yes ma'am

So, this probably the same old hum-drum, and I've looked through the tags and such, but found nothing precisely like what I was looking for, so here I am!

I am 23, sexually active with my fiance but we have a very lazy sex life (read: once a week or less, less lately, more like 2 times a month) and I am not on BC. We have been dutifully using the same brand of condoms for as many years as we have been together, he with no previous partners, me with one long before him.

My cycle is usually on the long end, around 31-32 days, with a 6+ day period. My last one started on the 3rd of November and lasted 10 days, including a day or two of spotting in the estimate. The one before that was equally long. I tend to spot for a few days before and after as well to make up around 12 days or so, which is sort of miserable. I usually have a fair amount of normal discharge regularly. My period likes to "migrate" throughout the year, coming a day or three later every month until eventually it works its way from the beginning of the month to the end after several months. I chart my period on mymonthlycycles.com, which estimated that my period would be on December 3.

( Read on! )

The holidays are a wonderful time of year, aren't they? Family getting together, magic in the air...little cousins telling you they've lost their virginity and have already had a condom break in 4 times of having sex. (wait, what?)

So, today I saw my little cousin (well, I suppose she's not so little anymore...) and she told me she had lost her virginity and I asked her if she would like to go to a clinic and get a secondary form of contraception or just to talk to a doctor about sexual health etc. She said yes. Herein lies my question:

What have all your personal experiences been with the Planned Parenthood in Toronto (I think there is only one)? She lives in Toronto and this would be the ideal clinic to take her to (based on reputation and location), but I am not familiar with it. She's 15 (nearly 16) and although I wouldn't say she's shy, I would definitely say that she is not the most comfortable talking to adults about this sort of thing. Would you say that this particular clinic provides a comfortable environment? If you've been to this clinic as a young teen, did you feel confident that you were not being judged on your age?

There are a few other clinics I'm sort-of familiar with in Toronto, but if anyone could give me recommendations for clinics you've gone to & loved, it would be great! We really do need a place that will allow for reduced-cost contraception, too.

The second question is about this condom mishap. She said that he was able to pull out and judging by where she was in her cycle, I don't THINK she had ovulated yet/was close enough to ovulating, but I'm still pretty worried. Unfortunately this happened a week ago-- if she'd told me the day of/day after I would have just got her to take plan B. In any case, I just told her to drink some parsley tea and not worry about it, because then she'd stress and her period would be late. Is this the best advice? I didn't really know what else to say because, well...I've never had pregnancy scares (there have been times when I've wondered, but it's never been a "scare" or a worry...). I personally think it's best to wait & make this appointment at the clinic for January, when enough time has passed that we can do a pregnancy test AND talk about birth control at the same time. At the same time, I'm worried that she could have another mishap before she can get a secondary form of contraception. Thoughts? Note-- I'm seeing her on the 29th and I WILL be having a demonstration as to how one should properly use a condom-- just to make sure.

My third question is, does payment for PP in Ontario count under OHIP? All the clinics I've gone to have been covered by OHIP but I've never been to PP and I was wondering if it's different.

Thank you so much, VP!

(ps: I feel so old [though I'm certainly not!] that I'm the one imparting all my sexual related wisdom upon a newcomer to the world of intercourse...wisdom which I surely would not have without you, VP! <3)

 Hi Everyone!

I just joined the community and its amazing how much useful info can be found here.

Here is my question:

On Nov 23, my bf and I had unprotected sex and used the withdrawal method (I know very STUPID) so I panicked and I took plan b 3 hours later. I experienced light bleeding 4 days later that only lasted 3-4 days. I should also mention that i had just finished my period that morning. Anyways, so exactly 21 days later I had some very light bleeding, it only lasted about a day and a half. Was that my period? or should I still be waiting for my "real" period to come?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

About two weeks ago I experienced a little bit of bleeding after sex, and thought it might be related to my cervix. I didn't stress too much over it.

Today I started my period and it was very difficult to insert a tampon both times I tried over the course of the day. Usually it's not difficult to insert a tampon right at the start of my cycle, and even when it is I always find an angle that works. It's making me worry that maybe there's a problem with my cervix.

Any ideas? Should I try to see my gynecologist before I go back to school at the end of January or do you think I am overreacting and I can wait until my yearly check up in the summer to tell him about this?

Hey everyone!

