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| -This post is in collaboration- |
Warning: If you don't like reading or talking about "girl problems", pain, blood, periods, and anything along those lines then this post is not for you.
Although I've always had bad periods I've just avoided going on the pill since I was a teen because I was scared of the side effects and the horror stories you'd hear or read about. Obviously the scary ones freaked me out the most like blood clots and that your breast cancer risk is heightened and so on. As well as the obvious symptoms of gaining weight, depression, mood changes, severe headaches, spots and more. So over the years I've just tried to handle everything being hormone free.
But here I am, purposely pumping my body full of hormones thanks to the combined pill (Microgynon 30 ED) which contains both oestrogen and progesterone. I've now been taking the pill for just over 6 weeks now and wow, it's been a wild ride. So why have I now decided to go on the pill? Well, if you've been following me on social media and/or reading my blog over the past year or so then you'll know that I have chronic pelvic and back pain which started to flare up early 2018 which I highly suspect is endometriosis but my doctors and gynaecologist just won't listen to my really obvious symptoms and won't consider performing a laparoscopy operation which is what I want and I can't afford to go down the private route with being self-employed.
So I'm just stuck trying to manage my symptoms from home with prescribed medications as well as different home remedies. Things such as special tea blends for pain relief and bloating, CBD products, vaping products from https://area52.com/ - basically whatever works until someone finally listens to me.
So how has the past 6 weeks been? One word: Mad. Within a few days of being on the pill I was dealing with an headache on and off as well as feeling what I can only describe as car sick 24/7. I was struggling to eat and even standing up too fast would make me wanna vom. Weirdly, I was never actually sick though but let's face it, feeling really sick is way worse than actually being sick most of the time. I was also feeling pretty dizzy and quite bloated too. After about a week the sickness feeling began wearing off a little and I did notice a slight change with my daily pelvic pain being a teeny tiny bit better than what I was usually used to. My pain would usually be at around a 5 or 6 on the pain scale every single day without fail and when it was flaring up it could shoot up to around an 8 or 9 easily. The pain would literally make me fall to the floor when it was at it's worst and if you're someone who believes that endometriosis pain is 1) just really bad period cramps or 2) that you can only have pain whilst on your period then I'm sorry, you're very wrong. The majority of the women I've spoken to who suffer with endo have pain throughout the month. Every month.
Anyway fast forward to around the two week mark of being on the pill I was noticing I was having quite bad mood swings. For example I would get angry over nothing and I could literally feel anger bubbling up inside me which was a bit scary and just not like me at all and then I was also getting upset and feeling really sensitive over silly things for example I full on sobbed watching a Dancing on Ice performance one Sunday evening. As this was around the middle of the month when I would be ovulating naturally I thought maybe my body was really confused as it was trying to release an egg but then there's something stopping it. I was also getting my usual ovulation cramps too.
Around the three week mark my boobs felt like they had gotten a little bigger and my fave bras were not feeling as comfortable as normal. So I had to buy some new bras which was a bit annoying lol. I tried going up a cup size to a D and it still felt a bit roomy so I decided to go up a band size instead and that seemed to do the trick. Also around the three week mark I noticed that my usual oily skin was feeling quite dry and rough which was very alien to me. However I also came down with the flu around this time so I don't know if that was related or not. My usual daily pains weren't as bad as normal either around this point but then when the flu kicked in it did set of my pain more which wasn't great and it was the first full blown flu I've had since having chronic pain so it really wiped me off my feet.
When it got to the point of taking the "dummy pills" or going on my 7 day break I was super nervous because I was scared that I would start bleeding and not stop which I know other people had experienced and I was also worried that my period or "bleed" wasn't going to arrive at all which would throw my entire cycle off. Also 3 days into being on the dummy pills/on my 7 day break my usual pelvic pain was getting more intense which really sucked. But then at the same time it made me realise that although I had some bad side effects going on, the pill seemed to be helping my pelvic pain a bit. Anyway my period finally arrived on day 6 of the dummy pills - hooray!
