Long post: Birth control issues, possible endometriosis, and need help with Nexplanon spotting!

Hi everyone, I hope this post isn’t too redundant considering how often people ask about their specific experiences and especially Nexplanon spotting, but I haven’t been able to find an answer that relates to my situation, and my doctors haven’t been much help, so please read/reply/direct me to another post if there’s any known solution or if you have a similar situation!

Just to explain the context of my situation, I (f21) have a history of very painful periods that started at age 10. I’ve seen 5 different gynecologists since I was 14 and since then have tried multiple types of birth control to manage it. This includes the following:

**(Specifics included, scroll to bottom for TLDR if you want!!)**

The patch (2019ish)

\- tried this first, still had some pain and moderate bleeding, so Dr suggested skipping the “patch-free” week. When I tried this I bled for over an entire month until I switched to the pill!

The pill (some time between 2019-2022)

\- took a generic pill I believe it was Charlotte Fe. (Had iron in the placebo pill) Similar to the patch it didn’t manage the pain fully & I also struggled with remembering to take it at the same time every day (adhd things) so I wanted to switch.

Nuvaring (January 2023)

\- tried the ring so I wouldn’t have to deal with remembering a pill every day! Similar situation, managed my pain only somewhat, and my periods were still moderately heavy, so the dr suggested skipping the ring-free week to skip my periods. This ended up working, maybe a total of one or two months at a time, and then would get breakthrough bleeding anyway.

\- While the ring worked the best out of everything else so far, I had a not-so-great reaction to it in a couple of ways:

\- At the time of starting the ring, I was taking Lexapro for depression, and I had developed severe worsening symptoms of mental health coincidentally as soon as I switched to the ring. I ended up getting off of the lexapro though and stabilized a little bit better.

\- At this time I also developed issues with weight, insulin resistance, and thyroid problems. Within the first year of using the ring, I gained 30lb in less than two months, so I began seeing an endocrinologist & my thyroid was enlarged and my bloodwork numbers were wonky, but not indicative of either hypo or hyperthyroidism. High cholesterol and insulin resistance were found and I was diagnosed with pcos because of it (my sister has it too). Endocrinologist couldn’t even give an explanation for the weird numbers, I did find a study online though that suggested etonogestrel and ethinyl estradiol causes inappropriate thyroid numbers. (Wish I could find this again, it was super niche but after ruling out everything else this was pretty much the only explanation me or my dr could come up with.)

Kyleena IUD (December 2024)

\- Because of all these issues with the Nuvaring & it not sufficiently helping my period symptoms, I saw a new gyno who suggested to try a hormonal IUD as a last resort before exploratory laparoscopy. She advised against Nexplanon because of its tendency to cause irregularity & against the depo shot (for a multitude of reasons)

\- I went under anesthesia for insertion, but woke up with some of the worst cramping of my life. Akin to period pains, but more like contractions & came in waves. My uterus did not seem to enjoy the IUD lol.

\- I bled for over 90 days spotting.. cramping after the first two weeks was very minimal though (yay!) I was living in a different country for school for the first 5 months of having the IUD though so I never got the chance to get it checked up on.

\- Eventually my period spotting evened out after the 6 month mark or so, and my monthly periods were very light and minimal cramping. But this time, I was having pretty bad cramping & pink spotting in between periods. Eventually I started seeing another gyno near my college, got my first exam and the strings were in check, got an internal and external ultrasound and everything was clear other than the fact that I have a retroverted uterus and a small benign ovarian cyst, but my Pap smear was abnormal & I had a culposcopy that found chronic endocervicitis. Dr assumed that my issues from the IUD were likely not hormonal but instead mechanical and it was causing physical irritation which resulted in my bleeding and cramping.

\- As nice as it was to have light periods, the IUD kicked my ass with that “contraction” cramping until the very moment it was pulled out of me.

\- After switching from nuvaring to IUD my thyroid numbers & insulin resistance eventually regulated without medicine. So I’m unsure about my PCOS diagnosis and wonder that these issues might have just been caused by the Nuvaring.