Just wondering if it's normal to have a super light period for no discernible reason? I got my period yesterday, it normally starts with lots of red blood but this time was brown and just a little bit, so I thought, I guess it'll start properly tomorrow. It didn't and all I've had is a tiny little bit of brown blood. I'm definitely not pregnant.

Hello Ladies!

I am looking to find an inexpensive but reliable beard trimmer, for my lady garden hair. I want to keep it short without having to shave, and I've heard that beard trimmers are great. The trouble is, everytime I go to a drug store they either don't have any OR they're $50+.

Are there any good trimmers that can be found in Canadian stores (like Shoppers, etc) for under $50? Also, could you recommend me some brands you like, regardless of price?

Thanks so much!

Okie so I'm asking for my friend cause she doesn't have an LJ.
Her new boyfriend is big and makes her bleed all the time.
Anyway to stop this?

I'm starting to get a little worried.

I started my period on the 19th or 20th day of November. I'm not sure which day it started. But it lasted until the 24th. That's normal.

According to an ovulation tracker I found on the internet, at

http://www.babycenter.com/ovulation-calculator?sub=true&month=10&day=20&year=2009&cycleLength=28&x=75&y=2

it said the best time to get pregnant was anywhere from Dec 1 to Dec 6th. So, I'm assuming I was ovulating during this time. My boyfriend and I had sex on Dec 6th, early in the morning. He told me that the condom busted and wasn't sure if he did or didn't come inside me.

This caused us to both worry and we decided to use Plan B One Step, only four hours after our unprotected sex.

My period was supposed to arrive around December 20th, I suppose since that was when I had my period the previous month. But it hasn't come.

I have been experiencing cramping since the 16th and usually I cramp for a week or two and then my period comes.

My questions:

If the condom busted, then where is the other half of the condom? Is it possible it is still inside me?

How come I have not received my period? Although I have taken Plan B, is it very likely for me to become pregnant?

Hello all,

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday season! To celebrate, I have some questions about periods!

1) I used to know when my period was due because the day before, my boobs and lower back would get really achey- typical PMS stuff. However, for the past 6 months, all that has TOTALLY gone away. Now, without fail the day before my period i start experiencing CRAZY cravings for chocolate. I am 100% sure that there is something biological going on, because i've always relied on my body to warn me that my period will be arriving and i never "expect" the chocolate cravings. 've tried googling it, however, nothing seems conclusive - so, does anyone know what could create a biological need for chocolate BEFORE one's period? I read that choc has lots of iron to compensate for blood loss, but i don't crave chocolate during my period... just in the day or 2 before.

2) another weird period thing.. this happens to me about 6 months out of the year... If i don't have any physical signs, and if i'm too busy to give in to choc cravings, i will have a dream during the night that i've got my period... it will be so crazy situation, like i'll be in a canoe and my period will arrive. Then i'll wake up in the morning, pee, everything's normal.. and like, 2 hours later, my period will show up. does anyone get these weird period-predicting dreams??? i'm really interested because i'm very curious about the connection of the mind ( unconscious, too!) to the body, and have always wondered if anyone else experiences this.

Looking forward to hearing what you all have to say!

Cheers!

Hey everyone!

I've been terrible taking my hormonal birth control pills this month and I have a few questions regarding my experience that I'm sure someone here can help me out with :)

Some history: I'm taking the Marvelon-28 combination pill and have been for over a year now.  Generally I've been fairly good at taking my pills within the same 2-3 hour window everyday but due to exam stress/a weird schedule this month I have been about 12 hours late twice.  The first pill I was late with was in my second row of pills.  I took it about 12 hours late and noticed some spotting on my underwear about 2 days later.  This was also the only day my boyfriend and I had sex without a condom during this pack.  The spotting has continued since then.  The next pill I was late for today (6 pills since the first one I missed).  I realized I was late when again I looked at my underwear and saw a great deal more blood than the spotting that had been happenning. 
So to recap: I was 12 hours late on both the 5th pill-2nd row, and 4th pill-3rd row.

Here are my questions vajpag:
*what are the chances that missing pills like this could result in pregnancy?  for instance, the official Marvelon instructions don't say that they recommend using back-up birth control after missing one pill... just after two.  Are these two pills close enough together to merit a need?
*I'm assuming the spotting was a withdrawal bleed.. would I be correct to assume that?

Thanks in advance for your help

Sorry if this has been asked already.

