First experience symptoms and conditions

I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2003, have been treated with Asacol ever since, and was in remission for nearly 5 years. I flared in December of 2007, and had my first experience with prednisone; I was on 40 mg/day for nearly 6 months. I gained 35 pounds, got the moon face, double-chin, tummy fat, muscle aches, extreme mood swings, excruciating headaches, night sweats, and UNCONTROLLABLE hunger. I, too, noticed the sensitive teeth, and now I feel like my enamel is really thin...almost see-through. Anyway, I've been off prednisone for about 5 months. The moon face went away for the most part, but my cheeks still seem a little chubbier than before, and my double-chin is a lot smaller, but still there. I've lost about half the weight, but only after joining weight watchers and working out 6 days a week. I feel like I can't lose any more weight to save my life. Does anyone have any suggestions? I never struggled with weight prior to taking this stupid drug. I'd appreciate any input.

I was prescribed Loestrin FE 1/20 TAB for clotting and having menstruation more often than I should (once every two weeks or so). My first experience resulted in leg pain, after six days. This ended with a Doppler scan to check for blood clots. Well, that was cleared so back on to Loestrin I went. When I picked up my prescription I asked the pharmacist (yes I had already asked my doctor) during consultation about interactions with the other medications I take on a daily basis. Prednisone 10mg tablet and Armour Thyroid 240mg. I was told, not to worry, no issues. Eleven days after starting Loestrin again, I called my doctor because of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, indigestion (like I've never had before) and feeling "foggy." I was told these were "not typical complaints" that they heard. I then checked for interactions on line and found that both the prednisone and Armour Thyroid have interactions. With Prednisone it's side effects can be made more severe than they would be without the Loestrin (never had a side effect in the eight months I was on it, until the Loestrin). I experienced With the Armour Thyroid Loestrin binds to it, preventing the absorption of the thyroid medication. This explains all of the symptoms I was having. Please, beware that you must check on interactions yourself, do not rely on your pharmacist or physician to be aware of these.

i started taking Loestrin FE just under a month ago. i havnt gotten to the brown pills yet for my 1st period on it.
since i started taking it ive noticed that ive been pee'n 2 times as much as i normally do..
my gums bleed slightly when i brush my teeth and in the afternoons i get nauseas and light headed..i get really week and after a few minutes it goes away.
ive taken a pregnancy test and its came back negative (i took it today)
but idk

what do you guys think?
plz let me know

I've been on Lo24 for a few weeks now and don't like it at all. This is my first experience with bc and was put on it as a hormone therapy. I had a tubal ligation 11yrs ago and am a cancer survivor most likely starting perimenopause. Since my tubal my periods have only lasted 3 days, well let me tell you, with this pill it seems like i've had my period everyday since starting it. I have the tender breasts, bloating, weight gain, painful intercourse,and stomach hurts to the touch like so many others have described. I have stopped taking the pill a few days ago and I'm still bleeding. How long will it take for all these side effects to go away? I'm especially looking forward to the bleeding and weight gain to go away. I worked hard in the last year to lose 50 pounds and am very upset now that my pants are snug because of this damn pill. My gyno said there would be no weight gain, minimal spotting for a few days...nice to know they like to bullshit us. I wish I never started on this, lesson learned.

I am 20 yrs old and this is my second month on Loestrin 24 Fe. So far I have been experiencing a lot of the same problems everyone else has, no period, but constant spotting. I haven't had too many mood swings but I have noticed that I am a little more emotional than usual. I snap at my boyfriend sometimes over the smallest things. I even got a cyst for the first time! My sex drive has decreased greatly and I tend to be really dry whenever I do have sex with my boyfriend, and of course that is uncomfortable. This month I have noticed a brown discharge or maybe its just the spotting I am not sure. Also I missed one pill this month and I got a mild yeast infection without the burning or itching. This has really effected my sex life with my boyfriend cuz it seems like something is always wrong. I also thought I was pregnant since being on the pill but it was just a false alarm. Loestrin 24 is the first form of birth control I have ever taken in my life because I never wanted to get on it. I didn't think bc was natural or healthy because I felt like if God didn't want women to bleed or get pregnant, we wouldn't. But my boyfriend had talked me into it. Being that this is my FIRST experience, I am almost positive I will be getting off the pill. I haven't gained much weight, maybe about 3 or 4 lbs if that. This pill is horrible and I don't recommend it for anybody!!!!

