Apri symptoms and conditions

I have been on apri for about two years now. I am 21 working college student and was happy with apri for the first year of taking it but in the past 6 months to the past year some side affects have became a problem. I am constantly overly tired and lazy with a complete lack of motivation. I have also had a serious hair loss problem to the point where my mom noticed overly thin hair all of the sudden. I am over all happy with apri but I miss having my normal daily energy. Apri has helped my periods-shorter and lighter with little cramping and my sex drive is fine. Mood swings have increased where I also get irritated way more dramatically over little/nothing things. I am thinking about going off of BC completely for two months to see how it will change me to see if its worth the hair loss, mood swings and complete lack of energy.

I have been on Apri for 3 years and I am suffering from EXTREME MIGRAINES and DEPRESSION. I came off of the drug for a month and was fine just heavier cycles, but was urged by my doctor to get back on and take for 3 months w/o having a cycle (skip the white pills). I am sick again, can barely function. After I finishing this package I have made a vow to myself to never take Apri.

I just started taking birth control after not being on any for 3 years. I have had 2 children and breast feed them. So at first I was put on a low dose pill, but I experienced break through bleeding. So the doctor recommended trying a higher estrogen level pill, Apri. The first month seemed fine, then the second month I bleed in the middle of the pack. Just like a period. I was so annoyed. I then bleed a little during the non active pill week. I cannot have 2 periods a month. I finally got my prebaby body back and then starting gaining weight with this stupid pill. My sex drive is really gone. I'm glad I know that I do have a sex drive when I'm not on the pill. I never realized how much it affects that until I was finally off it during and after pregnancy. I have dealt with bad headaches for years but did not realize it could be linked to the pill. These last two months I have had so many headaches. Some have lasted for days. After doing research I see it can affect migraines/headaches. After all this I was more than ready to stop Apri. I don't know what I will take now. I just want to see what my body really is like without the pill. It was stupid to take the pill to prevent pregnancy, because we didn't have much sex due to the lack of drive. Overall, this pill is bad news!

I have been on the generic brand, Apri for 4 months. HELL!!!!! I am depressed, mood swings like crazy, ZERO sex drive (can't even get wet), losing hair, headaches constantly, acne......it has been awful. I had two active pills left and i had already decided to stop after this month, I couldn't force myself to take another pill. I would NOT recommend this pill, especially if you are researching it because you feel strange on it. I have lost all energy, I can barely get out of bed, no focus.....I am so glad to be off it. I hope it hasn't done long term damage.

So I decided to stop my nuvaring this week, and while I do agree that every person has a different experience with hormonal birth control, this route was just not for me. I have been on BC since I was 15 and have had mixed experiences. Started with Ortho-Tri Cyclin which made me crazy, went to orthocyclin which was great until my insurance stopped covering it, did lo dose Apri for 6 years and found that it made me very lethargic and moody with use over time and i think caused me migraines, switched to the patch and ended up in the hospital with elevated blood pressure during the first week (I was 23 and 130lbs), then tried nuvaring for the last 6 months. Started off well, my period became predictable to the hour and my migraines disappeared. However, I gained 15lbs! I am 5'3" and I know it is the nuvaring because I have been training for a marathon, running 4 days a week, 2 days of weight lifting and eating perfectly! Also, my sex drive is gone, like non-existent until my no ring week when I have my period. I am tired all the time and even though I sleep 8-10 hours a night. I also seem to be waking up once or twice a night. Worst of all, I am depressed and moody for no reason, all the time. I feel so bad for my poor boyfriend who has been walking on egg shells around me because he knows I cry and snap at anything. So I am stopping for a few months to see what will happen, and then maybe consider a copper IUD. I will update this post in a few months and let everyone know what happens.

