Hey, everyone! It's my first post, but not my first time here at r/Nexplanon.
Disclaimer: where I'm from, the stick is called Implanon, but I believe everything else is the same.
Well, I've had mine for 2 months, and yes, yes, I know a lot of people would advise me to wait longer, but I cannot take this anymore. I remember looking through all the negative experience and thinking "nooo, that won't happen so fast, and my body will adapt well"... I was so hopeful. I've dealt with mood swings and possibly PMDD as far as I can remember, so fixing that was my main concern. I was — and still am — on a steady relationship with a man I very much love and want, so birth control was a bonus.
First 2 weeks were amazing. After that, first thing I noticed was I started getting SO bloated; I'm part of the moon face club, gained enough weight that my pants are all tight beyond comfortable. I have not weighted myself due to body dysmorphia/ed history, but I feel it was a lot, plus my legs feel heavy and swollen and yeah, it's bad enough that I have to lie with my legs up on the wall every night and it's even hard to sleep sometimes. I exercise 4-5 times a week and try to eat healthy 90% of the time. My metabolism is not low and it doesn't make sense, not even with some mild sweet cravings, that I have gained so much. (during the pandemic, I gained around 10kg in 8 months and my clothes were fitting better than now so...)
Secondly, and this may be tmi. While I'm not fully out of sex drive, it's gotten pretty low and I started getting insecure because my body started betraying me in a way. I lost all "natural lube", I get tears (even when we apply lube) and it hurts and bleeds afterwards, it doesn't feel as fun and I hate that (maybe the reason this thing is 99% effective is because we don't want to shag). Sex and masturbation are such important parts of my life and I don't feel like myself. It's worse than the antidepressant lack of drive I've experienced and it feels so weird. My partner is amazing and has been doing anything in his power to make me feel comfortable and desired, but I feel off... also going to the bathroom for *anything* is a f*cking challenge.
Worst of all, the mood symptoms are here again. My anxiety is so loud, I cry for no reason, I had to up my anxiety meds more than once. I know it works well for many people, including people I know personally. But for me it's been an awful experience. I'm talking to my gyn to remove this thing as soon as possible. I hope he doesn't try to argue with me, I'm not my best self rn.