I hate my period. :(

[Aquila]

My sympathies are with you, too.

I went on a "no period" regimen with the BC pill, and it's changed my life for the better. I wish I hadn't waited 30 years of feeling crappy 3 days a month, though.

[XMcShiftersonX]

I tried one of the pills that you only have a period every 3 months and it messed my system up bad! I would still feel like I would have cramps occasionally even though I wasn't having a period, everything on me became swollen, including my boobs - which I wasn't really interested in being bigger in that department, but I would have accepted it, if it wasn't that they hurt so much! And... then I developed cysts on my breast and had to have an ultrasound done to make sure I didn't have breast cancer (at 25!!!). Needless to say, I found out I can only do a low hormone pill, haha.

[malaholic]

I hear ya on this. I've also tried various b/c that either lighten or eliminate it, but my body just cannot tolerate the hormones; I end up having almost constant headaches. But I know (and envy!) several women who do just fine that way.

[colby]

Ugh on both counts (discomfort of periods, discomfort of pills). I have been through several types of pills just to find one that doesn't cause the most discomfort, cramps, breakthrough bleeding, you name it. I, too, ended up on a "low" version and have been for a couple of years now. Which honestly makes me wonder - if it's effective in a "low" version, why is there a not-low version? On the other hand, when I did switch pills every year 3 years in a row, the NP told me there are so many different combinations of hormones in different pills that it's a difficult puzzle to solve for each individual person. If you mix in depo, the nuvaring, etc, it gets even more complicated.

I have to say one of the feelings I find the most annoying (other than being tired) is the cramps that you get only when your bladder is empty. So you end up not emptying your bladder because the discomfort after you do empty it is stronger, but having a full bladder is pretty uncomfortable too, so it just becomes a game of which feeling is worse.

The body, she is full of mysteries.

[XMcShiftersonX]

The doctor explained to me that the reason I was having symptoms with the regular dose pills was because they were created for an average sized woman of like 140 pounds.... At 110 pounds (I think I may have even been around 100 at the time), I was being overdosed on hormones, and my body was reacting. Of course, everyone is different. It makes you wonder though how low dose hormone pills are effective for larger women. Maybe they aren't recommended. I don't know. As a nurse, I've never heard that restriction though.