Okay, this is probably too much info, but here goes ...

Since being banded in March, my periods have been irregular, to say the least. They've also been extremely long (when they finally get here), heavy and the cause of much moodiness, which is not at all like me.

Yesterday, my husband came home from a 10 day business trip in Europe, the longest we've ever been apart - and wouldn't ya know it, Aunt Flo decided to rear her ugly lil head lol. That was the last straw for me .. marched off to the GP to get put back on birth control and try to get this in check. I'd been off of it for two years, since my husband had the snip.

Just wondering if anyone else had noticed irregularities after surgery and if this is indeed, normal.

Well, I suffer from these problems, but I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, and have been on metformin before surgery to try to control my cycles.....I went off as my surgeon said I wouldn't need it anymore, but I started bleeding about 3 weeks after my surgery and didn't stop......I don't know your history, but if you suffer from irregular periods (either too much or not at all), excess facial hair or body hair, acne, difficulty conceiving, and a host of other symptoms perhaps you could find out more about it.........soulcysters.com is a great learning place!

Or you might do great on the birth control pills! I have heard that Yasmin Birth Control is especially good for women with breakthrough bleeding problems...and it helps you NOT gain weight! Woo hoo...gotta love that!

Ditto Jess....but I dont know why either.

Thanks for your input, JulyBandster

I've always had my cycle like clockwork - every 28 days, so this is just really stressing me lol (add to that, that I was really wanting to jump my hubby when he got off the plane yesterday heh, that probably added to the frustration ten fold).

Before I went off the pill two years ago, I was on Yasmin, as I wanted something that wouldn't make me gain weight (I was big enough already lol). But it made me really nauseous. This time the doc put me on MonoFeme®.

I never really liked being on the pill cause I am so forgetful heh. Would often forget to take it, but now that my hubby's had the snip, I'm not too worried about that side of things.

Here's the thing...the body stores excess waste in fat. And this includes excess hormones. So if you were on the pill for any length of time, your fat stores have hormones built up in them. As you lose weight, this gets released back into the body and will make for some interesting challenges for a while.

I too am already having trouble. My last period was late and lasted TWO WEEKS. Ugh. But I'm going to take it as a sign of "spring cleaning" in my body and work with it.

I have read that too - that the changing fat levels affect your estrogen levels and other hormones too and can cause chaos for a while. All the toxins stored in your fat are also released.

I haven't been irregular at all since banding but the last two months I have had terrible PMS. Hubby says he can see it in my eyes. It's an exhausted look, as if I had the flu. I feel like I look, generally terrible and frumpy and yucky. I chalked it up to the hormones stored in fat theory, which sounds like solid science, to me, anyway.

I had my tubes tied after c-sect #2 so no hormones needed. But, do you have the patch there in Oz? You put on a new patch once a week. It apparently works well and if you don't need it for the birth control, well, might be worth a try. So you DO have a pill you are now taking? Anyhow, good luck. Let us know if it makes you feel better.

No Kathy we dont have the patch here, I went to my GP last week , and asked about it. Pitty.

Like you Parvathi, I am forgetful too, and forgetting pills made my mood swings worse. Add to that my PCOS and I am not a happy lady at the moment.

I have gone off the pill, am awaiting my AF so I can go have an IUD installed (is that the correct term?)

My GP perscribed Merina, she said it should make AF lighter, and shorter. So fingers crossed.

I work in an ob/gyn dept. and most of the midwives are offering the Mirena (iud) instead of the old copper T. The Mirena contains hormones that lessen your menstrual and also lessen the menstrual cramps. The only thing is that it is effective for 5 yrs. as opposed to the Copper T that is effective for 10 yrs. When a pt. complains of irregular menses, they are usually put on birth control pills to regulate them. The Ortho Evra patch is also good but you can't be over a certain body weight as it won't be fully effective. Anyway, hope you get a solution to your problem. I hope I don't go through this problem because I had a tubaligation and would hate to take pills for menstrual control.

My periods have been more regular than the morning paper my entire life... till I got banded. I missed my first period after banding, then missed a 2nd one. Now I'm over a year out, and my whole cycle has shifted forward a full 10 days. I'm back on track, but 2 weeks early. Go figure.

Over the last few years my periods have been really heavy, but since being banded they are not at all heavy I would say they are "normal". When you have surgery your body does some weird things do to the stress that is put on it. It may straighten itself out on it's own w/o help from the GYN. depending on how long it has been since you have had surgery. Also when you are overweight your period may be messed up just from that and the stress it has on it from wt loss. Stress has alot to do with irregularity. jamie

After being banded - I was supposed to start my period 2 days before surgery, but it was late and came for only 1 day on the day I had surgery. So I thought I got off lucky with only one day - then a week later it came full force and lasted 10 days! That's the longest ever. SO I chalked it up to surgery - then a few days later I started bleeding again! And that's how it went the entire 1st month after surgery. I'd go for 2,3, & 4 days, then would quit for only 1 or 2 and then it repeated itself ALL MONTH LONG. After that I've been regular - I went to the GYNO for fear something was wrong - I told him of my surgery and he explained it was from the anesthesia shedding the uterine walls or blah blah blah - but the was my case as it doesn't sound that way according to you and others on here - but that's the only problem I've had with Aunt Flo - understand the frustration of wanting to jump your hubby! Boyfriend and I abstained the entire first month due to the issues I was having. But everything's A-Ok now.