Contraceptive Implant.

I used to have the implant and I had it for about 18 months before I started getting the exact same side effects as you so I ended up getting it taken out and going back on the pill.

My friend is also on the implant and has had it for about the same time and she also has started having side effects.

Aren't they supposed to last 3 years?

Could it be that the hormones in it are running out hence the imbalance?

Just a theory, I have no real life experience!

Theories are good Rod!

This is what I thought too, but I still have technically 11 months before my three years is up. Which in proportion to the amount of time you can have it in, is still a fair amount, so I'd like to think the hormones it releases are still consistent (especially as getting upduffed 10 months before the wedding would not be ideal!!).

Because of my Migranous Vertigo, the doctor has advise that I talk to my GP about coming off the pill and changing contraception. I now know not to go for the implant!

The implant was tested in women up to 11 stone in mass so if you are over that then there si the risk that it will not be as effective.

However I can thoroughly recommend the implant in general.

So could I have, six months ago.

I have put on weight recently so maybe that explains it. Although I have never been 11 stone in my life (well I probably have but not since I can remember!).

This less effective malarkey scares me a bit!

For me personally I'd run away screaming!! But I had a terrible experience with it, right from the beginning, and for the two years I was on it I was also on the Pill to control the excessive bleeding (came off it to TTC).

However, you could try taking the Pill for a couple of months and seeing if that helps settle your cycle down - this was what was supposed to happen to me, but every time I came off the Pill the side-effects came back. If not, maybe ask for a fresh one (since your 3 years are nearly up anyway) or consider alternatives.

I had lots of side effects after about 6 months and constant bleeding, so I got put on the pill as well. Worked great, all the side effects went and the bleeding was under control. Have since found out I have PCOS and can't (so far) get pregnant naturally so can't speak on the effectiveness of it. It was never mentioned to me about it running out early though. Kind of makes it pointless having it, if it can.

Well, I'booked an appointment to see the doc after Christmas and I am going to have it removed.

We'll be TTC after the wedding so I won't replace it, so I can get my cycles back to normal.

Not sure it's job is to cry at adverts, shout at OH and stomp around looking like this though...

I have exactly the same problem as you Kirst and am still in a dilemma about it. I've had mine in for 2 and a half years and for the first 2 years it was amazing, but now seem to be having a period which lasts for 2 weeks every month. It's a nightmare. It shouldn't be less effective as it is licensed for 3 years and the research actually suggests it should be effective for a 4th year. I decided to leave mine for a few months to see if it settled down but it hsn't. It was due out next June but I was going to leave it for a few months more until the wedding in october, but now looking at having to take it out early which is really annoying. Technically, with the implant, your fertility should return to normal immediately after it being removed, unlike the pill etc, which was also why I wanted to leave it until the wedding.

My implant is due out in February.

For the first 2 years I would have sworn by it and raved about it to everyone. However for the past 9 months or so I have been a lot more down, my mood can swing instantly, my sex drive is totally non existent and no matter what I do diet or exercise wise I either can't shift any weight or put it on.

I started looking in to it and found it can cause all of these symptoms so for the sake of my sanity, and my marriage (the sex drive thing and my mood swings are causing a lot of issues) I had a chat with H and we made the decision together that I would come off it.

I have been on some sort of hormonal contraception since I was 15 so I have decided to give my body a break and have had a non hormonal copper coil fitted and my implant is coming out in 2 weeks time.

Not having a period has been delightful, but having one every 4 weeks is something I can happily handle and will be an easy compromise if it means my other symptoms go away !

The implant might not be the only cause of that though. Who knows? All this random cr@p we put into our bodies, we'll never know what it does to us!

Hope you get it sorted soon

Well if we were living normally you wouldn't have many periods anyway. If we lived in the wild we would get pregnant after the first sign of menustrating and then bfed that offspring until it was four at which point our periods would return and we would get pregnant again. Periods aren't the norm in most species anyway. Humasn are jsut plain weird full stop. I know it doesn't help your situation but it jsut gives a different out look?

?

All those TEETH!

Children don't tend to use their teeth to bfed and babies can be born with them too btw... but thank you for the vomit sign that was really unnecessary.

Fair point. Hindsight is, unfortunately, a horrid thing sometimes ☹️

But you never know the GP might have said it isn't a problem until you are X age. If you were on the pill and had the fake bleed you wouldn't have known either. But you know now and are getting it investigated no and that is what is important?

If it make you feel queasy that is fine as it is your feeling but unecessary to share. There are lots of feelings people have that are uneccesary to share. I think it is an opinion that is not necessary to share. The average age for weaning from bfing is four, so it is a comparatively common thing. It is only in thsi country where people make the vomit sign abotu the thought of a child with 'milk' teeth bfing that makes women nervous to do it.

I just thought it was another slang word I'd never heard of ?

I am on my third implant and never had a problem, my periods aren't always regular tho and mood wise I can't be sure cause I take an anti depressant!

Just realised how unhelpful that is! Hope you get it sorted kirst.

Totally missed this earlier!

It's my opinion and I am well within my rights to say my opinion.

I at no point said it's wrong, it's something I don't want to do personally and it makes me feel a bit ill, but that in no way says I disagree with other people doing it. If people read it in that way, and formulate an opinion on it, then that's their choice, not mine. FWIW, I have no intention of breast feeding any children I am ever lucky enough to have. I know the majority of people think I'm wrong for thinking that, but I'm not going to change my mind because people (on a forum or IRL) tell me to.

I'd rather stop this debate now, because it's nothing to do with what I asked originally. Partially my fault for passing a comment on something but it wasn't my intention to derail the thread from it's original purpose.

Thanks chick!

You've got me all worried now, I thought I was getting on great with the implant but randomly stopping in half the time it's supposed to sounds like a nightmare. Will they refuse to give you a new one before the 3 years are up even if it's clearly stopped working?

On a completely different note, children lose the ability to latch when they get adult teeth so the natural weaning age is when the first adult tooth comes through, but the reduction in feeds means most women will have started to ovulate a long time before that. They're called milk teeth for a reason, although it's hard to get your head round when you're used to the only teeth anywhere near that area being OH's, haha.

Booked in on 14th January.

Thanks for your input ladies ?