, I have only gained 10 pounds, but after dieting for 5 months and getting into exercising 3 to 4 times a week without even being able to shed ONE pound is frustrating.

Also, 4 years ago, I lost 30lbs and had kept it off for 3 years straight (I even lost an additional 8 shortly after I got Implanon but that was because I was exercising). Granted, I am still over weight, but being able to keep that 30lbs off was really important to me, so when it came to be that I gained 10 and now can't lose it, I took it especially hard. I don't see my body as attractive anymore and I'm too self-conscious around guys in the first place, so to add the thought of my being too fat for someone to like me just makes it worse. Further, It's hard to be one of those people who lost a good portion of weight, only to gain it back. I do not want to be one of those people and there is no reason I should be that person. I know how to maintain my weight, so when previously and well known methods to lose weight don't work, I can only blame my birth control.

I also want to add that I hope no one lets my decision affect their decision to get Implanon inserted. It is only about 20% of women who experience the non-stop bleeding and I am proof that it CAN work successfully. My decision is so specific to me and my history that it really shouldn't make you or anyone rethink a perfectly effective (one of the most effective at that) birth control method.

Now, onto the actual removal:

Nearly painless! The worst part was the numbing shot which hurt SO MUCH LESS THAN GETTING IT INSERTED! I breathed through stinging, and it was over before I knew it. The shot that is. I guess some scar tissue built up around the rod, so she had some trouble wiggling it out. All I felt was pressure, so it was no worries for me.

My arm doesn't hurt, it isn't sore and it's well bandaged as I write this.

Now, my OBGYN wasn't going to let me off the hook without a through talking to about another form of birth control. To quote her "One of the most frustrating parts of my job is removing a perfectly effective birth control and not replacing it with another." I had to agree with her. I'm not a proponent of having sex without birth control, and as I hope you have read - I have few options on my plate.

After talking with her, she recommended (with confidence and vigor) Merina, an IUD with hormones (but much, much less than Implanon and the hormones are focused on your uterus). I asked her about my abnormal pap: not a problem. I asked about pain and it being more painful because I haven't had kids: most people say it isn't as bad as they thought. I brought up that I've never had kids, so would it be a good option for me: absolutely, she recommends them to most patients and quotes them as being one of the most effective methods. Also take into account that this was at the women's clinic at my University, so the majority of who she sees are college students like myself.

So, my next birth control adventure is Merina, which I will be happy to post about as well when I get it inserted. Possibly as soon as the end of this month (January).

WISH ME LUCK!