Painful icky girly stuff.

[dafadddu.livejournal.com]

Tomorrow is the five week mark for my IUD. Has it already been that long?

Tomorrow is the five and a half week of me bleeding. Fucking hell.

Three times now, the flow has stopped. Clean undies, no discharge. I'm feeling good, then ::whammy!:: it comes back.

Luckily it's not so much that I can't sleep nude, I just need to wear some protection during the day. And I've tried my Mooncup a couple of times. Sometimes it feels awesome, and sometimes- like last week-I was having some major cramping from it all day. I wore it for a full day at work (about 6:30 am to 4:30 pm) and all day I was having painful vaginal cramps, lower back pain/cramps, and uterine cramps. It bloody well hurt.

And, for the last few days, I've have been having that hot sickly feeling at the front of my stomach, by my pelvic bone (where I usually get the hot sickly feeling of period-ness) but this is bladderness. Every fucking half hour. And I feel like I'm going to pee myself. I get in there, sit down, and it's a few drops, maybe a stream for a few seconds. It's not anything near what it feels like, at any rate. It's not an infection. There's no pain, no burning, no "wrong" discharge. I just gotta pee lots.

But my main concern, at the moment, is the constant cramping. It's probably the IUD, but all these cramps started before I got the IUD inserted. And they were verging on painful. I never ever ever got period pains before I started birth control about 3 years ago. Never ever in my life. (And I've been menstruating since I was eight bloody years old!) I got vaginal cramps (painful, debilitating, but thankfully they never lasted more than a couple of minutes, and were weeks/months between) and I got severe, fetal-position-causing lower back pain, which now I think could have been related.

Now, I am getting the vaginal cramping more often. Much more often. Maybe a couple times a week now, when before it would be a couple months apart. And the lower back pain, almost constant. Not crippling like it sometimes was, but still really annoying. The uterine cramping isn't so bad. I feel twinges from time to time, but it's not nearly as bad as the vaginal and back pain.

It's not an infection. I've only been with my husband, and I was tested for infections early this year so the NHS could put it on their records. It can't be a yeast infection or a UTI because it doesn't match their M.O.'s.

I think my body is whaling on me for abusing it with hormones and now an IUD. But it would be so much worse to get pregnant. Gods, I could use being sterilized right now.

I should be going to get my IUD check-up next week. I'll ask the doctor then what it could be. Vaganismus might be the problem, but why would I get painful vaginal cramps when I'm not having sex? (And I got them long before I ever started having sex, before I ever even started masturbating). Same with the lower back pain. Endo? I don't know enough about it, nor do I want to start myself panic attacking over something I may not have.

Le sigh. My body hates me.

Comments

[obfuscate.livejournal.com]

All I can say is.. you poor thing!!

Copper?

[girl-with-purse.livejournal.com]

If you have the copper IUD, cramps when you are bleeding are TOTALLY normal, especially for the first few months... I don't know about the whole bleeding for 5 and a half weeks thing. I didn't do that when I got mine. I would at least call your doctor about that.

My first month on the IUD was HELLLLLLLLLL!!!!! But it is so worth it now; I've been a user for two years and the cramps are few now. and less intense. :-D

Bottom line tho; know your body, that's the best way to know if something isn't right.

Re: Copper?

[dafadddu.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about my periods. I never charted them before I started birth control, and I was on Depo for two years before getting the IUD. So even if I had charted my periods, they'd be totally screwed now.

I've been cramping- uterine, vaginal, and lots and lots of lower back pain- since about a week before getting the IUD, and it's still there.

Re: Copper?

[girl-with-purse.livejournal.com]

I've heard that going off depo can bring on that stuff -- sounds like you got it double! Hope you feel better very soon. I was in somewhat the same type of sitch. I went right of pills to the IUD. but compared to pills and mood swings and panic attacks, the IUD is bliss, whatever cramps it chooses to send my way.

[alitaorg.livejournal.com]

well, this is obviously no help for you, but if i started having abnormal symptoms before an iud insertion, i'd postpone the insertion until the abnormalties were figured out. throwing another variable into the mix will make it really hard to figure out what's going on.

(wait, now i'm confused. first you say you never ever got cramps and you've been getting your period since you were eight, then later you say you've had painful vaginal cramps since before you ever started having sex. whaaa?)

get thee to the doctor!

[dafadddu.livejournal.com]

I've never had uterine cramping (except maybe really really light cramping I didn't think anything about) during, before, or after my periods. I was always confused as hell why girls would complain so much about their periods. I was never in any pain or anything at all during my periods, I just hated the mess.

