Saturday, January 31, 2009

My Review of Implanon, and Probable TMI.

Consider yourselves warned.

After J was born, I went on Implanon, which is a handy dandy little rod that is inserted in my left upper arm. It was great for about the first year (well, ok, like 10 months). I never had any bleeding, only very rare spotting, and generally loved it. I was also either nursing or pumping about 5 or 6 times a day. Well, as you know, when J turned 1 I quit pumping, and suddenly dropped to nursing twice a day. Apparently my body interpreted that as a message to start spotting. A. Lot. I totally get that Implanon can cause bleeding and cysts and crap like that, but I figured that since I had no problems the first (almost) year, it would continue that way. Nope, I was evidently wrong. I have been spotting or bleeding for 18 of the last 28 days, and not necessarily all in one stretch. I would like to be able to have sex with my husband without getting everything all nasty (you were warned!). Ugh. This is not acceptable any more. I think I am going to have to talk to my midwives about getting this damn thing removed. That, however, means saving up for the $45 copay. Whopee.

Overall, I liked the Implanon while I was breastfeeding full time. Now I am really not such a fan. My grade would have to be an A turned into a C, so overall, I guess that's a B.

Perhaps I will be revisiting the whole FAM thing, or maybe going back on the pill. More to discuss with the MWs.

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