Know anything about HBC? Recommendations?

[effydesmarais.livejournal.com]

I posted details about this in an earlier question, but in case you don't remember -- I was on Microgynon throughout my teens to help me with my horrendous and debilitating periods. It worked fine for years. Around the middle of last year after I turned 21, it stopped working. By that I mean that around the middle of each pack I would get all of the horrible periody symptoms that you get before you bleed, like incredibly sore breasts, crampy feelings in my stomach, and severe lower back pain. The painful boobs lasted pretty much throughout the whole month. I went to my doctor who told me that it is common for HBC to stop working like this as your body naturally changes hormonally as you enter your twenties, which affects the way they operate. She switched me to Loestrin. That was in November I think. For the first couple of months it was fine. The symptoms were gone and it was working as it should. But last month and now this month I have been feeling crampy again. I'm about halfway through a pack and for the past two or three days I have had lower back pain and that horrible vague crampy feeling. Also I have gained weight since starting Loestrin -- probably (as I mentioned in another post) because it has increased my appetite and I have therefore turned into some sort of human vacuum. I don't know, I have always had a really fast metabolism and have never before gained weight like this, so it's confusing for me. Maybe since hitting my twenties it's just slowed, and combined with the increase in appetite it has made me fatter? I think I remember reading that HBC can't actually in itself make you gain weight...is that true?

I don't know anything about HBC. I know there are different types and that each one works with your body in a different way, but I don't know what these types are. I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion about which one might work for me? I looked it up and it seems there are a TON available, I don't know where to start. If both of these pills are failing for me, does that maybe say something about the kind of pills I should be avoiding? Do you have any recommendations?

Really they are still working in that they keep my periods from being debilitating, but this mid-month-symptom-fest is bothering me. Is it possible that maybe this is something that my body is just going to do from now on regardless of what I'm taking?

Is my boyfriend's behavior abusive?

[starlitsara.livejournal.com]

Potential triggers. ( Please help )

period related to pregnancy?

[radio-bemba.livejournal.com]

Hello all,

I wonder if you could help me decide whether to believe something or not!

I've heard from word-of-mouth that, if you have a fairly painless, uncomplicated period, then your pregnancy will be relatively uncomplicated as well.

I mean, I know that it's probably true in extreme cases, maybe in women with endo or something similar. And I know unexpected complications can arise in any pregnancy. But. Is this, as a rule, actually true? An old wives' tale?

Anyone interested in shedding some light, or sharing their experiences, please do! I'm very curious about whether this is reliable information or not.

Thanks in advance!

Oh Dear...Mold on Tampons?

[funkygreendog.livejournal.com]

Has anybody seen this or had any experience with this? I am very concerned about this as I use tampons every period. I do not use this particular product, but it is extremely disconcerting...maybe I should switch to something else?

yeasty issue

[jadedinnocent.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone! Longtime watcher, sometime commentor, first time poster... and I need your help!

I am 28, cis-female, and I have had tinea versicolour since my teens. It's basically an overproduction of yeast on the skin which leads to a pretty ugly rash. (weirdly, I've never had a YI). I've always just used topical creams whenever it gets bad, and I have to admit that I am pretty slack at using it (it smells bad and makes me self-conscious during sexy-time w. my partner, although he has always been great about it). I do use prescription anti-dandruff shampoo on my skin in the shower but dislike that as it dries my skin.

I got the TV diagnosis from a dermatologist in the US, I now live in the UK and my GP has never referred me to a dermatologist and does not want to prescribe me antibiotics to treat outbreaks - I got them once from a locum and they cleared the rash within a couple of days and I stayed rash-free for about 2 months, my longest time ever without having to treat.

Anyway, recently the outbreaks have been getting worse and spreading to other parts of my body, and I'm getting concerned... I'm using Pevaryl 1% twice daily on outbreaks, but everytime it clears up in one spot it spreads to a different spot! What's most concerning is that it has now spread to my butt (around the buttcrack), and my mons pubis (I shave so can see the spots). So, my questions:

Does anyone know if Pevaryl 1% is safe to use on my mons pubis? If it isn't, could not treating the TV there lead to a YI?

For you other UK-based VPers, can I demand a referral to a dermatologist, or refer myself, if I don't feel my GP is treating me correctly? With the rash moving about whenever I treat it with the Pevaryl, I am pretty much treating topically every single day, which I don't think you're supposed to do....

TIA for any help, and if this isn't an appropriate post please let me know!

Tampon differences around the world

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

The recent hoo-hah over the moldy tampons got me thinking about this.

In the U.S. it would seem that most tampons are sold with applicators and only a few brands (I see OB mentioned a lot) sell non-applicator tampons. Also, many brands have plastic applicators.

