Here's what happened while I was getting all thrift-store fashion on you:
I got my period. (I hope you weren't waiting around, holding your breath, wondering if my lateness meant anything.) And? It was the most amazingly awesome fantastic period experience of my menstruating life. I felt incredible!
I couldn't believe it. I still can't really believe it. I have not felt good during my period since, um...ever?
As you may remember, I had the Paragard IUD: no hormones, all uterine irritation. I don't know why I thought something that works partly by stimulating "an inflammatory response in the uterus" (to quote Babycenter's article on IUDs) wouldn't make my periods into a completely miserable experience, but it didn't really cross my mind. Never mind not knowing about the whole bicornuate uterus thing. Yikes and double yikes.
Anyway! My period showed up, and I had no cramping. None. Not in my back, not in my abdomen, nowhere. I was a little tired for a couple of days - nothing a few cups of green tea couldn't help along. And instead of 10-14 days of bleeding (yes, as in two weeks), I had six. Six if you count the three days of barely-there spotting.
On top of having a fantastically easy-to-deal-with period, I suddenly have crazy amounts of energy. Okay, maybe not crazy amounts, but certainly noteworthy compared to how I was feeling just a month or two ago. It's totally awesome, but remained completely mysterious...until I sat down to write this post and saw the phrase "inflammatory response." One of the reasons to manage inflammation in the body is that inflammation causes fatigue. And fatigue and chronic pain go together like cat pictures and Impact font!
So it seems that there's s a distinct possibility that having my IUD removed will actually result in my not having lower back pain any more. Which - after two-plus years of having my back hurt Every. Single. Day. - makes me want to cry tears of happy-happy-joy-joy.
My next period is due in about two-and-a-half weeks, and I'm completely shocked to realize I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait to find out if this ridiculously easy, remarkably pain-free cycle is the new "normal" 'round these ladyparts.
