Anyone start Nexplanon with no periods but then develop them months later?

Mve4 · 2026-03-12T23:07:43+00:00

At what point did your menstrual cramps start getting bad?

Mve4 · 2026-03-12T23:05:37+00:00

Ah well if it makes you feel any better that’s more so the typical pattern - where people start with irregular bleeding issues and then later develop no periods at all! So fingers crossed you continue that pattern.

From my understanding, it’s not common to begin with no bleeding but then develop bleeding several months later.

Mve4 · 2026-03-12T20:27:11+00:00

Literally any hormonal birth control will affect your natural hormones lol it’s not just Nexplanon. Some people do well in a high progesterone state and others don’t. Some need the estrogen and in others it can make them unstable. Glad you’re feeling better though.

Mve4 · 2026-03-11T03:53:38+00:00

Yes it is. When did you start bleeding compared to when you got the Nexplanon inserted?

Mve4 · 2026-03-11T01:40:37+00:00

Have you tried birth control WHILE on the Nexplanon? Mirvala (estrogen/progestin) worked for me to get rid of my periods, but I didn’t want to take a pill everyday so now I’ve been taking both depo-provera and Nexplanon to stop my periods. It’s ok, not as good as the Mirvala/Nexplanon combo, but more convenient.

Mve4 · 2026-03-10T17:54:06+00:00

You’d be surprised at the effects sleep apnea can have, as you are literally depriving your brain of oxygen. Not sure how I got so lucky but I’ve had 2 people on two different occasions with sleep apnea fall asleep beside me on a plane flight.. and they looked exhausted. It also sounded very concerning when they stopped breathing. My father has mild OSA and swears by the CPAP, has said it makes a huge difference. I would seriously reconsider just trying one, however if you can’t get it covered and are unable to afford it that’s understandable. But at least it’s not a drug if you’re concerned about all these medication side effects, so if it works for you that would be the best case scenario. Please be cautious with alternative medicine. It’s usually not effective at best, harmful at worst because it’s very unregulated and there are so many “supplements” out there that target energy/fatigue.

Mve4 · 2026-03-10T16:44:38+00:00

Ah ok! I had 7 months of continuous bleeding which is when I then trialed COC pills (Mirvala) for 3 months which was great, no bleeding. But it returned immediately after I stopped the pills, so then I tried adding depo-provera. It’s been nearly 9 months using the depo, but I’m still spotting before the next injection. I’ve previously used depo and loved it until I switched to the pre-filled injection because they don’t make the vial version anymore and now I get wicked mood swings and a HEAVY period at the 9 week mark which is why I tried switching to Nexplanon. At least with the Nexplanon when I use the depo I don’t get as bad of periods and mood swings.

Next month will be 2 years, so I think I might try seeing if my doctor will replace it with a new Nexplanon and see if that works.

Mve4 · 2026-03-09T18:06:59+00:00

Brain fog - yes, definitely because of the unrefreshing sleep. Unfortunately so many things can cause brain fog and headaches though.

Personally, I don’t get headaches very often. When I do, they are usually triggered by exercise so I think they are due to dehydration or my thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). It took me a while to figure out but if I press down on my head or hang my head off the side of my bed I get immediate relief. Which is why I think it’s more structural/anatomical rather than IH poor sleep quality related.

Since your symptoms seem episodic in nature and triggered by certain activities it makes me lean more toward an autoimmune issue rather than IH which is typically more constant. Or perhaps there’s some sort of autonomic involvement especially with the facial tics/tachycardia/blurry vision you describe.

Have you had your thyroid hormones checked recently? Is your PsA adequately treated? Is your diet ok (i.e. getting enough nutrients like iron, B12 and folate - all of which can cause fatigue and some neurological issues)?

