Birth Contol & Malabsorbtion

Has anyone had any trouble with Birth Control AFTER RNY?

I seem to have a REAL problem malabsorbing everything now which is a real pain in my a%$. I KNEW no Nsaids after surgery but I did not know I would have THIS much trouble with every medicine I take, lol.

We all know post-op periods can be O.M.G painful. Mine are no different. I had many ultrasounds for extreme cramping....like giving birth once a month, and very heavy. I thought I could white knuckle my way through it, but when you are bent over practicing Lamaze breathing once a month for 48 hours, and then it starts to show up mid month for no reason....it is just too much. There is a reason you have to wait 9 months between babies...so you can forget how painful it is   I was diagnosed with Adenomyosis and given LoEstrin (birth control). My Dr. told me to skip the sugar pills and just keep taking them non stop to stop my period. Well guess who is Lamaze breathing today?

So they are not working .... at least not this month. So has anyone found they malabsorb birth control too? I mean according to them this is supposed to be working...but I know we are more different than even I knew we were.

I have no experience with IUD's but last I heard ...... they had bad side effects and were a real nightmare. At this point I am not even sure one would work to stop this monster.

Just wanted to know what other RNY ladies have done or do to stop their periods if you did. Thanks A Bunch

P.S - Happy Mother's Day to all the MOMS

My OB/GYN warned me that oral contraceptives aren't absorbed well after RNY, but I still wanted the skin benefits and period-mellowing effects of them, so I switched to NuvaRing. Same hormones, same benefits of the pill, but no dependence on my digestive tract.

Nuvaring works well for me. You can take them back to back for no periods. 

Not sure what side effects of the IUD you are referring to. Maybe you are thinking of the copper IUD, which does not use hormones. The main side effect of the hormonal IUD is no longer getting your period, which is a great side effect in my opinion. I had painful periods before getting my IUD, but nothing since. Getting the IUD was painful, and I had cramping for a few days after. But it has been great ever since. It has fewer side effects than birth control because it acts locally, so the hormones are not disbursed through your entire system like all other hormonal types of birth control. IUDs are the complete opposite of a nightmare: nothing to think about, no negative effects, and the smallest risk of accidental pregnancy. Best decision ever.

It's hard to read you have white-knuckle pain so I will give you my experience with an IUD to help balance what you've heard about them.  Due to excess bleeding, I "wore" a hormone-releasing IUD for six years with no side effects and no nightmares.  There was cramping and some anxiety the first few days. After that, it was undetectable and did it's job well until it was removed in the doctor's office.

Good to hear about the UID's, it has been MANY years since I heard anything about them, so no doubt my information is outdated. Seems like it may be something I will have to look into and start learning about the different kinds? I am guessing I don't want the copper one =)

Thanks

I can't offer advice about post-RNY menstrual pain, but I do want to empathize with the pain from adenomyosis.  I had this, and it was excruciating for years.  I could only manage the pain by taking maximum ibuprofen, around the clock, for 7-10 days each month.  Then the ibuprofen was not enough, and I would be curled up in a ball for a week of each month.  It just got worse and worse.  No one ever suggested the IUD to me until the end.  But by that time, I was old enough to consider a hysterectomy.  It was a long, hard decision, but that is what I chose.  The relief was amazing.  I had been so scared of surgery, but the surgical pain was nothing compared to what I had dealt with.

I am NOT saying you should get a hyst!  Just saying that I definitely would have chosen the IUD 10 years earlier, if I had known about it as a treatment for my problem.  It is important to seek relief for this debilitating condition, and I wish I had had better advice as I sought help for so many years.

good luck to you.

Thank You. Yes it's definitely no fun at ALL. For me it also got worse, which is what made me decide I can't deal with it anymore. A hysterectomy was mentioned to me by an ER Dr, and frankly I was all for it. If I could reach out and yank it out myself to stop the pain, I would have, lol. I am 42 and have no plans on having any more children so I was game. During that time of the month you are willing to do just about anything to make it stop. However my Family Dr. wants to "try other methods" before resorting to surgery. So this was first on the list....then UID...then surgery. I will give these pills one more month to see if it is just taking longer for them to kick in, but after that I am definitely going to plan B. Glad to hear everything worked out for you and you are not suffering anymore

If you do eventually consider a hysterectomy, I really loved the web site hystersisters.  A very supportive online forum with good and up-to-date information--not scary or sensationalized.