april 2016 period report

From my last entry of april 5, 2016 , I didn't have my period beginning of Thursday, March 31 until late afternoon of April 4, 2016. I had the most pain on the night of April 4, but didn't have any dysmenorrhea the next day. Although I woke up soaked, I only had two pad changes the entire Tuesday. I stayed home until I was confident that my period is totally gone, and that happened on Friday, April 8. So generally, I'm period-free from that day of April 8 to lunch time of April 15. A little after lunch, I felt some blood trickled and I immediately went to the CR to change. I was a bit disappointed for I only had at least a week of being period-free. However, I was grateful that my flow that day was just very light. I only had to use one pad.

What I thought was a start of another bleeding onslaught, didn't turn out that way. I was surprised that today, I woke up blood-free. However, towards the later part of the evening, I felt a sudden pain in my pelvic area. It's not painful pain. Probably just a sensation of pain as I definitely didn't have the urge to call on to friends for prayers. In the past (so many years ago), I only feel the pain when I have my period. But today, I kept on checking my undies to see if there's blood. The day has past, but there's not an ounce of blood - not even a trickle. Luckily, the sensation didn't last long. Probably just under an hour. When I'm period-free and still feel a bit of sensation, I get a little scared. My doctor warned me before that I have nothing to worry if I have months in between periods, for as long they're consistent. She said that it's probably my normal. She said I should be more scared if I have these intermittent bleeds. According to her, the intermittent bleeds signify that there is something wrong. It is for this reason that I'm chronicling again my period just to see where things go. Haha, I still don't want to go back for a check-up with an OB-GYN as I don't want to be popping OCPs (oral contraceptive pills) again. OCPs are generally what's given me to regulate my period. I don't want to take them again or be injected with progesteron as I attributed them as a causing agents to my migraine. I haven't had bad headaches in years. Of course, I have no way of knowing if the pills caused my headaches. All I know that during the months that I was on pills or was injected with progesteron, I always had headaches. So, yeah, I'm avoiding visiting my OB again just so I won't have to tell her that I don't want any pills. If I have to take anything, I'm only amenable to the iron supplements. While I don't want to see a doctor again, my body is telling me that I should probably go have an ultrasound at least, just to check. Since I had the DNC last October 30, 2010, my doctor urged me to go have a yearly ultrasound. In that DNC, I learned that I only have simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia. Among the 4 types, this one doesn't lead to cancer, while the other 3 types are pre-cursor to cancer. Even then, my doctor said that I should not be complacent and should still do the yearly check-up, even if I no longer want to go back to just regulating my period.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do as I was told. Since that DNC, I decided to go on a special diet. I believe the diet worked for me. However, I wasn't able to sustain it. By January of 2013, I went back to my doctor complaining of excessive bleeding again. I had ultrasound again last January 9, 2013. My doc put me once again on progesteron and ocps, with a condition. As I reiterated to her that I don't want to be drinking pills again, I told her that I would go on the progesteron and ocp regimen again if my condition didn't improve. I think I only managed to finish the progesteron, but didn't get around to drinking the pill. Fast-forward to October 2013, I had another ultrasound. My doctor suggested that I go for another round of DNC. As I my company had health insurance coverage, my doctor gave me leeway to go an insurance-affiliated doctor. Though the consult and the procedure would have been free, I kept postponing the procedure until my company got into financial trouble that we lost our health insurance coverage. Thus, I ended up not getting the DNC.

So, here I am now more than two years later, wondering if my period will be intermittent again. So, let's just see how will things go this entire month of April.

For my own consumption: Summary

March 31 - April 4 (late afternoon): period free (4 days)
Apri 4 - April 7: period (3 days)
April 8 - April 14: period free (6 days)
April 15: period (1 day)
April 16: period free and let's see in the next few days

