Fluctuations symptoms and conditions

Ok, I have PCOS and had the Mirena put in 3 months after the birth of my last child in 2004 and thought it was great. No more fluctuations never knowing when or if I was getting a period...I just never had one, have not had one in 5 years years. The strings disappeared several years ago, had an U/S and they said it was still in place. I have had zero libido in that time, terrible mood swings, fluctuating weight and depression, thyroid problems, etc etc, all put down to depression. Well 6 months ago the headaches started, the vertigo... the ensuing DR trips have turned up an abnormal brain MRI and not much else no one has thought to think of the IUD. The MRI shows possible demyelination, vasculitis or sequelae to migraines...these are little white spots in my brain. If I find out these things are caused by this IUD there will be hell to pay. I am due to have it removed at the 5 yr mark in November..... I guess dig it out if they can find the strings. Will be interested to hear comments on this.

Hi I am having the same side effects that I have read from others! My Mirena was inserted in 6/08. Slowly but surely all the side effects have appeared. Mood swings, oily skin, acne, weight gain, and the worse of all, the hair loss. I have always had thick long hair! My thyroid has always been a problem and my family doctor said my constant thyroid fluctuations may be the reason for my hair loss! It is now 1yr and 4mos. since I've had the Mirena inserted and I have lost over 50% of my hair! Balding diffusely, but majority on the crown of my head. It is to the point of severe depression I do not even want to go out anywhere, because of the embarrassment. I am scheduled to have the Mirena removed this coming Monday! I am worried that if this is the reason for my hair loss that it may not regrow! I've read that once the hair follicles die they do not rejuvenate. Has anyone gone through this same process, did your hair regrow? I'm am literally having anxiety attacks thinking about my outcome! Can't sleep, crying constantly, totally preoccupied with the thought! Driving my family nuts with constant lack of enthusiasm for life!

Thank you for sharing ladies. I'm 31 years old and have been on one form of hormonal birth control or another since I was 18. I've been using Nuvaring for about 3 years now. It's coming out today -- for good.

I loved it at first. However, I've recently looked back on the past three years, and I really believe Nuvaring is the culprit for all my problems. I've always been curvy, but I used to like it. I typically was able to maintain my weight with some minor fluctuations -- I'm about 5'8" and was about 160-165 pre-Nuvaring. Well, I got on the scale this morning after stuffing myself into my pants, again, and after the three years on Nuvaring, I'm topping the scale at a whopping 194.5. That's the last straw for me. I'm not inactive and I have a reasonable diet that has only improved over the past 3 years, not gotten worse. My ass, boobs, and stomach are enormous, and my arms and thighs aren't so pretty either. I'm done.

Now, reading through the rest of these posts, I think there's even more going on than I even realized. I'm constantly tired and have this muscle stiffness in my legs that makes it almost impossible to walk after I've been sitting for more than an hour. And like everyone else, I have no libido at all. I've had this constant dull abdominal pain for awhile now, to the point where I've just dismissed it as normal and ignore it. And who knows what else.

I'm getting off this thing immediately and am going to look into a non hormonal option. I really want my body and myself back to what I consider normal, and I want to maintain control over it. No More Nuvaring!

It seems like I am the only one to use the Nuvaring for more than a couple of months. I have been on it for about 3 years now. I have loved it until the past 6 months or so. I now am having severe night sweats and a general increase in body temperature all of the time. My sex drive has decreased drastically as well. I have not had any weight or mood fluctuations though. I change the ring to a new one every 3 weeks to avoid having a period altogether. That has been great, but I have been experiencing horrible cramping at random times in the month and sex has become extremely painful due to the cramping afterwards. I guess I can say the 2 years without side effects was great, but I am going to switch this month. I cant take this extreme body temperature any longer. Maybe the birth "control" is to make you feel so crappy, that you don't want to have sex.

I suffered from major depression last spring. The worse in my life ever, with a lot of anxiety.
I have been on Effexor XR 75 mg for 6 months. My main problems are :
LOW SEX DRIVE 9could also be from the birth control pill), SHORT TERM MEMORY PROBLEMS (a bad one), DIZZINESS.
My doctor felt that i needed to increase to 150mg because she thought i still had problems (like lack of motivation and negative thoughts): we started by adding 37.5mg extra. By day 2 or 3 of this increase, I was waking up constantly during the night, and felt extremely agitated. Like I would crawl right out of my skin. I couldn't lie still and moved about a lot in my bed, especially my legs. By day 6 of this increase, my anxiety was SO BAD, I was back to nearly the same anxiety I had in the spring before starting treatment. BE CAREFUL about increasing your dosage. TELL SOMEONE to watch if your mood changes and to take you to the ER if necessary. thank goodness I didn't need to go.
I now take fish oil (omega 3) and within a couple months of that, I noticed that my anger/impulsive and concentration seemed better. I am also going off the birth control pill this month 9ortho tri cyclen lo). I brought it up to my GP, to a psychiatrist and to my opharmacist that I was depressed and could there be a link with the birth control pills and they all said "I don't think so."; "no", "very unlikely". Well my major depression, MAJOR MOOD FLUCTUATIONS, anxiety and ANGER control problems all started with the beginning of the birth control pill.

