these pills have me really messed up!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2004
these pills have me really messed up!!
4
Mon, 06-16-2008 - 1:35pm

Ok, I'm hoping SOMEBODY can help me because I'm not getting very much comfort by talking to my obgyn office....


I am the type that never skips a pill and always takes it within a couple of hours every single day. Having said that, I also have problems taking certain pills or they'll work fine for about 6 months and then I have to switch to another one because, basically, my hormones & the hormones in the pills are fighting eachother.  They diagnosed me with PMDD at one point a few years ago, but since then, they found out that it's just the fact that I can't take certain pills or can only take them for so long before I have to try something else. Usually they have to put me on an anti-depressant in order to straighten me out.  I had a baby in January and they put me on Necon. I was ok for 2 months and then started having 2 periods per month....one after I took the first 2nd week pill (heavy and for 5 days) and then another one at the usual 4 weeks (light and about 5 days). This month however, the 1st one was only a couple of days and it was light (brown and mucousy), the 2nd one was about 3 days, but it wasn't enough to really have to use anything (there was brown when I wiped, but that's it). I took a PG test on Thursday (6/12), but it hadn't quite been 3 weeks yet since our last sexual activity. My doctor's office suggested I wait a week before starting the new pills that they were going to start me on just in case. I'm suppose to take another PG test on Friday (that will make it about 4 weeks). Since I was so messed up on those, would I still have been covered by the pills? I normally wouldn't freak out so bad, but I have never EVER missed a period unless I was pregnant (and even then I had a little bit of brown for a couple of days). The doctor's office said that my lining was probably just so thin that there wasn't enough to really come out. I've been messed up on pills before, but nothing that has made me skip a period or being that light of one(especially after having TWO per month).  Can anyone help?!?! I'm really hoping I'm not pregnant because my son is only 5 months old!!


Thank you so much!!!


~Valarie


PS...yes, my DH is getting fixed after this scare!!!  poor thing  :)


edited for: I don't know what's up with the flag??




Edited 6/16/2008 1:46 pm ET by vallang708
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2006
Mon, 06-16-2008 - 7:31pm

Hi, and welcome to the board.

As the doctor said, it could be that there wasn't enough lining to shed. If you've been having heavier periods on the pill prior to now, it could simply be that as your body adjusts that there isn't a lot of lining to shed.

Still, two periods a month is still a nuisance! As long as you have taken your pills on time every day, then you should be well protected from pregnancy, so the chances there are low. But I would still take that pregnancy test on Friday, just to make sure, and also to ease your mind about it.

Has your doctor ever discussed alternative methods besides the pill? Since you've had a child, you could discuss the Mirena IUD, which usually has fewer side effects than the pill. It primarily acts on the uterus, and releases a small amount of progesterone, which helps to lighten periods in most instances. But since your DH has decided to get fixed, probably not an issue. At least with a Mirena, it's easy to remove if you want to get pregnant later on, rather than your DH getting a vasectomy and having to get a reversal.

P.S. The flag just means it is a high interest thread to you, since you posted it.

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2004
Mon, 06-16-2008 - 8:18pm
Thanks for your reply. We're done having kids, that's why he's getting fixed. If I had a c-section this last time (which almost happened), then I would've had a tubal done. I'm afraid that no matter what I try I'm going to have problems with it. I was on the ring after I had my daughter. That actually lasted a little bit longer than the pills, but eventually it started messing with me. I'm just scared to get off of everything though. My mom, her mom, and my mom's 2 sisters all had to have hysterectomies by the time they were 36 (various reasons). I'm 30. Also, my great-grandma on my dad's side died from ovarian cancer. I feel like the birth control is keeping things at bay, but I also understand that it's just a matter of time before I just have to give in and accept whatever is going to happen. I really don't think I'm going to be able to take anything else. It seems like anything with hormones in it (no matter how low-dose the pills are) isn't going to agree with me. I'm just tired of having to go through this every few months and then getting so messed up that I have to go on anti-depressants. I'm SO done, but SO scared at the same time.
Thanks for listening and for your advice!
~Valarie
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2006
Mon, 06-16-2008 - 9:46pm

I can understand your concerns there, but if there is an underlying issue that is causing you to bleed outside of when you are, eventually there is a chance that no pill will control that problem.

If you do happen to have problems with bleeding, etc when you go off the pill, depending on what the problem is, you could have other options available to you besides a hysterectomy.

And as for the potential of ovarian cancer, I guess you have to weigh up the risk against your current quality of life. If you aren't having much fun with being on the pill, and ending up on antidepressants as a result, is that worse than the possibility that you might get ovarian cancer? And if it was your great-grandma, and it hasn't occurred in the generations since, then the chances are greatly reduced anyway. As long as you are clued up about the symptoms, and if you are concerned, keep checking in with ultrasounds, etc with your doc every once and a while, you would have a good chance at catching it earlier on.

Since I am also in the group that hormonal birth control doesn't agree with, I have had to learn to accept that there are things that I cannot control, no matter how hard I wish for it. It scared the crap out of me when I realised that all I had left for birth control were barrier methods and natural forms of contraception. Since realising it's not all that bad, I'm more at peace with it.

Good luck!

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2004
Tue, 06-17-2008 - 7:24am
I'll be more at peace with everything once hubby is fixed and I don't have these pregnancy scares!! I'm not concerned about the ovarian cancer like I am about all the stuff on my mom's side. I was just adding that in to show that there are problems on both sides of my family, but more specifically my mom's side. From what I recall, none of them had to get hysterectomies because of cancer....I have to check back with her again and see what the reasons were. Plus, I think at the time, hysterectomies were done more commonly than they are now. My mother-in-law had to have one a few years back because of uncontrollable bleeding. They tried to do something else first (can't remember what it was....D&C maybe??), but it didn't work.