Problem 1) Being off of birth control permanently wasn't really in the game-plan for my husband and I.
So after we determined that the Nuvaring wasn't a good option for me (which is supposed to be a very low dosage of hormones compared to many others and is also localized administration), I started researching my other options. My doctor said it could just be my body's reaction to the specific type of hormones in the Nuvaring, and that maybe a different type of hormone would be ok. Of course we wouldn't know until we tried. Because I knew it took years of being on the Nuvaring for me to start having issues, I didn't feel like a hormonal option of any kind was a good fit for me. Plus, one big reason I went to the Nuvaring in the first place was because I couldn't consistently remember to take a pill every day, much less at roughly the same time every day. Because of all that, I decided an IUD was the best option for me.
Yep. You heard me right. An IUD. That thing you see on the commercials that talk about a little T shaped piece of plastic that goes into your uterus and somehow keeps you from having babies. In that same commercial, you also hear that one of the possible "side effects" is that the IUD can sometimes implant in the uterine wall. Or go through it. :-O Yeah, I was totally in the "not ever" camp. Until all this happened.
The more I researched it, the more I realized that these horror stories were mainly caused if A) the physician didn't do his job properly or B) the IUD "migrated" in the first few months, which could be prevented by checking the length of the strings (which hang out into tampon-region; which you are supposed to do anyway). So having that fear mostly quelled, I told my doctor my decision. Then I had to decide which one. (There's more than one?!) Yup. Mirena, Paragard, Skyla... Oh My. The Mirena and Skyla both had hormones in them; the Paragard had a copper wire wrapped around it, which apparently means "death to all [sperm] who enter here". Paragard it is. Then I had to have my doctor put it in.
OH. MY. LORD UP IN HEAVEN. I was nervous about that part and I had every right to be. Let's just say that the doctor almost couldn't get it past my cervix because it was so tight. Which means that getting it in hurt so bad that I teared up, bit my finger, and might have let out a whimper despite my better judgement (or a suppressed scream, depending on your definition). Once in, I had a difficult few days (praise Jesus for IcyHot's stick-on pads... They saved me on the plane ride I took the next day... and really anytime I had to be out in public). Now I mostly can't tell it's there. Mostly. I'm a little more crampy than I was during normal PMS, but just barely. I do still feel like it was the best option for me. (And now that I've gone through that kind of pain, getting a tattoo is looking way less terrifying :-)
2. Acne
So when your body goes from having "undetectable" amounts of estrogen, to "normal" levels of estrogen (and LH and FSH levels), your body tends to think you're going through puberty. (Didn't I already do that?) So my back and face broke out. Badly. So badly that I had more than 20 zits just on my forehead. At one time. It looked like rolling hills. No makeup can cover that up. I tried every "natural" topical solution from Pinterest, few of which made any difference at all. I felt embarrassed everywhere I went and wearing anything that exposed my back was a definite "No". So I went to my doctor, completely fed up, willing to try anything BUT Accutane.
Why anything BUT? Because I have 2 friend-of-friends who were on it and ended up in mental institutions and one personal friend who was on it, went into gallbladder failure, and had to have it REMOVED... at 22 years old. Yeah. My doctor still saw it as a "safe"option and said that they do blood tests to check for kidney failure every single month while you're on Accutane... But let's be real. That isn't going to be checking on my gallbladder or my mental health. Again. Yeah, No.
SO, My doctor put me on RetinA, which did start to help, but my skin was constantly irritated, which I didn't think was the way it should be. Upon realizing RetinA is a synthetic form of Vitamin A, I did some research, bought some Carlson's Cod Liver Oil (capsule form... Super variety), stopped the RetinA, and waited. My skin looked smoother within 3 days and now, nearly 2 months later, I still have 7-10 small zits, but nothing in the number or like the giant hills I had before. I took before and afters, and the difference is drastic. My face is improving greatly, my back is a little slower to the party, but still an improvement. It mainly has a lot of dark spots now, which I'm hoping will heal with time, as many of the ones on my face have.
Last week I added Juice Beauty's Blemish Treatment kit to my vitamin A regimen and I do feel like I'm seeing even more improvement, though time will tell. I am hopeful that with a month or two of treatment I may be willing to go makeup-less (with a little eyeliner of course) to dance class.
It is worth mentioning that just after I started the Cod Liver Oil, I also started ProBio 5 from Plexus. I am up to 4 pills/day now, and that has helped my digestive system work much better. I know everything is related in my body, so this may also be helping my complexion. I'm not complaining either way.