I am 8 days late for my period. This is my first month off of nuvaring and in the past have had a normal cycle for the first month after going off birth control after that my cycle is very irregular 30-90 days between. I have had breast tenderness and had cramping with extremely mild staining last week when I otherwise should have been on my period – staining amounted to very little red blood coloredness in my mucus upon wiping. I have had four negative tests in the last 5 days, however symptoms persist – breast tenderness and cramping off and on. I should add that I am not trying to concieve as my husband had a vasectomy the end of last week and I went off nuvaring one month early because I have had difficulty in the past getting pregnant, don’t have sex often, twice this month – once early on, once later 11 days ago – , required clomid for both of my pregnancies – if this ain’t karma, I don’t know what is! I have read that I should wait at least 19 days after last sex before expecting a reliable test answer, however the anxiety is killing me! Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated – while I’m not trying to get pregnant it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I was, it’s just the waiting to know which way I am sux!

…prescribed medications?

I ask this as a 32 year old mother of a toddler, who has been dealing with serious back problems for over 13 years now (stemming from my 6 years in the Army). I have been to every type of medical and alternative type of professional out there and so far the pain only increases. Now it’s one thing to go from being a fully functioning, high level achiever to someone who is “disabled,” but add to that the responsibilities of single motherhood and all I want is to be the best mom I can for my daughter.

Over the past 8 years or so I have educated myself tremendously about the various medications and treatments I’ve been prescribed and those available. Unfortunately my only medical care is through the VA hospital so I am limited in my options. Over the 13 years of this ordeal thus far, doctors have prescribed probably 50-75 different types of medications and combinations thereof to try and treat my pain level. As of August 2007 (when I found out unexpectedly that I was pregnant) I was on 160 mg of Oxycontin plus about 8 Percocet, plus Valium, muscle relaxers, and two different types of depression medications – all just naturally prescribed by my doctors (not at my request, but without my objection). When I found out I was pregnant my pain management doctor actually told me it was OK to stay on all that medication and my baby would “just have to detox” after birth! I said no way in hell and I began to taper down my meds on my own, which I did incorrectly at first until I found another doctor that agreed with me about detoxing myself over the course of the pregnancy. By the time my daughter was born (perfect and healthy) I was down to 20 mg of oxycontin/day, one anti-depressant (although not the best treatment for my issue but best for my daughter while growing inside of me) and a very mild anti-anxiety med once in a while for severe attacks. I stayed at that level for 6 more months while breastfeeding then my doctor wanted to start increasing my pain meds again. I was in tremendous pain and was OK with increasing at that point. About 3 months ago I was up to 80 mg Oxycontin again and finally I decided it was enough and I requested to be tapered off the meds again since they weren’t really helping my pain level much anyway. OK, I realize this is long but I feel I need to give a little background, please bear with me.

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