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[Focus]

Good morning ladies

Just thought I'd check in, since it was a while that I was here.

I'm now on Loestrin 30 and it's working a treat for me. I have my life back (so am able to work, earn money, exercise and plan a life). I feel very, very happy.

I've been taking it continuously for three months now...I was too traumatised by the awful stuff I went through in the autumn/winter to think about having a pill free week.

I think I must be going through something pretty full on though, as if by any chance I forget to take my pill and can't take it until 12 hours after I would have done normally, I'll have a night sweat that night. This has happened a few times since I started taking it, and it's definitely a pattern. They don't seem to be as bad as in the winter though, before I was taking the pill. I'm still waking up soaked in sweat, but it's a couple of notches down from how it was in winter, before I was taking the pill.

I've also had hot flushes during the day if I've delayed taking my pill. This is new. Sometimes it''s just my face, sometimes it's my body as well, like the heat you feel after you've done a full-on work out eat the gym. This is weird for me, as I'm usually freezing all the time. And it's even weirder to feel your face burning up, but still have ice cold fingers and toes.

And the day/couple of days afterwards I feel totally exhausted.

I had an ultrasound scan for fibroids, and the doctor said she could see two small ones (one was about 3cms). So feeling relieved on that front. She was great, very empathetic, really helpful and happy to let me have control over my body and what I put into it.

She mentioned HRT, but I have plenty time to look into it and a 'window of opportunity' of several years to start taking it if I want to.

I have an appointment in September to renew my pill.

[CLKD]

  4 the update.

[Tc]

Focus that is so great. Its wonderful to hear you say you are happy.
And good that the scan was reassuring too.
It would seem flushes might indicate fluctuating hormones. So HRT might help. But as you are on contraceptive pill I dont have any knowledge of how it would all work. Maybe other ladies on here have experience of that.

I must've missed some of your posts as I dont think weve spoken about it before but I have longstanding ED. I've just read through your posts and can totally identify. I wish I'd seen the one about it in January I would certainly have replied  it's not often I meet someone close to my own age with ED. Last time I was in the clinic I was the oldest one there by a long way!!

Anyway. Long may your happiness continue Focus 

[CLKD]

I too stopped eating properly from the age of 3 [I was told recently that we moved house around that time  ] and diagnosed at 5.  Was told that I would grow out of it  - still waiting.

Grazing helps as well as having safe foods and keeping to an eating time routine.

[jaypo]

Great news focus,long may it continue ❤️

[Hurdity]

ED  I thought that was erectile dysfunction???

Thanks for the update Focus.

Re your mentioning of HRT by your doc - the fact is you are taking the pill so you don't need it at the moment because the pill contains oestrogen albeit a synthetic one in that type and therefore your cycle is suppressed and you won't get hormonal fluctuations nor any of the  symptoms associated with menopause. That being the case the window of opportunity is suspended. It normally starts from the date of menopause in the absence of any hormones and so that HRT is ideally started within 5 years but preferably within 10 years (of menopause = last natural period) and started under 60.

When it comes to the point where you have to stop the pill due to your age (I think this is flexibile depending on risk factors) that is the time to transfer to HRT or one of the gentler contraceptive pills if still under 50 ie QLAIRA or ZOELY which have estradiol ( bio-identical oestrogen) instead of the stronger synthetic one.

So pleased you have your life back and are happy! Long may it last

Hurdity x

[Tc]

Eating disorder hurdity x

[Focus]

Thank you ladies! It's so lovely to read your answers

Yup, apparently I still get hormonal fluctuations even on the pill. We talked about night sweats when I was there, and the doctor said I might get these when I'm on the pill-free week. If they were bad, she suggested only having three days off instead of one week.

I got them after one day not taking the pill, and I've had daytime hot flushes if I've taken my pill 12 hours late.

So at the moment, I'm taking it continuously. And I'm starting to get night sweats anyway. And insomnia and nightmares.

It's all manageable because I don't have a period, so I can still get out the house, go to work fine, get to the gym, be close to my fiancé when I want to, go away into the countryside for hill walks at the weekend. So I'm not too concerned. I lived with really bad insomnia for 7 years when I had PTSD (I only ever slept 4 hours a night) so I know how to function in this sort of scenario.

I've got a question about the nightmares I'm having, but I'll post another thread.

Yup, I'd start taking HRT at some point after coming off the pill, so they wouldn't be crossing over. I think the doctor just mentioned it to give me the information. She was really good like that, letting me know what the various options and possibilities were for me. I felt that was very calming as it let me have the knowledge and then let me have the control on making the decision when it came to it too.

[Tc]

Keep hold of that GP focus. She sounds like a good one.xx

[Focus]

I will!

It took me a bit to find her. She specialises in contraception and sexual health.

My actual GP was awful. Triggered my PTSD really badly. Saw her form October to January. Ended up a total mess, emotionally as well as physically.

Then went to the Boots contraceptive clinic. She was really good, but wasn't prescribing anything that would help with the awful flooding and clots I was getting (which basically meant I couldn't work and earn money, which contributed to my stress enormously). But she gave me hope that someone could be empathetic and gentle in their manner towards me.

Ended up at the place I am now, and both doctors I have seen there gave me what I wanted, straight away, and said it would be no problem for me to get more. This is where I'm staying.

She was so good with the fibroid scan as well. I had an ultrasound one and she was very careful with me as I was lying down.

There were a couple of moments when I needed up totally dissociating, but I could feel the dissociation happening and struggled really hard to bring myself back. She saw it too and was fine about it, just let me be while it was happening, and was totally non judgmental about it.

She gave me the swab to take with me to do as well. And gave me options if I didn't want to do it through them/the NHS (Superdrug).

That's what I asked for...options. I really don't like being told what to do when it comes to my body. It really triggers my PTSD.

[CLKD]

Bit below the belt Hurdity ......... could be triggering for those of us who suffer with eating disorders 

Glad you've found help at last Focus but it really shouldn't be thus     

If women suffered erectile disfunction or other male-associated problems we would get assistance far quicker!

[Focus]

Yes, it's something my fiancé said when I had the really heavy periods...how can they basically just leave you, losing that amount of blood, every day, for weeks on end?

Anyway, onwards and upwards...

[racjen]

Bit below the belt Hurdity ......... could be triggering for those of us who suffer with eating disorders 

Glad you've found help at last Focus but it really shouldn't be thus     

If women suffered erectile disfunction or other male-associated problems we would get assistance far quicker!

I also suffer from a longstanding, but mostly now under control, eating disorder - never seen it referred to as ED I have to say, I thought maybe it was short for Ehlers Danloss Syndrome. Can't for the life of me see how you could find Hurdity's comment triggering though CLKD, what's there to get upset about in her comment?

[Tc]

I have got so used to referring to my eating disorder as ED over the years. I should have thought about the fact that it could also stand for other disorders. Sorry for any confusion. Xxx