I have had vaginal cramps- cramps inside my vagina and around my labia- for years and years. It had nothing to do with periods, it was completely random. Sometimes I'd be on my period, sometimes I wouldn't be on my period. I couldn't find any correlation to anything that could be causing them.

And yes, the vaginal cramping occured long before I lost my virginity. I didn't have sex until I was 19, and I'd been having random vaginal cramps for a couple years before that.

Before I got the IUD, I'd been on Depo for 2 years, so I assumed the bleeding was from withdrawal. After getting the IUD, that aggravates the bleeding and makes it last longer. I mentioned the uterine cramping to the doctor, and she didn't think it was a problem. It wasn't really really painful at the time, just annoying. The most painful part for me is the lower back pain and the vaginal cramping. The uterine cramping is annoying, but not severe.

I'm going to see her next week for my check up, so I can talk to her about it then.

I finally got to have sex early this week without being in pain. This is a first. I'd been having really painful sex since I immigrated to Britain in March 2002 (and it was painful when I visited in Dec. 2001). The last time we had sex actually didn't cause me a lot of pain. I felt sore afterword, but not in pain like I had been. Usually during sex, even with extra lube, the friction and movement would cause me so much pain we couldn't have sex half the time. And afterword I'd burn and ache for up to an hour. Even having something sitting inside me would hurt sometimes, expecially right after an orgasm. It could be painful to remove a sex toy (and the toy isn't any bigger than my husband).

I've rambled much more than I was planning to. If you've got any questions, just let me know.

[pillu.livejournal.com]

have you ever told your GP about the cramping? maybe you should be investigated for endometriosis or PCOS. You definatly should have told your gyno about your cramping before getting the IUD. The IUD can make heavy bleeding and cramping worse, so its not really an ideal birth control for some women. Maybe you should call your gyno, 5 weeks of bleeding is a bit excessive and could be harmful to your health. eg Anemia etc

[pillu.livejournal.com]

BTW, I have endo, and it is definalty not panicing if you have had these kind of symptoms for many years. this site has some great information and its very helpful.http://www.endometriosis.org/

[dafadddu.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

I never knew there was anything wrong with me. I always assumed that pain during sex was normal. It's only been recent, aboutt he last 6 months- that I've started refusing sex with hubby. I didn't tell him how extensive the pain was, so it's not his fault, he certainly wasn't forcing me to have sex with him or anything. I just didn't tell him about it.

I assumed I might have something called vaginismus, and i mentioned that to the GYNO and she said we could look into it, so I'm going to ask her.

I know, I've got some seriously fucked up ideas of sex (painful sex is "normal", cramping is just cramping, etc). No one ever really told me anything about sex, it's only what I've read online. Sex ed at school certainly never covered it. I had no idea there was anything wrong with me. I know better now, and I'm going to get looked at. I work all weekend, but I can go in Monday. I haven't gone in sooner because the clinic is a walkin clinic, and i wanted my IUD checking and talking to the doc about the pain all in one go.

I know, bad me.

[pillu.livejournal.com]

Don't think you are bad. Mis-education and lack of education is a big problem with diseases and problems like this. I'm only 20, and I was never told about anything like this. I leart all this from vagpag, online resources and chat freinds.

I'm like you, the cramps got extensivly worse with age, doctors thought I just another crazy woman with pain, then the pain with sex and after orgasam started, its not fun at all. Like you I mask/ed it from my fiance, sometimes I just have to turn him away.

It took me 4yrs of complaing, and in the past 1yr and a half it became progrssivly worse, with 2 misdiagnosed pelvic infections (while I was not sexually active, and they are virtually impossible to get without sexual intercourse, but I was ignored and thought to be lying.....*grr*) and many different blood tests and hormone treatments thrown at me, I finnaly got someone to listen to me, and he put me onto a gyno at the hospital..who virtually told me they have no idea, so I saw someone else, and FINNALY got diagnosed. I'm only 20yrs old, and this has caused so many horrible problems with me, physically and mentally, sometimes I wonder why my fiance puts up with me.

oops, long post, you can contact me at lintonbrat@hotmail if you want to talk more :). But just to reasure your not paranoid, painful sex isnt normal, bad cramps arnt normal and heavy bleeding for 5 weeks is harmful. Don't let anyone ever make you belive that this is just in your mind.

[dafadddu.livejournal.com]

I had told her I was having someuterine cramping once the hormones were wearing off, but it wasn't really painful. I didn't mention the vaginal cramps and back pain because silly me didn't think it was relevant to the IUD. It's only just been recently that I'd read the symptoms of endo that I've started wondering if that could be it. I'm definately going to to next week.

I didn't think anything of the bleeding because I assumed it was because of the IUD combined with hormone withdrawal. I haven't felt faint or anything.