[Anonymous]

Keep anon or delete please, I want her privacy protected as well as mine.

Basically:

My girlfriend of 6 months and I are both 17, and obviously want to have regular sex. However she suffers from Aura Migraines, and as such cannot take any kind of hormonal contraception at all, because of a high risk of having a stroke (or something like that; basically it's a huge no-no). Although she only gets maybe 1 or 2 a year now, she is still "prone" to them and as such cannot use any of the hormonal contraceptives; pill, mirena, any of it.

This leaves us with only 2 other methods as far as I'm aware, condoms and the copper coil. Obviously condoms won't be ideal in a long term relationship, and in addition to this we both dislike the feeling.

About 14 days ago now she had the copper coil fitted at our local Brooks clinic, and since then has been continually on her period. As it stands, she's at 16 days of heavy flow. She stopped on sunday afternoon, but by monday morning had started again, as heavy as before. At first she thought it might have been caused by damage to the skin ( she has thrush as well at the moment, and so the itching...yeah you get it) but it seems it's her period having made a reappearance.

It has gotten to the point where neither of us want her to be on her period any longer, as I personally think it's unfair on her and she's worried about the amount of blood she's lost. If she were to have the coil removed, sex would either be mediocre due to having to use condoms every time until we wanted children or non existant. I have put it to her, and she agrees, that a relationship without sex isn't going to work. I am in no way black mailing her into keeping the coil, and I never would and she know's that, but we have to face the possibility that she'll have to have it removed and I'm just at a loss as to what to do.

Does anyone have any advice? I know the first few cycles after you have the coil inserted can be messed up but she's normally clockwork on her period, a week long and very rarely it hits 10 days, so 16 days (and counting, it's showing no signs of slowing down) is getting bad.

I can't think of anything else to add in, but if more info is needed please do ask.

[NiceWeatherForAirstrikes]

If she hasn't already, she needs to go back to her GP, ASAP! 16 days of heavy flow is not good, and she needs to be taking iron supplements at least to replenish what she's losing in blood. Depending on what the GP says, you might be ok. If the GP says wait it out and this constant bleeding will pass, then you might be in the clear, if she has to have it removed, you're going to have to consider going back to the 'doms. I know they're horrible and they make sex really crap most of the time, and i suffer from contraceptive dilemmas as well due to a different medical thing i'm prone to. However, if it's going to save your relationship, surely mediocre sex > no sex, and ultimately no relationship in your case. When your gf goes back to her GP, get her to discuss with them what is the best option for her IF she has to have the coil removed. They might try her on a POP (progesterone only pill) for a trial period, as it's less hormones than the normal combined pill, and see whether these Migranes appear. Good luck!

[laurenmgbowden]

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Keep anon or delete please, I want her privacy protected as well as mine.

Basically:

My girlfriend of 6 months and I are both 17, and obviously want to have regular sex. However she suffers from Aura Migraines, and as such cannot take any kind of hormonal contraception at all, because of a high risk of having a stroke (or something like that; basically it's a huge no-no). Although she only gets maybe 1 or 2 a year now, she is still "prone" to them and as such cannot use any of the hormonal contraceptives; pill, mirena, any of it.

This leaves us with only 2 other methods as far as I'm aware, condoms and the copper coil. Obviously condoms won't be ideal in a long term relationship, and in addition to this we both dislike the feeling.

About 14 days ago now she had the copper coil fitted at our local Brooks clinic, and since then has been continually on her period. As it stands, she's at 16 days of heavy flow. She stopped on sunday afternoon, but by monday morning had started again, as heavy as before. At first she thought it might have been caused by damage to the skin ( she has thrush as well at the moment, and so the itching...yeah you get it) but it seems it's her period having made a reappearance.

It has gotten to the point where neither of us want her to be on her period any longer, as I personally think it's unfair on her and she's worried about the amount of blood she's lost. If she were to have the coil removed, sex would either be mediocre due to having to use condoms every time until we wanted children or non existant. I have put it to her, and she agrees, that a relationship without sex isn't going to work. I am in no way black mailing her into keeping the coil, and I never would and she know's that, but we have to face the possibility that she'll have to have it removed and I'm just at a loss as to what to do.

Does anyone have any advice? I know the first few cycles after you have the coil inserted can be messed up but she's normally clockwork on her period, a week long and very rarely it hits 10 days, so 16 days (and counting, it's showing no signs of slowing down) is getting bad.

I can't think of anything else to add in, but if more info is needed please do ask.

Heya

Firstly, major sympathy to your gf-I have aura migraines and cant take the pill because of the huge stroke risk-I've already had one stroke from wrong medication, so I understand your position.

The coil was the only thing I could realistically use, because like you, we foudn condoms a bit...bleh. We were fed up of them. Like your gf I had the same period issues, but they did settle after about a month and a bit.

I would really encourage you to stick with it-it makes things so much easier on you both. If the bleeding hasn't slowed considerably in the next week or so, perhaps ring Brook so you can put your mind at ease?

The amount of blood is nothing to worry about either-it seems a lot but is really minimal. I had to get reassurance from the doctor about that one too!

I know it completely sucks, and it can put pressure on the relationship, but it really is worth it once she's settled down and got used to it. The hassle of condoms is taken away and most importantly its completely safe for your gd to use without worrying about risk of stroke

Hope this helps....drop a pm if you have any particular questions

[overtherainbow]

What about a diaphragm- perhaps not ideal as you have to put it in and leave it in for like 6 hours but maybe better than a condom?

And I would advise your gf to go to the doctor as its possible that such a long period could make her anemic and although long and heavy periods are a common side effect of the coil its just worth checking that that long is normal and everythings ok.

Hope it all works out for you!

[allthetime]

Theres the contraceptive patch (like a nicotine patch) and the injection. Maybe go to a FPC and have a talk with one of the nurses there?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice so far, and we are going to toddle off to the doctor on Friday unless it's stopped by then. And I'm pretty sure the injection and contraceptive patch rely on hormones, so it'd be a no-no.

Would highly value some more advice though.

[wackyboy]

I'm really sorry i don;t have any advice to help you out but I just wanted to say good luck and I hope everything goes well. Hope it all works out for you.

Wackyboy

[newDana]

Have you asked about the mini-pill? I get migraines with aura and am on Cerazette at the moment - which is a hormonal pill, but doesn't contain oestrogen so i've been told it's ok for aura migraine sufferers.

[FireDeuce]

I thought it was the oestrogen in the combined pill which can trigger migraines? You can get progesterone only pills.

[toddlers crossword]

My advice would be just to put up with it for a bit and see what happens - I know 16 days might seem like a long time, but seriously, I was bleeding (albeit more lightly) for literally months when I had my implant inserted. Its really not been very long since she's had it in and it would be a shame to remove it when she could just have to put up with a couple more weeks of bleeding and then she'd be fine. All contraceptive methods except condoms mess up your periods in various ways tbh, its not going to be your normal monthly bleed when trying a new method.
Id give it at least a couple of weeks to see what happens before going back to the clinic/GP.