If you are feeling lethargic and going through a super tampon in 2 hours, consult your doctor. At the least, you may need more iron. If your clots are golf-ball sized, and you cannot contact your doctor, I would suggest that would be "go to the hospital" time, combined with the other symptoms.
So...
1: Maybe? Mine got lighter, though.
2: Soaking a normal pad or tampon in an hour, esp. multiple hours. Passing clots the size of golf-balls. Chills, clamminess, extreme fatigue, dizziness, fainting, graying-out, confusion... signs of extreme blood loss, in other words... are "go to ER" signs.
3: 7 days for pregnancy protection. You may wish to go a full month if you are concerned you may have side effects -- that way, you don't have to decide between "go off HBC right away, but I had otherwise unprotected sex last night" and "stay on HBC another week and have [intolerable side effect]."
4: You don't have to wait for a period to take HBC. It can reduce spotting if you do, and if you're pregnant, then going on HBC is A: pointless, and B: has some theoretical potential to maybe possibly perhaps wonk things up a little hormonally (though overall, people've been taking HBC while pregnant for decades and having no statistical problems). And if you start on the first day of a natural period, you are considered protected immediately: the 7 days required for the hormones to hypnotize your ovaries overlap with when they are least likely to be ovulating.
(Once on HBC, the ovulation stuff reverses: the uterus responds to the placebo pills' lack of hormone by bleeding, but the ovaries start waking up from their hypnosis. Extending the placebo week past 7 days risks that they'll wake up enough to ovulate, even if the uterus is still cheerfully bleeding.)
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Date: 2011-06-07 08:33 pm (UTC)So...
1: Maybe? Mine got lighter, though.
2: Soaking a normal pad or tampon in an hour, esp. multiple hours. Passing clots the size of golf-balls. Chills, clamminess, extreme fatigue, dizziness, fainting, graying-out, confusion... signs of extreme blood loss, in other words... are "go to ER" signs.
3: 7 days for pregnancy protection. You may wish to go a full month if you are concerned you may have side effects -- that way, you don't have to decide between "go off HBC right away, but I had otherwise unprotected sex last night" and "stay on HBC another week and have [intolerable side effect]."
4: You don't have to wait for a period to take HBC. It can reduce spotting if you do, and if you're pregnant, then going on HBC is A: pointless, and B: has some theoretical potential to maybe possibly perhaps wonk things up a little hormonally (though overall, people've been taking HBC while pregnant for decades and having no statistical problems). And if you start on the first day of a natural period, you are considered protected immediately: the 7 days required for the hormones to hypnotize your ovaries overlap with when they are least likely to be ovulating.
(Once on HBC, the ovulation stuff reverses: the uterus responds to the placebo pills' lack of hormone by bleeding, but the ovaries start waking up from their hypnosis. Extending the placebo week past 7 days risks that they'll wake up enough to ovulate, even if the uterus is still cheerfully bleeding.)