Birth control to regulate period.
I've always had moderately bad periods, but my last two cycles have been horrid, debilitating, and exceptionally heavy. I'm now way healthier than I've ever been, but my period totally interferes with my life. Yesterday night, I was told to go in to the emergency room, because my bleeding was several times as heavy as usual (emptying my diva cup every 30 minutes, it was at least 3/4 of the way full, all day), I was lightheaded and nauseous whenever I stood for more than a few minutes at a time, and I was having intense cramping with pain that radiated down my legs. My blood and urine samples were excellent, and my ultrasound was clear. They want to put me on birth control. I don't want to take it, but I don't think I can handle periods of this magnitude every month. I like to be active, but when my period rolls around, I can't do anything, except lie in bed with a heating pad. Yep, real good at that :P
Does anyone take birth control for period regulation?
What are your thoughts on it?
Any vegan alternatives?
Thank you.
i did, but mine isn't ANYWHERE near as bad as yours so i got off of it because it gave me migraines. but definitely try it. i wouldn't be able to handle periods like that.
Hmm, do you know if your estrogen levels are higher than normal? Not an expert on this, but I had an ovarian cyst and was put on BC to regulate my estrogen levels. I only took them for 3 weeks because I felt horrible on them, I was eating non-stop and then started to felt like pressure was building up in my head (the latter probably won't happen to you..)
If you do take BC I wouldn't recommend ortho-cyclen. I've heard good things about Yaz, even though it's more expensive.
Anyway, if you have excess estrogen you can cut down on sugary foods and white bread/rice, up your intake of omega-3s like flax seeds, and try to get more exercise. When I got the cyst I was eating a little worse than normal (golden oreos every day...), so I switched my snack foods to healthier stuff and put flax in EVERYTHING.
My periods are also pretty heavy, but I just take the day to rest, sleep through the pain. Something warm on my stomach helps, as well as ginger tea.
Thank you. They didn't mention anything about my estrogen levels, and didn't find anything abnormal on my ultrasound.
I have been craving sugar a lot, I kept making cookies. I do need to exercise more as well. I can start changing these things, and see if it helps. They've been getting progressively worse since I started losing weight. My mom had similar problems (she exercised a lot) that didn't subside until she started on bc. She's been trying to get me to use it for several years. I'm going to try it, and see if it helps things. I'll let you guys know what happens.
I'll remember what you said about ortho-cyclen.
Ginger does help with nausea. I love ginger.
:)>>>
Yeah, I take birth control. Partially to help prevent pregnancy, but mostly to regulate my periods. It mainly hits me emotionally, but it physically kills me too. I have a horrible back so when my muscles start cramping, my back freaks out too. It's really painful. I can definitely see a difference from before and after I started birth control. It really depends on the person though. It took me a while to find the right dosage for me (the first one was too weak). I hate adding more pills to my daily regimen, but for me, it's worth it in order to stay sane and not be in so much pain.. or at least as much. Prior to taking birth control my periods were also a lot heavier. I remember several times just sitting on the toilet and I was seriously just gushing blood out.. definitely not a good thing, especially since I'm borderline anemic.
I'm sorry that happened to you! I've been on the pill for almost 2 years because I didn't get my period and didn't make enough of my own hormones to do anything. After I started taking them my migraines got epically severe. I'd have them pretty much all day everyday. My GYNO changed my meds around quite a bit the first year which was a pain. But I settled on taking one (Ortho- Tri Cyclin Low) and after 3 months (the time your body typically needs to adapt to the hormone change) I stopped getting migraines constantly! I've heard good things about the hormone ring as welll. Hope you feel better soon!!!
I've had the Mirena IUD for about a year and I absolutely LOVE it! I got it shortly after the birth of my daughter. It wasn't painful at all for me to have it put in, just a tiny bit of cramping. Within 6 months my periods were nonexistent, along with all the other nasty side effects of periods. Some doctors will only put one in if you've had a child though and like the above poster mentioned, if you don't have insurance it is pretty expensive.
My doctor put me on Zovia, and I've been taking it for a week and a half now. I feel absolutely exhausted. I slept for 11 hours last night, and now, less than 12 hours later, I'm back in bed, completely drained. I didn't do anything abnormal today or yesterday to explain my sudden fatigue, so I'm thinking it's the pill. I hope that it goes away soon, something similar happened when I started Prozac for depression. She says that I can stop taking the pill after 6 months, because then my body will probably reset itself. I can't wait until then.
IUD's kind of scare me a bit, one of my best friends has one, and she doesn't like it, she says that sometimes she can feel it, and sometimes it pokes her partner during sex :o. I know it's one of the most environmentally sound forms of birth control, and I'll probably get one eventually. But for now, I'm kind of hoping my body will reset itself, and I won't have to worry so much about my reproductive system. I'm a virgin, and I don't plan on being sexually active for a long time, and all this uckyness is really making me want to not have to deal with birth control at all for as long as I possibly can.
:P
I've taken bcp to regulate my period because mine would not come for 3 months and then I'd have my cycle for a whole month,so i got tired of it,so i took them.they help somewhat,but make sure all your hormones are level first.the pills made me tired and have headaches often.