Hormone tests symptoms and conditions

I just want to share my story for anyone considering getting Mirena. I had mine put in Oct. 2008 after the birth of my second child. Previously I had been on b.c. pills for about 10 years with no serious issues. I just figured with 2 little boys to take care of I would forget to take my pills and Mirena seemed very convenient. I did my research, reading all of the manufacturer's literature. I liked the idea of no estrogen, and a low dose hormone. If I knew then what I know now I would have NEVER gotten it. In the past year and four months I have experienced the following: hair loss, EXTREME fatigue, severe mood swings, rage, depression, acne (it's scarring my face), dizziness, vision problems, brain fog (no joke I thought I was losing my mind), NO sex drive whatsoever, joint pains, bloated feeling esp. after eating, insomnia, and just generally being miserable. I went to a naturopathic doctor and she told me I had Lyme disease. So I paid her for treatment. Symptoms came and went but I didn't get better. In fact, my irritability and mood swings seemed to get worse over time. I finally found these forums and blogs and connected the dots. I realize that I can't prove all of these things are caused by Mirena, and maybe some of them aren't, but I do believe that it has caused most of these problems. I had it removed today and my doctor told me that she is now removing more than she's putting in, and she is not recommending it to women unless they know what the possible effects are (not just those mentioned by the manufacturer). She said that all of the symptoms I mentioned have been experienced by many other patients. So I know I'm not crazy. Really think twice before doing this. It's a hassle if it doesn't work out. I had blood work done, my family doctor wanted to check my adrenals, my OBGYN wanted to check my thyroid and put me on antidepressants. It's not worth it IMO. I reported my experience to the FDA and also plan to contact Bayer. My biggest concern is that I breastfed my son for over a year with this thing in and I know he was exposed to the hormone. I have no way of knowing how that will affect him. It's in God's hands now.

Yasmin is most definitely the pill from hell! I was originally on Microgynon from the age of 17 until I was about 20/21 which was when I changed to Yasmin. I didn't notice at the time but I had the usual mood swings which come with any contraceptive, I got diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and I was suffering with anxiety and palpitations for no reason. I stopped taking Yasmin in 2007 to give my body a break but had problems with other forms of contraception so I gave in and went back on the pill after a few months, this was when the worst side effects came! Depression, anxiety, palpitations, racing heart beat, breathlessness, migraines, crazy mood swings and I’m so aggressive with it too! My aggression scares me sometimes it’s that bad!  The worst side effect has to be my hair loss! It upsets me so much! My GP but it down to low Iron and Pernicious Anaemia a year ago which I am now being treated for and my hair hasn’t got any better! I went back to my GP at the end of my tether and he did more tests including sex hormone tests which show some of my hormone levels through the roof and others struggling to get into the normal range. I had no idea this was what Yasmin did to your body! I have an appointment to see my GP tomorrow to discuss these results! Hopefully he will have some answers!

I had been on Yasmin for about seven years. I decided to get on the pill because I used to experience HORRIBLE menstrual cramps and pretty bad acne. For seven years, I thought that Yasmin was the BEST thing that ever happened to me. My cramps went away, my acne cleared up and my hair seemed healthier than ever.

In January, I decided to give my body a break and get off of the pill. I figured that seven years was a long time to be dependent on a drug. Since I have gotten off, I have had a RIDICULOUS amount of hair loss, terrible mood swings, hints of depression, wacky appetites, increased acne and my menstrual cramps are getting worse with each cycle. I have been off of the pill for 5 months now and I am wondering how long it takes before the drug is completely out of my system. Can anyone help?

I just removed Nuvaring in May after almost 2 years of being on it. The main reason was due to the lack of sex drive and when i did have sex, there would be a pretty bad burning sensation to me and my husband. However, now that i read through your comments, i am realizing that a lot more is attributed to my health now because of the Nuvaring.
Mainly, when i was on it, i had severe headaches, couldn't lose a pound to save my life and was very moody.
The big problems I have are now, almost 4 months being off Nuvaring. My doctor informed me that i may be going through premature menopause - i'm 38 years old - due to a malfunction with my ovaries. What!?!? My mom had her period until she was almost 50 and that is a good indicator of what you will have. I also have really bad joint pain, tingling in my fingers at times, hot flashes, sleeplessness and NO period since coming off it. I am hoping that this is just my body trying to battle the jolt of being on Nuvaring and i will return to normal. My advice - if you're on it, get off it and if you're considering it, don't do it. Even a well-known radio personality here in Chicago has said the Nuvaring did awful things to her body and she experienced a lot of bleeding. This product needs to come off the market NOW!

