Body changes symptoms and conditions

WOW!!!! Omg.. I am so glad I recently got off Nuvaring. I recently moved and had several changes in my life, so I wouldn't be able to get more Nuvarings for a while.. I had one left and was going to use it, but after some reading online, I decided to not use that last one and to go off of it and see what happens. After reading all your comments online, I FINALLY understand what's been going on! omg and I thought I didn't really have any side effects...didn't think that my behavior and body changes related to NR. Now I know! I feel pretty sure it's because of NR, as it feels like it all makes sense now!
So, I have been using NR for about 2 years. The first month was awful, as I was bleeding pretty much all the time, and I saw a doctor about it and decided to see what happens with the next ring, we decided if it didn't get better after the second cycle started to check again and maybe go off of it, after given it some more time as it sometimes takes a while for the body to got used to it. As soon as I started the next cycle and put the second ring in, it was great and felt normal and like everything got stable. My periods we lighter and exactly on time, every month, now for the past 2 years. I've felt it's worked great, and I thought that I wasn't really affected by Nuvaring..until now!! I'm so mad I didn't realize earlier that NR may have been causing all my problems! Although I am glad that I have now stopped it and discovered all these people having similar problems and I feel like I finally have found the reason.
I thought NR was great for me until now I realize that my weight gains and emotional craziness sometimes was probably caused by it. Being sad and angry and pissed off without any big reason, tired and feeling like I don't want to do anything, weak sometimes, just pretty much instable. I thought all of this was related to various sad things happening in my life, and probably it was too, but some of my behavior should not be happening and now I understand what might have caused it.
Regarding the weight gain, I have for many years been able to eat pretty much anything and not gain weight, being about 5'6-5'7 and weighing about 57 kilos (about 125 pounds), I suddenly started gaining weight for the past few years, and not being able to lose to much, it's been soo annoying!! I thought it was because I was getting older and my body was changing (I'm 25), but maybe it was NR causing it. Recently I need to watch what I eat all the time, I am often bloated, and I feel like my clothes get tighter and tighter all the time, I can't even wear some of the clothes that I bought a few months or a year ago! Aaahhh!! It finally makes sense!! Thank you to all of you writing about your experiences online. I am so glad to have found so many people with the same symptoms. I thought for so long that I wasn't having any side effects, but apparently I did, without realizing that it was caused by Nuvaring!! Ah....
However, everyone is different, so it might work great for you. I thought it was a great BC for me, but now I realize it very likely that NR caused my problems. I can't believe I didn't realize this earlier, but I'm so happy I now know and have stayed off it. At first I was worried going off of it, as I didn't know what side effects I would have going off something I have been on for 2 years, but so far it's been about 2 weeks without it and nothing major has happened. I hope my periods won't go back to being really painful and heavy though. I had my week off and just didn't start a new cycle putting a new ring in.
Considering all these side effects I think probably were caused by Nuvaring (again, I haven't gotten it confirmed by a doctor, but it makes so much sense now that I think about the last 2 years of behavior changes and most of all the weight changes, as so many of you described as well), I now know NR is not for me..At least not now. It's been very convenient to just think about it twice a month, and it's been great for protecting against pregnancy, but I don't want to deal with all these side effects and I can't wait to see if all these symptoms will go away. I feel like I'm repeating myself but I'm soo glad to now understand and think "ooooooohhh" that's why :)
Again, everyone if different, so it might be work great for you. If you are experiencing similar side effects, please consider going off it. If you're on NR and feel great, that's great! It can be a great BC. Good luck everyone!

I'm also on Doxycycline Hyclate, 100 MG, twice daily. I've had slight mood swings, and lately I've been worrying about silly things for no apparent reason. Everytime I felt different body changes that normally didn't occur, I would think something is wrong with me when such thoughts were riduclous, especially since I'm 22 and extremely healthy. But I've also been having really weird lower abdomen pressure. It doesn't necessarily hurt, but it's quite annoying. Has anybody else had similar symptoms like this?