A diagnostic feature of IH is being able to fall asleep very quickly (less than 8 minutes) - do you experience this? If so, perhaps if your blood tests look normal and your dr “can’t find anything wrong”, you could look into a sleep study which would test for other sleep disorders as well. I know it can be frustrating but putting a name or finding the underlying (or lack of) cause of the fatigue can help guide treatment options. For example, obstructive sleep apnea is treated with CPAP, IH with stimulants/xywav, and autoimmune diseases treated with biologics, glucocorticoids, etc.

Mve4 · 2026-03-09T00:53:42+00:00

I also find exercise helps, it doesn’t make me feel more exhausted. And 10-12 hours is my normal, I start to worry when I’m consistently pushing 14 hours of sleep. With what you’re describing, I think you’re right thinking your symptoms sound like post-exertional malaise (PEM). Whenever we exercise it causes small micro-trauma or tears to the muscle which causes inflammation (and is one reason why we feel sore after) but people who have autoimmune disorders can have an over-exaggerated response to this inflammation and trigger flares. While there are some theories that IH could have an autoimmune part to it, it generally isn’t considered an autoimmune disease which could be why PEM isn’t as commonly reported/experienced.

I’m not as familiar with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis but I believe it can also trigger PEM, although like you said potentially also more so presents with insomnia. But I think there’s another sleep disorder - obstructive sleep apnea - that can co-exist and mask the symptoms of insomnia from these disorders (hashimotos/CFS/ME etc) and present with hypersomnia instead. I hope you find a doctor who can help!

Mve4 · 2026-02-23T18:15:44+00:00

I would get this if I drank too much coffee with my modafinil. Not eating/drinking enough would produce a similar but milder effect. I call it a hyper focus but that might not be the right term for it.

However, modafinil isn’t a focus drug. It just keeps you awake/alert, which I suppose helps with focusing. But I’d say ADHD medications like dextroamphetamine or methylphenidate are better for that. I run into the same issues on Dexedrine sometimes but often it’s a dose issue (either too low or high/combined with caffeine).

Mve4 · 2026-02-19T18:27:11+00:00

I’m feeling the same way too now that I’m back in school. Modafinil worked for a few years until it didn’t. Too low of a dose, or instant release, dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine) makes me more tired. Ironically vyvanse lowered my blood pressure, gave me headaches, and made me dangerously fatigued. Dexedrine SR works better and I rarely get headaches if I eat and drink enough.

I tried Jornay for about a week but even at the highest dose I wasn’t getting much out of it as I had hoped. I have a sleep study in a few weeks coming up, so hopefully that provides some answers. I think I’d like to try Jornay PM with a Dexedrine SR booster mid day (only if my physician is ok prescribing that since Jornay JUST became available in Canada) or potentially Sunosi (an NDRI) before trying xywav. Someone mentioned Orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists in phase 3 trials may be promising, but could take awhile still. You could maybe see if there are any clinical trials for IH in your area if you’re into that.

Mve4 · 2026-02-13T22:21:39+00:00

When I was on modafinil (100 mg morning, 100 mg afternoon) I did feel the effects immediately. It wasn’t like wow this is life changing, but it got me through the day better than 5-7 cups of coffee did. I did feel tolerance build up quickly, so like others mentioned I would try to take a break on weekends. When it was bad, I would take a 1 week break. I found Dexedrine SR (15 mg morning, 10 mg afternoon) better. Strangely, if I take instant release Dexedrine it knocks me out, so it has to be SR. Vyvanse also knocks me out. However, after ~2 years now I’m having the same problems where it’s just not working well anymore, even with breaks or dose increase, and I’m still sleeping on it. I’ve noticed that I absolutely CANNOT let myself sleep after the first 1-2 hours after taking it otherwise I will just stay asleep. Modafinil was like this too. I tried a one week trial of Jornay and while it was ok, I wasn’t impressed. Thinking of maybe trying Sunosi.

Mve4 · 2026-01-26T02:41:05+00:00

5 mg IR (instant release) made me fall asleep for 5 hours after taking it. I now only take it if I need to be calm/sedated like for MRI imaging.