Girls everywhere . I have one question and please you can reply in private or on here, whatever you like. Did any of the doctors that prescribed Yasmin to you ever give you a hormonal test? I have been going through really bad emotional mood swings for a white but did not have insurance so never really go myself checked out. So last month I went back to my home country and visited a gyno(where medicine is not so overpriced) who has been recommended to me by numerous people and he did a bunch of hormone tests on me concluded (by blood work) that I have a hormonal inbalance. Before the tests were done he obviously asked me a bunch of questions and I warned him that last time i had gone on a losely prescribed birth control(which is was suppose to be very low hormone dosage) I went practically nuts. After seeing my results and finding my inbalance he has prescribed Yasmin to me because apparently I have too much estrogen and other things I couldnt really understand because I am not a doctor but I think one of the things it does is to block some of these hormone from going to your brain. So My point after all this rambling is that ALL of our bodies are different and all birth controls are different and have different hormones which could drive a normal person insane with or without taking the pills SO my suggestion if you are having trouble with Yasmin is to get your hormone levels checked, Yasmin may be the devil to you but its probably because you dot need certain components that are in it or lack some. Get real tests done!

Hi.. I have been researching birth control pills for a while now, as I knew I wanted to take them for acne and irregular periods. The doc gave me yasmin so I narrowed my googling and got a bit of a scare, after all the discussions I've read it almost seems now that it has a life of it's own.. it is a "DEMON PILL" that "RUINS LIVES" and it's "NOT WORTH IT" .................. but as someone who has never been on birth control at all before I'm trying not to be convinced that it will do nothing but make my problems worse, and I think I'd like to put it out there that you only hear the negative in places like this and all potential side effects ARE already listed right in the package. Everyone is different.. so I'll continue to try to read comments by girls who have been on it for as long as me.. So far it's only been a week, but already some girls describe horrific side effects of which I've experienced NONE. Maybe it's mind over matter lol I'm quite determined to have this work for me. Anyway just saying to anyone like me who is reading these.. if it's been prescribed to you don't be afraid to try it just because it didn't work out for someone else, NOT saying horrible side effects don't happen, it's very clear that they do.. but don't let the negative convince you so easily that all of a sudden it's all yasmin's fault that your life sucks.. try believing it might make it better!

Silke-
What did your doctor say? I have been going over some blood hormone tests I had done way back when I was feeling terrible, and my doctor confirmed that my testosterone was indeed low. My level was
testosterone 13 ng/dl
%free testosterone 0.45 %
free testosterone 0.6 pg/ml
It looks like yours may be even lower than mine was. I am thinking your free testosterone was measured since you said it was 0.37 ng/ml? or was it 0.37ng/dl?
Also as a side note throughout all of this my Iron levels keep dropping too. I have to take an Iron supplement to keep my level up. I thought it was because I had a history of anemia (low iron) but it may be a side effect of the unbalance as well?
Also I was wondering when in your cycle did they have you get your blood drawn? Was it at a particular day you had to do it, or just anytime?
Anxious to hear from you,
BitterRN

Also to KIM and DEJAY
please hold on. Silke is right, it is going to get better. coming off this pill is hard and everything you are mentioning is symptoms we all have experienced. The sore in your mouth Im sure is related to your hormones just like your sister said. I had a lot of mouth issues (sore, raw gums, my teeth hurt etc.) as well. Just take good care of your teeth right now maybe try to avoid acidic foods for awhile (oranges, tomatoes, pasta sauce) or anything rough in your mouth like crusty breads. I asked my dentist when I happened to have an appt once when I had a sore in the back of my mouth and he checked it out and said he definitely saw something and it looked irritated but not to do anything unless it did not go away in a couple of weeks. I asked him if it could be hormone related because I was having problems with my hormones and he said yes. It went away. Dont worry ok. Oh and one more thing, DO NOT believe those doctors that tell you this is NOT related to yasmin, it most certainly is!!!! I have had physicians tell me no, its not related to the pill its in your head. My second opinion Dr. (and third and fourth!!! opinion Dr. ) all told me YES of course it can be from Yasmin!!! And from here on out I too have been on the hormonal rollercoaster as everyone else on this site has. UP and DOWN you think your better and then your not. But Silke is right and Sarah too, and many of the women on this site, you will get better and what you are experiencing are things we all felt too, and you will get through it! Keep posting to this site. It helps. There are lots of kind women full of concern because they too have been through this nightmare and it breaks our hearts every time we read about another victim! I hope the drug company and the doctors wake up soon!!!!!
keep your head up,
BitterRN

