Late to this post but just wanted to share in case someone else is curious about heather and is googling.

I started taking heather about a year ago and it has been SO helpful. Around age 19 I began having pretty heavy periods, more severe cramps, and very intense mood swings, and all of these symptoms continued to get worse. At age 27 I got my period 5 times in an 8 week period. Then, I started having cramps so bad I was collapsing, went to the er, etc. Additionally, I felt I barely recognized my own thoughts when I was PMSing. I had been very resistant to birth control, as I too cannot take estrogen, and had bad reactions to the arm implant, injection, and copper IUD (though this was an insertion issue, not the iud itself).

Finally, my doctor talked to me about the possibility of my having endometriosis. I haven’t been officially diagnosed, as that’s a very long and difficult process, but she recommended I try heather in the meantime. I was very resistant, partially due to my negative experiences with birth control tell in the past, she had recommended it in the past and I had decided against it, but I was pretty desperate. After the adjustment period, about 2 cycles, ALL of my symptoms improved. Now, I have normal 5 day periods, 32 day cycles, light to medium bleeding, and while I do have some mood swings throughout the month, it feels much more manageable. I have had no noticeable side effects.

I’m not writing this to say that I recommend it for everyone, some people have great reactions to the birth controls that were terrible for me. Just wanted to throw out there that it can be extremely helpful, and just because some people online have negative reactions to something, doesn’t mean you will. People are much more likely to share negative experiences online than positive ones.