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  • #383488
    Dee
    Participant

    Hello all, back again. I hope you are doing okay.

    I’m writing back here again with more of my problems. I should really start making use of this site for something other than that. Sorry to come here seeming like less of a fun positive person than I actually am lol.

    Today I just want to see if anyone can share any advice, maybe give me some questions to ask my doctor, or just give me words of encouragement. I have had irregular periods for 10+ years. There’s plenty of details to go behind this but I’ll only share if someone actually replies wanting to know the details. Feel free to share your experiences, I love to listen to others.

    xoxo D

    #383491
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Dee:

    Welcome back, Dee. I am here, if you want to share about your irregular periods of more than 10 years.

    anita

    #383494
    Zeeza
    Participant

    Dear Dee,

    Maybe you could ask your doctor about birth control that lets you skip your period? like seasonique gives you 4 periods a year. I think they are some that offer longer but I am not sure if that’s good on the body but that’s my opinion.

    Or if they are mising I find eating more red meat or things that are easy on the tummy to keep down then the periods can come back after more stable eating for awhile.

    Hope you find relief and feel better!

     

    #383612
    Dee
    Participant

    Hi Anita & Zeeza

    I’d like to acknowledge that you both replied, thank you for your support 🙂 I suppose I’ll break down my feminine health history for you.

    I first started my period when I was 12. This first period lasted maybe 5 days at the most, after that I did not have another for several months. Between the time I was 12-20 I never had a regular/consistent period. Around the time I turned 20, I had been having the longest, heaviest, most painful period I had ever had to experience. It was April 2018 when I went to get checked out while having this terrible experience with my period. I received inconclusive lab and vaginal examination results. The only thing that was concluded after that visit was that I am very anemic. I was then put on a birth control pill to cause me to have a regular flow. Immediately after starting the pill I began having a regulated period (actually just withdrawal bleeding but let’s just continue referring to it as a period lol). My periods were lasting a good 3 days a month for 1 whole year, until I stopped using due to my prescription running out. I did not go back to renew the prescription because I don’t mind not having a period, which is how it essentially always is if I am not taking BC and because I was no longer very sexually active. Between April/May 2019 when I stopped taking BC and December 2020, I had very few natural menses. This past December I decided to start taking BC again due to being very sexually active again and to ensure that pregnancy is prevented. During that month I ended up getting my period and it lasted about 2 weeks, for me it wasn’t what I expected but also wasn’t too bad. Come the beginning of January I began having really bad abdominal/pelvic pain. I am usually a trooper because I didn’t have a primary doctor for the longest time so I would avoid going to be seen, however at this time I ended up making a trip to the ER because the pain and discomfort was so intense. After having tests done, hours later I leave with no answers but at least medicated so I felt better for the night. About a day later I started my period once again, and it would last for about two weeks again, this made me start to think my pain was definitely related to my period problems. So come February I’m still taking this BC pill, hoping that my period starts to regulate itself now that this is the third month that I have been taking the same pill that made me flow normally in the past. The bleeding started right at the beginning of the month and lasted until March 1st. I was so fed up with the irregularity at this point I decided I would stop taking the BC. So here I am nearly 5 months later and I have all the symptoms but no period and obviously not pregnant and I take tests routinely. With it having been on my mind heavily anyways and a couple of really close ladies in my life opening my eyes with their all of a sudden feminine issues, I decided to find myself a primary doctor who is an OBGYN, and get myself checked up. So I had an appointment this month on the 8th, where my doctor and I spoke about what’s been going on and she decided to order more labs to have done along with an ultrasound. I got the labs done within that week, and had my ultrasound done last week. I was viewing the results on my chart online, and saw that my doctor had left notes saying that everything looks essentially normal and we will go over this when I go to see her again which will be August 4th, where I will have my first pap smear done as well. I want my body to work the way it’s supposed to, or at least know why it isn’t working how it should. I would like to know if I’m totally infertile, if I’ve got some random disease or whatever any other case could be.

    Thanks for reading if you did

    xoxo D

    #383613
    Dee
    Participant

    Also wanted to note that I tried like 4 different times to type this and post back, but I kept accidentally closing my browser since I am switching screens so much, I’m at work haha. Can you really not paste anything in here or is it just me? would be so helpful lol.

