The Pill and my period, full stop

Since I discuss just about everything going on in my life on this blog, I'm going to go a bit more personal for the next few posts. You might wonder, after tearing apart my personality, how could I get more personal? First, let me reassure you, dear reader, that what I'm going to discuss isn't ichy or scary or depressing, but it is of a...womanly nature? Further, I've decided to share this because I expect there are other women out there who have undergone similar problems, and being a librarian, I would like to provide helpful information.

Here's the big share:

I used the oral contraceptive Marvalon for seven and a half years. It was fine. I didn't experience any major side effects, my periods were always very light, mainly just a regular monthly irritation. Late June 2012, I decided it was time to go off 'the pill.' I'd had enough of ingesting extra hormones, and Andrew and I were starting to talk more seriously about the possibility of having children. Therefore, it seemed like a good time to stop.

Okay, so?

So, I haven't had a period since. That's closing in on ten months, and I'm really, really not pregnant. Nor have I been at any point since last June. I also dropped eight pounds in about two months--I know this sounds great, except I didn't change anything diet or exercise wise (I know, I track it all), except that I stopped taking Marvalon.

I'm experiencing something called post-pill amenorrhea. Amenorrhea is the absence of a period in a woman (who had hitherto been menstruating) for more than three months. Opinions seem to vary as to how quickly a woman's period should come back after using the pill, possibly because it varies from woman to woman. However, I am definitely on the long side of normal at this point and I am seeing a doctor to try and get this sorted out. I'll touch on that later.

Here's what I'm going to do over the next couple of posts.

1. I'm going to provide some history on the pill.
2. I'm going to provide some information on how the pill works.
3. I'm going to provide some information on amenorrhea.
4. I'm going to provide some information on what can be done to treat amenorrhea.

For the most part, I'm just going to provide links to information, with a short summary on each topic. I'm not an expert in this field, and there's plenty of information out there so that I don't need to regurgitate it all here.

Ciao,