# My story about mid-cycle bleeding and how it was NOT normal; a birth control story



## gigglebox

Hi ladies! I just wanted to share my story and wasn't sure where to post. I found this section and I hope it's OK to share here :) And sorry, it's quite long...!

My symptoms started about 5 years ago. I remember the first period I had that was super heavy; I soaked through about 3 super tampons and 2 pads in one night. Concerned, I immediately sought help from a gynecologist. After a pelvic exam, she determined I had a functional ovarian cyst and advised I start to take birth control. I believe my first bc pills were "provera". After taking them for a couple months, I was starting to have erratic bleeding; sometimes I would bleed mid-month, sometimes a few days before my period, or sometimes I would have a lengthy 5-7 day period, stop for a day, bleed again for 2 days, then stop completely. The whole cycle was driving me mad. I went back to the doctor to see if my cyst was still there.

After another exam, the doctor determined the cyst was gone, but advised I continue with BC pills. She switch me to "loevra" and sent me on my way.

Months later I was still having the same problem. The heavy bleeding stopped, but the odd periods continued. At this point my doctor decided I should stop the pills for a month to let my body regulate itself; kind of like hitting the reset button on my uterus. The withdraw bleeding started almost immediately and didn't stop. 15 days into the bleeding, I asked the doctor what I should do. She said it wasn't a big problem and to continue not taking the pills. I bled for 32 days straight. Finally I was prescribed a new pack of pills (this time I think it was "Yaz") and my period finally stopped, but then the strange bleeding came back.

Feeling that this was abnormal, I decided to see a different gynecologist again (at this point I had already seen 3 different ones). This doctor had a theory that the pills weren't working and I needed something that "communicated" directly to my uterus--and thus I was prescribed the "NuvaRing". 4 months after using that, my periods hadn't corrected themselves at all. It was becoming common ground for me to bleed about a week into wearing the ring nearly every month, followed by a lengthy week long period. The doctor decided it was time to do some investigative work and see what was going on inside.

I finally had my first (of several) internal ultrasounds. The u/s tech found an abnormality on the screen and diagnosed me with a polyp. I was immediately set up for a D&C to remove the annoyance. I would be knocked out and the polyp would be cut out during the surgery.

Things didn't go as planned, however. Once my doctor got inside to remove the polyp, she discovered that this wasn't what was seen on the ultrasound at all. All I had was a small partial septate in my uterus, something that is virtually harmless. It is just a small piece of uterine muscle tissue that hangs down in the uterus. My gyn continued with the D&C, hoping scraping the walls of my uterus would get me back to normal periods again.

She was wrong.

After the D&C (and a MRI to confirm the septate), I was put back on Yaz (as it gave me the least side effects) to see if NOW maybe it would work to regulate my periods. It did not. 

Shortly after this I had to go on a new health insurance plan, which meant explaining my entire situation to a new gyn and getting a new opinion. After being evaluated again, my new doctor thought being on a BC pill that was more restrictive with periods would be best. That is when I was prescribed "Seasonique", the pill that gives you an "off" week once every 3 months. As you probably figured, this didn't change anything. I bled less often, but still had breakthrough bleeding.

That's when the depo provera shot was finally recommended. My doctor said it should stop my period in it's tracks. She said if I didn't stop bleeding within 4 days, call her.

UGH, how I wish I had done research before I got that shot! I didn't know much about it except that you can gain weight. I asked my doctor about this but she assured me it wasn't the shot, it's "what patients put in their mouths." No other side effects were mentioned...it sounded OK, so I got the shot...

And 5 days later I was still bleeding. Upset, I called the doctor to see what was up. It was then that she told me that sometimes the shot has the opposite effect and causes you to bleed continuously instead of stopping it. I was furious; I told her if I had known that I wouldn't have gotten the shot. She didn't really know what to say except sorry, but she didn't sound sincere at all. She told me to follow up with her but I never did.

