Would you be cautious?Birth Control for 13yo with nausea, cramps, heavy 7 day cycles? (Family history of endometriosis)

[Anonymous]

DD has severe cycles the first year into having a period. Pediatrician is advising since Aleve and other OTC medicines are not working, to begin Birth Control pills in hopes the hormonal change will ease her symptoms.

I worry with the side effects of blood clots, and fertility after years of BC starting so young, if 13 is too young or if having milder cycles will be most beneficial for her. Pros outweighing any potential cons.

[Anonymous]

I feel like anything we can do to ease a kid's pain is worthwhile. I sure wish my parents had taken me seriously, rather than accusing me of being dramatic when I literally collapsed. Talk to the doc, but I think the blood clot risk is mostly for smokers, and I've never seen a study about reduced fertility (outside of the obvious.)

However... my daughter tried both the patch and the pill for her menstrual misery, and both made her sick. She threw up a lot on both of them. I think the doses are just too high for young teens.

Now she has a medication that she takes only during her period which reduces the severity of the symptoms. It's not a cure, but it's an improvement. Maybe ask the doc about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like anything we can do to ease a kid's pain is worthwhile. I sure wish my parents had taken me seriously, rather than accusing me of being dramatic when I literally collapsed. Talk to the doc, but I think the blood clot risk is mostly for smokers, and I've never seen a study about reduced fertility (outside of the obvious.)

However... my daughter tried both the patch and the pill for her menstrual misery, and both made her sick. She threw up a lot on both of them. I think the doses are just too high for young teens.

Now she has a medication that she takes only during her period which reduces the severity of the symptoms. It's not a cure, but it's an improvement. Maybe ask the doc about that?

Thank you PP! Would you mind sharing the name of the medication? Our Pediatrician shared there was no medicine outside of BC or Aleve/OTC that works during Menstrual Periods but I can ask specifically if they have heard of it perhaps.

[Anonymous]

Instead of pediatrician, go to a Adolescent Gynecologist. Our pediatrician consulted a adolescent gynecologists to prescribe the pill to help with the initial heavy bleeding - but had also given us a referral to a adolescent gynecologist for follow up.

[Anonymous]

My 11 yr old recently went on BC. her periods were so long and never ending (3-4 weeks non stop). to the point she's anemic. We waited to see if she would get better on her own, clearly she wasn't going to.

She's on a low dose BC and zofran when she has upset stomach/nausea. the dr. said it's like the early days of pregnancy when you have excess hormones.

She's only needed zofran 2x and she's handling it well.

This was absolutely needed and benefited her health. much outranking the risk of BC.

good luck!

[Anonymous]

I went on the Pill at 12 for dangerously heavy bleeding and stayed on it until 40, only coming off to TTC. No issues. However, for cramps she can get prescription strength motrin or the doc can recommend how many OTC motrin to take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of pediatrician, go to a Adolescent Gynecologist. Our pediatrician consulted an adolescent gynecologists to prescribe the pill to help with the initial heavy bleeding - but had also given us a referral to an adolescent gynecologist for follow up.

direct PP here.

same - however - their first available is JULY. and we couldn't wait. the pediatrician is taking care of her for now and said she would try to get her in sooner, if her current treatment wasn't working. that what she did (prescribed external ultrasound, blood work and bc) is what they would do initially.

I was shocked that there is only one practice in NoVa and one in MD. Other than going to Hopkins or Children's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went on the Pill at 12 for dangerously heavy bleeding and stayed on it until 40, only coming off to TTC. No issues. However, for cramps she can get prescription strength motrin or the doc can recommend how many OTC motrin to take.

11 yr old's mom here.

did you have fibroids? what was causing your heavy periods? what happened after you went off? was your cycle still heavy?

[Anonymous]

My 13yr old went on it for PMDD and she skips placebo weeks as instructed by her pediatrician. I wish I had this as a teen. No more periods, no more hormonal fluctuations, no more buying tampons/pads. It’s been 8 months no issues. No weight increase either. I hate that misconception

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went on the Pill at 12 for dangerously heavy bleeding and stayed on it until 40, only coming off to TTC. No issues. However, for cramps she can get prescription strength motrin or the doc can recommend how many OTC motrin to take.

11 yr old's mom here.

did you have fibroids? what was causing your heavy periods? what happened after you went off? was your cycle still heavy?

No fibroids. The dx was "dysfunctional uterine bleeding" aka we don't know, hormones are wacky. I ended up in the ER and needed 2 units of blood.

I went off the pill in HS, but had heavy bleeding + bad cramps and heinous moods so I went back on.
Went off again at 33 to TTC and had 2 normal cycles followed by pregnancy on first TTC attempt. Back on after delivery.

Went off at 39 for a few months, then TTC and had series of miscarriages. Noticed my cycle was shorter and shorter. In hindsight, might have had better TTC luck if I'd tried right after going off the pill as it might gave normalized my cycle. But hard to say - at 40, with 42 yo DH, secondary infertility not uncommon.

Cycle got really short - down to 2 weeks - with no known cause, but got normal again when I lost some excess weight last year. Currently I have a normal cycle and am not on the pill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 13yr old went on it for PMDD and she skips placebo weeks as instructed by her pediatrician. I wish I had this as a teen. No more periods, no more hormonal fluctuations, no more buying tampons/pads. It’s been 8 months no issues. No weight increase either. I hate that misconception

Seriously. Imagine not having to have periods as a teen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 13yr old went on it for PMDD and she skips placebo weeks as instructed by her pediatrician. I wish I had this as a teen. No more periods, no more hormonal fluctuations, no more buying tampons/pads. It’s been 8 months no issues. No weight increase either. I hate that misconception

Seriously. Imagine not having to have periods as a teen.

I want so badly for my daughter to get a Mirena. Mine has been literally life altering. I think my career actually took off around the time I stopped losing three functional days a month. But I worry a lot about the trauma around insertion, and whether she could tolerate the hormones.

[Anonymous]

Dr Rachel Casey. Hard to get an appointment but so worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 13yr old went on it for PMDD and she skips placebo weeks as instructed by her pediatrician. I wish I had this as a teen. No more periods, no more hormonal fluctuations, no more buying tampons/pads. It’s been 8 months no issues. No weight increase either. I hate that misconception

Seriously. Imagine not having to have periods as a teen.

I want so badly for my daughter to get a Mirena. Mine has been literally life altering. I think my career actually took off around the time I stopped losing three functional days a month. But I worry a lot about the trauma around insertion, and whether she could tolerate the hormones.

Many BCP that no longer have placebo weeks or you skip the week. Life changing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 13yr old went on it for PMDD and she skips placebo weeks as instructed by her pediatrician. I wish I had this as a teen. No more periods, no more hormonal fluctuations, no more buying tampons/pads. It’s been 8 months no issues. No weight increase either. I hate that misconception

Seriously. Imagine not having to have periods as a teen.

I want so badly for my daughter to get a Mirena. Mine has been literally life altering. I think my career actually took off around the time I stopped losing three functional days a month. But I worry a lot about the trauma around insertion, and whether she could tolerate the hormones.

My GYN told me (when I, a woman in my 40s was getting an IUD) that she has put teenagers under for Mirena insertion (this is a doc at Capital Women’s care in Silver Spring on Georgia).