WOMENS-HEALTH Messages for September, 2003: Re: [Birth Control] Abnormal bleeding

Re: [Birth Control] Abnormal bleeding

From: Jeni (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 9 Sep 2003 18:00:36 -0500 (CDT)

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Hello, Jill! I stumbled upon your entry and could have written it myself. I've had the same experience with near constant spotting or bleeding, sometimes during or just after sex (I thought that might be the trigger), but sometimes just because. This has gone on for over four years, beginning when I was 20. I have been on some form of hormonal birth control for most of this time (Triphasil, Ortho-Tri-Cyclen, Ortho-Novum, Zovia, Ortho-Cept, Lo-Ovral, and who knows what else). Nothing but Depo-Provera, which stopped my periods altogether but had other, intolerable side effects, really helped. I was recently on Ovcon-50 and after two months was starting to see a change for the better when my HMO dropped it from its offerings. Sigh. Anyway, I'm almost sure this is hormonal since the Depo was able to take care of it and because, like you, I experience bleeding at around the same time each month. I usually have at least one full week of period-free bliss when I start a new pill pack...after that, the spotting starts and continues until my real period starts--two or three placebo pills into the fourth week of my pack. Complicating matters is that my cervix is also easily and often irritated and bleeds when touched; some doctors have blamed the bleeding on the cervical infections I have frequently had, and one even suggested I'm not as hygienic about sex as I should be, which is untrue. I'm obsessively clean (we shower or rinse with water, urinate, and wash hands before and after even thinking about sex), especially after dealing with this for four years! My boyfriend and I both have taken antibiotics, I've had Pap after normal Pap, and most recently had an ultrasound and endometrial biopsy. . Nothing is ever wrong, but something is definitely very wrong! As you know, this is very stressful in the bedroom and enormously frustrating even if you're not sexually active. I too have yet to find a doctor who seems very concerned; all have said they won't tolerate this sort of thing for their patients, but most end up admitting that they can't figure out what's wrong with me or just suggest we "try another pill." The cryosurgery has been mentioned to me but not yet pursued, and I haven't even begun to think about a D and C or potential fertility problems...it's overwhelming enough as it is. Has anyone ever suggested an IUD to you? One physician suggested it to me, saying the newer ones are quite safe and sometimes effective for abnormal bleeding; in addition, some women's bodies just can't "do" hormonal birth control. This is probably not of much help to you, but thanks for allowing me to vent to someone who--finally!--seems tounderstand. I guess my hope is that, since your post is well over a year old, you've found a solution to your problem and might share it with me. If not, I'm sorry and best of luck to you. Let me know if you ever figure this mess out and I'll do the same for you! Sincerely, Jeni

At Sat, 26 Jan 2002, jill wrote: >
>Hello! I am at my wits end and i hope that someone can help me. In the
>fall of 200, I began to have stange spotting/bleeding about halfway
>through my cycle. I had always had pretty much regular periods... I
>was only 23 at the time. I had been on birth control before, so I
>figured that I would go to my family phystician and get back on it and
>that it would fix my problem. Well, my doctor thought the same thing.
>He put me on loestrin, I believe. I tried it for a couple cycles and it
>didn't have any effect on the problem. Then he put my on ortho novum.
>Again, my hopes were up and I tried it, and still -- the exact thing
>happened. It was like clockwork. On the 10-12th days, the spotting
>would begin and continue until i started the inert pills and I would
>have a regualar period. I got frustrated with my family doctor, so I
>went to an obgyn that came highly recommended from a friend. He decided
>to put me on Ovcon 50 for 3 months, then he was going to take me down to
>35's once my cycle was under control. Same thing happened as before so
>I went back. He gave me internal ultrasound, put me on prenatal
>vitamins, gave me folic acid, a round of antibiotics, Hope cream for my
>cervix (because he said that the cervix was very tender and would bleed
>at the touch). None of this worked. He decided to do a D&C and a
>hysteroscopy... again telling me that nothing was wrong pathologically.
>I kept telling the doctors that I thought it had to be hormonal because
>there is a definite pattern to it and I can tell you almost exactly when
>it will start each month. He then did a light cryofreeze-- didn't work.
>Then a longer, more intense freeze -- didn't work. I endured weeks of
>thethe horrid watery discharge. Meanwhile I was still on the ovcon
>35's. I gave the cryo the six week recovery time hoping that something
>would happen and I would be fixed. Nope. I went back to the doctor and
>talked with him more about the exact timing of my problem -- that it was
>happening when I was off the bill and on the pill... that I thought
>perhaps when I ovulated that maybe that was when my bleeding was
>beginning. So -- he decides to try me on Yasmine. I had already taken
>the first 5 days of my ovcon 35 pack and he told me to immediately start
>the Yasmine. I thought that I was cured!! My discharge was normal for
>16 days this month!! Then my hopes crashed again, when on day 16 I began
>to bleed. I don't know what 's going on. It's been almost a year and a
>half now of the same thing. My relationship with my boyfriend is
>strained (except for the first 10 days of the month usually), I feel
>like I am fighting depression over this, I am scard that I won't be able
>to have children, and I am frustrated that I can't find a doctor that
>can help me... or seems to truly care about my problem. I have made an
>appointment to see an obgyn that is also a reproductive
>endocrinologist... but am losing hope. I think that the fact that I
>made it to day 16 says that the bleeding is definitely hormone related.
>BUt there are so many pills -- what if they never find the right one. I
>can't live like this forever. Please email if you have any imput. Since
>it was happening before I ever got on the pill, I don't have the option
>to just quit taking the pill. It won't do me any good. Thanks for any
>help...
>
>--
>jill
>

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