[gilly]

So last time I wrote I was only bleeding a little bit from the lowering of my fennel dosage, and it disappeared pretty much by yesterday morning . Then yesterday evening I started to bleed some again, not much, but it was definitely blood red, and not the usual menstruation red that I get. Today I'm bleeding A LOT, and it's all just really blood red.
I have felt some tiny sensations/pain in the area of my ovaries. It feels like blood is pouring out of me as we speak, and it's beginning to freak me out. I'm not sure what the cause can be..
Because I haven't shifted the dose of fennel again. It's been down to 480 mg for several days now, and I thought that bleeding was over. I did have to take antibiotics last week for my UTI, but finished that on friday morning (the day before yesterday)...
It could also be just abnormal bleeding from switching to continuous nuvaring? But the bleeding is so heavy, I'm not sure if it can be that.
I haven't had any headaches the past couple of days...
I did miss out on my second cup of spearmint tea yesterday, but I'm not sure what effect that would have, other than I did notice my face was redding/more inflamed this morning...

Sorry for the rant. I just want to record and share my worries! If anybody has anything to share about this sort of thing, please do!! Thanks for any help!

[gilly]

Ok, today, after having my moon cup (menstrual cup) in all day, I took it out, and there was just a tiny little bit of dried blood in it. So I decide to not put it back in, thinking the bleeding is over. Then, half an hour later, I feel wet again, and I'm pouring blood. ARGH. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to see if I can get this figured out.

[Strumpet]

Definitely see a doctor, I'm not sure what the cause might be You're sure it's not just that your cycle got out of whack and you're menstruating? Hope everything's all right.

[Wahaika]

Nuvaring could easily be causing this. You might switch to something NBE friendly like Yasmin.

Aitenerol could also be contributing. You might consider St. Herb or a different program. There are other options as well.

Was there any midcycle bleeding?

Wahaika

[Rosance]

For me it also sounds like a period. I don't think it could have been the withdrawal of fennel :/
Right? I hope everything is fine and nothing so serious. I honestly think it was PM.

[Alicia]

Gillyyyy!
I hope you're ok!! Looks like a bad reaction form some herb?
I'm afraid estrogen gives me cramps, so perhaps what happened to you it's something like that but 100000xtimes worse?
Argh... I hope the bad days are over now girl!

Best wishes Gilly!!

[gilly]

Thanks guys for your comments! I really really really appreciate it.

So my update:

I ended up not having time to go to the doctor because I am in the middle of midterm exams at school. But, I think I have stopped bleeding now, with only a little bit showing up when I wipe. I can't say for sure though, because it did seem like I bled more after sex and after removing my moon cup. So I guess I will have to ask my fiance to help me find out

Anyways, I'm not feeling so worried anymore, because I do think it is what you guys say, that it's just my cycle is out of whack, and it's probably a combination of Nuvaring and PM to blame, and also going pretty much straight from BO to PM (stupid, I know). I am pretty sure I was ovulating on BO even with my nuvaring, and once I immediately introduced a lot of estrogen AND decided not to do the withdrawal bleed week of nuvaring, my body got really confused.
However, what did throw me off about this was that the blood was really different from what I'm used to. At first it was like real blood gushing out of a wound type of blood, and then it became very mucus like with what looked like blood clots, and I've never seen that before. (sorry for being so graphic). This sort of mucus thing with blood clots is common in really early miscarriages too though, so that is also possible.

The reason I thought it was a withdrawal bleed from lowering my dose of fennel is because that is how birthcontrol withdrawal bleeds function (and I guess how a normal cycle kinda works too). When you remove a nuvaring, the hormone levels drop and this signals to the uterus to start bleeding, and I think it's specifically progesterone that is the hormone that drops and signals this.

Oh, and yesterday I got all the signs of a relapse in my UTI that I finished treating just a week ago. So I'll have to go to the doctor on monday for that anyways, so I'll bring up the bleeding thing too. I get UTIs way too often. Luckily, the symptoms usually vanish after a few hours even if I still have it, so I don't have to walk around in complete agony.


On a brighter note, my boobs are looking much fuller now, because they were looking pretty deflated these past two weeks, I think as a result of my experimenting with way too high doses of phytoprogestins etc. Or my body is having a normal cycle without me knowing about it
I have not been noogling for the past week because I still have a guest staying here.

Again, thanks for all the comments guys. I will measure again soon, and update on my doctors appointment!

[Rosance]

The way you described your bleeding, is the usual thing I go through on my periods
Ever since I got an IUD, my periods have been as described, lots of blood in the beginning and then dark red (almost brown) mucus at the end. When I got my IUD, I was far from NBEing, I was breasfeeding my son and not thinking about the future (saggy breasts) :O Three years later I decided to take action; in other words, herbs had nothing to do with the way I am bleeding.

[Alicia]

Gilly, glad to read you're better!
I've been looking at the menstrual cycle graph and what you say about the drop of progesterone sounds pretty logic. I see you do your homework! (I, on the other hand, should frame that graph and hang it at home lol, I'm so thick)
I hope your health and your NBE routine goes back to normal soon.


...Hey and caution with having too much wild sex

[gilly]

Haha Alicia. Actually the bleeding beat me to it again, so no wild sex for me last weekend

So I started bleeding again on sunday. Went to the doctor on tuesday, and she is convinced it's the continuous use of nuvaring that is doing it. She made it sound like it's a crisis that I'm using it continuously, because supposedly the uterus lining or whatever just builds up more and more if you don't do the withdrawal bleed, and so you just end up getting spotting continuously or something. So her recommendation is to take it out on sunday, do a week of withdrawal bleed, then put in a new one, and do my normal 3 weeks in, 1 week out routine.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this really. The other nurses I talked to about back-to-back nuvarings said it'd be fine, and that spotting is completely normal the first few months before your body gets used to it. However, this has been more like periods, and not just spotting. I really don't know. I think I'll see if I start bleeding any more between now and sunday, then take a decision. If I do 3 weeks in 1 week out, I'll have to decide what to do with my pm and fennel etc. I guess I could try keeping them both at the same dose throughout the withdrawal bleed week too, and see if that will hinder me in bleeding or what. I don't know.

I definitely want to stay on birth control, just because using condoms is a pain in the butt. And I have about a year's supply of nuvaring, so it would suck switching to something else now.

I really don't want to take a break with my PM just because it has had a great effect on my mood. I am so happy these days, it's ridiculous. I even managed to get through the week of my mom staying here without having some sort of mental breakdown. I'm waaaay less paranoid now and my self-confidence is at a healthy level, which is great for my relationship. I absolutely LOVE pm, even if it doesn't give me boobs, just for my mood, it's great.

So yeah, we'll see what I do.. As of now, I'm not bleeding so I'm crossing my fingers.

My acne seems to be increasing again, so I think I might add in a stinging nettle root tea to my program.

I'll update on what I'm doing about this whole bc thing.
Oh and I don't think there's been much change in the boob department. I will start noogling again now though, and hopefully I can update with some good news about the boobs.