I am seeing my boyfriend around new year's, but my period is also due then. I am currently taking yasmin and have intentionally skipped my last 3 periods by not taking the placebos and immediately starting a new pack. I hear you're not really supposed to skip more than 3, but I really don't want to have my period when I see him.

The question: would it throw off my cycle or be bad in any way to skip the placebos again this time around, take like 3 or 4 of the pills from a new pack, THEN take the placebos and have my period? I would finish the pack after the usual seven days, then carry on as usual. Am I still protected? Would this throw off my cycle/would I even have a period?

Thanksss.

i know i've seen this here before & i tried looking as well as searching the pill info but i want to confirm something.

although yaz has 4 placebos, is it true that i can go 7 days before i start the new pack and still be protected? or do i need to start immediately after the 4 placebo pills run out?

i was supposed to start my new pack last night, but took my first pill tonight. am i good, or should i double up today & use backup for the next week?

thanks, & sorry for the repeat.

A disclaimer: I have to admit that I'm a little nervous to post this here. I think the accountability for our words that this community forces upon people is a WONDERFUL thing, and frankly, I don't have as much practice with it as I'd like. So if I phrase anything in a way that endangers the safe space, please let me know so I can fix it.

( Here we go... )

I'm fairly new to this community (how did I go so long without joining?!) and I'm hoping that someone here is familiar with lichen sclerosis. With as many members as there are, it has to have come up at least once.

It started for me back in the spring of this year. I suspect I've had it much longer though as I've always had an itchy labia but only recently have parts of it turned white. The itchiness got extremely bad this spring and I got a little cut on my labia. (awful) Now I have pretty regular itchiness, the whiteness has improved but not gone away. My ND put me on steroids to control the extreme itching followed by estrace (estrogen) cream. The steroids worked but the estrace didn't do much at all. It may have improved the skin on my labia but not much else. Long term use of steroids isn't recommended so I've stopped. (under my ND's orders) I've read as much as possible about the condition but even most MDs/NDs (even some OBGYNs) don't know very much about the condition. Right now I'm using Emu Oil 2x a day because I heard it works great (my ND seconded the idea) and so far it's helping control some of the itching and healing my skin. I really wish there was a permanent cure. I also wish I knew WHY this was happening to me.

In general I'm very healthy. My only other major health complaint is very serious seasonal allergies. I know that LS tends to run in families and in those with other autoimmune diseases. Neither of those apply to me. I have lots of females in my family and none of them have it. Nor do I have an autoimmune diseases.

As I understand it right now my LS is pretty mild compared to what other women are going through but I worry it's getting/will get worse.

I'd appreciate any advice or knowledge.

Hey all
I have a quick question. I have a small stone in my right kidney. I have had multiple doctor appointments, ultrasounds, to confirm this. Everybody says that it will just pass on its own. However, for the past two mornings I wake up around 6am with back pain and an INTENSE urge to pee. After I pee, I feel better. I take an Advil too. My question is does having a full bladder aggravate kidney stones? And what if anything can I do to prevent waking up at 6am?
Thanks.

I know this isn't a health issue, but I do think it is vagina related and I would very much like to have a rant.

It is SO unfair that guys can sleep around and as long as they aren't in a committed relationship, no-one bats an eyelid. "Boys will be boys", after all. HOWEVER, when a women decides that she wants to have herself some fulfilling casual sex, it all goes tits up.

I mean, I was always aware of a mythical double standard, but I was in a long term relationship with a guy to whom I lost my virginity. Now, it's the end of my first term of university and I am totally feeling it. I've been reading various articles about it and I can't help feeling trapped between my wants/desires and the expectations of my gender and totally helpless to do anything about it! ARGH! I guess I was naive to think that I could expect someone to respect me, just because they were willing to have sex with me, huh?

So, I'd kinda like to just talk about it, opinions, experiences, advice?

*Sniffle*

Thanks

*EDIT*

Thanks everyone, what's come up so far is really interesting. I think my main problem is I'm trying to have this groovy positive attitude a la vaginapagina, but my own emotions/perceptions/self esteem issues are getting in the way. I'm starting to think that maybe one guy acting like a douche was just one guy acting like a douche, rather than the result of something that was wrong with my behaviour...

i see posts like this pretty often, and i know that taking the pill about an hour or so early doesn't mess up your protection level, but how can it affect spotting? i ask because i'm on Loestrin 24 Fe and this is the first month (knock on wood) that i haven't spotted during my active pills. i usually take my pill at 5:30 on the dot - even ten minutes later seems to cause me to spot. i can't take my pill at 5:30 today because i'm picking my boyfriend up from the airport - his plane comes in at 5:27 and you can bet we'll have hugs and luggage to pick up and all that jazz.

if i take my pill at say, 5pm, will it make me effectively "off" for my pill tomorrow and make spotting more likely? i realize that everyone is a bit different but i'd like to see what everyone else has experienced.

thanks!