This is my first experience using birth control and I wanted something with low hormones, just so that I was getting the protection and decreasing the lengths of my periods without messing too much with my body's natural chemistry. My OBGYN gave me some samples of Loestrin and I have been on it for about a month and a half. I immediately had the bleeding out, which is about every 2 weeks, with one of those times being my actual period. I also have had a lot of pain in my breasts that has yet to subside. Most alarming though is that for the past month I have because extremely irritable for absolutely no reason. I have snapped at loved ones and people I don't even know and its causing a lot of problems in the work place, because I am constantly in a bad mood. I finally took the initiative to see if mood swings were a side effect and I found this site. I really think that this is a major side effect that needs more attention because it is really affecting my life. I have decided to call my doctor and ask for another pill and I would not recommend this birth control for anyone. Thank you for your posts helping me see that I'm not crazy!

This is my first experience with the pill .I recently started taking Loestrin 24 Fe about 4 days ago due to being on my period for a little over 3 weeks. My Dr.told me to take double doses for the first 3 days he highly recommended it even though I'm a bit skeptical especially after reading everyones Horror stories about it. Ever since I've started taking them I have these really Sharp HEADACHES.. and extremely emotional. I Don't know if this is just normal or if it's signs of something possibly more serious. I've read a lot about blood clots and that's what freaks me out the most( I don't drink/smoke) Should I be alarmed?? Could it be just my anxiety.. I've been freaking out so much that I'm contemplating not taking it anymore someone help?! Any INSIGHT?????
Thanks!

I'm a 50 year old male, very active but plagued with hereditary induced cholesterol. My first experience with Lipitor was that it was a miracle drug for me. Unfortunately after taking continually for 6 months, I keep on developing muscle strains on my legs which forces me to stop playing tennis for a month. I also believe I ruptured my Achilles tendon about two years ago because of taking Lipitor.

Anyway, after stopping taking Lipitor, in just 3 weeks, my legs felt stronger and I'm pretty quick in my game again.

Another side effect is the aging effect it makes on my face. It sags, making me a lot older. Stopping my medication also quickly tightened my facial skin, making me look younger again. In fact , on the street I will know if somebody is on Lipitor even if nobody told me. The skin will be like very soft, double chin will be really sagging.

The problem is doctors don't believe this. When I tell them they dismiss it.

This is my first week on Loestrin 24 FE as well as my first experience with BC. I really hope my side effects go away, as I do not think I will be able to continue taking it if they don't. I have turned into a complete insomniac - can't sleep and I am tired the entire day. I have random headaches and a complete loss of appetite. I continuously feel as though I'm about to get my period - bloated, achy, moody - even though I just had it. I feel like I'm gaining weight even though I'm eating 1/4 of what I used to. I really don't know what to do. I was taking it at night, but figured I should try taking it earlier because my sleep cycle is completely off. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hi all, I'll be finishing up my first week on Loestrin this Sunday. My OBGYN put me on this due to overlong periods and bad cramping. This is my first experience with a BC, so I'm a little bit nervous about it. For the past several days, I have been getting really nauseous. It's not a constant thing, one minute I'm fine and the next I feel like I need to dart in to the bathroom. I'm not too worried about any weight gain because that is something that I could probably use, but the nausea is concerning me a bit. I have to go back to the gyno sometime next week, so I can probably ask about it there, but reading the comments on this page has got me a little bit nervous. Should I try to wait it out and see if things get better, so should I quit while I'm ahead?

I have had the worst time on this pill...gained 29 pounds in less than three months. Terrible mood swings, depressions, nightmares and just a general dissatisfaction with everything in life. I am 28 yrs old, and this was my first experience with birth control pills...because of this pill, I am not sure I'll ever get back on any oral contraceptives. More than all the others, the weight gain despite my numerous efforts to regulate my weight has been the hardest for me to deal. As of tomorrow, I will no longer take this horrible little pill.

My husband was given a sample of this for a month-long bout of bronchitis and we are now thinking it has done permanent damage to his vocal chords. He only used it 5 times, got thrush (yeast infection) in his throat and is still hoarse after a week of being off of it. Does anyone know the history of this drug and has the word "class action lawsuit" crossed anyone's mind besides mine? I am amazed at the way pharmaceutical companies run the healthcare business in this country!

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but are people aware that a large portion of the FDA's operating budget is provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers? This isn't our first experience with this type of thing and I'm about to launch a grassroots campaign to educate the public. Maybe they'll stop believing all the marketing hype.

