Some background: I'm a 22 year old college student, and I've been taking Aviane for birth control for over a year with pretty much no problems or irregularities until now. I've only had two "weird" months, where I skipped a day and took two pills the next day - both of those months, I had blood spotting for a week before my actual period, which my doctor said was normal. I usually use pads or tampons, only pads overnight, and I'm fairly sure the longest I've ever left a tampon in was about four hours - which is way longer than I usually leave one in. I am sexually active with a monogamous partner, and we use the pull-out method in addition to my daily Pill. Women on my mother's side of the family often get ovarian cysts and/or develop endometriosis at some point.
My symptoms: A week before my period was due to start, I started lightly bleeding, but it ranges from dark brown to dark red, and it is very thick. Occasionally it is thinner and redder, but it keeps returning to thick, muddy brown. I also had diarrhea for two days, a few days before the bleeding started/ I'm not sure if it was related to this or not (it may have been food poisoning - I ate some raspberries that I hadn't washed off). I do not have a fever or nausea, but I've been checking my temperature like crazy because I'm paranoid about toxic shock syndrome. I read some horror stories in other forums about how girls accidentally left a tampon in for a month without realizing it, and although I highly doubt I did something like that, I worry. I've also read that this can be a sign of miscarriage, although I'm pretty sure my period would be even thicker and paired with a fever if that were happening to me. I have taken my pills mostly regularly (with one or two days where I've had to take it 3-6 hours later than usual). Some forums say "that's just old blood coming out," but if that were true would this really be going on for a full WEEK?
I won't be able to see a doctor until later this week, unfortunately, so I'm desperately trying to do some research now.
Do I have endometriosis? A terrible tumor? A ruptured chocolate cyst? Cancer? Oncoming septic shock? Miscarriage? A stuck tampon? Or just silly health anxiety and a perfectly normal period doing perfectly normal [weird] things?
-M
My symptoms: A week before my period was due to start, I started lightly bleeding, but it ranges from dark brown to dark red, and it is very thick. Occasionally it is thinner and redder, but it keeps returning to thick, muddy brown. I also had diarrhea for two days, a few days before the bleeding started/ I'm not sure if it was related to this or not (it may have been food poisoning - I ate some raspberries that I hadn't washed off). I do not have a fever or nausea, but I've been checking my temperature like crazy because I'm paranoid about toxic shock syndrome. I read some horror stories in other forums about how girls accidentally left a tampon in for a month without realizing it, and although I highly doubt I did something like that, I worry. I've also read that this can be a sign of miscarriage, although I'm pretty sure my period would be even thicker and paired with a fever if that were happening to me. I have taken my pills mostly regularly (with one or two days where I've had to take it 3-6 hours later than usual). Some forums say "that's just old blood coming out," but if that were true would this really be going on for a full WEEK?
I won't be able to see a doctor until later this week, unfortunately, so I'm desperately trying to do some research now.
Do I have endometriosis? A terrible tumor? A ruptured chocolate cyst? Cancer? Oncoming septic shock? Miscarriage? A stuck tampon? Or just silly health anxiety and a perfectly normal period doing perfectly normal [weird] things?
-M
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