extremely painful periods

[dorkymanduh.livejournal.com]

so I've been on Yasmin for almost 3 years now and I originally went on it because my periods were pretty heavy and painful. My boyfriend and I have also been sexually active for about the same amount of time but I recently decided I wanted to get off the pill since I think it's whats causing my mood swings and much lower libido. I had already missed two pills in the pack (I was on the last week) so I figured I would just stop. I know it says in the packet not to stop abruptly but there were only 3-4 left in the pack. anyway, I started getting pretty painful cramping yesturday, but it was tolerable. I had some light spotting later last night. this morning, I woke up with tremendous cramping, to the point it was waking me up out of my sleep and I was bleeding pretty heavily. All of this continues as I write this. There's no clots (so far), it's actually pretty watery (TMI?) so I don't think it's a miscarriage.

my main question is, is there anything else besides BCP that can ease menstral pains/bleeding. I really don't want to be on BCP anymore and thinking of the future, how am I going to handle these periods when I decide to have kids? The pain is horrible and I don't think I could go back to having to be in bed for the first three days of every period.

any advice?

Comments

[koushi.livejournal.com]

Mirena IUD is supposed to help with painful heavy periods, often making them lighter or nonexistent.

[dorkymanduh.livejournal.com]

I've never really thought of an IUD, but I know its a form of long term BC and some of the reason I want to get off of HBC is because I would like to have a baby soon. AND because of the mood swings and such. So I was just looking for ways to ease periods without HBC but maybe I'll talk to my doctor about this.. thank you!

[kaelstra.livejournal.com]

As mentioned, the Mirena IUD could help, but that's a form of hormonal birth control, and I'm not sure if you're just wanting off the Pill itself, or Hormones in general. I'm also not sure about IUDs and Endometriosis, which is what it sounds like you may have.

I have Endo, and my doctor just said I had to be on HBC, to control the pain.

I would suggest you try another method, like an IUD or the Nuvaring (Both of which are low dose, so your mood swings might lessen a lot. However, many women who use the Mirena bleed for quite awhile before their bodies get used to having an IUD in there. I see a lot of posts from folks who got an IUD a few months ago who are still having off and on bleeding-and you really can't always tell when your period will be, unlike Nuvaring, where you can tell when it's coming, however, both are good low-dose options)

Basically put, I don't really think there are any other options to control the pain, but I wouldn't entirely give up on HBC just yet. I've tried lots of things for my Endo, and that's been the only thing I've found that helps. I had to go off the Patch awhile back for a few months because of insurance reasons, and my Endo didn't miss a beat and had me curled up in the bed crying in pain as soon as my period came. I switched to the Ring, next period was a breeze. It's amazing the difference it makes.

[dorkymanduh.livejournal.com]

see, thats my problem, I really want to get off of hormones all together.. but if I do have endometriosis, I know I need to be on HBC.

How were you diagnosed with Endo? I've had a pap every year since I was 16 so I figure they would have noticed it by now if I did?

And I was actually on the Nuvaring for about 3 months before but it was such a pain for me. I mean, the convience was awesome, but I liked to wear a tampon with break through bleeding I was having and whenever I took the tampon out, the ring would come too and it wasn't the easiest thing for me to get back in. haha. I'm probably going to have to make another appointment with my doctor soon. :) fun.. not.

[dorkymanduh.livejournal.com]

PS. Thank you for the reply..

[wishbutterfly.livejournal.com]

I am having extremely painful periods also. I'm only in pain for the first day of the period and exreme pains are in the first 4 hours. How can you tell if you have clots? I don't know what they are. I want to be on birth control because of this because I hate going through this every month, feeling like I am about to die. I plan to get married next year but I don't know about kids yet and I haven't even thought about myself getting off the pill in order to have them.. I have never been on birth control and don't know how well it would work for the pain. Did yours go away? I'm sorry I'm asking you questions on your own post.

Anyway I'll try to help you out. Even though I don't know too much about them.. I went to a doctor and she suggested to take a good multivitimin with alot of iron. That could help the pain. Other than that you could get of the pill and get back on it after you have the baby. If that is the only way to stop the pain.

[dorkymanduh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my pain would last for the first 3-4 days.. it was horrible but I had to deal with it because my mom never let me go on the pill until I was older.

I think the pill helped a lot. It took a little while for my body to get used to it, and I had a lot of breakthrough bleeding and had to try several different types of HBC before I found yasmin but I would suggest giving it a shot, especially if you don't want kids anytime soon, it should definately help with the pain.

And I'll give the iron vitamins a shot :) thanks!