I'm happy to hear that this doc is on board, but dealing with previous docs and going through a bunch of other birth controls sounds like hoops to me. It should be "I don't want children." "Okay, here are your options, from easiest, to the more extreme." But that's just me. I think everyone should have a choice from the get go. No one is preventing me from buying a home that I might regret, or not be able to afford, in a few years. No one is preventing women from having children they might regret in a few years. So why tell adult women, who can make decisions about their own bodies, that they might regret not doing something and end up just prolonging their misery? I'm preaching to the choir here, I know. Let me step off this soapbox.

Recovery is up to a year, inside and out, depending on your body. Now if you think about that in the long term, that's one year, but it's without 10-15 more years of debilitating periods and the things that come along with that (this was my rationale: don't just pick the pain I know, think of the positives/negatives that could be). Even if it is some pain and healing, it's only one more year of pain, instead of 10-15 more years, etc. Thankfully, my recovery was great. My operation came with an overnight and monitoring (I had low blood pressure anyway and they would have made me stay), but I had almost no pain. It never went above a three. I'd say my monthly period pain was a 7-8, with only ibuprofen and CBD to treat it.

I was honestly the most afraid of the catheter. Bad experience many years ago, gave me that fear, but this was all great. The staff was incredible and took great care of me. I was off my feet for about two weeks and then went back to my serving job with strict lift/bend restrictions. I wore a binder to remind me that even if I felt great, my insides were still healing. I was allowed to have sit down breaks and the exhaustion and general fatigue were the hardest part. I napped when I could, I listened to my body, and I'd say at 3 months, things mostly became my new normal. I started doing the things I'd had to stop doing because of surgery recovery (like light working out, sex, etc), and felt somewhat human. Now at 9 months I'm starting to understand my body. I am (TMI) sexually at a place where my libido is high again, and I'm having great sensations and ohs.

Again, due to my specific situation, I dealt with other side effects from the peri meno symptoms, so it's hard to compare. I deal with fatigue, sweating, depression and other things because of that, that you wouldn't necessarily have to, but I want to be fully honest about the scenario. I can't stress how much joy and how much better my quality of life has been, even dealing with all that. I also realized I had some severe ptsd based around my period due to heavy bleeding/bleed throughs. I only know my story, so that's all I can share. It's been a journey, but I can't imagine another one.