In Australia there is only one brand of applicator tampon (Tampax) and they have cardboard applicators. Most brands (among them the most popular/heavily advertised brands - I haven't seen a Tampax ad in years come to think of it, and I only saw their ads in teen magazines) don't have applicators at all. Most of the marketing emphasises the smallness of the packs and cute patterns/colours on little flip-top pouches and things like that.

Does this vary in other parts of the world too? Why do tampon varieties/marketing strategies differ so much?

Very low sex drive...libido enhancers?

[shihtzulover.livejournal.com]

I'm 25 years old, and I have very little sex drive.  Back in high school, I was a very sexual being.  I had a boyfriend and we fooled around, but I was never ready for sex.  Regardless, I remember being so intensely into being intimate with him at the time.

Even before I was with him though, I remember having a very high sex drive pretty much all the time. It intensified even further around ovulation, but it was definitely always there.  I had a lot of fantasies, and I had no problems with lubrication, etc.

Right before my 18th birthday, I started birth control pills, just in case I would be ready for sex soon.  I never took a break from the Pill until about three months ago, when I stopped taking it completely  - so that makes approximately eight years on it.   During that time, I did switch pills several times.  I tried mono phasic and tri phasic types, and I tried higher hormone levels and lower hormone levels.  Doctors told me that there was no reason to discontinue use, so I never saw a reason to take a break.

Right after starting my first ever pill pack, my sex drive dipped a good amount, since I was no longer ovulating - and that was always the time that I was most aroused before.  The rest of my sex drive dropped off, too - and the weird thing is that I never really noticed that much, nor was I extremely bothered at the time.  I guess I just forgot what I was missing, since I was no longer feeling the desire.

I have had a few relationships over the past eight years, and I have been able to be sexual - but it was really only exciting in the beginning, when things were new.   After that phase, my sex drive always dropped off almost completely, and I was fine with sex once every two weeks or so, and even less sometimes.

I don't even feel the desire to masturbate as much as I did before the Pill - I used to do it almost every day, but once I was on the Pill, it decreased to about once every two weeks.  At first, I thought it was just because I was sharing a dorm room with a roommate, but even when I wasn't at school, and now that I've graduated college, it hasn't picked up at all.

I met my fiancé there years ago, and it started off the same way - sexual and exciting at first, but once things weren't new anymore, my sex drive dropped off.  He has been very patient with me, but I really don't feel that we're intimate enough, and I know that he would like to be more sexual.  Right now, we're currently having sex about once every two weeks or so.  

I got off the Pill about three months ago, when I had a Paragard (copper IUD) placed.  I am praying that it doesn't expel, because I never want to go back to the Pill.

Anyway, I've read all over the Internet about a study that found that the Pill causes many women to have low testosterone levels, possibly forever (and definitely at least a couple of years after getting off the Pill). From what I have gathered, the science behind it is that the body secretes more sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) to neutralize the estrogen from the pills, but it also binds testosterone, which lowers the libido significantly.  Apparently, SHBG levels cacontinue to stay very high after discontinuing the Pill, and it could last forever.

I had my IUD placed because I started thinking about how sexual I was before the Pill, and I want to be like that again.  I want to enjoy sex with my fiancé.  I am now on my fourth natural cycle though, and so far, I am only seeing a sex drive increase for a day or two around ovulation - and even then, it's not what it used to be.  I am frustrated and concerned that I will never gain my sex drive back.

I have tried to get into the mindset of sex when I'm not aroused, but it's not that simple.  I'm just not interested, no matter what the stimuli.  I can be kissing my fiancé, reading erotica, or watching pornography.  It's intriguing, but I'm just not that into it.  On the other hand, when I ovulate, I can't wait to be in bed with my fiancé, and we have the most intense sexual experiences of my life.  I know that I used to be more like this throughout my whole cycle, and that's what I'd like to get back to.

I would like to try some sort of supplement, or something that will get me back on track.  I don't want to be super aroused all of the time, but I'd like to feel like a sexual being, and enjoy sex with my fiancé at least a couple of times per week.  I have also experienced decreased lubrication (except on the day of ovulation), and i would like to remedy that problem as well, although I'm guessing that the two will most likely go hand-in-hand anyway.

I've been reading about a supplement called Provestra, but I can't seem to find any real reviews of it.  Everything that I've found is obviously biased, and I can't find real users posting about it.  On the other hand, many of the ingredients that it contains are listed by reputable sites as possible libido enhancers.

What do you guys think?   What can I do?  I don't really want to go to an endocrinologist, because I know that many women have issues with being taken seriously with these types of issues, not to mention the fact that my insurance won't cover it and I can't take the time off from work.

I don't know if this is the place for it, but I need help

[angi-is-altered.livejournal.com]

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