So years ago, I went to my doctor with an array of symptoms—headaches, bad acne, night sweats, general misery—you can guess what that was about. They put me on low-dose birth control, as a sort of “HRT-lite” for perimenopause symptoms.
And it was great! I got my period maybe twice a year, felt fine, symptoms went away, I was my old self again.
Well, the last time I tried to get my prescription renewed, they said I was too old and it was no longer safe.
I can’t remember if I posted about the last time I stopped taking BCP.
It was December 2021. I had just gotten my prescription, but got covid before I could fill it, and I was in isolation for two weeks. As soon as that was up, I picked up my pills, and waited for my period to start taking them (way back when I started, that was the instruction: start the pack on the Sunday after your period starts).
So I waited and waited. Months go by. I thought maybe I was free. But then in April, it comes, and it’s a doozy. “The Waterfall” is what we call it. Utterly brutal and I had no supplies. I spent a week clutching a hot water bottle to my belly, never straying more than a few metres from my bathroom, just in case.
A doctor friend told me, “Sometimes there’s one last big one and then you’re done.” So I didn’t start the pill right away, in hopes (again!) that I might be free.
Nope.
After Waterfall #2, I got back on the pill and have been on it ever since. Until now.
And I’ve started having symptoms. Food cravings, pimples, some I won’t go into here, but what’s really getting to me are the headaches. Excruciating headaches. I was flabbergasted for a couple of days until I remembered, oh yeah, this was one of my symptoms at the start of this whole process.
Trying to remember if I had headaches back in spring of 2022, but I probably would have assumed it was covid-related back then anyway.
I am just really, really hoping there is no repeat of The Waterfall.
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