My Experience With Nexplanon

For those who don't know, Nexplanon is an implant that is inserted into the upper inner arm and used as a method of birth control. It can stay in your arm for up to three years without having to do anything to it, and is known to prevent pregnancy 99.99999% of the time. Sounds great right!? That's what I thought too...until everything began to go wrong.

Let me add that EVERYBODY'S body is different, hence why I speak on my experience rather than "The side effects everyone will experience with this implant." I was told by a number of people not to get the implant because it made others have certain problems, but I thought nothing of it because I take such great care of myself and went on to get Nexplanon anyway. I had been on birth control pills since age 17 to lesson my menstrual symptoms (I had NEVER been sexually active before, but my doctor educated me that birth control is in fact a great method to lessen painful symptoms of serious menstrual cycles). Anywho, I would always forget to take the pills because I didn't really need them which led to irregular periods, so I decided to switch to an alternative that was low maintenance (so I thought), thus leading to the insertion of my arm implant in January of 2017.

The first few months of having my Nexplanon implant were BEAUTIFUL. I loved not having to worry about having to take a pill at the same time every day. I loved not having a cycle. I loved not having to worry about having any unexpected surprises lol. Everything was great. After 3 or 4 months I noticed I began to get agitated by almost anything during random parts of the month, but I figured it was because I hadn't had a period in so long maybe my body is just acting like I'm on my period and making me PMS the way that I was. I pushed it to the back of my mind and just continued to live my life until about month 8 or 9 when things really started getting bad.

All I can remember is waking up one morning feeling super sick with extremely tender breasts. They seemed like they had been growing, I was peeing allllllll day, my skin was breaking out, I started feeling A LOT of anxiety and depression out of nowhere and was super hormonal (the depression was the hardest part because I am such a happy, loving, outgoing human being). My poor boyfriend of 2 years had been dealing with all of my crazy ass mood swings and the very few tantrums I had, which I genuinely felt so bad about after the fact because we both just knew that wasn't me. I legit thought I was pregnant. After we eliminated that as a possibility he and I did some research we found that all of these pregnancy symptoms are ALSO symptoms of the implant. I knew then it was time to get this thing OUT, but ironically a few days after researching all of my symptoms randomly went away. I had begun Nursing school so I wasn't too pressed to get it removed since everything had gone back to normal, but a few months after that incident I was right back to having symptoms of pregnancy. It had now been a year of having the implant, and the doctor told me the side effects were "normal" until my body adjusts to the implant which to me made no sense b/c it had been a year but I let it go. I didn't mention that around month 9 or 10 I started having periods again, which I wasn't too concerned with because others had told me it was likely and normal. Ultimately, around May of this year, my menstrual cycle came on.....and never went off.

Yeah. I said it. I've been having a menstrual cycle for three months straight. IT HAS BEEN MISERABLE. Full blown mood swings. Fatigue. Restlessness. hormonal breakouts, body aches. You name it. Every few weeks it would stop for a few days and then BOOM, it would come right back on. I don't know who is more miserable, myself or my boyfriend because I HAVE BEEN A HANDFUL and I know it. Not to mention you can't live your best life on your cycle lol. All of this has been a nightmare from something that was once such a relief of burden in my life.

I have been trying for weeks to get it removed and expect to have it out of my arm by next week or I will take it out my damn self because it has made me a different person, honestly. Over the course of these last few months I have put extra effort into keeping myself as nice and productive as I can, but it's honestly been a drag and I am exhausted.

I hope my story can shed light on those with the same issue, or those wanting to try the implant. If you try it and you sense anything is off, GET IT CHECKED OUT. The convenience isn't worth jeopardizing your health. I can't wait to be my super happy, supper energetic, non PMS'ing self again because whew chile trying to flourish like this has taken all of me!!!!!

Listen to your bodies ladies. Be careful and very much aware of what you put in them.

Love,

Dom.

#nexplanon #birthcontrol #womenshealth