I don’t need hormonal birth control (HBC) for the usual purpose; Mr. Chickadee has graciously ensured through surgical means that we will not be surprised with an unwelcome bundle of “joy.” However, I do have polycystic ovaries and the GYN wanted me to try HBC for a few months to see if it would reduce the cysts, since some were quite large. Supposedly this would have other potential side benefits.
I was very leery of trying HBC again, since my last experience with Ortho Tricyclen (a triphasic pill) back in the 1990′s was disastrous. To reduce the likelihood of completely flipping out, I was provided with a very low-dose monophasic HBC pill, Lo Loestrin Fe. Monophasics provide the same dose of estrogen and progestin throughout the cycle, so they have fewer side effects – a very relevant consideration if hormonally triggered mood swings are a problem (and they clearly are…)
On the fence about being on The Pill.
It’s been a mixed bag.
I do have lighter periods, which is nice, but that came with frequent miscellaneous spotting. Rather annoying but supposedly normal when starting HBC. Cramps seem much less fierce after a couple months, and that’s a definite improvement. The vicious depression that I was experiencing prior to my periods is completely gone, but that could be the sertraline; it’s hard to say until I try discontinuing it.
But. I’m not loving having two (or more) periods per month with random timing. Unlike the usual expectation that HBC will better regulate periods, this is completely disrupting an otherwise clockwork cycle and making it utterly unpredictable. I haven’t gone more than 2 weeks without bleeding since I started this stuff.
Even with reduced cramps and fewer mood issues, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I’ll have to talk with both the GYN and the psych, see what the next round of ultrasounds shows, wait to see if the frequent random periods thing improves in the next month, and possibly try another switch in meds to see if a different pill might make a difference. Unfortunately, it can take several months to evaluate whether a switch in HBC is a good or bad thing due to the cyclic nature of the beast. If you don’t hit on the right one the first or second time, it can take the better part of a year to get that ironed out, which is much slower than psych meds and very frustrating.
just before I started through menopause, I had been having a period for almost three weeks out of the month. This lasted for about three months and I was getting weak from it. The cramping was terrible and so was the PMS. I even was experiencing some psychodic breaks. My gyn did an Endometrial Ablation http://women.webmd.com/endometrial-ablation-16200
This is where they go in and burn the lining of the uterus and then do a D&C to scrape out all of the extra lining. It did wonders for me. I started only slightly bleeding a month or two and then, well my cycle stopped and we found out that all of this bleeding was my last hurah! and I was going through the change. But many women use this method to get periods under control.
Ew, I’d like to avoid that if I can! All the women on my mom’s side of the family ended up having hysterectomies, so I figure I’ll probably end up there myself at some point…
I tried a triphasic pill – oh, god it was almost ten years ago! Anyway, it was before I was diagnosed, and looking back, it was a complete disaster. My moods were all over the place, and when I wasn’t on the highest dose in the pack, I was having a period. They can’t tell me that was spotting, because that was way more than spotting. It took me six months before I could convince my OB/Gyn to switch me to a monophasic. Thankfully, I haven’t had to do that since.
I’m so sorry to hear that you are having a problem striking a good hormonal balance. I know how difficult that is. After my son was born, I was all over the place. And the birth control they provided me with that I took prior to pregnancy wasn’t working anymore. That took about six months to get ironed out, because like you were saying, it takes awhile for them to narrow it down.
I am glad to hear that your moods are a little better though!
Yeah, the triphasic made me utterly insane. Crazy extreme mood cycles – I was on it for under 6 months before I decided that had to stop. That was right around when I first started having mania symptoms, so it could have been part of the initial trigger. But who knows, and it doesn’t much matter at this point!
Yeah, I guess not. How are you doing with the bc experiment now?
Meh. Mostly it’s fine, I’m just sick of constant spotting. I have my follow-up ultrasound in a couple weeks, so we’ll find out pretty soon…
Yeah, the spotting is intolerable. I remember that. Let me know what the ultrasound has to say. I hope you get good news!
Good luck.
Feel good. X
Good luck with that. I always avoided that sort of stuff like the plague for the ‘Will probably flip out and kill everyone if put on the wrong one’ logic.
I avoided it for a very long time for the same reason. But my GYN said it was pretty much the only thing they could do, and there are a lot more varieties of hormonal birth control than there used to be, so I felt like it was worth a try.
First don’t stop the sertraline to see if it’s helping, I’m sure it is and if you stop you know what can happen..coocoo macrazy. I had the same thing happen with the cysts, pain, pain, pain…he put me on BC also to see if it would prevent them and it did but the spotting sucked and I was getting too old for BC because it can have all types of issues as you get older. It is a life saver at decreasing the amount of flow and subsides most cramps but is it worth it? I decided for myself it wasn’t. I was scared of blood clots. After about a year off of them all heck broke lose and my female parts had had enough and wanting to be free and placed in the bio hazard container. Now I’m adjusting to live without those precious ovaries, but I’m ok with that, a whole new way of life is happening for me and I no longer have to have my purse full of monthly necessities. Thank you for sharing your story.
My decisions on my medications are between me and my doctors.
Any treatment is a tradeoff – I wouldn’t mind getting rid of those useless internal bits that give me such misery, but docs aren’t keen on doing that for young women.
Pingback: Time is Flying « Disorderly Chickadee
Pingback: Hope and Stuff « Disorderly Chickadee
Pingback: The Estrogen & Lamictal Equation | Disorderly Chickadee
Have you and your partner considered a vasectomy? My husband and I opted for this form of contraception since it can be reversed in the long run.
In our case, after three years from the vasectomy procedure, we decided to undergo a reverse vasectomy and we used Dr. Wilson who happened to be a Christian. In effect, he charged us only $1700 for the procedure. He’s a good guy and is out to help couples who want to have a baby.
The first sentence of the post says that my husband has had a vasectomy. The second sentence says that the reason I’m taking oral contraceptives is to manage polycystic ovaries.
Our urologist prefers not to perform vasectomies on people who might reverse them. Even though they are reversible, that’s really not the point of the procedure. If we wanted children, we would adopt, but it’s very unlikely.