So what was my period like? Not too bad in terms of how heavy it was, it was light-moderate in terms of of the "flow" was. I usually have very heavy, painful periods with clots (sorry for tmi but I'm just being totally honest and transparent about this). I've always suffered with my periods and I've missed many school, college and work days due to them being so painful and heavy but I've always been fobbed off my doctors and been told it's normal or they'd just offer me the pill to try. I know you're probably reading this thinking I've been silly for not trying the pill sooner but it was just my personal choice to make. Unfortunately my period pain was still quite bad but I'm hoping that's just my hormones and my body trying to adjust to being on the pill and that my upcoming period isn't going to be as painful as the last one. My pelvic/endo pain wasn't great either whilst on my period. But the period itself only lasted for 3 days! which is a record in my books as I'm usually on for around 5-7 days.
So here I am. I'm just over the 6 week mark of being on the pill as I write this. Like last month I have had what felt like ovulation cramps again which is so annoying. Thankfully I had a few Be You period patches spare so I used those to help ease the pain a little. I also had another weird few days of really intense mood swings like last month so I think it's kind of cyclic but I felt a mixture of emotions this month - I felt really depressed, angry, sensitive and then the bubble kind of burst and then I was kind of back to being myself again, so weird! It's scary how much a tiny pill can affect you. I also decided to weigh myself because I have a follow-up doctors appointment pretty soon and I've gained... 8 bloody pounds! and I'm pretty sure it's down to the pill. Yikes. I did tell myself that I wouldn't mind if I gained around 5 pounds but 8 pounds is over half a stone. So yep, that's made me feel a bit shit if I'm being honest.
Overall I'm still on the fence about being on the pill. On one hand it's helping my daily pain which is the whole reason I built up the courage to go on the pill in the first place but I still am struggling with day-to-day life due to my pain and I'm still having to take CBD oil pretty much daily for pain relief too. I'm having ovulation pains and mood swings which I'm still not sure if they are now just in my cycle or if my body is still just getting used to the pill. I've gained a significant amount of weight in a short space of time and I still had pain whilst on my period which I know might be because my body was still trying to figure out what the actual hell is going on but I was hoping for my period pain to calm down a lot. One good thing is that my skin seems to be a lot clearer than usual but I'm getting more blackheads for some reason so I don't know what that's about. I'm obviously going to discuss all of this with my doctor at my next appointment and see what she says. I'd love to hear other people's experience and advice about going on the pill (particularly the combined pill).
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Anyway fast forward to around the two week mark of being on the pill I was noticing I was having quite bad mood swings. For example I would get angry over nothing and I could literally feel anger bubbling up inside me which was a bit scary and just not like me at all and then I was also getting upset and feeling really sensitive over silly things for example I full on sobbed watching a Dancing on Ice performance one Sunday evening. As this was around the middle of the month when I would be ovulating naturally I thought maybe my body was really confused as it was trying to release an egg but then there's something stopping it. I was also getting my usual ovulation cramps too.
Around the three week mark my boobs felt like they had gotten a little bigger and my fave bras were not feeling as comfortable as normal. So I had to buy some new bras which was a bit annoying lol. I tried going up a cup size to a D and it still felt a bit roomy so I decided to go up a band size instead and that seemed to do the trick. Also around the three week mark I noticed that my usual oily skin was feeling quite dry and rough which was very alien to me. However I also came down with the flu around this time so I don't know if that was related or not. My usual daily pains weren't as bad as normal either around this point but then when the flu kicked in it did set of my pain more which wasn't great and it was the first full blown flu I've had since having chronic pain so it really wiped me off my feet.