I've been taking Aviane for a month now and I must say it has been the BEST birth control that I have ever taken! When I was a senior in high school I started taking birth control, Apri (I think that's how you spell it idk), for my mind-numbing cramps and horrible PMS. While it did fix that my mood swings were out of wack, I got horrible acne, and I was hungry 24/7. My body was constantly hungry and I ate SSOO much and ended up gaining 35lb.
Then after a year and a half of that I went to Yaz. Yaz helped my acne and my periods, but made me moody, still hungry, and it KILLED my sex drive. The decreased sex drive was definitely the worst part of the Yaz. I was so dry 'down there' that sex was painful and I was never turned on.
Now that I'm on Aviane my sex drive is INCREDIBLE. I love having this feelings again for sex and my boyfriend definitely loves it lol. Also, it has decreased my appetite and I've already lost 10lb. from being on it. I will admit that when I started taking it I was a little moody, but now I feel fantastic.
Different birth controls have different effects on everyone, but I'm more than happy that I found one that works for me :)

okay;; im sure your supposed to stay on these pills for awhile to get used to them. but i was on apri before;; and hated it and im considering switching back. this was the worst pill i had ever taken! im only done with my first row and half of the second and so far here is what happened :: im having a lot of aggression didn't happen until i was on this pill. i have grabbed my sister and dug my nails into her and i bit myself;; why i don't know. i drew blood both times. normally im the type of girl who cries when upset and im always happy. i don't ever do those things. i already got my period and i take them at the exact same time every day! never missed any of them. with bad cramps. they are putting me on Yasmin;; which idk about. if Yasmin don't work im switching back to apri. oh and this pill didn't help with acne at all;; it actually broke my face out. apri helped me with that. anyways i don't think it was for me and other websites have shown its clearly not for a lot of people.

i just got switched to apri, from trinessa, to control the mood swings that trinessa gave me, someone please tell me they had a positive experience with apri, all im reading is how horrible the mood swings are.

I get very sick when I get my period, they are long and heavy, and I have digestion problems and intense stomach pains for at least 1-2 weeks before and the week of. These symptoms disappeared for a while when I was on Apri (desogen) but after a few months, they came back, and on top of it, I became severely depressed and had such bad stomach pains, I went to the emergency room (and you pretty much have to drag me to hospitals).

This last period was so bad though that I finally decided to take the sample pack of Loestrin that my doctor gave me a month or two ago. Just a day after I started taking it, my period ended and the pain and bloating was gone. This is day 6 and I'm fine so far. On Ortho Tri-Cyclen (my first pill) I had bad side effects the first few days and gained ten pounds in two weeks.

I'm glad these forums exist, because they helped me realize that all of the depression (including suicidal thoughts), stomach pain, hair loss, etc. etc. were side effects of desogen. All of those things that contributed to the worst summer of my life disappeared as soon as I stopped taking it.

On the other hand, I have to point out that there is no "good" pill or "bad" pill. The side effects will be different for everyone. Some women need more estrogen, some need less. Some need fluctuating amounts of hormones and some need the same dosage all month. Unfortunately the only way to figure out what is right for you is to try them, note your reactions, and research the differences between pills. I realized quickly that I needed a low, stable dose of estrogen, which led me to try Loestrin. Not saying things can't go wrong from here, but now I am aware that if I fall into some depression, anxiety, weight gain, or other weird side effects, it *may* be caused by the pill I'm taking.

Is the pill worth it? Again, answers will vary depending on your lifestyle. Are your periods manageable or do they cause you not to be able to get out of bed in the morning? Are they consistent or are you praying you're no pregnant every month? Are condoms working for you or aren't they, and is the 2% chance of still becoming pregnant worth the risk?

While I've had bad experiences with some pills, I'm just grateful for this BC option in general. Until they figure out how to make birth control pills for men (pshh.. that'll be the day) then it's up to us to research and maek the best decisions for ourselves.