Ah, another thing, be careful not to get into the habit of not taking the full dosage of antibiotics prescribed. If you're taking it for an infection and you cease taking it prematurely, the organisms will develop a resistance to it and then it will be more difficult to get rid of.

Also, thanks for the courage to post your concerns. I wasn't aware that this antibiotic could cause such emotional and pshychological trouble! Now I feel a lot better about my own symptoms!

Man, I feel like a woman!! I got that terrible IUD out today! Not joking when I say as it left my body, it was almost like my old self re-entered!! I can't wait to see how much my body changes inside & out! If your having depression, low tolerance, no sex drive, seeing things, and all the other effects it puts you through, GET IT OUT!!
It is seriously hardly painful, as soon as you take a deep breath in, it's out just like that, go ahead take a quick deep breath in-that's how fast it is. No tears, not even eye watering!! Good luck to all of that still have it, but please get it out before it ruins you and everyone else around you!!

~God Bless

Hello all, and may I begin by saying how horrible all of this must have been for everyone of you. I personally have only had side effects that were undesirable after the removal of my first IUD. I had gotten P.I.D. on a camping trip when my Mirena was about three years old. The MD had me on antibiotics for approximately a month, and still the infection returned, so I opted to simply have it out. My period returned in less than two weeks, the heaviest most ragingly painful period I can ever remember having. This resolved by itself over the next month. However for the first time ever, I began experiencing unbelievably bad PMS. Like, PMS with fangs and hand grenades. I had never had such drastic symptoms. This continued every month despite taking YAZ,(approved for PMDD) until I got pregnant again nearly a year after removal of the Mirena. Of course the symptoms went away during pregnancy, no cycle and all. After the baby was born I went for another Mirena and am having no problems, just as before. In fact, this is the only B.C. that I have ever used that does not affect my moods, feelings, sex drive, or weight. I Have no periods, and virtually no cycle as a result, so all things hormonal are drastically decreased. I am writing this to reassure you all that this was the last method of B.C. that I tried over a fifteen year period, and had the LEAST bothersome side effects. The truth is it all will have side effects, and some things don't work for everyone. Don't give up, and try not to decide it's the devil, your body changes completely after every pregnancy, and simply from one life stage to the next. Good luck on your next method, and I hope you all feel better!

coincidentally, i have had two mirena put in, one five years ago then had it removed three years later, then another in august 2007. and within twelve months ended up on antidepressants. with severe depression. i have the hair loss, bloating, cramping, sooo tired all the time, i thought i had glandular fever again as i had it in highschool. but was tested and result was negative. anxiety,heart palpitations, weight gain, (lots) previously ii have never had problems with my weight. i just attributed it to body changes after having children? antidepressants helped with the depression and the moodiness, but not the heart palpitations. have worn a heart monitor several times with inconclusive results, no explanation. my friend was talking to her friend and she is a pediatric nurse, she was describing the same symptoms as me. and put me onto this forum and also a website showing all the side effects from mirena. if this info is correct, it attributes all of my symptoms to the mirena. i had it removed on December 12 2008. no significant changes yet but am hoping for some changes shortly! i know everyone reacts differently to things, but we all have very similar things,in common. so this has to show something if anyone has any suggestions on what we may be able to do about this, let me know. i would be interested in helping others withe same situation. the link on this page about side effects , rates them from very common, to rare. and most of these symptoms we are describing are common. so how safe can this devise really be??? anyway thats my story hope it helps someone, even just for the realization of "it's not me!!"

