Written by Alex, @wheneverybodymatters
Let’s take this back awhile – when I was in 7th grade I got my period for the first time. And I was always irregular. I would get pains in my left side, that never would be figured out (until they realized that tube is completely blocked when I started ttc many many years later). When I was younger, I actually got my period too often. I would have it for weeks on end, lots of spotting, or randomly months off. I could never predict this. But I thought this was normal, I had no idea or no one to compare to. I never said anything about it because it’s not something people talked about. And I didn’t have any doctors asking me questions about it. Ever.
When I was 17, I went on birth control because my mom said that’s what she did to make her period regular, and the doctor thought that was a good idea too. No tests, nothing – just the assumption that my periods were irregular because I mentioned it, and they wanted a quick fix.
10 years later, my husband and I started trying to have a child and I went off birth control. I literally had no idea how birth control worked at the time. I didn’t even realize that it made a “fake” period because of the hormones pumped in month by month. I had zero clue. So when I went off, I was confused when I had ZERO periods. But I was regular on birth control…why not now? See, no clue!
4 months later, and no period still. This is what led to the eventual diagnoses of my blocked fallopian tubes and thyroid issues. And this is what led to IVF. Which led to more birth control!
My body did well with the first round of IVF, and I am forever grateful – we have our first child because of that! But after that, my body decided to stop working, and start doing the opposite of what it’s “supposed to” do.
When I’m given hormones for my lining, it shrinks. When I’m not on hormones, it grows well, but my hormones aren’t at “normal” levels. When I’m off birth control, I don’t get periods for a long time, if ever. Now that I’m back on birth control for induced lactation, I’m spotting and getting light periods ALL the time. And when you look it up online, it says this can last for the first few months on BC because your body is getting “used” to it. I’m only taking it for a few months. So, I guess I’ll just be spotting the whole time.
Basically, I’ve learned that if I expect my body to respond to a medication or a treatment or a break from treatments in any way, I should actually be expecting the opposite.
That’s infertility though, right?
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