Guest 22505-

I really feel yasmin knocks peoples hormones so far out of whack that it takes a long time to get them back in check. I would say to get your hormone levels drawn (I feel the salivary tests are more accurate than blood draws, though there is controversy in the medical community about this.) I am talking from experience as my blood hormone tests came back "normal" but my salivary tests came back low. I have been working with my OB and endocrinologist who are finding me referrals on NATURAL hormone replacement. I have actually just started some natural replacement and feel like my symptoms might be starting to improve. I really feel like this is the first step though, get your hormones tested. You can order a salivary test online through ZRT labs by going onto www.salivatest.com. I ordered the hormone profile I This tests all of your basic hormones. You do not have to have a doctors prescription to order the test unless you live in california, but if you want to try to get it covered under your insurance you would have to have a doctor give you a diagnosis code. I just paid for the test myself and then showed them to my doctors when I received the reports back. Then you can work with your doctors to figure out where to go from there. The tests are a little pricey at 150.00 but have been totally worth it to me in understanding what was going on with my body. If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask me. Meanwhile hang in there, I have been off yasmin for 5 months now and things are still slowly improving, however I have renewed hope that this natural therapy is speeding up the process.
Bitter RN.

Hi Bitter RN!

Yes, I'm here!! :) I come around every little day and read all the new posts. I've been doing that for about 1 1/2 years now, because it always helped me so much, and I think I'll go on doing that!!

Well, I don't really know what a saliva test is. I had only the normal bloodwork and hormone tests done, which came out fine, just the hormones all in the edge of what's normal, some a little high, some a little low. (That was in July 2005....)

I'm planning to get another test done around June/July 2006 to see, if anything has changed (remember, I've still got problems after 1 Year OFF Yasmin....).

Is that saliva test any better than the normal bloodtest?? Where could I get done this test and what does it show?

Hormone tests

Hi ladies I had my testosterone, estradiol, DHEA and estrogene levels checked, my results have come back and the doctor said they are fine, how can I find out if this is true? I am picking the results up tomorrow.
I am also having a CT scan tomorrow so hopefully put an end to my paranoia of brain tumours and the anxiety will ease.

Joanne.

Thanks to everyone who responded to me. I really appreciate it.
To guest #13393 I have had bad acne also since getting off of the pill. I believe it is because our hormones are all out of whack. Hopefully with time it will all get better. I should know results of my hormone tests pretty soon and I will post telling all of you what they are.

UPDATE OF GYN APPT AFTER STOPPING YASMIN!! (REVISED)
Note: Disregard previous message from me, b/c it got all messed up!

Well, I had my GYN visit today. I told her about the symptoms I have been having since I stopped Yasmin 7 weeks ago- hair loss, dry skin, hair growth (on chin and chest), increased acne, no period, etc. She says that I just have anxiety which is causing my hair to fall out. She says that stopping the pill doesn't cause hair loss and being on the pill should not have caused the amount of anxiety I have. When I told her that while on yasmin my blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate had increased she said nothing. When I told her that my potassium was low while on Yasmin (the most common side effect due to the diuretuc), she said nothing. She just kept going back to anxiety. How can anxiety cause hair to fall out from my head and grow everywhere else? After a lot of persuasion, she agreed to run hormone tests to check my testosterone and DHEA. But she siad that if they were normal, then nothing was wrong and I should see a therapist. She refused to believe that any of my problems could have been caused from being on Yasmin. I cried for an hour after my appt and couldn't return to work. Am I really just crazy???