WHY AM I STILL BLEEDING?

[saltlesstears.livejournal.com]

Ok, so last Sunday I switched from Ortho Tri, to the Nuvaring. I skipped my placebo week on my OTC, and inserted my ring like my doctor suggested. I began bleeding Sunday night (i normally begin bleeding the first day of my placebo) I was expecting a full blown period, or spotting. But I have been bleeding for a week now!!! (my normal period is normally 4 days) It's somewhere between spotting a a full blown period... but still!!! What is going on here? I'm tired of bleeding!!! When will it stop? Has anyone had a similar experience? Should I be worried?

Is this a good judge of how my body will react to stacking? I plan on (as my doctor suggested) Leaving my ring in for 4 weeks and inserting another ring on the day of removal to skip periods. I'm hoping to be able to go 3 months between periods, but would settle for 2. I'm beginning to get nervous at this point that my body just likes to bleed and it will never stop (ok- perhaps I'm getting a little melodramatic here...)

In other news after this marathon bleeding session boy am I glad I'm a recent Diva Cup convert. I can't imagine how many tampons I would have gone though.

Update... still very hormonal and irritable. I will be going to the health food store to pick up some Vitamin B tomorrow and hopefully that will help my overall mood. Thank you all for the advice!

Comments

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

Very probably your bleeding is your body adjusting to the Nuva Ring. When you switch formulations of HBC, just like when you start for the first time, there can be an adjustment period of a few cycles. Additionally, my guess is that Nuva Ring has a lower progestin potency** than does your last week of OTC, so it may have your body going, "Okay, hormone drop. Time to bleed now! Wait? There are still hormones? WTF, people? What is going on and why did I not get the memo?"

** It's hard to compare directly since they're different progestins entirely, but Nuva Ring is generally marketed to be a very low dose of hormones. And given that a lower dose version of OTC exists (OTC-lo), it makes sense that the regular OTC is not so low a dose.

It's also difficult to predict when your bleeding will stop. It may taper off or go away completely within the next few days, or it may hang around in some form until you next take a hormone-free week. But overall, it's probably not an indicator of how your body will react to stacking -- from Nuva Ring to Nuva Ring, which would be a consistent level of hormones throughout -- by the time your body has adjusted. Stacking may work out for you or it may not, but this bleeding is not necessarily a sign of All Stacking Bleeding Yet to Come. ;)

[saltlesstears.livejournal.com]

What your saying makes sense! Thank you!!!