I'm thinking that the pharmaceutical companies ought to heed the Hippocratic oath - FIRST, DO NO HARM. Wouldn't it be a remarkably different world if they would take all the money they're spending on marketing and use it to lower the price of orphan and AIDS drugs? They keep saying that research is expensive - and advertising on every possible television show, radio and magazines is cheap? Hello? Are we going to be sheep or are we going to be citizens and hold these companies responsible for what they're doing. Thanks for letting me vent. Please contact me if you want to do something about this. And no, I'm not an attorney, but I'm a writer and I think I just found out what my first book is going to be about...

In January I was diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica and temporal arteritis (giant cell arteritis). I was put on 60 mg prednisone and an array of other meds to help with pain, inflammation, water retention, and stomach problems from everything. I've lost some vision from the TA. I've experienced the weight gain, the moon face, stomach problems, depression, fatigue, muscle weakness, lack of memory and concentration, and generally feel miserable. The brain fog is awful! I don't trust myself doing much of anything these days!

When I was first put on the prednisone it completely took away all my TA and PMR symptoms. I could walk and get up and down again, didn't have the headaches, and didn't hurt all over.
My doctor tried to taper my dosage about 6 weeks ago and all my symptoms returned and increased as I went down on the prednisone. He upped me back to 60. That time the symptoms didn't go away. They lessened but were still there.

He's trying to taper again, and I'm down to 30 mg now and feel worse and worse. My sed rate has been normal, so the doctor thinks it's from the prednisone. Does it mimic all the TA and PMR symptoms? I also am having a lot of hand and feet cramping.

Does anyone else have these two illnesses? I would be interested in your experience. I want off these meds! Anyone found an alternative approach that's helped?

God bless!

Yes, the Clonazepam stops the panic, but it is NOT good for the general anxiety...it basically just knocks me out (very tired, weak, sick feeling). I am now hiking with my dog every day to burn it off by suggestion of my doctor. As I start walking I feel so weak sometimes I am afraid I will not make it back to the house, HOWEVER as I continue to walk the feeling eventually goes away (I carry my cell phone for security..although I really know I will not need to use it)! The more I walk, the better I feel! I have also found that no matter how deathly sick I feel, if I can just GET OUT OF BED, the feelings eventually go away throughout the day. I avoid all negative influences (movies, news, negative people) and spend a lot of time at church working on building my faith...it has helped me survive all this.

I am now on day 9 of my cycle and my recent "spell" seems to be over. I am 28 years old and this was my first experience with BCP. I never had ANY health problems before. Good news is, my test results have all come back.... my pap smear, blood work, and urine work all came back NORMAL. (I had a year of abnormal pap tests also. I had a yeast infection about every week!) It took a YEAR to get everything to come back clear again. I am not taking any medication regularly at this time.

The Vitamin B Complex does make me a little jumpy, but I have found I can work it off through some kind of cardiovascular exercise. In general I am feeling MUCH better. Just start out slowly every day, eat healthy food (no caffeine/alcohol, I carry apples, celery, and peanut butter with me everywhere), and KEEP MOVING. I also have some Valerian capsules and tea. "Celestial Seasonings" makes a tea called "Sleepytime" which has Valerian in it....seems to work pretty well.

All in all, my faith, my fellow women on this site, and a supportive husband has helped me through this disaster. It will only make you stronger in the end. God bless Medications.com for having this site! I feel it saved my life. I am praying for all of you...HANG IN THERE.
Virginia