Numerous side effects including but not limited to: spontaneous tendon rupture (right distal bicep), CNS agitation accompanied by anxiety and panic, extreme fatigue, digestive problems, on-going fluctuations of blood sugar level, rapid changes in body temperature, nausea, etc.

Some here insist on reporting the "good" this stuff has done (other than lining some peoples pockets with profits). I disagree. As I post this I see 2250 adverse effects have been posted previously. I urge yo all to look deeper ask the question: "Why so many problems with this class of drug?" The 2250 number is only for Levaquin..... don't forget to add in all the responses for all of the other drugs in the quinolone family. And while you are at it, find out how many other drugs have death as a side effect and how many have been reported. This is a defective drug.

I am 24 years old and I had a pulmonary embolism last month. I was on the birth control YAZ for only 3 months, and that's what doctors seem to think caused it. My insurance only paid for me to be in the hospital for three daysand I was sent home with lovenox shots and Coumadin pills.

One month later, my INR is still unstable, fluctuating so much that they are checking it twice per week. My dosage is constantly changing. I have a red, painful rash on my buttocks - it hurts of sit for more than a few minutes. I am losing clumps of hair. I have lost my libido. I am very irritable and snap at my husband several times per day. I have a headache almost daily and frequent nausea.

I hate these side effects!

I hve been on Januvia for 5 weeks, after not being able to tolerate Metformin. I have noticed a great thinning of my hair. Other than that I haven't felt better. Is hair loss a side effect?

I did a six month stint of the Lupron shots as a treatment for severe endometriosis. The entire experience was horrible. At first I was sick to my stomach for days on end. This fluctuated on and off for the duration. Shortly after my mom started noticing intense fluctuations in my mood. I don't know that there is any way to describe it other than I felt like I was going crazy. All I wanted to do was rage and scream and fight for reason what so ever. I was also extremely lethargic for long periods of time. When the lethargy finally wore off I would be so manic that I would have overwhelming attacks of anxiety. About one month into the treatment my hair started falling out in clumps. By the time the treatment was over I had lost half the thickness of my hair. I was so miserable that my own family didn't want to be around me.

I was prescribed Singulair to help control my asthma. I took 10mg for three days, but it made me incredibly tired. It was hard to get up in the morning and I was randomly falling asleep on my desk at work. I began taking half a pill (5mg) and intitially this was better. I was still tired in the mornings, but by noon it had worn off. However, over the next week additional side effects began to arise and increase in intensity. I could deal with the fever, headache, etc., but the mood swings were horrible. I couldn't stop snapping at people. When I broke out in hives, I knew the Singulair had to go. I have been off of it for two days now and am feeling better. The hives are fading and my mood isn't quite so gloomy. I expect I will return to my normal self by the end of this week.

Incidentally, Singulair did work fantastically well for my asthma. My peak flow average went up forty points and overall the readings were greatly stabilized with only small fluctuations. Unfortunately, the side effects just aren't worth it.

Hi Martina!

YES, the way you feel is absolutely normal. My first months off Yasmin were like a rollercoaster. Some days I thought I was back to normal and very happy, the other week I felt weak and tired again.

Remember that the bcp is switching off the normal hormonal fluctuation, every woman goes through within a cycle. So your body is nearly every day at "one level" with hormones and like in your case for about 3 1/2 years (in my case it were 10 long years, but only the last 5 of them with Yasmin...). So it may take you a while, until your body gets used to those fluctuations and can handle them without giving you those symptoms you're feeling now.

In my case the first 3 - 4 months were the most difficult ones and I thought I would never be normal again (some days I really had the fear to go totally crazy!! I swear!!). But every month it got less and less and today (got off Yasmin February 2005, ONE long year ago!!) I'm nearly back to the 100% me again. I should also mention, that I still didn't get another normal period since easter one year ago!! So I think I'll not be that completely healthy and happy person I've been before Yasmin until I'm finally getting my normal period.

I also read, that for some women it takes over a year to get their normal cycle again. But remember that everyone is reacting different!

All you need right now is a loving husband or boyfriend or your family who loves and understands you, and takes everything that comes, no matter "who" you are right now, the happy or the sad Martina!! Some day you'll be the person they once new again, I swear!! Don't worry, I really know what I'm talking about!!

Best wishes and hugs to you and every sad one out there!!

Keep looking forward to better times, that are ahead for us all!

Silke

Severe hair thinning in front and crown area. Weight gain, fluctuations in blood sugar levels making it difficult to manage and predict.

I was diagnosed with Acute Interstitial Pneumonitis back in April/May after a 26 day stay in ICU. I was on 500 mgs. of prednisone by IV and then was gradually reduced to 60 mg. a day orally. Since that time my dr. continued the reduction and I am now on 10mgs. every other day. The side effects have been very trying. I have experienced bone loss, severe acne, moon face, great hunger causing weight gain (60lbs.), occular hypertension, and now severe depression. Also muscle aches and joint pain. I really want off of this drug, but cannot seem to get there due to fluctuations in pulmonary function tests. I know that this drug saved my life, but now I can't seem to handle the side effects much longer!