I have been on the pill for about 6 years and I have never had any noticable cramping and my actual period only lasts for about 4 days max. The only indication I get that I'm close to that time of the month is where I am on my pills and sometimes my face gets a little oily, but that's it. I have skipped my period using my pills before with no bad side effects, and I actualy feel better for it sometimes. From the sound of things, I must be in the minority with minimal symptoms.

I'm giving it a try being off the Pill for a while, since for the past year I have been on three different kinds and none did what I wanted them to do, which was make the cramps go away! :( Evil-TriCyclen...oh, sorry, it's Ortho-TriCyclen, made me break out like I've never broken out before in my life. It's not supposed to, and it didn't for the first year, but it eventually started to. Plus, I got hot flashes and I was extremely moody. So the doctor put me on Demulen, which he said would fix the acne and the cramps. It didn't. I got breakouts worse than before. So then I went to a new doctor, and she gave me Yasmin. It was a lot better, but very expensive so I quit taking it last month. She also gave me some Retin-A to fix my skin, and so far it's working a dream...that's why I'm sort of wary of pills for the moment. I guess if the cramps get bad again, I'll just go back to taking five Advils and curling up in bed like I did before.

Re: Re: Girls' Friends & The Pill
 

Yikes.. that *is* scary .. I would've been scared too!

I hear you, girl. But you do have other options. I had cramps and irregular periods so bad when I was fifteen that I asked to go on the Pill. My mother responded, "NO! You're not having sex!" I didn't even try to deal with that one, and I couldn't just go to my doctor anyway, 'cuz it'd show up on our health insurance. So I suffered and waited 'til I was 18 and had gone to college. Then I finally said, "ENOUGH!" I went to Planned Parenthood and got an exam and pills, which at a Title X clinic is free 'cuz I am a student and have no income. I've been on Orthotricycline for going on four years now, and I love it-- it makes me childproof! My first month I was a crazy hormonal bitch from hell, but after that I was fine. I've gained weight, but that was two years after I went on Ortho and unrelated to it (I have an autoimmune disorder). I've been losing for the past two months, and I'm not really having trouble. My mother doesn't know that I'm on the Pill; it's rather easy to keep that a secret. And with Planned Parenthood, you don't have to worry about anybody finding out or about it showing up on your health insurance. It's great.

As for supplies, I usually use OB without applicators. Has anybody tried Instead? I gave it a go on my last period, and I think I like it. My little swears by it, as do several other members of our campus swim team.

I love OB without applicators, I started using the unbleached kind from the health co-op, which are basically the same as OB in procedure, but without the dioxins found in bleached cotton. I haven't used Instead, but I've met a lot of women who have had good luck with the Keeper--is that the same thing? I've also heard good things about sea sponges and Glad Rags.

This is a bizarre thread.

-Rudey
--This is what I know about birth control: it's her responsibility.

:rolleyes: Right.. like guys have nothing to do with it

Has anyone tried the Nuva Ring? I'm getting sick of the Pill.

I use the patch and love it! Like someone had mentioned it never falls off and you don't have to remember a certain type of day, BUT I read somewhere that if you are over 198 lbs that it could be less effective, so who knows!

Before I started the pill a year and a half ago, I would get cramps so bad that I would have to call out of work for 3 days because I couldn't move and just spent the day in a fetal position on the couch crying, and couldn't sleep at all. I couldn't even schedule work around it or anything because it was so unbelievably irregular.

I was on Triphasil for a year, but it stopped working. Now I'm on Tricyclen. They both calmed the cramps down a little, but it's still pure hell... at least I know when to expect it though. I've also gained weight, which I hate.

No painkillers help much... if they do ease the pain, it only lasts for about 15 minutes. I'm getting a lot better at just sucking it up and dealing, but it's really not fun!

At least that's the only symptom I have to deal with though! Well, I do get incredibly mean, but I think I'm allowed if I have to deal with this...

:( I feel so terrible for everyone who has monster cramps... that just sounds wrong :(

When I was younger I used to get monster cramps, but gradually they got better on their own somehow.

See, I'm the complete opposite as most of you.....

