Permanent PMS Forever

[tabbiewolf]

Caution: Bitchin' about lady parts. Feel free to skip.

So for the past 6 months, on and off, I've been trying different types of birth control pill. The idea was that it would mellow out my PMS -- tone down the moodiness, tone down the nausea, make it less "What are we going to land on on the Wheel of Terrible this month?" and more "The Wheel of Terrible is stuck, here is the one thing that's going to happen every month." The Pills served no other purpose than to help with PMS, since birth control is covered by the fact that I am sterile.

I think I went over this in a previous post or on Twitter, but THEY ALL FAILED. If anything, they made things worse. The latest two (which were basically Lite versions of the regular pill, according to my doctor) made my periods SUPER HEAVY, and if I missed one pill -- which I totally did -- it meant my period came IMMEDIATELY. Meaning I got two periods a week after one another last month, which was awesome.

That was sarcasm. It was not awesome.

I'm now off pills completely again (and back on Prozac, and was prescribed an anti-nausea pill for the days when I'm feeling off), and according to my calendar, a week late. Which is lovely.

I'm not pregnant -- I'm paranoid enough that I keep a stash of tests around -- so it's probably my body going "You totally fucked up last month, you're gonna get NO WARNING on the opening of the elevator doors this time," and I am now in a state of permanent PMS until whenever the damn thing rolls around. Meaning I feel a bit like I've been run over by a truck, with mild cramping and slight nausea that pops up occasionally. Apparently this is a pretty common side effect of coming off of the pill.

Being a girl suuuuucks.

Edited on 2/26 to Add: And the elevator doors have opened, of course the day after I got super paranoid about everything. Huzzah.

Comments

[auryanne.livejournal.com]

You might want to try asking about an IUD! Though, they actually made mine heavier (like, a LOT heavier), you don't have to take anything and there are no hormones to mess with your body.

And I don't know if it's anecdotal or what, but I've had shorter cycles and less cramps since I switched to cloth pads. I use these ones: http://partypantspads.com/ I'm not the only one who reports that, so who knows!

[tabbiewolf.livejournal.com]

I dunno, would an IUD help with PMS? That's what I'm trying to solve -- my period is usually pretty easy to deal with, it's just everything in the 2 weeks before that is a major pain in the butt!

And I've tried cloth pads, actually! Years ago, before my hormones changed and everything got all weird. Maybe I should give it a shot again, but I found that most days (TMI ahead) my bleeding was, uh, thick enough that it was not really absorbed all that well, which made the whole thing kind of uncomfortable and squishy and a bit gross.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

pad and tampon commercials never cover the thick clotty part. aw, look at that pure liquid. I WISH.

Dudes would probably pass out if they saw something with accurate texture. OH GOD WHY..

[auryanne.livejournal.com]

I don't know enough about PMS to say, probably not :/

As I said I have a very heavy flow so I need to use one of their larger sizes. I have actually had far fewer leaks with the cloth than disposable ones, but I guess it probably depends on the brand. Overall they are much more comfortable to me though, I also had pretty good luck with one of those cup things. I forget which one I had.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

weirdly was actually talking with someone about IUDs today. they have Mirena, which is one of the hormonal based IUDs and it greatly cut down on bleeding and cramping.

She was also considering switching to one of the moon cup/diva cup/luna cup type things for dealing with flow as being less likely to cause reaction.



I feel like this comment is basically "just stick things in your lady parts cave until one them makes it stop feeling like you've got Sharknado 3 shooting in there."

[tabbiewolf.livejournal.com]

The thing of it is, it's not even the actual period - it's the PMS/PMDD symptoms that kill me. The actual period has been pretty predictable for years (though it changed with the pills, so who the hell knows what it'll be now), but the PMS is, as I said, a Wheel of Terrible: Nausea, migraines, headaches, pain in every body part (sometimes terrible shooting pain, like a migraine, but like in your neck or stomach), extreme moodiness, vertigo, etc. And it keeps getting longer - I've been PMSing for like 3 weeks now. It suuuuucks.

The period is just cramps one day, and bleeding, and feeling rundown for a week. After the crap PMS puts me through, it's a relief.

After the shit I went through on the various pills, sticking another hormonal thing into my body is a big "Hell to the fuck to the no no no."