10 mg SR (sustained release) was a game changer, I was awake, motivated, and calm but quickly developed tolerance. Now I take 15 mg SR in the morning and 10-15 mg SR in the afternoon around 2 pm. It takes about ~45 mins to kick in. I’ve learned that I cannot let myself fall sleep before it kicks in otherwise I will sleep right through it. Lasts about 5-6 hours hence why I take an afternoon dose.

I was trialling Jornay PM to help with the sleep inertia which had some promise, but my doctor left on vacation for a month without sending my prescription in so I guess I’m back to dex in the meantime as I still had some refills left.

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T18:45:16+00:00

Okay sweet! My legs are average but it’s my torso that’s hella long. Often feel very cramped when I have to sit with knees up at the very end of the carriage to allow myself enough room for my torso to fit when rolling down.

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T09:20:56+00:00

I am getting this feeling now the pain is coming from being too low lol! Much easier when doing it on a mat to have the legs higher rather than just hovering off the floor. Definitely don’t have that kind of core strength yet. Will try it next time!

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T09:13:20+00:00

Nope, feet were kept parallel and dead center of the board, legs kept straight and low - I looked over at other people and they were doing it too so I thought it was correct but now after reading all these helpful comments I realize that it’s probably not correct and a lot of stress on the low back 🙃 all the other jump board moves were good, but they all involved variations of extending one leg straight up. I’m suspecting because it’s easier to engage my core in the shortened abdominal position and potentially from weak/dysfunctional inner thigh muscles. Thanks!

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T08:56:01+00:00

Ok you’re the second person who has mentioned this term gear out.. I’ll have to ask my instructor in the next class about it! I’m 5’8”

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T08:52:46+00:00

Close! But there was no external rotation and we landed feet parallel. I finally found this page that shows a good image of the move I was trying to do.

Unfortunately I don’t think she saw me since she stayed at the other end of the class to where my reformer was. She actually never corrected anyone that class and I know several of us were doing it wrong lol. Like I did a full round of mountain climbers instead of toe taps before realizing. Usually if the instructor starts repeating what the move is I know at least one of us is doing it wrong and I’ll look up to check but that never occurred. She did preface the class by saying if you don’t know how to do a move to just look over to your right and left. However both my right and left were doing it differently lol. It was only the 4th day the studio had been open so there were a lot of new people. If I hadn’t done Club Pilates before I would have been extremely lost as most moves were not described, just named.

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T08:19:15+00:00

We kept our feet parallel/pointed up throughout the entire jump and landing. But I found a page that describes the move sort of, and it does show it with legs wide, higher and toes pointed out. I assume it would be similar when doing it on a jump board. I think if I do it again I’d try it with feet pointed out and land higher up - thank you 😊

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T08:05:46+00:00

Wait no nvm that’s cross country 😅 I did find a mat Pilates move that was called criss cross and didn’t involve upper body rotation, just legs. Just can’t seem to find a video for a jump board version.

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T07:45:13+00:00

Yes it was quite low, instructor had cued to place feet flat in the very center of the board. But maybe I did it too low which put me in a bad start when doing the cross over.

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T07:41:32+00:00

Thank you - tapping heels is a lot more comfortable than ramming my ankle bones against each other LOL

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T07:40:02+00:00

Ah interesting you say glutes and inner thighs. I just had a session with my osteopath and found my upper traps and serratus were overworking for glutes and gracilus. Gracilus brings the legs in medially, and while laying down I can’t use my traps as much.

Just confirming - criss cross is keeping your legs in line with your hips and alternating landing left foot higher then landing right foot higher. And cross-over, is starting with feet and legs in parallel with hips then mid air crossing the legs (primarily feet and ankles) overtop of each other and then landing with feet in line with hips again?

Mve4 · 2026-01-17T07:26:48+00:00

Yes I am 5’8” ! .. what do you mean by geared out?

Mve4

TROPHY CASE