\- About 6 months into having the IUD I realized that I was losing massive amounts of hair, I suspect telogen effluvium due to hormones… I probably lost at least 50% of my hair density. At this point I had low DHEA-sulfate and low testosterone but I don’t know if that relates or not. Dr never worried about it… My hair fall slowed down around autumn and i luckily have lots of new growth 🥳 that being said, i know TE can come back, and if it was caused by the IUD, I’m nervous that it might cycle again with the Nexplanon, as they’re both progesterin-only BC methods?

Nexplanon (December 2025)

\- like the gyno that put my IUD in, my gyno at college agreed that surgery is likely the next option. I suggested maybe trying the Nexplanon as one more step because I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, and she agreed. I got my IUD pulled and Nexplanon inserted at planned parenthood for convenience and it was great. I was due for a period that same week, had zero/very very minimal cramping now that the IUD was gone and the period was light and <7 days!!

\- With high hopes, I didn’t bleed for over a month, and then came the eternal period of doom. At the very end of January I began spotting/lightly bleeding. Today marks day 70 and counting yay!

\- Knowing my experience with the IUD endless spotting I frantically contacted my dr, with a response that basically said, if you ain’t hemorrhaging, we dgaf. I understand spotting with Nexplanon is an extremely common side effect, but through my own research I knew that it was possible to suppress.

\- I tried an E-visit (Dr visit through chat with a provider in the hospital group) in the meantime who told me I could try ibuprofen every day for a week, unfortunately, during my early period days pre-birth control I overloaded with ibuprofen in desperate attempt at pain management & quickly discovered I have a sensitivity to NSAIDs and an endoscopy found micro ulcers starting. So I’ve had to take a PPI for management of that and had to completely cut out NSAIDs for years since then. The e-visit provider told me to just follow up with my gyno about another option instead lmao.

\- In the meantime I tried taking an evening primrose oil supplement (per Dr. Reddit) for about two weeks while I waited for my follow up appointment at the end of February. It did lighten up a little bit which was promising, but didn’t stop. So I got to my appointment and my gyno reluctantly offered 1 month of estradiol 1mg. I replaced the EPO with the estrogen, about a week into taking it I had about 72 hours of freedom from tampons and pads. Must have celebrated too soon, cause I went through the entire month supply of estradiol bleeding a tad heavier and more consistently than before🥲

\- Upsettingly shot a message to my gyno again, had to stand up for myself a bit because I’m exhausted with slapping a bandaid on these issues and just hoping and praying it masks the symptoms of whatever’s really wrong with me. They wanted me to schedule another appointment, so I’ll get to speak with my doctor about the situation again next week.

My 2 most recent doctors have both told me that they highly suspect I have endometriosis. I am diagnosed with POTS, hypermobility, ADHD, hypersomnia, possibly PCOS, and have history of GI issues, all of which are comorbidities to endo. I know that these are all most likely related to an unidentified, underlying connective tissue disorder. I see multiple specialists and have meds and therapies to manage it all but they simply act as a “bandaid” and don’t treat the root cause. My suspicion is that, my unsuccessful attempts with varying birth control types over the last 8 years might be because of this (dysfunctional uterine tissue?). There is not enough research out there about any of these issues despite so many people struggling with the same thing.

While I wait for yet another doctor’s appointment, I resort to y’all for answers. So I guess my two questions here are to find someone with a similar story:

**Does anyone else have similar issues/diagnoses and recognize this pattern? If so, do you know the cause, or have a working solution?**

**Does anyone else have a similar experience with Nexplanon spotting & failed attempts at managing it? Did you remove the Nexplanon, or find a solution/replacement? What worked for you and what didn’t?**

I really don’t want to be so quick to remove the Nexplanon, especially since it hasn’t been 6 months yet. I know spotting is common and I expected it. But I think everyone with a period can agree with me, it GETS TO A POINT. I’m at that point, aka the breaking point, not just physically but also mentally. This post is a desperate last ditch attempt to see if anyone else can relate to the craziness and might have a solution or at least some empathy. As anyone with a chronic illness will know, it’s usually the only way to find answers & support, and doctors don’t always know the best thing to recommend. It’s so easy to be naive and put your trust into your doctors, especially when you don’t know any better. It’s just unfortunate that’s the way things go.

**TLDR: 70+ days of spotting after Nexplanon insertion & multiple attempts at a solution. I have varying connective tissue disorders, and possibly endometriosis, and am wondering if this is causing my body to react differently to birth control than the average person, and I’m in need of advice, support, or a solution!**