So long Sprintec, it’s been fun… except that I hate you.

Shortly after that first post about my little blue pills, things got a little better. I stopped wanting to eat everything in sight, the urges to slap people in the face with (free range) ground beef subsided, and the cramping really did get a bit better. I was also surprised that I didn’t gain any weight, in fact, I kept losing weight.

Unfortunately, I never stopped breaking out. I also started bleeding.

I’ve been bleeding for seven weeks straight. Seven weeks. I did get a few reprieves of very light bleeding but it never actually stopped. It still hasn’t stopped.

Seven weeks!

After my most recent freak illness, I went back to the doctor to talk about my birth control. I knew that I could expect spotting and breakthrough bleeding for a while, but this just seemed ridiculous. My iron levels were getting dangerously low and I’m already anemic so this was not a good addition.

We talked again about trying again with the Mirena IUD, trying Implanon (an implant that goes in my arm that would enable me to make up stories about being abducted while not getting knocked up), and about other possible pills I could try. I decided that it was too soon to try the IUD again.

I had just gotten well again and I didn’t want to push my luck. I also started having worse cramps again so the timing just didn’t seem right. I don’t like the idea of Implanon because the largest complaint about it is breakthrough bleeding and that was the problem I was currently dealing with. No more bleeding!

Seven weeks…

Apparently I bled for lent?

Following my doctor’s advice (for once), I decided to try another pill.

So, we’re experimenting. This reminds me a little of how my college psychiatrist, Dr. Awkward, handled things when I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety except that the first medication he put me on made completely dazed for a week and terrified of foliage. Ah, college memories. Yep, those are my only drug stories from college.

I have a little more trust for Dr. Dashing than I did for Dr. Awkward. So, first we’re trying Ocella. It’s generic for Yasmin and has a different type of progesterone that Dr. Dashing thinks might help with the bleeding.

I’ll be on this one for a month and if the bleeding doesn’t stop I’ll try a new one. We’ll be repeating this either until we find something that works or until my uterus runs out of blood. I’m putting my money on the latter.

Thus far, after seven days of a break between pills and two days (because this was written before noon on Tuesday) on the new pill, here are a few observations.

I may have gone a little crazy with the hormone change. My anxiety went to a recent high and I’m not totally surprised that a few of my friends aren’t answering their phones right now. Sorry guys. The timing did coincide with two incidents that would naturally make me anxious so that may have had a lot to do with it. Regardless of that, I knew that I was a little off. I was just a tad more emotional than usual and pretty much became the stereotypical PMS-ing female. So annoying.

I had a menstrual period that scared me a bit because I haven’t bled that heavily since high school. It’s coming to an end now and we’ll see if I actually stop bleeding. I’m keeping my fingers, toes, and legs crossed.

The anxiety decreased significantly after I took the second pill.

It might be too soon to make any observations about my skin and if it’s getting better but I think it is. I haven’t had anything new show up in the past few days and what was there is healing faster.

I’ve noticed a significant increase in sex drive. I don’t think I even noticed that the pill had lowered my sex drive but now that I’m back to where I once was, I’m like, oh yeah, this is how I got that nickname… When’s the bleeding going to stop?

The packaging is prettier. I’m shallow so this really is a perk for me. I like the purple case it comes with. Go ahead; judge me while secretly knowing that you feel the same way about such things.

It felt really good when I realized that I had a certain someone that I needed to keep in the loop about my birth control situation. I spare the details because, really, what boy wants to hear anything about that, but he surprised me by actually listening without cringing. I suppose it helps that I include stories about almost slapping people in the face with ground beef. I guess it’s all in how you frame things.