Another delaying period question

[sikodelika.livejournal.com]

I'm due for my period in 2 weeks exactly, and in 2 weeks exactly I go on a cruise (one week). I was told that I could start birth control like tomorrow, and it would delay my period enough.

True/false?

Thaaaaaaaaaaaanks. :)

plan B

[go-away-plzz.livejournal.com]

So, today I got plan B from the local planned parenthood, and the lady who sold it to me said that they suggest taking both pills at once, because waiting 12 hours doesn't increase its effectiveness and it's  just easier. but i'm a little afraid  to  mess around with  the instructions  given...  what do you guys think??

Heavy Bleeding and Cramping, and Can't Find IUD String

[rhiannonstone.livejournal.com]

A little background: I've had a ParaGard copper IUD for over a year and a half. I've had irregular periods since getting it, averaging a few days of light bleeding every few months; before that, I was on Depo Provera for four years, and didn't get a period but maybe twice a year or so. I know it can take up to two years for my body to adjust back to "normal" after being on Depo for so long, but even before going on the Depo I always had a very irregular, unpredictable period (with little to no cramping or other PMS symptoms) except when I was taking hormonal BC pills, so I have no clue what my "normal" cycle is. I keep careful track of what does happen, but there's no regularity to it yet, and my doctor and I are OK with that.

So a little over a week ago, I stopped being able to feel the string for my IUD. It's super-short, but I've always been able to feel the tip curled up around my cervix. I was going to give it a few days before I worried, because I know the cervix changes position sometimes, making it harder to find the string, but before those few days were up I started getting cramps. Bad cramps. They got worse throughout the week, freaking me out a bit, and then three days ago I started bleeding. So I thought, "OK, whew, it's just my period, probably nothing to be worried about, I'll go get my IUD checked out after it's over." But since last night I have been bleeding really heavily, to the point where I'm changing a regular-absorption pad (I switched from tampons so I could have a better idea of what was going on) every couple of hours, and if I sit naked in the tub, the blood just flows out. I have never bled this heavily or cramped this badly, except for the few days after I got my IUD inserted.

None of my local clinics have appointments available until Wednesday. I spoke with an advice nurse and she seemed kind of at a loss, but said that if I got to the point where I was changing pads hourly, or my cramps got so bad that they interfered with my daily activities, I should consider trying to get seen somewhere. The cramps are bad but not getting worse, but the bleeding seems to be getting heavier. I know the copper IUDs can cause a heavier flow, but this is just ridiculous. How worried should I be? Should I try to get to an urgent care clinic or an ER today, or will I probably be OK waiting until my appointment Wednesday morning? Is it possible that I'm just having a really bad period and all this is completely unrelated to my IUD, whether or not it's still where it's supposed to be?

EDIT: Finally got checked out. The IUD is still where it's supposed to be, the strings had just gone into hiding (likely nudged out of place by sexual activity). The heavy bleeding and cramping is apparently just a normal part of my abnormal cycle.

anal play

[starfaerie26.livejournal.com]

when having sex a couple of days ago, i was on top. we were going pretty hot and heavy (probably the hottest sex in 5 years). my boyfriend started playing with my ass hole. this isn't the first time that his fingers have wandered down there, and i've never deterred him from it either. i've actually had experience with anal play and didn't mind it with that partner. my boyfriend does not know about this history, though.
i am not uncomfortable with him playing, and i actually liked the way it felt. my problem arises when i think about discussing it with him. i don't know how to go about the conversation at all. every previous time that i have brought up "the butt" in conversation, he gets defensive. in any other situation i would just let events play out naturally, but this is a part of my body that i feel needs a conversation before anything drastic happens to it.
can you vulva lovers help me with some anal conversation techniques?

timing for the pill...

[xoimin-loveox.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I just had a quick question. I checked through the memories, but if I missed something, then I apologize, and please feel free to redirect me! =)

I know it's important to take your hbc pill on time, and that taking it several hours later than normal could potentially weaken its effect. However, what if you take it before your scheduled time? Does that create the same problem? I usually try to take mine around dinner, because if I don't, I get nauseous. But tonight I'll be going out to a bar to meet my bf's friends from work for the first time, and I don't want to worry about having to take my pill while I'm there. And I don't want to plan on taking it later either.

Thanks for the help!!

♥ - Brittani

Birth control tastes funny...?

[sang-of-sorrow.livejournal.com]

Hello. :)  This is my first time posting to this community...   

Last night my boyfriend and I were getting intimate, and he went down on me.  After we were finished, he told me when he was down there, he had this funny, medicine-like taste in his mouth that he blamed on my NuvaRing.  

Before we started any of this, I showered - I asked him if it could've been the soap and he told me it definitely wasn't soap he tasted. I didn't notice any strange taste when kissing him immediately afterwards.