I had a severe poison ivy/sumac reaction and slowly the swelling in my face reached the point of affecting my breathing, so I had an emergency treatment with Prednisone. This was my first experience with this drug. (I am not one to use allopathic medicine unless it's an emergency.) The first dose was shots, then I was put on a "med pak" of methylprednisolone, to be used for 5 or 6 days, tapering down the dosages day by day. By the third day, I began to find the side effects increasingly intense. I had had a mild headache, some chest pressure, funny bone aches, stomach/liver aches, as well as sensations of spacy-ness, floating feelings, difficulty focusing my eyes at times, and my attention, etc.; but the chest pressure was what worried me most. It was all on the left side. I eventually called the doctor because the pressure and discomfort was beginning to become severe each time I took a pill. He agreed to let me stop the prednisone. I had about 2 days left of tapering to one a day, but couldn't stand to take anymore. It was beginning to feel like a life or death situation! (My rash is flaring a little now, but not seriously. I am using alternative remedies as well, and things don't seem to be reversing to where they were, thankfully.) I had missed quite a bit of work, and did not feel like myself. Yesterday was my 2nd day off the pills, and I stayed home to work on flushing my system of the prednisone. I felt like I was going through withdrawal. Today I feel much more like myself. I know now that a lot of the "sickness" I was feeling wasn't just an allergic reaction to a plant--I was sick from the medicine as well. In fact, I think it was more the medicine than the poison ivy that kept me out of work. I appreciate the use of something like prednisone in emergency cases...it may have saved my life...but from now on, I'm going to do whatever I can to avoid having to ever use this drug again. It was clearly very damaging to my body. I hope I was able to eradicate it enough, and was not on it long enough to cause any permanent damage. I have not noticed any more pain in my chest since stopping the medicine. (I may, however, insist that my doctor run some tests to make sure there isn't damage, although the damage might not be something they could easily measure at this point. I have no history of heart problems, and a stress test a few years back came out great.) I would seriously encourage anyone who has to use prednisone more than a few days to look for alternatives, or insist (to your doctor) on alternatives (that hopefully won't be worse). This drug is VERY, VERY toxic and dangerous!! I'm very aware of how my body responds to what I put in it. A lot of people aren't as in touch with their body's responses, and may start on a roller coaster of treatments as things come up, not realizing that the problem may have to do with their medicine. I believe this is the case with a lot of the elderly who frequently end up taking pills to remedy the symptoms created by other pills! Good luck to everyone, and God bless us all!!!

I am glad I found this site. I recently started taking Yasmin, I am 22 years old and it is my first experience with oral contraceptives. Anyway, the first month was fine, except that my flow was unusually heavy (we're talking super+ tampon & Heavy pad were necessary for the first 2 days), which is unusual for me since I've never bought anything stronger than regular.
About midway through the second month, I became depressed, gained 15 pounds, and was crying every day over little things. I know I've been under stress, but I am always stressed, and this was not a usual reaction for me. The only thing I could think of was mabye it was the Yasmin, but my healthcare provider assured me that this was not one of the side effects. I came across this site and decided that I needed to get off this stuff. Especially when I would be on the verge of tears all day long, and was missing classes because all I could do was hide under the covers crying.
Finally I quit Yasmin and demanded to be put on something different. I am not too familiar with any other BCPs, and I was warry of trying them. So I was given NuvaRing to try. So far....I am symptom free. I am hoping that this will help other women who feel as if they are "going nutz" and don't understand why, as I had felt. Even if your healthcare provider denies this side effect demand to be given an alternative. I have never felt as horrible as I did with yasmin.

I was on Estrostep for two years - my first experience on the pill. It was very uneventful, though my periods were light - in one case so light it never showed up. This led to a pregnancy scare.

The real reason why I wanted to switch to something else was because I wanted larger breasts (I can't even fill most A-cup bras), and I thought a pill that was consistent with the estrogen would fill the bill. But I told the gynecologist I was feeling more depressed on Estrostep. Note that I told her I am clinically depressed and am taking Lexapro. She gave me Yasmin.

What happened? I since I've started taking it, I've had a very hard time getting out of bed. I work a night job, so it technically shouldn't be a big deal, but I have lots of things I need to do before I go to work in the afternoon (including exercise to help me manage my depression... needless to say I haven't been working out lately). And even after I have my 9-10 hours of sleep, I still feel tired and fatigued. I also have had a harder time keeping my attention. I chalked these up to my depression and the onset of colder weather, then I realized I didn't feel THIS bad on Estrostep!

My anxiety also has increased at times. I had an embarassing outburst in public in front of my boyfriend, set off by a very trivial matter. My periods are thick and heavy, requiring frequent tampon changes. I cramp more (I had no cramps on Estrostep), and I even feel bloated! My acne worsened.

And - as it would turn out - my breasts did not grow larger.

I'm amazed at how commonly prescribed this pill is (and how relatively few people take Estrostep). I don't know if I'm going to switch back or try something new, but my Yasmin days should soon be over.

we had a patient have a full blown anaphylatic reaction to Navelbine, complete with tongue swelling. Pt coded and had to be shocked, placed on a ventilator. Pt was recovered and has since been discharged from the hospital. It was my first experience like this with Navelbine. I have been giving navelbine for several years and never witnessed such an event. Just wanted to know if any one else has experienced this type of reaction.