Regulating my Cycle WITHOUT HBC

[wood-bine.livejournal.com]

My period has been out of control lately. As in, over the past 3 and a half months, I've had it 6 times. And it's not short or light. It starts with heavy spotting, heavy enough that I think it's a light period. That lasts a week. Then as soon as I think it's over,  the main event shows up with cramping and heavy bleeding (35+ mL in a day) and lasts 3-5 more days. This starts all over again 2 weeks later.

I am not currently taking hormonal birth control and would prefer not to. The 3 I have tried  (ortho-evra, nuva ring and yaz) caused me to gain weight, have migraines, serious mood swings, made my boobs grow and completely killed my sex drive, so much so that until a few months ago, I thought I just didn't like sex. 

So, my question: Is there anyway to get my cycle under control without hormonal birth control? I've read a few things about inducing ovulation naturally, but that's kind of the opposite of what I'm trying to do.

I do have a history of severe endometriosis and had a pretty intense surgery about a year and a half ago. As far as I can tell pain-wise, my endo has not returned. When my endo was at it's worst, my period completely stopped. 

Thank you! 

Comments

[archangelbeth]

The first thing to do would be to see... probably an endocrinologist, if you don't have a doctor who is really invested in the project. See what all your hormonal levels are -- thyroid (thyroid problem can cause irregular, heavy bleeding), insulin resistance in particular, but don't discount cortisol and vitamins, and seeing about monitoring estrogen and/or progesterone levels, if that would be useful.

You may also want to get the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, and visit fam -- having more than one period a month may be suggestive of anovulatory cycles. Your body gears up to ovulate, then decides, "...nah!"

(I had this happen 3 times in a row once (so 4 periods in about 2 months), and if I'd had another close-spaced period, I would've gone to the doctor... But it sorted itself out, so I didn't.)

Once you have an idea what your cycle is (or isn't) doing, and if you have any underlying nutritional deficiencies or hormonal wonkiness, then you have a lot better idea about what you might try to get your cycle under control instead of replacing it with the artificial hormones in HBC.


(Just as a note for people who are happy on HBC, I'm not dissing it! But it's literally artificial, synthetic hormones that replace the native cycle (or lack thereof). O:> )

[wood-bine.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm going to talk to my endometriosis specialist and go from there. I really appreciate your input.

[somniumdraconae.livejournal.com]

Don't give up on all HBC just because of the three you tried. There's DOZENS of options. And the 3 you tried are pretty notorious for side effects, from what I've heard. You could try a lower-dose HBC (Yaz in particular is higher, and prone to side effects). Maybe that new one Lo-Loestrin, the 10mg one?

With endo, things can be tough. Are you following the endometriosis community? We're friendly :) but there are options to help control your cycle and symptoms and not all of them are HBC. Frequent periods, frequent spotting, heavy bleeding, lots of cramping - those are all endo symptoms. Yeah, for you maybe your period did stop when your endo was really severe, but what you're going through sounds a whole lot like mild endo right now anyway... A reproductive endocrinologist that specializes in endo would be the best doc for you to look up right now. Your insurance company or your current OBGYN should be able to help you find one.

[wood-bine.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I'll definitely check out the endo community (I can't believe I didn't join it before!) and make an appointment with my doctor. I wasn't sure if I should go to my gyno or to my endo specialist, looks like endo specialist it is.

[oceanhotel.livejournal.com]

i agree with going to endocrinologist to see what may be causing your periods to be so heavy. i know how you feel. one thing i've tried in the past was taking an herb called vitex (chaste tree) to help regulate it. im back on the pill though to make my bleeding times when i want them to be. i bought the herb from puritanspride.com.