I bled for 120 days straight. Doctors who hear this now say it's a true wonder why I don't have anemia! I decided to say "F. it" to all forms of birth control. It was honestly the best decision I could have made for myself. The bleeding finally stopped. After a few months of irregular periods (nothing that I wasn't already used to), my bleeding got further and further apart, finally seeming to regulate.

Sometime between then and now I was just thinking back on everything, and it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks that my strange bleeding didn't start until I was put on birth control for the cyst. As I was with my then fiance (now husband) and we were beginning to discuss TTC, I was researching a lot about the whole conception progress and learned about the whole ovulation process...and then I realized, with my mid-cycle bleeding, I was wondering if I was still ovulating. I started doing some google-ing, and quickly found an article that explained everything.

The article stated that in about 20% of women, birth control pills aren't strong enough to stop ovulation. The solution is a strong pill. But for a small percentage of these women, NO pills will help them. They continue to ovulate and have a normal period, and then two weeks later have another period induced by the pill, causing them to have frequent and irregular periods. For women like this, no form of hormonal birth control will help them.

5 minutes on google told me what 4 years of treatment by several different gynecologists couldn't.

It's now been about 12 months since my depo shot expired and I no longer took any hormonal birth control. It's been now about 8 months since my period has regulated to the point where I can predict almost to the day when I'm due, and AF never disappoints!

I just wanted to share my story because having those issues for so long was very frustrating. I would love to help someone else, but I know as most of us our TTC that doesn't really apply ;)


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## kitenxx

_*HI love i saw this post and when i first came on neali 15 years ago i had the exact symptoms but mine was before i took the pill of any kind and still now after having my little girl i wrried that it may be sumthing bigger so was hoping u could give me any information possible of your symtoms .
All i can tell u is that the this frst bit u posted below is exctly what i was and still am goin frew but i havent been on the pill now for over 7 years.
My gyni at the time before conception as i was on the pill when this happened said i had an oversized womb wall and i might need a scrape another after an ultra sound said it looked like my symptoms could be due to a collapsed ovari And another said it could be polysictic ovaries by this point i was fed up of been poked and proded and discharged from the gyni stayed on the contraceptive and fell pregnant to a beautifull little girl . However now my pain in my back and stomach and my bleeds are still the same but i have started suffering bad with hip problems too now and allot say it siatica but i have a feeling it due to pressure from my womb as the pain in my hip only accurs when im bloated or on or when i have server back ache or abdominal pain i was tested only the other week for urine in fections and i cam back all clear so im stumbled as to whats wrong i want to try and get as much info i can to try and self diagnose before having to be poked and proded again if this makes sense. I am sorry for the long message hope you can help xxx leanne xx*_







My symptoms started about 5 years ago. I remember the first period I had that was super heavy; I soaked through about 3 super tampons and 2 pads in one night. Concerned, I immediately sought help from a gynecologist. After a pelvic exam, she determined I had a functional ovarian cyst and advised I start to take birth control. I believe my first bc pills were "provera". After taking them for a couple months, I was starting to have erratic bleeding; sometimes I would bleed mid-month, sometimes a few days before my period, or sometimes I would have a lengthy 5-7 day period, stop for a day, bleed again for 2 days, then stop completely. The whole cycle was driving me mad. I went back to the doctor to see if my cyst was still there.

After another exam, the doctor determined the cyst was gone, but advised I continue with BC pills. She switch me to "loevra" and sent me on my way.

Months later I was still having the same problem. The heavy bleeding stopped, but the odd periods continued. At this point my doctor decided I should stop the pills for a month to let my body regulate itself; kind of like hitting the reset button on my uterus. The withdraw bleeding started almost immediately and didn't stop. 15 days into the bleeding, I asked the doctor what I should do. She said it wasn't a big problem and to continue not taking the pills. I bled for 32 days straight. Finally I was prescribed a new pack of pills (this time I think it was "Yaz") and my period finally stopped, but then the strange bleeding came back.


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