I'm 39 and have been on Coumadin for about a month. Was diagnosed with DVT in right calf after taking Yaz birth control for only about 4-5 months (no other pre-conditions - I'm a non-smoker, fairly active, not overweight, no recent airplane trips or long car rides.) I was on Yaz to treat severe problems with my period which has been the case since I was a teenager, but I was tired of having to call in sick to work every month, and had hoped Yaz would eliminate that problem. I had been on other BCPs when I was in my 20's, and never had any symptoms of clotting, so didn't think that it would be all that risky to try again, despite me being slightly older than the typical woman on BCP. Obviously, I am not taking Yaz anymore, and will not be able to take any other hormonal therapies for the rest of my life. But I guess that's minor compared to the risk of developing PE from an undiagnosed blood clot.

Anyway, I've been noticing I've been getting sudden, severe headaches since starting the Coumadin. I have a history of migraines but I usually only get one or two per year at most. Now I've had what feels a lot like a migraine twice in a matter of a couple weeks. My husband has also commented that I've been irritable and acting "spacy".

My INR has also been all over the place. They've been alternating me between 5 mg and 7.5 mg per day. For the first few weeks I was right where they wanted me - between 2 and 3, but then last Friday my results were 4.6!! Way too high. I go back this afternoon to see if anything's changed over the weekend, after skipping a dose and then doing 5 mg Sat. and Sun. I do hope they can find the right balance and don't have to keep tinkering with the dosage. I'm wondering if that's what's contributing to the headaches. Maybe if they can stabilize how much I'm taking from day to day, my body will adjust.

I wonder if anyone "official" is tracking the number of DVT/PE patients that can trace their onset of symptoms to Yaz. My sense is that this is a much more serious and prevalent side effect than their marketing dept. would like to admit.....

I began taking Yasmin in July 2006. I had been on bcp for about 10 years at the time, mostly due to bad cramps and pms symptoms. Yasmin worked out well, but there was just one side effect, I would become extremely emotional right before my period. In October 2007 I went for my yearly check-up and mentioned this to my doctor. He switched me to Apri (Desogen) saying that this would be a better pill for that side effect. I began taking it that next month. Right away I had feelings of nausea and breast tenderness. Even though I felt like this I gave Apri a chance. In January 2008 I couldn't take feeling like this anymore and stopped taking it. In February I noticed my hair began falling out. I hadn't gotten a period this month either. I went to the doctor in March and she ran many blood tests. My estrogen came back extremely low (at a level of a menopausal woman). Instead of exploring any other options as to what to do, the doctor put me right back onto Yasmin, since now I went two months without a period. I figured that I would have to learn to live with a little moodiness before my period that Yasmin gave me. The doctor also made me believe that this would put an end to my hair loss...Nothing could have been further from the truth!!! I went back on Yasmin in March 2008 and what a HUGE difference than from the first time I was on it. Not only was I emotional now ALL the time, but I physically felt much worse. I had constant breast tenderness, acne (which even as an adolescent I never had), oily skin, and my hair was constantly falling out. Emotionally I was a wreck! I was constantly crying and very depressed! I began going from doctor to doctor, which is unlike me. I hate doctors and would only go for a serious illness. Now I was hoping that one of these doctors could give me an answer. But 6 months later and NO ANSWERS. The only thing that a few doctors said was that Yasmin was good for those with hair loss. So after reading many of the entries on this website and after much soul-searching...I am going off birth control for good!!! I have lost well over half of my hair, have practically pushed everyone that means anything to me away, and have personally hated myself! I have literally lost the past 6 months of my life! It is now time to see what my body is capable of on its own. I'm done putting this poison into my body and would tell anyone else to do the same. I always knew that there were side effects associated with any kind of medicine, but I could not have ever imagined that all of these side effects could have and would have happened to me. I felt like I had to write this after reading all of the other entries. Many of those entries gave me the courage to quit and I would be happy if this could help or inform even just 1 person! I would appreciate if there were anyone out there that had a similar experience to either post it or reply. Thank you.

