[leahbia_83008]

hi ladies. to try and make this as short as possible — i have had the paragard iud since april of 2011 (for pregnancy prevention) & have also started taking lo loestrin fe (to lighten my heavy periods and help control the growth of my endometriosis) in october 2011. since having the paragard placed and my laparoscopy, my periods have been moderately to i'm-about-to-bleed-through-my-pants heavy and pretty regular (give or take 3 days). now that i'm back on the pill however, my cycle has been completely out of whack. i got my first period on lo loestrin on october 1st (when my regular period was due), spotted on october 12th for about 3 days, got my period again on october 28th (also a regular period) & yet AGAIN on november 7th.

i was due for my monthly period on november 25th but it did not come. i have all the signs & symptoms of pms (irritability, depression, tender breasts, some cramping, headaches, etc.) but no blood. there was a hint of pink in my discharge on november 26th but it was hardly noticeable unless you looked closely the toilet paper.

i know it's normal to miss periods on lo loestrin but i have to admit, i haven't been taking it regularly since i also have paragard, i look at the LLE as a "back - up" form of birth control & i feel if i miss a couple pills here and there it's no big deal (from a pregnancy standpoint). i have also been experiencing some indigestion, heart burn and stomach pain the past 4 days or so & this is unusual to me. i am worried about the possibilities of pregnancy. i know paragard has less than a 1% failure rate PLUS i'm now on two forms of birth control, but i have never missed a period in my life so it is concerning to me. i have never been pregnant so i don't know what it "feels like" but i do know something is going on in my body and i don't like it.

anyone else have this problem on paragard/LLE?!

[leahbia_83008]

i forgot to mention i've been having a lot of back pain the last few days & all i wanna do is sleep. no matter how many hours of the day i spend in bed, i wake up cranky and exhausted. soooo frustrated!

[jessie1234]

is it safe to be on both and was that dr recommended?

[leahbia_83008]

i had the paragard inserted back in april before i had my lap (for pregnancy prevention). the birth control didn't come until october, almost exactly a month after my surgery in order to lighten my heavy periods (they had gotten extremely messy & uncomfortable since being put on the iud) and to help control the pain associated with my endo. so yes, it was doctor recommended.

also, an update on my symptoms:

it's been 2 days since i posted this thread & my symptoms seem to have lightened slightly . . . mostly concerned with the tender breasts, cramping, headaches and indigestion although it isn't half as bad as it was a few days ago, so it's tolerable but still concerning. i have an appointment with my doctor on thursday but any peace of mind would be greatly appreciated!

[ItsASecret]

If you have only been taking birth control for a month or two then you are going to be spotting irregularly because your body still is not used to seeing it there. Couple that with the already present paraguard and I am honestly surprised you are even having regular flow periods because based on that combo the general outcome is very very light periods to the point of possibly not even needing a pad at times. I would still wait a bit, the general soreness is typically due to an oncoming period but pain can be sourced from an IUD months after it was inserted (doctor will likely be most concerned about any pain you have). The spotting is likely to continue for a bit and a late period is not going to be uncommon. If taking things like Tylenol, Advil or Midol have been helping then continue with those until you see your doctor.

[leahbia_83008]

thank you ItsASecret for your reply. i am aware that spotting is not unusual the first couple months on the pill (i have taken yaz, ortho lo & ortho novum in the past) so i am not really concerned about that. what i find odd is the combination of my symptoms & missed period since i have never in my life missed a period no matter what form of birth control i was taking (i am now officially a week late). the paragard should have no effect on my cycles in terms of shortening or lightening my periods as it is non - hormonal, if anything it has made my periods even heavier than they were with no form of birth control at all. i am trying to stay calm since i do in fact have the iud and i know the failure rate is unbelieveably low, but i have never experienced something like this before so it is concerning to me & i know there are women out there who have gotten pregnant while using paragard.

[leahbia_83008]

update: went to the doctor's today & had a pregnancy test and urinalysis done. not pregnant, still waiting on the results for my urine test. doctor felt my abdomen for any signs of pain or inflammation and i almost peed my pants it hurt so bad . . . he thinks the endo may be back