I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW THANKFUL I AM THAT I HAVE COME ACROSS THIS WEB SITE. UNDERSTAND THAT WE GO THROUGH LIFE WITH MAJOR UPS AND DOWNS AND SOMETIMES WE NEED SOMETHING TO HELP US OUT. BUT AT WHAT COST? EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. AND PERHAPS WITH FAMILY HISTORY AND WHAT NOT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO NEED MEDS TO HELP THEM OUT. I FIRST BEGAN TAKING YASMIN ABOUT 4 YEARS AGO. NEVER THOUGHT MUCH OF IT BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ON BC MOST OF MY LIFE DUE TO BAD PERIODS, WHICH STARTED WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER. UNFORTUNATELY I DID NOT BOTHER TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE FACT THAT AS YOU GET OLDER YOU'RE BODY CHANGES. SO RATHER THAN GET OFF BC I JUST CONTINUED ON WITH IT 1 TO PREVENT PREGNANCY AND 2 IT HELPED THE BAD PERIOD SYMPTOMS AT THAT TIME. OF COURSE YOU READ ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS, BUT THEY GIVE YOU THE "NOT SO BAD" VERSION OF THEM. ALMOST A YEAR AGO I STARTED GETTING HORRIBLE UNBEARABLE MOOD SWINGS, ANXIETY YOU NAME IT. SO I DECIDED TO GO TO THE DRS. TO FIND OUT WAS WRONG BECAUSE I HAD SIMILAR SYMPTOMS TO A THYRIOD PROBLEM, BUT THERE WAS NO PROBLEM BECAUSE MY TONS OF BLOOD WORK I KEPT TAKING CAME BACK FINE. SO THE DR PRESCRIBED WELLBUTRIN AND LEXAPRO. I WAS DESPERATE AND JUST WANTED TO FEEL GOOD AGAIN. THE FIRST COUPLE MONTHS WERE ROUGH BECAUSE OF THE SIDE EFFECTS AND THEN THE MEDS STARTED TO WORK AND EASE EVERYTHING UNTIL RECENTLY. I AM BACK TO SQUARE 1! DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING, BASICALLY HAVE ALL THE SYMPTOMS BACK FROM THE SIDE EFFECTS. FROM THE SHAKING TO THE MUSCLE ACHE, MEMORY LOSS, WEIGHT GAIN, THINNING OF THE HAIR(AND IM BLOND AND HAVE FINE HAIR TO BEGIN WITH) WHAT EVERYONE IS AND HAS BEEN FEELING ARE REAL AND NOT JUST STUFF MADE UP IN YOUR HEAD. YOU ARE NOT CRAZY! SO BASICALLY BY JUST TAKING ONE MED LED TO ME TAKING ONE RIGHT AFTER THE OTHER. SO BY THE GRACE OF GOD I STUMBLED ACROSS THIS SITE WHEN I HAD GOOGLED MEDS TO HELP WITH SEVERE MOOD BEHAVIOR. AND THE FIRST THING IT CAME TO WAS THE YASMIN SIGHT AND LET ME TELL YOU I WAS IN SHOCK BECAUSE I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT SIDE EFFECTS IT HAD THAT MIMICED ANXIETY, WHICH LED ME AND MY DRS. TO THINK THAT I HAD ANXIETY, WHICH I DON'T THINK IS THE CASE. I BELIEVE THAT ALL THESE PROBLEMS STEMMED FROM THE YASMIN. I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD HAVE TO BE MISERABLE MY WHOLE LIFE. TO SUM IT UP THE SIDE EFFECTS FROM THE PILL HAD MADE MY BODY HAVE SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY ETC. NEVER HAD ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE. SO I HAD CLICKED ON TO WELL BUTRIN AND LEXAPRO BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN TAKING 450 OF THE XL AND UP TO 40 ON THE LEXAPRO...HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! SO I HAVE TO DECIDED TO STOP EVERYTHING AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS BECAUSE I CANNOT TAKE THIS CRAPY FEELING ANYMORE. MY DAUGHTER, BOYFRIEND, AND FRIENDS HAVE ALL SUFFERED FROM THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THESE MEDICATIONS. THANK GOD I STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT WITH EVERYONE. EXCUSE MY LANGUAGE, BUT I PUT THE BITCH IN BITCH AND NOT PROUD OF IT BECAUSE THAT'S NOT WHO I AM. HOPEFULLY YOU HAVE READ THROUGH BECAUSE IVE READ EVERY COMMENT ON THIS SITE AND IT HAS DONE ME A WORLD OF GOOD, I FEEL LIKE THEIR IS STILL HOPE TO ACTUALLY WAKE UP ONE MORNING AND NOT FEEL TIRED , HAVE A HEADACHE, NOT BE CONSTIPATED AND THE LIST GOES ON. SO LADIES YOU ARE NOT ALONE, IT IS HAPPENING TO YOU AND HOW YOU CHOOSE TO FIX IT IS ALL UP TO YOU IF IT HELPS THEN STICK WITH IT,BUT IF YOU'RE FED UP AND MISERABLE LIKE ME, RID YOU'RE BODY AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. I WILL DEFINITELY GIVE AN UPDATE TO WHAT HAPPENS AND IF THE MEDS WERE THE CULPRIT OF MY PROBLEMS.