UPDATE: April 26, 2016 April 17 (Sun): none April 18 (Mon): only trickles, 1 washable pad April 19 (Tue): only trickles throughout the day (1 washable pad); then around 9 PM had sudden blood surge; clots of blood (2 sets of half-fist size) spilled on my mat. the 2nd DIY washable pad didn't absorb the clot April 20 (Wed): interestingly no blood in the morning and throughout the day, as if the blood surge last night didn't occur. trickles of blood in the evening (1 disposable pad until the next day) slept early (around 12 MN; major headache a little after 7 PM; didn't take any meds) April 21 (Thu): woke up with headache around 9 AM... headache disappeared without meds light blood flow (1 disposable pad as of 4:30 PM... headache, starting to recur - must be the heat! change pad 6 PM went out for dinner at Brutus to meet a friend; sudden heavy flow - 2 sets of blood clots; change to heavy flow pad came home around 10:00 PM; change to regular flow pad -- sleep April 22 (Fri) : woke up at 10:00 A.M; pad not fully soaked (80%) April 23 (Sat): woke up at around 8:00 A.M; April 24 (Sun): blood flow light to none; change to regular pad upon waking up at 10:30 A.M; change to washable pad around 5:30 PM; blood surge at around 12:00 MN; change to regular pad, but fully soaked barely 20 minutes; wait out blood surge at C.R., change to regular pad -- sleep around 3:00 A.M April 25 (Mon): woke up at around 12 NN; overnight pad only at 75% full; change to regular flow pad April 26 (Tue): woke up at around 10:00 A.M.; overnight pad 85% full; change to regular flow pad - blod clots discharged upon change *blood surge usually lasts from 20 minutes. by surge, I mean chunks of blood comes out and I could feel continuous blood discharge. when this normally happens, i usually just wait out the onslaught at the C.R. rather than change pads only to be soaked in less than 10 minutes. once the onslaught has passed; back to regular flow as if the surge didn't happen. sometimes, it can swiftly change from blood surge to just super light blood flow *either causal factor or just pure coincidence; blood surge happens later in the day when I consumed super COLD drinks/treats or I try to engage in a little bit of weights exercise (nothing heavy - just 5 lb dumbells)

intermittent bleeds and pain revisits

it's been a while since i've had pain symptoms. at times, i bleed more than regular women do. over the past years, i can say my condition has been OK. i menstruate once or twice in a month for only a few days and it's gone. of late, i've been having intermittent bleeds. last week (march 27), i had my period. i attended sunday church service and as soon as the service ended, I found myself bleeding heavily. as I didn't expect my period, I didn't take with me my usual kit. thus, i had to rush to watson's to buy some supplies. i waited for a while before heading home to make sure i have things under control.

the next day, Monday (march 28) - i was only bleeding trickles. quite different from the previous day. so, i decided to go out of the house to go to a government office to pay my housing amortization. just when i arrived at the mall where the hdmf mandaue holds office, i felt a blood surge again. to my surprise, my pad was all soaked up, barely an hour before i left the house. so, it was the CR that became my first stop instead of going to the government office as i had intended. by this time, i kept telling myself to relax and not to panic. otherwise, if i panic, i'd bleed more than i wanted. an hour into waiting for my turn, i felt a heavy surge once again. my number was just 5 numbers away. i was turn between bolting to the CR or waiting for my number to be called. in my mind, i kept thinking of approaching the people before me and ask that i pay ahead. but i didn't want to be explaining to them my whole medical history. so, i ended up just standing to wait for my number to be called. by standing up, i would less worry about getting the seats stained by blood. it felt like an hour waiting for my number. i was already anxious and i know from past experience that if i don't control my anxiety, i'll end up bleeding more. i pretended everything was cool despite feeling that my pad is all soaked up. i couldn't run, i just walked ever so slowly back to CR that i visited earlier. the janitor manning the CR gave me a weird look as he probably recalled that i was just there an hour earlier and there i was again back so soon. true enough, my pad's all soaked. did a quick change and proceeded immediately to going to JMall where I could get a ride back home. i stayed at JMALL to make sure i wouldn't catch myself in an uncompromising situation. every time i have episodes like this, aside from prayers, what gives me comfort is the knowledge that i have quick access to the CR. so, with mandaue-lapulapu traffic, i couldn't risk myself having an episode while on the road. this kind of ordeal is something so common to me that i really know the drill on doing things. an hour or so later, I was then quite confident that i could make it home without incident. i did another quick change and headed home. as soon as i reached home, i did another quick change.

the following morning (march 29), i only had trickles of blood as if yesterday didn't happen. such is the kind of my cycle. but to be safe, i didn't go out and stayed home.

it was only the following day, wednesday (march 30), that i proceeded to resume doing my errands. i only had to use a single pad for the entire day i was out.

