Why is my nexplanon itchy
How do I manage NEXPLANON side effects??
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hey everyone welcome back today i'm
talking about nexplanon side effects and
how to manage them
this has been a much requested topic so
let's get started
[Music]
so today we're going to talk about
nexplanon and it's a form of birth
control that is super duper effective
it's what we call a long-acting
reversible contraceptive
which means it's good for a really long
time but it's also reversible and i've
already covered some of it in
some other tic tocs here so i'm just
going to link up to the card there and
as
always i'm going to have references and
resources in the show notes and for this
topic particularly the resources that
i've got down there i think are really
helpful so scroll on down there and see
if those might help you out okay so
quick run down on what nexplanon is
it is a little rod shaped device that's
about four centimeters big goes in the
arm
kind of under the skin right there it's
a quick office procedure that we do and
we numb the skin so you don't feel it
and it's good for three years now it's
fda approved in the united states for
three years but it has been shown to
work up to five years
i'm just going to say if you think that
you want to use it longer than three
years
talk with your doctor first about that
how effective is it
um 99.95 effective so pretty darn
awesome
it works by blocking ovulation so you
don't release an egg and it also
thickens the cervical mucus
so sperm can't get up there to meet the
egg if one was to be released
and what's great about it is it said it
and forget it there's not anything that
you have to do every day that's really
awesome
that said there are some side effects
and if you ever
talk to a doctor or a midwife or a
healthcare provider and they say that
some kind of birth control doesn't have
any kind of side effects
everything has side effects even
pregnancy so right now i want to go
through the top side effects that you
can see with nexplanon
and what to do to make them better the
number one thing that i hear and that
you all have asked me is
what do i do about this bleeding so
let's break down
what bleeding you might expect and what
we can do to fix it so the most common
side effect with nexplanon is irregular
bleeding
and that is even more common in the
first six to 12 months of use
meaning that you might have some
spotting or irregular bleeding in the
beginning and then it gets a little
better over time so here's some
statistics
20 of people who get an exponent will
have no period and we'll talk more about
that soon
about 34 will have occasional bleeding
or spotting
seven percent have frequent bleeding or
spotting and 18
have prolonged bleeding which means kind
of like constant bleeding which
yeah that's not fun so that means 59
percent of an exponent users have some
kind of bleeding
and bleeding changes when they've had an
exponent placed and when i counsel
people that's the first thing i talk
about because if you're somebody who has
to know exactly when you're bleeding or
your scheduled withdrawal bleed is going
to be
or you're somebody who wants absolutely
no bleeding this method is not for you
so what do we do if you call us and say
i'm having some spotting and some
bleeding and i really need to do
something about it
the first thing we need to do is make
sure it's not from something else
so all that bleeds is not related to
your birth control it could be a polyp
or a little growth on the cervix
it could be an infection there's just
different reasons that you could bleed
so it's important that we just
get some more information first then
there are some treatments if we
determine it is related to your next
phenomenon
the first thing we often do is we try
something like nsaids like ibuprofen and
we'll tell you to take it for about five
to seven days
and that can actually help decrease the
number of days that you spot or bleed
you might be thinking well i can't take
that every day that's not good for me
what do i do
you're right it's really a short-term
treatment so you might need to do it
here and there but you're right you
don't want to do that every day another
treatment is that we can try
birth control pills or estrogen you
might be thinking um
i'm already on a form of birth control
why are you trying to give me more birth
control
hear me out so birth control pills with
estrogen or just an estrogen pill
can help to stabilize the lining of the
uterus a little bit and so that can help
decrease bleeding
again not a super long term treatment we
usually do it for you know
a week two weeks three weeks to see if
we can kind of stabilize things
but it can help again not a long-term
treatment i hear you
so there are some newer studies out
there in terms of treating irregular
bleeding with medicines like doxycycline
which is an antibiotic
miphipristone celebrex which is like
ibuprofen
so we've got some things that we can try
out there but i hear you irregular
bleeding can kind of suck and if we try
these things or if you don't want to try
them and you just
don't want to deal with the next one
anymore that's okay you can have it
removed
ideally i tell people to try to give it
three to six months or so to see if
they'll tolerate it
but nobody should ever force you to keep
it in if you want it out if that's the
case
you can always get another opinion okay
side effect number two and i kind of
gave you a little preview
no bleeding okay so actually no bleeding
is
totally okay remember twenty percent of
people with the next phenomenon will
have no bleeding
um it's totally safe it's okay and it's
actually something that users really
like especially if people have had
painful or heavy periods in my opinion
next phenomenon is not the best birth
control to get if your goal is to have
no bleeding
but if that does happen yeah if you want
a scheduled bleed to know that you're
not pregnant
and not having a period scares you
because it means you could be pregnant
maybe the statistic that it's 99.95
effective at preventing pregnancy can be
helpful but i hear you if that's
something you want you want to schedule
bleed again not the method for you
third side effect and one that i feel as
gynecologists people are often the most
concerned about
and that's weight gain and i hear you as
a woman myself i totally get it
so with the next one on i'm going to
tell you a number of people who reported
weight gain
but that's not the whole story so stay
tuned so in one study about 12 percent
of people using the next phenomenon
reported weight gain
but only between two and seven percent
actually had the next plan on removed
because of it
however i don't want you to think in
your head okay 12 of people will gain
weight it's not the whole story
because when they looked at these people
a year out and they compared nexplanon
users to people who were not using
hormonal birth control
and only the copper iud there was no
difference in weight gain
let me repeat that again at one year
there was no difference in weight gain
so when people ask me about weight gain
and birth control i'm very honest and i
say depo is the only one that's
associated with weight gain
however if you got an x1 unplaced and
the only thing that changed
not your activity not what you eat not
your stress not anything else
was that an explanon and you've noticed
a 20 pound weight gain well yeah i'm
gonna listen to you and i'm gonna say
maybe we should try and take it out
it's all about not always just relying
on those numbers but seeing the person
in front of you take home message i
don't want you to avoid the next one on
because you're worried about weight gain
but understand that maybe it's
associated we don't have any good data
but i will listen to you if you tell me
that you have that concern another side
effect
acne about 10 to 14 percent of people
who had an exponent placed reported acne
but very few had the next one on removed
because of it and that's really because
we've got lots of really good treatments
for acne
and so we can partner with our
dermatology colleagues and try to figure
out a working solution
again if you want it removed because you
are having trouble with acne and you've
tried things or you just don't want it
you can choose to have it out at any
time there are some other side effects
like nausea breast pain headaches a lot
of these are related to the progesterone
that's in the next phenomenon
we do see those side effects too and
some other progesterone forms of birth
control
we can often talk about ways to deal
with it you know watching kind of what
you eat
exercise you know the occasional
ibuprofen for a headache but if these
are just not okay for you
then yeah we can totally say maybe we
should try a different form of birth
control
i hope that walking through these side
effects has been helpful and seeing that
we do have really good solutions for
some of them
but at the end of the day we will always
listen to you and it is always okay if
you have something
to say you know what i want to switch it
up head down to the comments leave me
any questions or concerns that you have
there and the resources from planned
parenthood and bedsider i really like so
take a look at those
and feel free to follow on instagram and
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that good stuff i hope this was helpful
and happy contracepting and stay safe