hi all. thanks for writing your comments here. it has helped me today, another HORRIBLE day of prednisone hell. i have been seriously ill for 8 months been told ever other week I'm likely going to die from lung disease (i'm 35) and after a painful lung biopsy have been told my lung problems are almost all reversible... after a year on high dose prednisone. i was on 40mg a day for a month a while back and was so out of control from rage and crying and insomnia and panic/suicidality, ravenous appetite, that they lowered me to 30. then after biopsy they said i should be on 100mg to cure me, we settled at 60mg. it's been 24 days. The moon face started about one week in. i've gained 8 lbs. i am an emotional wreck. i have at least one rage filled attack per day where i am screaming and want to kill somebody or destroy something. some days i am so filled with hopelessness and worry i just want to die. my body changes (after just losing 30 lbs and being a work out fanatic my shortness of breath makes it impossible to walk up 2 flights of stairs without resting) face changes, acne, excess body hair (oh my god please make it stop i'm like a chia pet and i'm so afraid it is going to get worse) double chin, puffy eyes and cheeks, absolutely uncontrollable emotions and mood swings, inability to be logical or reasonable. i don't want to leave the house, i'm panicked and scared all the time. i never sleep. ambian gives me minimal relief (just started taking it) i feel like i'm losing everything, except my lung functioning is returning and i'm not going to die from this illness (they assure me THIS week) i understand light at the end of the tunnel, but living like this is unbearable most days, almost impossible the rest of the time. am i alone with the severity of this? or are all the others like me too busy hiding the sharps and crying in a corner to write on this board? thanks for listening :)

figures, forgot to mention what HELPS. no eating after 8 (7pm is better) no salt, no sugar, exercise, even just a walk every day, anything physical, i walk like a grandma on the treadmill but i still do it, sometimes it is the only thing that stops my crying. no alcohol, support and understanding from loved ones, it's not you, its the drugs. good luck.
figures, forgot to mention what HELPS. no eating after 8 (7pm is better) no salt, no sugar, exercise, even just a walk every day, anything physical, i walk like a grandma on the treadmill but i still do it, sometimes it is the only thing that stops my crying. no alcohol, support and understanding from loved ones, it's not you, its the drugs. good luck.

This site has made me realize that I am not crazy. Well, now I am... But not for long, I have had my Mirena since 2/2005 after the birth of my daughter. Yes, there was a lot of cramping at first and the insertion was awful. The Dr. reassured me that I would begin to feel better and gave me time frames as to when cramping and bleeding should stop and may even stop completely. Wow, this is great! I thought... I nursed my first year and at the 6 month mark my production slowed. I've heard this was normal. I was proud that I had gotten down to the pre-baby weight. No credit to Mirena. This was strictly due to nursing and some exercise. At the year mark I became more and more irritable, per my husband. I was Forgetful or should I say had difficulty holding conversations due to forgetting simple words... I was depressed and just plain mean... He was right. I didn't notice until he said it, I was angry all of the time. I was reluctant to go on any pills; I feared I would be labeled as crazy. So, instead of meds we ended up needing to see a marriage counselor. Yep, after 5 months of babbling about my childhood and bringing about a normal conversation with my husband again, I end up taking medication. I had been convinced this was simply a little postpartum and everybody is depressed after a baby so I was put on some generic version of Prozac (temporarily). Had some dizzy spells at work (very embarrassing). In the summer of 2006 I started have pain during sex. I could tell it was coming from the ovary. It was on my left side. Of course, my husband had to deal to with the constant feeling of rejection. I was thinking I'm just constipated and the added pressure is well... you get the idea... Hurting everything else. After a few months of this I made an appointment with my OB doctor. I had a 5 cm cyst! I was told this could burst or possibly twist. Then I am restricted to no sex and light exercise. Within 3 months that cyst burst it sent a burning sensation through my abdomen to my upper thighs. I have a lot of abdominal pain and bloating. I went in several times later but was never diagnosed with having anything wrong. Suggested to see an Oncologist (never went). Now to the current year of the Mirena... I mentioned earlier that I had lost all of my weight back to 114 pounds (I'm petite). Within the last 4 months I have put on 17pound and still climbing. I am having some horrible pains on the right side now which I know is the return of another one of those cysts. It must be a dozy, this one really hurts. And having acne breakouts of a teenager. So let’s review... From this post I have experienced the depression, cyst, weight gain, acne, forgetfulness, dizziness, stomach pains, bloating. I want it out I had scheduled to get it done on 7/17. My husband freaked and now has scheduled to get a vasectomy. He has asked me to wait until his procedure has been done before I go through with it. So, I am waiting but am interested to hear how soon we become normal again when all foreign objects and medications has been removed.