    #383614
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Dee:

    I want to get back to your thread tomorrow morning when I am more focused, but for now, what comes to my mind is good-old anxiety: the ongoing neural/ hormonal activation that goes along with anxiety, and what it does to the body. Will be back to you Thurs morning.

    anita

    #383649
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Dee:

    I want to google some things regarding the topic/ what you shared and I will be able to do that and reply at about 1 pm this afternoon.

    anita

    #383653
    Dee
    Participant

    Thank you Anita, you are always appreciated, your dedication to helping/educate others shines through!

    #383667
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Dee:

    You are welcome and thank you for your kind words.

    You experienced the “pleasure” of your first period at 12, and it lasted about 5 days. Following that- no period for several months, then irregular periods to age 20. Around 20, you had the longest, heaviest, most painful period. Following a medical examination, the only finding was that you were very anemic. You were then put on a birth control (BC) pill so to regulate your periods, which worked well enough: you had a 3-days period per month for a year. Next, you stopped the birth control pills, then back on the pills in December 2020. But in January 2021, you “began having really bad abdominal/pelvic pain”, got yourself to the ER “because the pain and discomfort was so intense”, no medical findings. A day later, you started your period and it lasted 2 weeks.

    At the beginning of March 2021, you got so fed up with the irregular periods, you figured no periods is better, so you stopped the BC. Sometime in July, following experiencing “all of the symptoms but no period” you had extensive medical examinations, and viewing the results online, you saw a note by the doctor stating that “everything looks essentially normal and we will go over this when I go to see her again which will be August 4th”. You are concerned bout whether you are infertile, whether you have “some random disease or whatever any other case could be”.

    My input today: I am not a doctor, nor am I a medical professional of any kind. Even if I was a doctor, I would need access to your records before making any medical suggestion.

    To my non-professional mind, it seems like because (1) your menstrual problems did not start this summer but since the age of 12, and (2)  because there were no medical findings (other your anemia) in April 2018 when you were medically examined, and (3) because of the doctor’s note this month=> that likely, there will be no significant medical findings this time around.

    obgynwc. com, reads under the title “How Stress Can Affect Your Period“: “We all know that stress can affect other areas of your life: It can throw off your sleep patterns, cause you to eat more (or stop eating completely), make you short-tempered, or take away your ability to concentrate”,

    It then goes on to list regular, everyday stresses and then more serious stresses that “can cause your body to go into survival mode. This type of stress can affect the functioning of the hypothalamus, the portion of your brain that regulates hormones relating to regulating your body temperature, sleep patterns, hunger, thirst, mood… and your menstrual cycle.

    “When a woman misses her period for several months in a row, it’s called secondary amenorrhea. This condition also has additional symptoms:– Headaches – Blurred vision – Vaginal dryness – Nipple discharge – Acne If any of these circumstances and symptoms apply to you, it’s crucial to schedule an appointment with a gynecologist, since secondary amenorrhea may lead to fertility issues and a loss of bone density”.

    Back to me speaking: it is well known that young women in Nazi prison camps stopped menstruating because they were indeed in “survival mode”- the body was too busy surviving starvation and over-work to .. worry about reproduction and menstruation. It is well known that severely anorexic women also stop menstruating, for the same reason.

    Let me know what you think of what I posted here so far, and we can discuss/ research this further.

    anita

    #383942
    Dee
    Participant

    Anita,

    Thank you for your input on this topic. I researched the conditions that you mentioned and have jotted them down to bring up at my appointment on Wednesday. I don’t know what else to really think I have a list of possibilities, but as my doctor mentioned to me maybe my body just really isn’t in it’s happy place and I should just keep trying to lose a handful of pounds. I am just thankful to be listened to/ heard.

    D

    #383946
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Dee:

    You are welcome. Here is something else you can take to your appointment on Wednesday. It is taken from what you shared in June this year: “I have a long, long complicated relationship with food seeing as I’ve struggled with body image since I was at least 5… I have had a significant history with binging and purging through my middle school and high school days, a little bit into my adult life. I often feel the urge to purge when I eat a lot even now, however I ended up stopping completely as an adult since I realized how much of a toll it took on my teeth, along with the fact that it never made me thinner, just let me feel better physically and mentally about eating so much”-

    – Your binging and purging took a toll on your teeth, you wrote. Maybe it took a toll on your menstruation as well. Maybe the anxiety that’s behind the binging and purging is also behind your irregular menstruation history.