Wow. I thought I was going crazy. I have PMDD and go through my 'psychotic' periods the week and a half before my period starts. I had the worst one ever last/this month. I don't think I have experienced anything this bad before. I started YAZ at the beginning of May. I tried Apri before and it caused me to have my period for 18 days, followed by 7 days of brown gunky blood and then my period for 15 days. On YAZ, my period lasted 11 days. I normally have a 5-8 day period which is very heavy. It was not as heavy, but it lasted longer with intermittent days of the brown gunky blood. I have also been experiencing more frequent panic attacks and depression. My stomach has been upset and my head has been hurting constantly. I am used to getting migraines, but not normal headaches. I have also experienced dizziness. One think I did not attribute to the YAZ is the change in my vision. But I read in a prior post that someone has had an issue with that also.

I have had the above symptoms because of other ailments, but they were basically gone, until I started the YAZ.

After reading all these posts I am shocked I didn't do research on this bc sooner. I got off the pill last July and developed an ovarian cyst. My gynecologist suggested I go back on the pill to try and dissolve the cyst, well that hasn't happened...I still have one on my right ovary and it isn't big enough for them to remove. I do not want to stay on bc but my doctor insists that I do to get rid of the cyst. I have had terrible side effects from Loestrin that I never had when I took Apri....I stopped taking Apri due to the high level of hormones. I have had really bad acne and dryness of skin even though I moisturize, I have been randomly crying over the stupidest situations, and I get side cramps a lot. There are a lot of things that are going on in my life that are positive and ever since I started taking this bill I keep getting down. I wish there was another way to get rid of this cyst! I hate taking birth control....anyone know a better one to take?

I have been on yaz for a month now. I was taking apri before and was switched when I found out that I possibly had a cyst that has burst. I was in a lot of pain, but the gyno said that she thought taking birth control would help but didn't like what I was taking. So now for the past few weeks, I can't sleep, dizziness, headaches, crying hysterically for no reason, lack of sex drive, extreme fatigue, irritability, moody, feeling hopeless, feeling out of it, can't remember things very well, can't concentrate, and my eyes are sometimes blurry. I am hoping this is just an adjustment period. But after reading other peoples side effects, I am starting to wonder. I will wait another month or two, but if it doesn't stop, I am going back to apri.

For five years, I did fine with Apri until drugstore.com stopped carrying it and started sending me Reclipsen (another generic Desogen). Now I'm getting nausea, PMS and hot flashes. At first I thought the change was because I'm getting closer to forty, but now I wonder if it's some change in the generic drug.

Recently i got switched from Apri (generic for Yasmin) to Balziva. My new gyno said it would be more effective with the other medications (Lamictal and Zoloft) and would help with pms symptoms. For the past few months that I've been on Balziva I've been very depressed and moody. I have two periods a month, which are very painful, breast pains, headaches, nausea, insomnia and frequent break outs, i thought all of which were normal with the switch. Then i started researching Balziva and other closely related pills and all the results found to be very similar.. all with side effects of depression. If you have depression or any similar disorder, reconsider when taking this medication, I am thinking of switching myself, it's nice to get this information from other women in the same situation.. because I sure didn't get it from my doctor. Of course I can't pin point this straight to this exact drug, but it all started once i got on Balziva, and after reading so many other womens comments it makes a lot more sense, mostly with why I have been so down. I hope this helps anyone else looking for answers

I thought desongen and apri were the same? I got switched from desongen to apri 3 weeks ago and I feel horrible

I just got switched from desongen which I had been on for over a year to Apri and was told they are the same that one is the generic of the other,. I had never had any noticeable effects from desogen, my sex drive was down but definitely existent. But I found that this month I've been really moody and anxious, has anyone had a similar experience or am I going crazy? Is it even possible if the pills are chemically identical?

