Visanne Day 40

, , , , , , , , , , , , 15 Comments

image1

I AM GROWING MY HAIR OUT PEOPLE! Look how long it’s getting! I can actually tuck my hair behind my ears again. All seven strands of hair. And it’s wild. However I have of course captured myself at the best possible angle in this photo and 99% of the time my head actually looks so stupid. Underneath those thin strands of hair is a whole lot of mousey fuzz. I knew this time would come, however the awkwardness of growing out an undercut was not something I contemplated until the day after my birthday last year once I’d sobered up and realised that I had indeed shaved off most of my hair. Good times.

So I have now been taking Visanne for 40 days. This is month 2. I have to say that overall the transition has been really smooth! Looking back on my previous post where I diarised where my health was at on Day 1, the two issues I was having were predominantly SLEEP & ALLERGIES.

I’ll get to that later.

So what have the last 40 days been like?

DAY 1 – 4

Perfectly normal. No changes.

DAY 5

Very very very mild cramping & very light spotting. Cramping lasted for a couple of hours in the morning and completely subsided after a magnesium tablet and 2 Nurofen.

DAY 6

Very light spotting. No pain whatsoever.

DAY 7

EMOTIONAL FUCKING TRAINWRECK!!!!!! I literally bawled my eyes out all day and felt like the world was ending. Thank god this only lasted 24 hours!

DAY 8 – 20

Nothing notable.

DAY 23

Went back to my sinus doctor as I was having allergies (since before taking Visanne) pretty much daily and it was driving me insane. Started a nasal spray called Omnaris on this day and am pleased to report that since taking it NO ALLERGIES!!! WOOHOO!

DAY 23 – 30

Warning: I will sound like the worst version of myself right here but in my iCal I have written FAT WEEK spanning these 7 days. Yes it’s vain. Yes I hate writing this. But we’re all women here and everybody experiences a Fat Week every now and then.

I’m proud to say that I’ve come an extremely long way in how I see myself. During high school and in my early 20’s I was extremely critical about my body and was concerned about my weight CONSTANTLY. It wasn’t fun. Being diagnosed with Endo actually helped me slip out of that because I suddenly saw a bigger picture and became much more concerned with my health and fertility than being thin. Everything changed in how I saw myself. By not obsessing about my weight and appreciating my body for what it was capable of doing I felt light, happy and no longer racked with anxiety. Endo can make you furious with your body in a whole different way and believe me, even though my body image improved times a million with the maturity I experienced through battling Endo, there were plenty of days, weeks, months where I felt completely let down by my body and HATED it for not working the way I wanted it to. But once my pain subsided and my health improved and I was able to get my life back again, I had nothing but love for my body. It has responded so well to the dietary and lifestyle changes I’ve made and I’m really proud of it.

That being said, I’m only human and I’m female and for the first time in a long time completely lost my confidence. Anyway it was what it was.

Healthy eating is a daily ritual for me so I was questioning whether this sudden change in my body (like I said in my previous post I don’t weigh myself but sometimes you just KNOW) was due to the way I was eating, a lack of exercise, both or whether it was Visanne. So, to rule out Visanne I started working out again. (I use Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide because she has Endo and I was inspired that she could lead such an active lifestyle while managing her disease. Like most people I also fall off the wagon from time to time and winter is one of those times haha)

I also cut back on the carbs which I was having too much of considering I wasn’t exercising or being very physically active. Within a week I noticed a difference in how I looked and felt and within 2 weeks I noticed a huge difference in how my clothes fit so I’m NOT blaming the weight gain on Visanne.

Repeat, NOT.

My body is responding really well to exercising again. I’m back to training 4-5 times a week and loving it. I’ve switched from eating porridge every morning (good while it lasted) to my favourite protein smoothie instead. Also cutting back on eating toast, noodles & rice every day and replacing that with roast veggies (sweet potato, carrot & pumpkin) and quinoa instead. Suffice to say it’s working and Fat Week is over. I needed motivation to start training again and I’m so glad I did. Even though my sleep still isn’t great, my energy levels are through the roof!

DAY 30 – 40

Feeling really good. Sleep still pretty awful but I’m not feeling the fatigue from lack of sleep as much now that I’m back into my exercise routine which is awesome. Being back at uni and doing my Masters while also trying to stay on top of EndoActive means I really can’t afford to be tired or sick. I’m a little ashamed of myself for slacking on training for so many weeks – only because I know how much my body and my mind needs it. Exercise has really helped me with Endo, gives me heaps of energy and always puts me in such a good mood. I have always played sport and loved exercise my whole life and I literally NEED IT or else I’m not completely myself. I was really struggling with fatigue before I started training again but straight away I’m back to feeling 100%. I can think clearly, I’m like 1000 times more productive and just generally on top of things without feeling tired or lazy. The best part is the clarity and focus it gives me in the other parts of my life. ENDORPHINS! Best drug ever.

So that’s pretty much it. Not a whole lot of change… couple of hiccups in the first week but aside from that, it’s been a breeze. Hopefully I stay symptom-free and that if there’s any Endo lingering around my insides then it’s shrinking.

Syl x