update to my 06/17 post:
took 4 Advil before I left the house and then downed a Percocet 15 min. from the office. Knew PAIN would be involved after having a biopsy a few yrs. ago of the ute, AWAKE in the doc. office and was not in the mood for another bout similar to it. I was ready for the removal. First thing off the charts was my blood pressure. 150/100. Explained the cause of a few of my symptoms. Then went through that long laundry list of odd phys. problems since insertion 11/07. She asked me what I wanted to do. Ah, remove it, now please. She did and it DID still hurt. Asked me if I wanted to see it.. ah, no thank you. Scheduled the pre-op for July 7th. Again have to have internal sonogram done of ute and ovaries to see how much she will 'leave me with' when its all said and done. Expect bag of multiple fibroids to the be very least of the removal procedure. Would be very happy to be able to keep at least one ovary. Not sure how cystic they are for that to be possible. Mirena can also cause cysts on the ovaries of which I've already dealt with for the past 25+ yrs. and knowing such I am baffled as to why she didn't warn me about this little side effect. Hoping such cysts haven't ruined my chances of keeping some form of continued hormone secretion naturally.
Bled a bit through-out yesterday. No bleeding at bed time or any today, so far, which is a first since May 22nd. Feeling better in all aspects but not sure if it is actually because the Mirena is out or if my mind is playing games due to the removal. ; ) Will give myself a few weeks now to see how my body changes before the big surgery before I post again. Good luck to all.

I actually LOVED the convenience of the NuvaRing. However, I felt that over time, my sex drive had deteriated, I was getting more moody and irritable, and tired all the time. After talking to my Dr., she suggested that I try a low dose pill for a while and see if that helps. Regardless to taking any form of birth control, she told me, the female body will still have hormone changes and other body changes that are not controlled by or a side affect of your form of BC. It could very well have been that my body was changing on it's own, and due to that, I needed a BC change as well. I see some of you blame the Ring for some symptoms that could just be natural to your own specific body type. Talk to your Dr. to see if a switch would be the right thing for you. There may be other factors like stress, depression, anxiety and anemia that make your symptoms worse, not your NuvaRing.

Well sure wish I saw this site before I had mine put in.I am 39 with 1 child and may or may not want another. I have a low tolerance for birth control pills, tired of using condoms and practically have just used my body changes and a calendar to plan for the risky times till now. I had the Mirena put in on March 3 2008 and have experienced such a huge change in myself that I decided to google side effects tonight after only a week. I have no energy, my sleep schedule is all worked now. I cant sleep for more than 3-4 hrs at a time. I have the flu like symptoms going now, headache for over 6 days. I am feeling mini heart palps and pains in lower back and legs and the nausea is getting old already. Reading the posts here, doesn't look like I am going to look forward to the rest of the symptoms either. I know each individual responds differently to things and will stick this out for a few more weeks but it looks like it wont be around by this time next month. Good luck to each and every one of you ladies. Peace