With the NuvaRing so far up inside (he obviously didn't touch the NuvaRing itself with his mouth) - could it be possible that that's actually what he had tasted? It seems strange to me, but I want to make sure that that's what it was, and it's not me!

If that's what it is, I'm definitely switching my birth control. 

Any ideas/insight?

Thanks so much. :)

EDIT:   I'd like to add that we don't normally do this (that is to say, he rarely goes down on me) and I just started the NuvaRing about two months ago, so I have no Pre-NuvaRing experiences/feedback from him to campare it to. :\

I love my shower!

[sang-of-sorrow.livejournal.com]

... And I love this community!  Such quick, intelligent, HELPFUL responses!


I have another question -  I rather enjoy my detachable shower-head.  

When I use it to masturbate, I'm sure it's hard to avoid having water shot up my vagina.


Is this safe?

Cervix changes position through menstrual cycle. What are the mechanics of this?

[hearthsock.livejournal.com]

That pretty much says it! I understand that the cervix is a contiguous part of the uterus.



So when the cervix sits low in the vagina near menstruation, or high in the vagina around ovulation, what is happening? Does the uterus change position too? Or is the cervix sort of "stretchy"? Can you explain the mechanics of the cervical position?

Any anatomists/biologists who can answer this, I would be very grateful. Thanks!

cervical biopsy

[futile-efforts.livejournal.com]

so how much does a cervical biopsy really hurt? i realize everyone has a different pain threshold, but i'd just like to know what to expect as far as the pain factor is concerned.

Im not sure whats wrong with me..

[xvxsmittyxvx.livejournal.com]

Alright this is sorta a long confusing story but here i go..

Alright back in march i started my last regular period. After i got off my period i had a yeast infection. which i think was a yeast infection. i never went to the doctor or anything i just got some monistat and it went away. well after that i didnt have any periods for atleast 2 months. i was freaking out and thought i was pregnant cause my periods are usually always on time. well i took some pregnangy test and they both came out negative so in the end of june early july i started my period again. but ever since then my periods have been so weird. i had 2 in one month, im spotting between periods. there really light periods too. its like real dark discharge that im spotting.

im just curious to know what this could possibly be.

HELP!

[bai-momo.livejournal.com]

i have bumps at my vulva area. wonder what are those, it seems like Fordyce spots but somehow, it doenst seems like it. confusing huh. i got this particular bump that is slightly bigger than the others, about 2mm "big", around 1-2cm below the hair area. its yellowish/whiteish in colour, look like pus, but i dont think it is, and its not a pimple. its smooth though. im kidna worried about it. its neither pain/itchy though, but somehow i can sense that theres something down there. i have other similar small tiny bumps like the one around my vulva area. budden it doesnt look like the one i see in the pictures i google for. 
are those common? why is there the only one that is bigger than the others? i first notice that about a few months back, and no, im not sexually active, and nv had sex b4.
my mum say its normal as long as it does not grow bigger or hurts, but im just worried, maybe because of the size. will it go off by itself? really appreciate for the help =)

birth control and high blood pressure

[neopeipei.livejournal.com]

does anyone know of any kinds of birth control methods (other than condoms and spermicide) that can be used if someone has high blood pressure?

Switching to Loestrin... and ramblings, too!

[burning-wreck.livejournal.com]

First of all, THANK YOU to all the VP-ers who helped me realize that I needed to change gynos. I'm the girl who posted about who uncomfortable my old gyno made me, about how she got rude when I told her I had become sexually active and told me that if I'd had sex, a pelvic exam shouldn't be painful.

I saw the doctor who is now my new gyno this morning and, WOW. I definitely did not realize that seeing your gyno does not need to be an anxiety-inducing appointment. She is fantastic. Seriously everyone, thank you - such a load off my shoulders now.

But, anyway, she did tell me that it seems my body is acting over the Yasmin-28 I've been on due to the side effects I've only recently developed, and she's switching me to Loestrin.

On the Yasmin, my period lasted, on average, two days. She said it's going to get shorter once I make the switch. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is it weird? I feel like that's going to be weird, seeing as how, even before I went on the Yasmin, my periods never lasted more than 3, 3 1/2 days.

Other than that, has anyone switched to Loestrin? Or taken Loestrin at all? I'm wondering what sort of side effects people have experienced.

no idea how to describe my fears/issues

[frecklestars.livejournal.com]

(with no preamble) I'm absolutely horrendously paralyzingly terrified of anal sex, or of any contact with my anus. Now, normally this would not be an issue, but tonight my boyfriend and I were having sex and he accidentally slipped out of my cunt. He slid into my ass crack instead (again, by complete accident). I reacted by wriggling out from under him (I was on my stomach, with him lying on top of me) and ran to the bathroom. Cried for a fair while, while he flipped out and went outside to smoke a cigarette. He's such a sensitive guy, so he hates it when I get so freaked. Tonight was worse; I ended up obsessing in the bathroom over what I could use to hurt myself. I've rarely been this bad after such a mistake.

