Birth Control Pills Driving Me Crazy?!

I haven't been to Jazzercise as much lately. Not because I don't like it anymore, but because I've been so emotionally distraught, and it has progressively gotten worse over the past few months. At first I thought I was turning into a psycho, delusional bitch, but then my psychotic episodes only seemed to fall on the third week before my period every month. I had built up rage. It simmered within me, and the slightest things would set me off. I would go from completely fine to screaming at the top of my lungs, to crying hysterically and locking myself in my bedroom all day.

It's been like that since about September of last year. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, but my husband could pinpoint the time frame which I was expected to reach my boiling point and explode, and then I'd feel fine throughout the rest of the month. It took me until last month when I was fumbling through my bag and grasped the cause of my new found vindictive personality in my hand. The beige compact case. I opened it up and looked at it, and for a split second I wondered, could it be my birth control pills conjuring up my monthly rage and causing me to go ballistic?

At first I thought it was nonsense. But then the more I thought about it, the more things started to add up. These little tablets have different levels of hormones. The third week of pills have the highest levels of hormones, which would most likely explain my severe moodiness.

Just to be sure, I went back to the doctor and he ended up prescribing me a different birth control pill called Yaz. It has lower doses of hormones that will help treat symptoms of PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) which is a severe form of PMS.

So here I am, once again. I just finished up my last week of crazy pills (I've been taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo for the past year) and am about to start this new birth control pack. I'm really nervous about it after reading all the reviews and a lot of them seemed to be negative with SCARY side effects, but I have to at least try it. It may or may not work, but here's to hoping that Yaz can bring back my sanity.

How to Make Your Hair Grow Faster

This entry is for those who straighten their hair everyday and are wanting to grow it longer. Here are an accumulation of tips and suggestions to help you if you're feeling like it's taking forever to achieve the length you want. First off, I used to be one of those people who flat ironed my hair at least five days a week. For the past year I've been able to tone it down to only about three times a week, every other day. And if I do straighten my hair, I always use a heat protectant to lessen the damage.

While there are many serums and leave-in treatments out there that claim to prevent split ends, the truth is, they don't completely protect your hair, but only work to minimize the damage. If you're trying to grow your hair longer, you have to stay away from heat as much as possible. That means no blow-drying, no curling irons, no flat irons, etc. Excessive usage can cause split ends and dry, brittle hair that will constantly break off and deter hair growth.

Hair that is constantly straightened chemically or with heat appliances= Ugly Damaged Hair

Also, stay away from hair dyes and bleach. I learned this the hard way when I went through my "I want to be a brunette" stage and dyed my hair every month. Here's a picture from 2009.

Eventually it wore down my hair so much that it kept breaking off and getting thinner so I had to chop it all off to chin length last year. I also ended up dying it back to my natural color, which is very dark brown. Here's a picture of my hair from May 2010.

So short ha? :(


Since then it's been about ten months and my hair grew about 6 inches. Here's a recent picture taken a couple weeks ago.

Not too bad. And that's with trims when I felt like I needed it. It's a lot healthier now that I haven't dyed my hair in almost a year. Also, a lot thicker. My husband said it looked like a mullet before because a lot of it fell out from the bleaching lol.


Anywho, back to the growing part yes? Give up the bleach, lessen flat ironing. Three times a week MAXIMUM if you want your hair to grow! And always use a heat protectant when you straighten. Deep condition once a week, and when you feel you need it, trim your ends. Depending on how damaged your hair is, you don't need to trim it every month, because hair only grows an average of half an inch a month, thus trimming it every month would defeat the purpose of retaining any length.

And on days when you do go natural, if you have wavy hair like me, you might want to invest in a good curl enhancing spray. I fell in love with John Frieda's Dream Curls Curl Perfecter Spray:

It runs around 5 bucks a bottle, but works really well to give you those effortless beach waves that so many women try to achieve with a curling iron. I used to hate my wavy hair before but after I discovered this product I was able to work with it. Right after you get out of the shower, squeeze out your hair of excess water, then spray about 5 or 6 times or more if your hair is thicker and longer, comb it through with a wide tooth comb, than add your favorite hair serum and comb through once more. Let your hair air dry and voila! Instant beach wave model lol.

Keep in mind it works best on wet hair. I tried it on dry hair and it made it crunchy. Also, this doesn't really work on people who have stick straight hair. Wavy or curly haired people only. Lastly, I can't swear by it because I've only been doing it for a month, but try taking a multivitamin. My mother-in-law bought me a bottle for hair, skin, and nails, by sound body but there are plenty out there for you to choose from. I also heard that taking prenatal pills help as well, but I've yet to try it. Personally, I don't think it makes your hair grow faster, it just gives your body the vitamins it needs to keep your hair strong and healthy so it can grow.

That's pretty much it. I will wait another few months before posting an updated picture of my hair. Till then, best of luck and happy hair growing! :-P

Summer Plans

I've been so distracted lately. Mainly because I've been thinking about summer and baby and I have plans to fly back to San Diego for a week. Plane tickets are so cheap right now, wish I could purchase them but of course the military doesn't allow for such early planning. Still waiting to hear whether or not he gets deployed. Till then, I reminisce on a couple beach pics from 2009. Sigh.

Just Stop

I'm sick of you putting me down all the time, saying what I do isn't enough. Because it is. So shut up already and get off your high horse because if it weren't for me you would have to do everything yourself. Kthnxbai.

Not a Fan of the Dentist

I've probably spent a fourth of my life in the dentist's office getting something done. It's like every time I go in, they ALWAYS find something wrong, whether it be a cavity, an old filling that needs to be replaced, another crown, wisdom teeth removal, braces, HEAD GEAR (I had to wear one for a year in elementary school ugh!!) and the list goes on and on and on. My parents must have spent thousands on my teeth already and yet next week I'm going back to the dentist AGAIN to get more work done.

I just had my annual cleaning this morning and apparently my last silver filling is leaking and needs to be replaced with the new tooth colored fillings they have now. Luckily insurance is covering most of it, so I won't be paying much. Other than that, my dentist said everything else looks great and I've been keeping my teeth pretty clean.

I'm hoping this is the last thing they need to "fix". I really think they're doing it more for cosmetic purposes rather than decay, but whatever. I'm not paying much anyway, and after that's done, I won't have a single silver filling in my mouth! Yay!

However, if they still find something wrong with my teeth at my next annual cleaning, someone is going to get punched.

And now a pic of me flashing my pearly whites. Cheeeeese!!!!!!!!

How to Train Your Husband?

I have a very bullheaded man in the house who has a difficult time listening. He is worse than my dogs.  Also, he is very careless and clumsy. Leaves his dirty socks on the living room floor, brushes his teeth like a child and splashes water and toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror. You get the picture.

Is there hope for me?

I just dropped him off for his Florida training trip. I get a whole week to myself, so I plan on cleaning the house until it is meticulous, and it will stay that way.....until he comes back on Sunday. In the meantime I will enjoy my Ethan Allen catalog home.