thursday (march 31) to late afternoon of Monday (april 4), i was period free. enjoyed some ice candies that i personally made. but late last night (april 4) - i was heavily bleeding again. unlike last sunday's episode, last night's episode was different. i was feeling some pain. REAL PAIN. just below my belly, i could feel pain that radiates to my lower back. lumps of blood were coming out. so, last night was spent inside the cr for minutes end. every time, i change pads, barely 20 minutes pass and i'm soaked again. so, to prevent from staining my place, i resorted to spending most of the night in the CR. i brought one of my chair and throw pillow there and waited for the onslaught to pass. coming in and out of the CR was an ordeal and a pretty good way to lose some appetite. but much experience has told me that if i allow my ordeal to prevent me from eating, i'll easily lose energy. so i prepared a quick noodle meal. i didn't want to cook a decent meal just because. i tried to get some sleep around 12MN, but I could not sleep with the pain i'm feeling. tried to chat with my friends through FB, not mentioning my ordeal to get me distracted from the pain. earlier, i asked for prayers from my dgroup leader and prayed so hard for God to get me through the night as he has previously done so on many nights in the previous years. i listened to worship songs and they helped me focus my pain elsewhere. the pain was with me throughout the night. after my friends went to sleep, i attempted to get some sleep but the feeling on my lower back and below my belly button kept me from getting the zzzz. also, i also could still feel blood coming out. though not as heavy as in the early hours. i went back to the cr and just sleep there. after a few minutes in the uncomfortable position, i decided to sleep on my sofa. i booted my laptop again, and watched Ravi Zacharias on YouTube. by the grace of God, i managed to get some sleep. my last memory of the clock was around 4:20 A.M.

today april 5, i woke up around 11:45 A.M. obviously, my pad was all soaked up again. did a quick change. just like the sunday before this past sunday, my flow wasn't as heavy. only on my second pad and the pad before this wasn't heavily soaked. i didn't feel any of the pain i felt last night. it was as if last night didn't happen at all. i thank god to all who prayed for me from last night's ordeal. i thank God himself for getting me through this one-night pain ordeal. a good cry also did help with the pain, haha!

big to big

one of the symptoms of adenomyosis is dysfunctional uterine bleeding. in order to control my symptoms my doctor advised me to lose weight. according to her, i have too much estrogen in my system. the fatter i get, the more estrogen hormones are released in my body.

below are pictures of me. they were taken more or less three years apart of each other.

august 2008 - april 2011 - march 2014

at my fattest, i had the worst symptoms. my period was erratic. its duration was unpredictable. there were times i would bleed for 3 weeks. but there were also times i would be period free for two to three months. as my period became unpredictable, my doctor put me on pills to regulate my cycle. during these times, i also had pain symptoms of labor magnitude minus the baby. it was then that i made a decision to try the nutrition approach and go on diet to help my body.

i managed to successfully lose weight just by eating cruciferous vegetables (the cabbage family), no pork and beef, no instant food, no softdrinks, no pastas or anything with "wheat" in it. just vegetables, fish, brown rice. all my food were cooked either boiled or steamed. strictly no oil. but if i had to cook with oil, i had to use extra virgin olive oil. apart from dieting, i was religious in exercising (yoga and dance). as a result, i no longer feel any pain symptoms. sure, i still have my adenomyosis. but the best part is even if i would bleed for more than a week, i no longer feel any pain. i'm completely pain-free.

the bad thing now since i feel better, and able to manage my symptoms well - i am back to my old self. i'm still pain-free most of the time, but slowly i'm noticing that once in a while i feel some pain. but very slight. probably just a 2 or a 3. of course, this is a result of foregoing the diet and not doing any exercise at all.

time for me to wake up and hit my little yoga room and go easy on my food.

vegetarian pasta

wheat. it is, according to a book i've read, one of the food ingredients that women with endometriosis should avoid. red meat is also another thing to avoid to lessen one's pain symptoms. when i thought my symptoms were getting worse, i once tried avoiding these two. but i only managed to successfully do it for six months. why? in that six months, i felt better. since i felt better, i went back to eating fast food, red meats, breads, pastas, etc. stupid, eh? every time i go back to not watching the food i eat, i again would have longer periods. so, the story of my life consists mostly of going back and forth - from watching the food i eat, to indulging on meats, breads, and pastas.

when i'm on my best behavior, i usually resort to eating the following:
meatless macaroni

yes, most pasta noodles are made of wheat. but luckily, i found a brand here in the PH that is not only wheat free, but gluten free as well. the pasta noodle is made from brown rice!!!

eggplant lasagna

merry christmas!!!

it's that time of the year when dieters are put to a test! as christmas in the philippines is highly celebrated, staying on one's diet course can prove challenging. heck, for someone like me who loves eating, going on a diet throughout the year often always remains a dream more than becoming a reality! the past months i was back to eating fast food at dinner.

veggie burger

hmmm, yum!

21-day yoga challenge