menstrual changes

Hi Gracietiger - I had posted a few weeks ago about menstrual changes and have since talked to both my lyme doctor and my gynecologist and this is what I was able to come up with:

I am on yasmin for birth control while on antibiotics. I know that abx counteract birth control so I was very cautious (using back up protections). A few weeks after going off abx I had a very bad period - much worse than usual. My gyn assured me that this is perfectly normal! During an illness or during recovery from an illness your body systems are just out of whack. She said that I was smart to be concerned and told me to track it. She assured me that it was normal for things to be weird for a few months after a lot of stress on your body resulting from illness.

Also, in the last couple weeks I had spotting multiple times in between periods. I did track what I was doing and how I was feeling - turns out, I started spotting after I had done a strenuous work out. The harder the workout, the worse the spotting was. I called my lyme doctor about this just to make sure. He confirmed that, yes working out hard and physical stress can cause you to spot. Usually, this is the case when someone is working out really really hard. I wasn't doing a really difficult workout - but the fact that I was spotting indicated that the workout I was doing was too hard for my body. I have gotten my old energy back but my body has not caught up yet and the spotting shows that I need to scale back what I'm doing. So basically, your body is under a lot of stress - everything is interconnected and you should expect to be a little off. Also, watch how much physical stress you're putting on your body. Maybe if you track what you're doing you will be able to find some kind of correlation like I did.

Good luck and feel better!

I've had this happen too. Seems to be related to hormone balance between Estrogens and Progesterones, which can be affected by medications, stress, and undoubtedly Lyme too. Unfortunately, when I talked w/ a Gyn about it, she had no clue. Naturopathic physicians seem to be able to test this stuff and understand it better, also you might want to look in to getting books by Dr. Christiane Northrup (book title is "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom") - she seems to have a much better clue about hormone balance and such than the average Gyn. Her website is http://www.drnorthrup.com/ I have no financial connections with Dr. Northrup or her website.

Take care,

thanks, judy. i've had my thyroid checked out a bunch of times, all normal. i actually have been reading a bit about endometriosis today, and really think it strikes a chord in me. i'm going to try to see a gyno asap. but i am wondering if something like that can be a result of lyme or something entirely different?