Period On Mute: My 6-Month Symptomless Cycle

To understand my excitement, you must hear about the frustrations of my cycle beforehand. I’m going to be transparent and let you know that I didn’t know a symptomless cycle was possible. For starters, my cycle has only been painful a handful of times, and I attribute that to the big, bad, beautiful wolf I call birth control. Hey, listen, you can say what you want about birth control, but it was good to me until recently, and I’ll catch you up on that in a bit.

Why are periods painful?

In a nutshell, inflammation and contractions affect me and my three-to-three-and-a-half-day cycle. I only experienced light cramping the day before it started and on day two. Yes, you read that correctly. Three days, and it was a wrap.

You may be thinking this is about to be a fluff post because three days should be a breeze. Well, you’re wrong! My cycle was an emotional rollercoaster before I even realized I was different on those days. I was experiencing a short period filled with body aches, random cramps, unbalanced emotions, and more.

Right, I explained what most girls and women experience during their periods. My friends would always say they wished their periods were as short-lived as mine. I always said to be careful what you ask for.

Here’s what Google says causes painful periods:

Let’s welcome the period puzzle into this chat

Now is the time to get cozy because it wasn’t easy to see the bigger picture. I was on birth control for… OMG, too many years! I didn’t know any better. Don’t judge me!

I wasn’t even trying to control childbirth! F*ck! This is starting to sound bad, but hold on. I meant exactly what I said, though. I wasn’t trying to control birth; I wanted my period erased! It was so easy to just get the Deprovera shot and have the clinic stalkers scream at me as I walked into my seasonal appointments, thinking I was getting an abortion! I was… I was happily aborting my monthly cycle.

My cycle was causing all kinds of havoc on my body, so I stopped it. The highly controversial Depo shot didn’t give me symptoms like most women had complained about. I barely gained weight; I wasn’t spotting or anything else. I was happy, level-headed, and enjoying my life. A time was being had, you hear me!

Snap the birth control piece to the hormonal imbalance puzzle piece.

Years have passed, and suddenly my body is feeling like crap. At first, I thought maybe I was stressed. I was correct, but the stress was not continuous at all. Then, I thought my eating habits had changed. I was wrong because I eat pretty well and I’m pretty healthy.

Out of nowhere, I started spotting in between my Depo shots. Yeah, that was alarming, but then I started developing breakouts, and that almost made me go crazy. That was the icing on the cake because I’m not acne-prone.

When I tell you I haven’t been on depo since my skin lost its mind, I mean it. The spotting I could handle, but my face being attacked—no, ma’am, absolutely not!

Now, piece together the hormonal imbalance to period products

I have a sensitive body. After 7 months of sobering my body from the Deprovera shot, I went through chaos. Everything felt like a learning experience I didn’t ask to be enrolled in. My body didn’t know right from left, to say the least.

Weaning my body from being pumped full of God knows what was awful. I was having two periods a month, sometimes 6–9 days long. Like, excuse me, but WTF?

No joke, I was miserable. My body couldn’t even handle tried-and-true products. Midol didn’t work, tampons didn’t stand a chance, and pads were highly irritating to my skin. I felt like using tampons was hurting my body and causing my cycle to last longer.

I switched to organic everything, and… why are those products not up to par? I can’t pinpoint the actual problem with organic menstrual products, but something isn’t up to my liking. So Tampax it was. Hey, I told you earlier not to judge me!

Connecting the last symptomless cycle puzzle piece

Insert the reusable Flex disk. Literally!

At this point (month 8 free of Deoprovera), I was ready to try anything. Honestly, I would have been at ease with getting down to one normal cycle a month. I wasn’t looking for a miracle; I just needed a break from the chaos. However, I did find a miracle.

I was scrolling on TikTok and I saw a creator talking about how much she loved the Flex disk, so I drove to Target and purchased one. I wasn’t familiar with the product, and it was said to be different from the standard menstrual cups and disks. I’m glad to report the trendy hashtag “TikTok Made Me Buy IT”!

I knew the Flex disk was my jam after my first cycle using it. I felt amazing, and it was simple. I insert it, and the best part is that you can’t feel anything. I slept with zero spotting. I didn’t need to use a panty liner or pads. I used one product, and that alone made me fall in love.

The Flex disk gave me more flexibility

During month two of using the reusable Flex disk, I noticed that my cycle was almost back on track. It was the first time in nine months that I had two cycles within the right window. My cycle still wasn’t back to 3–4 days, but it was tracking correctly, so I was becoming myself again.

My hormones were starting to rebalance. If you catch my drift, I was ecstatic!

My body was cooling off. Between the second and third cycles using the Flex disk, I noticed I wasn’t stressed like in previous months. I wasn’t getting stubborn migraines, body aches, cramps, or spotting. I was getting more sleep, and my skin was settling down with random breakouts. Specifically, I hadn’t experienced a breakout since the first month of using the Flex disk.

A symptomless cycle from month to month

It’s been six months of having a symptomless cycle. It only took two months to calm my body, and I still don’t understand the magic of the Flex disk. I just know that this is what’s working for me currently.

From month three until now, and ongoing… The body aches are gone, cramps are gone, migraines are gone, and breakouts are gone. My hormones seem to be operating correctly.

Whatever network my body is connected to is a blessing. The signal is great; it’s fully online; it’s not glitching; it is strong; and I’m happy with the service.

In conclusion:

I truly believe the Flex disk allowed my body to disconnect from harsh period products and freely allowed my body to shed how intended. I was filling my already hormone-packed body with more toxic material, and that never made any sense.

Don’t get me wrong, Tampons are awesome, but I couldn’t use them like before I was on Birth Control. The damage was brewing for the entirety of the birth control stint. I doubled down on being toxic. OMG, I can’t believe I just said that, haha!

My period now understands the assignment. It shows up on time, sticks around for 3–4 days, leaves, and returns as scheduled without problems.

You’re probably thinking, well, what lifestyle changes did I make?

The short answer is that I have the same lifestyle, but the quality has improved. I still eat fairly decently, I’m a bit more hydrated, and the week before my cycle, I removed sugar-filled snacks. I’m living in a well-crafted simulation because my symptomless cycle is so surreal. I love it here!

P.S. I’m still not controlling childbirth, but do what you want with that information! haha!