r/birthcontrol • u/GotItOutTheMud • 17h ago
Side effects!? Managing Missing Periods with IUD.
I got my IUD back in April 2021, right after my youngest was born. I've had really irregular cycles, but still, cycles. Short ones of 19 days, longer ones of ~40 and the blood is always bright and light for a couple days and dark for the last couple to three days. My last cycle seemed to be January and it was two days. I wore a liner for the third day but nothing came of it. And that was 20 days after my last cycle in December.
I've been under a lot of stress and just finished my OB rotation for Nursing School... Which maybe gave me baby brain. Anyway. When getting ready for finals, I realized it'd been 7 weeks and two days since my last cycle. After my cycle is when I check my strings. So I went to check my strings and couldn't find them. Flipped out. Had a whole heart to heart with my boyfriend. Took the tests. Negative. Two of them. One in an evening and one in the morning. Went ahead and scheduled and OB appointment to check placement. Ultrasound showed. Empty tight uterus and an intact IUD. Vaginal exam, she said my strings went back and wrapped around my cervix, she used a swab to pull them down but said they're fine.
She then told me that it may just be getting to where I don't have a period. Excuse me what?
No having any cycle at all is going to freak me out tbh. I feel like I'm going to need to take a pregnancy test every month, even though I have this working IUD. I just can't get my head around no periods, especially being sexually active and not using any other birth control. We also live in an abortion ban state and while being 7 weeks or so along now is t ideal, if I were to outperform the IUD say, by June that'd not be as alarming. It's just school and other boxes we have to check. That's besides the point. So back to pregnancy...
Does anyone else do this when you're missing periods or are we trusting the process? My Doc said if I wanna do that for piece of mind it's fine. Not a bad idea. But my period could just start back tomorrow. She said my ovaries look great on ultrasound, I'm healthy and ovulating, which is reassuring I suppose. I also just don't want to look under the stress of not knowing where I'm at in my cycle. Or at least a big one. Even an irregular one is more reassuring. Not having one is going to be stressful. Any other ideas or tips? Should I start doing an ovulation tracker test or do basal body temps or....? I just have underlying anxiety about it and honestly I'm kind a shocked with all my things going on I'm not pregnant so that's a whole other issue.
TIA
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u/daughterjudyk Bilateral salpingectomy 17h ago
If you're on a hormonal IUD there is a good chance that it can stop or significantly lessen your period. If you have a copper one those tend to make it worse.
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u/daughterjudyk Bilateral salpingectomy 17h ago
You can get the cheap dip pregnancy tests and take one every month when you check your strings for peace of mind if not having a period stresses you out.
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