When it got to the point of taking the "dummy pills" or going on my 7 day break I was super nervous because I was scared that I would start bleeding and not stop which I know other people had experienced and I was also worried that my period or "bleed" wasn't going to arrive at all which would throw my entire cycle off. Also 3 days into being on the dummy pills/on my 7 day break my usual pelvic pain was getting more intense which really sucked. But then at the same time it made me realise that although I had some bad side effects going on, the pill seemed to be helping my pelvic pain a bit. Anyway my period finally arrived on day 6 of the dummy pills - hooray!
So what was my period like? Not too bad in terms of how heavy it was, it was light-moderate in terms of of the "flow" was. I usually have very heavy, painful periods with clots (sorry for tmi but I'm just being totally honest and transparent about this). I've always suffered with my periods and I've missed many school, college and work days due to them being so painful and heavy but I've always been fobbed off my doctors and been told it's normal or they'd just offer me the pill to try. I know you're probably reading this thinking I've been silly for not trying the pill sooner but it was just my personal choice to make. Unfortunately my period pain was still quite bad but I'm hoping that's just my hormones and my body trying to adjust to being on the pill and that my upcoming period isn't going to be as painful as the last one. My pelvic/endo pain wasn't great either whilst on my period. But the period itself only lasted for 3 days! which is a record in my books as I'm usually on for around 5-7 days.
So here I am. I'm just over the 6 week mark of being on the pill as I write this. Like last month I have had what felt like ovulation cramps again which is so annoying. Thankfully I had a few Be You period patches spare so I used those to help ease the pain a little. I also had another weird few days of really intense mood swings like last month so I think it's kind of cyclic but I felt a mixture of emotions this month - I felt really depressed, angry, sensitive and then the bubble kind of burst and then I was kind of back to being myself again, so weird! It's scary how much a tiny pill can affect you. I also decided to weigh myself because I have a follow-up doctors appointment pretty soon and I've gained... 8 bloody pounds! and I'm pretty sure it's down to the pill. Yikes. I did tell myself that I wouldn't mind if I gained around 5 pounds but 8 pounds is over half a stone. So yep, that's made me feel a bit shit if I'm being honest.
Overall I'm still on the fence about being on the pill. On one hand it's helping my daily pain which is the whole reason I built up the courage to go on the pill in the first place but I still am struggling with day-to-day life due to my pain and I'm still having to take CBD oil pretty much daily for pain relief too. I'm having ovulation pains and mood swings which I'm still not sure if they are now just in my cycle or if my body is still just getting used to the pill. I've gained a significant amount of weight in a short space of time and I still had pain whilst on my period which I know might be because my body was still trying to figure out what the actual hell is going on but I was hoping for my period pain to calm down a lot. One good thing is that my skin seems to be a lot clearer than usual but I'm getting more blackheads for some reason so I don't know what that's about. I'm obviously going to discuss all of this with my doctor at my next appointment and see what she says. I'd love to hear other people's experience and advice about going on the pill (particularly the combined pill).
I'm so glad you said that so many women with endo have pain throughout the whole month and not just at the time of their period - it's a misconception that drives me mad. I really hope the pill does work for you but remember that it's not for everyone. So if you decide it's not for you, don't feel too down.
ReplyDeleteCoralle x
It's so annoying isn't it! I did a poll on a endo group on facebook and the majority of the votes came back as that they experience pain either daily or throughout the month, not just on their period! And thanks, me too! I've just picked up another 3 months worth so I think unless I have any super bad side effects I'm going to continue for the next 4 months on the pill and just see how I go :) x
DeleteI loved reading about your experience of starting the pill!
ReplyDeleteHopefully it will begin to help more with your endo pain.
I have been on Microgynon 30 21-day for nearly 6 years now and I'm still not 100% sure if it's right for me. Previous to that I was on Cerazette, a POP, which did not agree with me at all.
I still get headaches in my pill-free break, which I've heard is a common side effect, but any other side effects I had when I first started Microgynon ceased to exist after a couple of months.
I hope it ends up working well for you! x