2013-11-21

Constantly worried about pregnancy

So bare with me here... And this is my first post but a friend told me about how awesome this community is! I seem to have a fear of pregnancy, clearly irrational. I'm on birth control, usually make him wear a condom and sometimes use plan b just to insure I don't find myself with child. I've only had sex a few times and have probably taken dozens of pregnancy tests. I should buy stock in clear blue. Does anyone experience total anxiety to the point of borderline insanity with this? Recently I slept with someone, had my off week of the pill, the condom broke, took plan b and he didn't finish and I'm still worrying myself to death. Any suggestions on how to combat this fear? I do this to myself every time I sleep with someone and I'd really like to have a normal sex life.

Bladder/UTI issues

Hello,

I have found this community helpful in the past and was hoping I could get some feedback for a recurring problem I am having regarding bladder problems

( Lengthy Story under here.... )

causes of earlier periods.

I've had a bit of a look around and I cant see much in the way of topics on periods arriving early from the estimated date of blood flow onset (plenty about trying to make them come early, or late ones).

For the last few months (at least) I have had shorter cycles than the fairly consistent 29 day ones. They were down to 28 days (I ovulate on day 10, and was bleeding on day 18). I had a 26 day cycle from June to July, 28 days July - Aug, Aug - Sept, and Sept - Oct. But now I am at the start of a new period, which is day 24. I realise this is all within the realm of 'normal,' but I'm wondering why they are getting shorter between periods. None of the suggested reasons (stress, hormonal imbalance, perimenopause) seem applicable, so I am happy to accept 'bodies do that.' Could tubal ligation be a contributor? I had that done on the 15th July. Essure on the right, clip on the left.

Last period was a great deal lighter than I would have expected, with no gory flooding, so I am wondering if this earlier one is making up for that.

All in all, this is a post about regular periods starting to be earlier.

Mirena insertion experience

I just got home from having my Mirena put in about an hour ago. I am pleased to report it went very smoothly!

I am 32 and nulliparous, so I was pretty nervous about the pain. I took 800mg of ibuprofen an hour before the appointment. The worst part was having the local anesthetic done. After that it was pretty smooth sailing. She did have to dilate my cervix a bit, because apparently mine is curved! There was some pain with that, but the nurse was super helpful in chatting me up in an attempt to keep me distracted.

All in all, it was a piece of cake. It was just a little more painful than having my regular pap done. I am in no pain at the moment, but plan on spending the evening with a heating pad and pain killers just to be on the safe side.

I'm so happy I did it! I've been wanting a Mirena for years, and finally made it happen. I'll try to remember to post a follow-up later!

worried about the health of my uterus

Hi VP!

Lately I've been worried about my uterus. I've had one abortion and 3 different IUDs (one of them I got pregnant with, hence the abortion), in a pretty short period of time (2 years). As a midwifery student, I keep hearing that abortions can cause scarring of the uterus, "incompetent cervix", and a host of other issues. I can't quite tell if these risks are real or a pro-life invention... Still, I can't help feeling that, with all this IUD + abortion action, my poor uterus must not be happy. I really want to have children one day and I'm worried this will impact my ability to have children.

I guess I'm hoping for some reassurance, even if it's based on anecdotes and not science! I know there's no way to predict what my future fertility will be like. I think I just feel the need to talk about it in hopes of getting this fear out of my system.

edit: I should add that there is no physical reason for this fear. I don't have any pain or other concerning symptoms, and I never had any complications following the abortion or IUD insertions... So hopefully that's a good sign!

Thank you!