A little background: I'm _not_ a prude by any stretch of the imagination. I've been having sex for nearly seven years. I enjoy different positions, etc, and am into fairly heavy bondage (not blood-play level but I definitely like hardcore bruising). I'm a "recovering" (ha!) eating disordered 22 year old woman who just freaked the fuck out about...well, nothing. I hate that I freak about anal play/anything remotely in that area. I don't know why I hate it; I wish I didn't. I'm not a non-communicative person; I tell my boyfriend anything/everything in the bedroom. He knows my upset with anal play, and tries his hardest to avoid it. Tonight was an honest accident, and I just...did my thing. Ugh. *hating self right now*

I guess what I'm getting at is...advice? Does anyone else freak out like this, so I would know I'm not quite as alone/utterly fucked up as I feel? Any advice to stop freaking the fuck out, or opinions on _why_ I freak out? _Anything_? Feelin pretty shitty right now.

(no subject)

[washmydishes.livejournal.com]

This is extremely embarassing to post, but I figured maybe I'd give it a shot to see if anyone has any imput.

For whatever reason, I have an extreme phobia of getting pap tests. I'm not just talking like the normal kind of nervousness. I'm talking that the two pap smears I've been through in my life, I FREAK OUT. I start crying, hyperventilating, my chest feels as if it might burst, and I go into a horrible panic attack which always ends in me throwing up. Then, by some act of god, I end up getting the test which is very, VERY painful for me. By the time I get home, I'm shaking so much that I can't eat for the rest of the day and sometimes I'll even spend the rest of the day throwing up. The few days before the test, I'm completely on edge and unable to function, complete with shaky hands, a nauseated stomach, a headache, and panic attacks when I'm trying to sleep. The days after the pap test, I'm equally shaken up. The nurse practioner that has performed my two tests says she has never in her life seen anyone react as horribly as I react. I'm not sure why I react this way as, to my knowledge, I've never been sexually abused. I've tried breathing exercises and I've tried taking pain medication that I know makes me drowsy before my appointment, but nothing works. I always asked the nurses and the gynecologist at the office I went to if I could just be knocked out or given a stronger sedative, but they always just laugh at me and make fun of the fact I get so upset. They refuse to arrange for me to have any kind of sedative.

So, for the past two years, I haven't gone for pap tests. I'm 21 years old, not sexually active, but I use birth control for bad and irregular periods. I fully understand the importance of pap tests but they make my life miserable for at least a few days before the test, the day of, and a couple of days after where I feel absolutely drained of energy and completely on edge. It creates so much misery for me that for a while I just stopped taking the birth control because they would not refill them for me without the tests. My periods got bad and I explained my situation to my psychiatrist and she sympathized with me so began to prescribe me the birth control I needed, but decided to see if she could help me find a gynecologist that would respect me and take my phobia more seriously.

I began going to an ambulatory care center here in my town for the times I would get sick, and I spoke with the nurse practioner there about pap tests. I told her my problem and she told me that if I went there to get my pap test, she would inject me with some Benadryl to see if it sedates me enough to get the test without hyperventilating and throwing up. She thinks that because I'm such a small girl, at 5'2" and 100 pounds, that the Benadryl should make me pretty drowsy. So I agreed.

I have an appointment with her Wednesday and my mother has agreed to come so she can drive me home. I'm already on edge, already getting panic attacks, and I could barely concentrate at work today.

I guess I was just wondering if anyone else has had this kind of phobia of pap tests, or if anyone else has ever heard of being sedated for a pap test. Are these tests painful for anyone other than me? They are extremely painful for me. Also, can anyone tell me if an injection of Benadryl would actually make someone significantly drowsy? I mean, I know that Benadryl is known for causing drowsiness, but will it really sedate me enough to calm me down? It probably has different effects on different people, and since I'm so small, it might have a greater effect on me.

Any advice or information anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.

awkward 1st time sex, condom, uk BC question

[elanor-g.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker to VP and I know you ladies give great advice.

My thing is this, my boyfriend and me have started taking our relationship to the next level.  Today we attempted having sex but didn't work, the thing is he's not that experianced but niether am I but I know what gets me goin.  He's just pressin buttons randomly, I tried guiding his hand to where I like it but its kinda frustrating, any advice to share?

We were using the durex performa condoms, whats everyone's experiances with them?  Any sugestions on what brand of condoms to get?  

Oh and is BC in the uk free on the nhs?