This is my 2nd course of implanon, the first time was after my son was born in 2003. My experience first time round was unusual because the doctor made an error and put it down on my card for it to be removed in 2008 when in fact it should have been removed in 2006!!!
It was midway 2008 when I went to the doctor because a friend of mine had told me it should only be in for 3 years and not 5. Obviously I was alarmed and it would probably explain the extreme bleeding I was getting for well over a year. I had lost my sex drive but put this down to having 2 babies within the space of 11 months so there was very little risk of me getting pregnant. I did put on some weight, maybe around 2 stone, but again I was putting it down to me and not the implant.
So in 2008 I had another put in, started off well but still gained weight but I put this down to lifestyle and giving up smoking.
Since last year though it's been one thing after another. I feel like I am always ill, I am permanently tired, I may have 1 day out of 7 when I am bouncing off the walls and go on a mad blitz of cleaning and baking.
I am full of aches and pains literally everywhere. I have this awful discharge which smells, and the bleeding has started to be more constant too, but I did expect that, given my experience last time. I have constant headaches, facial twitching, back burning pain, lower stomach cramps, groin pain, armpits and breasts are tender, dizziness, breathlessness. I was tested several times last year for urine infections, kidney infections, scans for ovarian cancer, chest x rays, blood tests etc etc I have had a couple of panic attacks over the last year, and started feeling claustrophobic too. All of this is very unusual because I have always been really healthy and the panic attacks have come out of nowhere.
I am not a lover of going to the doctors, up until last year I rarely went,but I was there every couple of weeks for the majority of 2010 I really try to avoid going now I just don't want to go because I feel an idiot and I feel the doctor thinks I make it all up, I even wonder if it's all in my mind but I know it's not.
My weight gain is unbelievable but I don't know if this is a symptom of the Implanon or just down to me leading a relatively sedentary lifestyle. I don't want to do anything, I have very little motivation and I would say I am most definitely depressed, I do not want to socialise either which is obviously a problem. The doctor has put most of the way I feel down to being overweight, I am roughly 18 stone and only 5ft 4inches :( So since my youngest son I have gained 8 stone in weight! I am so fed up with it!
I am emotional all the time, crying like a baby over the slightest little thing, being pretty nasty to my husband a few times but he is always amazing and he just wants it all to be sorted out. I'm sure not everything is 100% down to the implant but I feel a lot of it may be and it's having a knock on effect with other aspects of my health.
Can anyone relate to my symptoms and do you think they are down to the implant?
I have an appointment to see the family planning doctor on Thursday to discuss having it removed. I am opting for sterilisation, I have 4 children and definitely do not want any more. I cannot wait to have it removed and hopefully I will feel normal again.