    You wrote that you struggle with body image ever since you were 5- that’s a long, long time. What if your body reacted to your problems with it.. by giving you more problems.

    I figure that you can’t go wrong by seriously working to make peace with your body. Imagine your body then reacting by making peace with you!

    anita

    #383991
    nycartist
    Participant

    Hi Dee,

    I saw your post and wanted to write to you. I can really relate to wanting your body to feel normal and having issues with menstruation. I am 39 years old and dealing with premature ovarian insufficiency. Basically I’ve run out of eggs and am in menopause when I should definitely not be at my age! I read through all the posts and was so glad to hear you found an OB who ran labs. Do you know what they checked specifically? You said everything looked normal, which is great but also not great, because you have no answers. So I just want to give you a heads up of what I’ve learned in my 2+ years of trying to figure out why my periods are so irregular. (I used to go anywhere from 15 days to 180 days between periods and it is maddening).

    So I just want to be sure that they are checking the things to get answers, in case you are dealing with some different possibilities. Did they check these things: Estradiol, Progesterone, FSH, AMH, LH, and Prolactin? These will give you a picture of if you are having something similar to me, a deficiency in estrogen. I assume they checked these things, but wanted to mention them in case they weren’t checked. Often when we are younger than typical age, it can be a pain to have them check for these things.

    One thing I want to mention is prolactin. This is something that is checked to rule out an issue in the pituitary glad, similar to what Anita mentioned. Sometimes there is a small benign growth on the pituitary gland that can screw with our hormones. YOu can even begin lactating though you’re not pregnant. If this is the case, the prolactin level would be high. So it’s easy to rule out and rare, but it’s one possibility.

    My advice is an OB will only check so many things, but you may want to also go to see someone who is more overall/hollistic. I had luck with an internist/naturopath who was able to run labs to rule out chromosomal abnormalities, autoimmune issues, as well as thyroid and adrenal issues that can all contribute to abnormal periods. Your OB may only be looking specifically at your ovaries/uterus when the issue could be caused by something else. I hope this doesn’t alarm you, it is just something to consider. I’ve had to work so hard to get answers (and honestly I don’t have many except I am in premature menopause but have no idea why).

    But knowing that has helped me make an action plan and feel empowered. Knowing the right meds to get on to make me feel better and protect myself too in the long run. I’m happy to chat more if you have any questions. I hope you get answers and I’m sorry you’re suffering. Find yourself a dr that will look at the whole picture. Hugs.

    #385666
    Dee
    Participant

    Hi!

    Per Anita’s reminder I’ve returned to this thread! It’s been a while but of course I’m still facing the same issues I’ve mentioned as I have.. forever lol.


    @Anita
    , you are so right. All the anxiety and stresses my body processes is more than likely a factor, if not the leading one in why my body doesn’t function properly. I am working to make peace with my body and mind and am in high hopes that one day I am functioning a lot better 🙂 Figuring out why I feel the way I feel is definitely hard though.


    @nycartist
    I’m sorry to hear about the struggles you’ve also had relating to menstruation. Almost everything you mentioned I have had checked, I’ll have to double check if I have had all of those labs run for sure though. I have considered seeing someone more holistic but I’m not sure what exactly I should look for when seeking someone like that. An auto-immune disease has crossed my mind as well. Researching all my symptoms has been a blessing and a curse because now I’m more knowledgeable but I also have a huge list of things that MIGHT be wrong with me but I don’t know how to totally advocate for myself so it’s been a journey. I’m confident that I will get answers in time or that my body really will find it’s happy place. I have a lot of life left so I need it to get it together lol.

    Thank you guys so much, sending my best

    #387907
    Emma
    Participant

    Hi Dee,

    Firstly, I am so sorry to hear your story, I feel for your situation, I have a suggestion that might help you, from what I’ve heard from friends, traditional Chinese Medicine can help you with irregular periods.

    A friend of mine who also suffered from the same problem said this is what helped her in regulating the menstrual cycle. Using traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture she was able to address the root causes of her irregular period issues. I found a very interesting article take a look here: https://www.ginsen-london.com/post-pill-amenorrhea/

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