I have been on Apri since July 07' and the first 2 months were terrible. I have never had such bad mood swings in my life, I would cry if someone looked at me wrong, and the urge to scream at people is crazy, I have a 7 year old daughter and a 10 year old step son and I have been unable to treat them with the quality that they need, I have been getting mad at them for the littlest things and they are things that they should not even be getting trouble for. My husband is going crazy because if he tries to talk to me about serious things I start crying. I get very gassy and bloated all the time, I have changed my diet and that has only made it worse. I have been on so many bcps because of serious side effects and I am starting to feel like a lab rat. I am just starting the new yaz that has came out, I am starting it today I really hope that I have better results. The only thing that I liked about the Apri was the fact that I didn't gain weight. One more thing the periods were so painful, I have never had this much pain with a period, and I have a past with ovarian cysts and I normally have really painful periods, but with this pill it was way worse. I hope this helps anyone that is deciding a bcp for themselves.

I started taking Apri in March of this year...at first everything was pretty much okay...this was the first pill i had been on so wasnt quite sure what to expect. Although, it was only a short while until i started having bad mood swings, i started feeling extremely anxious a lot of the time (i blamed it on school - im a pre-pharmacy major) but it just kept going throughout the summer even when i was out of school. I sometimes get random stomach cramps at any time of the month. This pill has made me so emotional, i just wanna be back to normal. I have 1 more week of this pack and im considering stopping but i really want to find a new pill! Does anyone have any suggestions. PLEASE?!

I just missed two days of apri due to some prescription issues, but when I went on it again I woke up the next day with nausea and dizziness. Could this be a related side effect?

I went on Apri almost a year ago and had no weight gain, no breakthrough bleeding, virtually no side effects until this summer. I started having anxiety and panic attacks during my spring semester (I'm now a senior in college) and although I usually deal with stress pretty well, I thought that it was just because I was having a rough semester.

But in the past two months I've had a consistent nervous stomach and I've lost almost 15lbs from not being able to eat as much (not a good thing, I'm already a little underweight for my height). I started to have mood swings and that led straight into depression, so bad that even on vacation in Aruba I cried almost every day and night. I felt pathetic and anti-social and angry and basically scared that I'd never come out of this "phase." I called a therapist but couldn't even follow through with that. Then last week I went to the emergency room for severe stomach pain and they did some bloodwork and sent me home because "nothing was wrong." I'm also breaking out, which hasn't happened since I was like 15. Finally I went to a gyno who said this could all be side effects from the pill. If that's true than this all could have been prevented, and that upsets me greatly, but I also feel relieved that this might be over soon.

Everyone is different but if anyone is feeling things like this on Apri, see a doctor because it might be as simple as changing the pill or going off of it completely, which I plan on doing asap. Sorry but using condoms is better than being physically and mentally unstable.

I have been on Desogen for 6 years, within the past 4 months i was switched to Apri. I just now realized that maybe all of these emotional problems i have been having are from this pill. i was somewhat depressed in highschool when i started taking it. so i have figured that this whole time i am just a depressed person. i went off antidepressants cuz i didn't like how i felt and now that i am 22 and i still have this crying all the time crap (that i thought i had mostly just inherited from my mother even tho my sister doesn't have it) i get some days even weeks were i am sad depressed. i always over analyze things which i have heard could be a symptom. So now i am doing all this reseach and i found that in the Side effects of desogen that it says "stop taking this medicine and consult a doctor if you experience any signs of depression (sleep problems, mood changes, etc..) WTF!! can i say that seriously i can't believe it.. and now i am just waiting for my doc to call me back. i dont know if i should quit completely or switch. in a way i would like to quit because i want to know who i am.. what i am normally like! its been 6 years!!! o my goodness phamecuticals are evil!

i have been apri for 2 months and i hated. i have mood swings. my periods 10 times worse. i feel lazy since i have been on the pill. i have gained like 7 pounds in 2 months that really suck. i am more hungry. i feel so depressed all the time.

I have been on Desogen/Apri for years and have had zero problems with it and appreciate the short, light periods. But lately I have wondered if my sex drive (or lack thereof) could be a side effect of the pill. Found this site and am relieved to see it could be related to it. I hesitate to switch pills as I've had so much success on this one, but my husband would enjoy having me in the bedroom again. That's the only side effect I've experienced.