I started having sex for the first time a few months ago with my boyfriend, so I decided to go to the Obgyn and get on birth control for the first time. Before I went to the doctor I did quite a bit of research to decide what type of birth control I wanted to get. I got to the doctor and she suggested NuvaRing. I hadn’t considered the option much but from what she said it sounded very convenient and simple. I liked the fact that you could just leave it in and not worry about it. She told me that she had many patients who really liked it and didn’t list many side effects that sounded too unbearable. I decided to start it but regretted it very soon after. The first week went fine and I didn’t notice any side effects at all. Then about a week after ending my period, I started another one! At first I thought it might just be spotting because it was listed as a side effect and the bleeding wasn’t heavy at all. I kept waiting for it to go away but it kept on coming, and getting worse! Three days into it I was bleeding more than I do during a normal period. I keep waiting for it to stop but I just keep bleeding and it’s now been going for seven days, four days longer than my periods normally last. It also smells really bad and has a brownish color that is not usually present in my normal periods. I am extremely annoyed and don’t really know what’s happening. I feel really gross all the time and have absolutely no sex drive. Although I haven’t even had sex since starting the ring because of this never-ending bleeding, any other type of sexual activity I engage in either hurts or just doesn’t interest me at all. I have also had cramps and lower back pain persistently since I started using the ring. These pains haven’t been excruciating, but they certainly have been annoying. I thought these were the only side effects until I found this site and started reading. I have been considerably more moody and irritable lately and never really made the connection until now. I don’t usually have too many fights with my boyfriend but lately we have been constantly fighting for really no reason at all. He seems to avoid me and we have been spending a lot less time together and it’s making me quite depressed. I am irritable and impatient at work and everything and everyone seems to annoy me. I am uptight and have trouble letting lose and having fun or finding joy in simple things. I recently had a close friend die, and I just figured this was the cause of all of my emotional problems, but after reading all this I’m starting to think it is NuvaRing that’s causing all these problems! I also read some things about women getting cold sores because of this product, and guess what? I’m getting a cold sore! I’m definitely going to start looking for a new birth control option. I’m very disappointed because at first I thought NuvaRing was a great, simple, convenient option but it’s not at all worth all these side effects.

I have been on Yasmin a little over 2 years now. I have been on other BCP, such as Tri-cycline, Alesse, Diane 35. Yasmin was great in the beginning, no major side affects, except for the breast tenderness. This past year, the breast tenderness has increased and I cannot even touch my breasts. They are larger and very sensitive. I am very moodie, very emotional. Every month now, for the past 4-5 months, I have been having yeast infections. I went to see my gyno and did tests and nothing is wrong. He has no idea why the yeast infection is reoccuring. I've done some research and read other postings and some other women have had the same issue. It's very frustrating and I cannot take having yeast infections every month. I take Yasmin to help with my cramps, and primarily the endometriosis. I have had surgery (5years ago) to remove endometriosis and my gyno mentioned to say on the BCP to decrease the spreading of endometriosis. Although, Yasmin has been a pretty good BCP, I just can't take the breast tenderness and most of all the yeast infections every month. I will be going off Yasmin next month.

I am a 55 yr old female that has battled with asthma my whole life. In the more recent years, it seems to be more related to allergies, than the earlier years when I was more affected by temp changes and activity. I have used a form of albuterol in inhalers for years to control it. About 5 years ago my doctor put me on Serevent and Flovent. Last year he changed me to Advair saying it was the combo of the two of them. I have gained a lot of upper body weight in the last 5 years. I have never had a weight problem until now and can't seem to lose it. I have also developed high blood pressure and have to take meds for that and for "water weight", and joint pain and have to take meds for that. I stumbled onto this forum and it has been a real eye opener. I realize that some of this is due to my age and body changes but I now wonder how much has to do with the medications, particularly Advair. I wonder if I can drop the weight - and therefore lower my blood pressure and cholesterol and maybe lessen my joint pain if I stop the Advair? Has anyone experienced anything like this. My asthma was pretty controllable prior to Advair - Thanks for any info you may have.