Back in high school, I used to have MAJORLY heavy periods (it was a seven day cycle, I'd stop for a week, and then have another week long cycle!) I was getting anemic, so I had to suck it up and go to the ob/gyn and be put on the pill. That helped regulate everything for a while, but then I was skipping periods left and right (no, I am not sexually active, and never have been) and my blood pressure was rising, so the gyne took me off the pill. I became regular for about three months, and then they stopped all together. I finally had to be put on natural hormones in order to GET my period every month. There are times I wonder if it would have been easier to be a guy, and then I hit my head.....WHY WOULD I EVER WANT TO DO THAT????? :D

Yeah, I USED to get horrible cramps where I would have to call out of work or not go to school. They were not like that at the beginning though.

Anyway, so I am on the pill, and have been for two years. I think my body is becoming immune to them because I havent gotten my period for two months, but not in a row. Or, they are SUPER light. I think I am just going to go off of them, BUT i am scared of the horrible cramps coming back.


Has anyone gone on the pills because of the evil cramps, had the pill work, but then went off of them, and had the cramps come back??? I mean, you never know, maybe my cramps wont be as bad now, but thats the thing- you never know!!

I was put on the pill because of cramps and horrible headaches. My cramps came back whenever I ran out and had to wait to get a new prescription. Now I'm on the patch and all is well again :) I don't think I'd ever go off my bc unless I was trying to get pregnant.

Sex is for marriage.

-Rudey
--You don't need birth control ladies.

No applicators? :eek: I don't think I could do that. I'm clumsy. :(

Big myth about birth control: you're only on it if you're having sex and don't want to get pregnant.

the truth is that I was put on the pill before I started having sex. I used to have to stay home from school because my cramps and headaches were so bad. The pill aleviated all of those things! I know how hard it is to talk to your parents about being put on the pill, but my OB/Gyn actually recommended it to my mom when I went in to be checked out for my problems.

I also was on birth control long before I started having sex. There is a correlation between usage of the pill and a lessened chance of ovarian cancer. Having a bad family history of ovarian cancer, I was on the pill as soon as I was old enough.

Furthermore, I feel even within a marriage a woman has a right to decide when or if she plans on having children. It's her body, her life, and her choice. I feel she shouldn't be dictated to by a man about when she may have sex (unless he is her partner or potential partner), and whether or not she chooses to have children.

Other than one poster :rolleyes:, I don't think anyone else thought this was true. In fact, I'm the only person I know of who got on the Pill solely for contraceptive reasons (and I don't even use it as my only means)--all of my friends were on it because of bad cramps or because you have to be on it if you're taking Tetracycline or Accutane. Bah. The poster is just posting to get a rise out of people--which he obviously did.

Why don't you try working when it feels like your insides are being ripped out by the hand of God and see how up to working you feel?????:rolleyes:

Amen Polarpi!!!! I'm assuming the grapist is a man... so grapist, come here and let me kick you in the balls. That's probably comparative to what my cramps feel like!!!

Not to be sadistic or anything, but probably grabbing a guy in the balls and yanking them hard and holding them there would probably be more comparable to the pain a girl feels with cramps (at least with my cramps it would be!:p )

Hmmm... you're probably right. Anyone wanna volunteer in my experiment to find out which is more comparable??? :D

That cracks me up.....I would pay money to observe this experiment!:cool:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


(That's what I get for accidentally reading the PMS thread)


RUgreek

It does say "Girls' Friends & The Pill." What'd you expect?!?

OB-worry free!
 

I can't remember who mentioned it but I used to use OB for years. I swore up and down by it because it was so easy to use and so tiny you could carry it in your pocket and no one would even know you have something in your pocket. The only downfall, if you didn't put it up there just so, it'd hurt! I use those compact tampons now, I think that's what their called. Anyways!

Question - is "pearl" good? Someone on another forum once complained about "pearl, pearl, she's a pearl girl" was so anti-feminism or once, and that they glorified periods to think they were pretty and you should wear pearls or what not, but I've seen some commericals lately and they look like they'd absord well.

Re: OB-worry free!
 

I just started using tampons this year. I tried regular tampax and hated them! :mad: I tried the Pearl and love them. They do absorb really well and they are also easy to use, IMO. Plus my first box came with this cute little carrying case that looks like a cell phone holder.

To me, Pearl was just like OB. I'm pretty environmentally conscious, so I decided to eschew the applicator and go with OB.

I'm with you. Once you get used to applicatorless, you'll never go back. I've never been a big fan of "feminine trash" piling up anyway.