Crunches symptoms and conditions

I have always been thin -- not waif-like, but proportional and around a size 8. I never had a six-pack, but did have a flat stomach and good core muscles. The other consistency about my health was that a little extra exercise usually produced quick gains in strength and stamina. Not so much now. Keep in mind that I'm a runner and eat fairly well...

I had my Mirena placed on the day that I finished a 6K -- in May 08. (Literally went home to shower, took a PB&J sandwich to snack on during the procedure lol, and went to the clinic.) It's June 09 and I'm having it removed tomorrow. I've had the weight gain, very oily hair, and I don't care what the doctors say: I can feel that little sucker! My stomach has been bloated-looking for a year. Yet, ANY time I do any sort of ab workout (i.e. a few crunches) I have cramping for the rest of the day. I've gone up a size or two and none of the pants I wore last year fit me. I've had my thyroid checked to make sure it's not burning out... I've second-guessed everything except the Mirena.

I've had back pain, but it's upper not lower... so that's probably unrelated. I was being treated successfully for depression prior to my Mirena being placed... although I have had to up my dosage within the last 6 months. My periods did go away about 6 months in, but if I do strenuous ab activity (like I did on Friday) within a few days I will have bleeding. Like today ;) So, the advantage of fewer periods... not an advantage if you can't even predict the week you will be bleeding!

Like many of you here... i am extremely happy to have found this website. I have been on Yasmin for about 5 years (frightening!!) and not until yesterday did i realize that all of the peculiar things that have been happening to my body must be connected to this pill. Let's start with the weight gain...

I am 5'9" and have always weighed about 128-132 lbs... As soon as i started taking the pill i jumped up to 138lbs and then over the course of 2-3 years peaked at 160 lbs!! I have struggled to lose that weight for years, exercising daily (with a trainer and also running, doing bikram yoga etc) and eating immaculately (under the supervision of one of New York's best nutritionists..) the result?? not much! i have struggled to lose 10 lbs and have remained at this weight (around 150 ) for about a year!! no matter how many crunches i do, laps i run, and vegetables/ salmon i eat my tummy and midsection is flabby, bloated etc. and i can't shake this weight

next up... i am always tired but yet have trouble sleeping... lie awake at night clutching my chest thinking i'm having a heart attack. fluttering heart/ palpitations etc. they always pass but i thought i was mad until i came across this site.

phantom leg pains... i have inexplicable cramps in my lower legs... thought they were blood clots. have been to see about 20 doctors... all over the world... been tested for blood clots w/ ultrasound, been tested for nerve damage, muscle damage, bone density issues... you name it. even went down the whole eastern medicine, acupuncture route... NOTHING!! nobody can diagnose it or even locate any issue.

these pains also wake me in the night.

last, but not least, i develop hyperpigmentation when i expose my face to the sun... basically looks like a have a moustache b/c my skin darkens... i know this is normal for any birth control/ hormone pill but figured i'd throw it in anyway! also noticed hair on my lip/ sideburns which i promptly removed with laser but i'm now thinking might have been from the Yasmin.

i am midway through a packet but as of today i am stopping. praying that the weight will fall off and the weird aches and pains and imaginary heart attacks will stop.

thank you all for your posts and good luck! does anyone have any updates as to their progress since getting off it??? i promise to post an update in a few months to hopefully help anyone with similar issues!!

all the best!
GM

I am a 34 year old male. I have been on 80mg of Prednisone 7 days a week for 2 months now. I will be getting my dosage lowered to 60mg tomorrow but am having a difficult time dealing with the Moon face, eye bags, acne, and sleepless nights. I go to the gym 4 times a week and am in shape other than this freak fake head it looks like I have now. Has anyone been able to find a way to make the effects not so noticable..as in diurex or diet pills. I would like to try anything but want to be safe at the same time. Thanks for any help and god bless. David

Hi there... I have just found this site and I'm very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to sit down and tell us their story mine is very similar. BELIEAVE me I feel like I am pushing my family away and I'm losing my relationship with the one person who used to make me feel like I was the most beautiful woman in the world.
I'm a 40 yr female have or maybe had a great job that I loved... On April 12 I noticed a small red rash on my lower right leg no big deal went to the Dr. gave me some cream and sent me home well I went to work and by the afternoon things just seem to get bad my legs began to swell and little blisters started to pop up so I went to the E.R. they had no Idea what was wrong with me got me an appointment to see a skin DR. so I went home but the pain from the swelling was so bad I could not walk any longer went back to the E.R. they gave me some pain meds and called in some other DR. things had gone from bad to worse my feet had gotten to big I could not put on shoes and I had bruised completely across the bottoms of my feet they put me on 30mg of PRED. and it seem to be under control sent me home after 3 day in the hospital things were good for about a day or so I thought I would go back to work well that was not a very good idea.... My sister had to come and take me back to the ER where they did 2 biopsies and still have no idea what is wrong with me. so now they put me on 60mg of PRED the rash has gone, lots of scaring on my feet because of the blisters once they broke and dried out but I can live with that....
It's the side effects that they don’t tell you about,
MOON FACE I can't look at myself cause really that’s not me anymore,
WEIGHT GAIN I have always been thick but I can't handle the extra 30lbs I've gained,
MOOD SWINGS are unbearable,
PAINFUL JOINTS, CAMEL HUMP, BLOODY NOSE, BRUSING, SORE TEETH/GUMS, DRY EYES, FAITIGE, and worsted of all
I don’t have a support systems in my life so I'm fighting this by myself everyday, I have 3 kids that I have tried to explain all this to but they don't get it and well my boyfriend he tells me he understands that its the meds pushing him away but if I can't figure away to control this I will lose every thing including my job. I cant even get the energy together half the time to make it up and down the stairs which also comes with the pain of just trying to lift each leg up to climb the stairs, I also have the camel hump which I find very painful, The acne and the hair growth that I have to get wax off once a month cause I feel like a man I feel like a loser and as of the last couple of days I just want to give up I am now down to 20mg per day but I find that I am feeling so sick I cant think straight I hope and pray for each and every person out there that has to take this MED that you get better and I do hope that my symptoms wont come back. Thanks for being here and I’m glad I found this site. I know now that I’m not losing my mind completely. Elizabeth.