I'm so glad I found this group! I'm a 49 year old female with a history of hormonal problems, and yeast infections. Nothing too serious until a year ago. Last march, I developed a yeast infection that turned into a nightmare! I was literally disabled because of the severe itch that lasted 3 weeks. I hardly slept, lived in the bathtub, and on perscription creams and was on diflucan for two weeks straight. After the 2nd week, they told me that my yeast infection was cleared up and tests showed I had no infections at all. But the itch was worse. Finally went to a dermatologist who diagnosed me with vulvodynia. Gave me 300 mg of nerountin and it worked immediatel! Here is the problem.
I have anothr yeast infection. Went to doc, they put me on diflucan. I took one sat. another on Monday. It's thursday and the itch is worse. I stared the nerountin two nights ago and not help. I even doubled the dose. I"m back to that insane itch, again bedridden, and not sure what to do! I went to the doc on Mon and he said I still had some yeast. (Maybe this is why the neurontin is not working?) Not I have a doc's appointment in Fishkill (an hour from my house) at 8 am tomorrow morning to see a specialist. I don't think I'll be able to make the drive!

I need help PLEASE...Any advise? My doc here doesn't know much about my condition but works with me. any advise you can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm dry raw and itchy now. Was wondering if I should put vaseline on, but was told that's bad. The one thing that did help a little bit was benadry. I took two tablets and slept for about 1 1/2 hours. Sorry for rambling, I'm just in a lot of pain, and scared..

Gina Marie

So you all seem like a wise bunch, and I've been watching this community for months now. I never thought I'd have something to post myself but lo and behold here I am. I apologize if this was answered somewhere, but I can't seem to find anything about it in particular.

I've been on Tri Cylcen Lo on and off for about 2 years. The first year I wasn't sexually active and so it was mainly for irregular periods. I've been on and off it for about 7 months. I took it for 6 months regularly but this time I was sexually active and for the most part it has been really good and I never had an weird side effects. I took it religiously and had no problems with it. I stopped taking it for another 6 months. I am back again and I started my first pack Nov 29. I am on my placebos now and my period should be here on the 26th. I am pretty steady with a 32 day cycle. I've ha mild cramping this week which is normal for me, but I woke up this morning and I was surprised to see a really dark almost black looking blood. I'm super confused because I've never had breakthrough bleeding or, even blood this dark on my period. I've been told really dark blood is just old blood, but does that mean new blood is coming soon? I did have sex on 29th of Nov where my SO did ejaculate inside of me but I was on day 5 of my cycle and wasn't scheduled to ovulate till at least Dec 11/12. Should I be really paranoid right now? or is this a common thing?

Any advice would be really helpful =]

Hey guys,

I know this is kind of a beginner's question, but I am pretty new to BC and I just want to be doubly sure that I'm being safe.

Since I'm only on my second ring, I thought I'd post my entire BC history here:

21 Nov: Inserted first ring
12 Dec: Removed first ring, exactly three weeks later. Bleeding started a couple of days after, ended in roughly a week
19 Dec: Inserted second ring, exactly one week later

And that's basically where I am now.

I'm going to see my boyfriend for the first time in a long while on 10 Jan. Unfortunately, the 3-weeks-in-1-week-out schedule prescribes that I remove my second ring on 9 Jan, meaning I will be bleeding when I see him, and that complicates matters, to say the least.

I did some reading up and discovered that you can leave the ring in for up to 28 days, but I have a question about when I should put in my third ring. Should I do it immediately after removing my second ring? Or should I wait a week?

If I remove my second ring on 13 Jan (thereby leaving it in for 25 days) will that eliminate any bleeding between the 10th and 13th? Basically the main goal here is to get rid of any bleeding (be it "period" or spotting) during those days. I know the fact that I'm so new to the ring, and that I'm switching from a 3-week to a 4-week cycle for the first time, has some effect on this.

Thank you! I appreciate any help that's provided.

(x-posted)