Medication info symptoms and conditions

I started using the NuvaRing a couple months after it first came out. I loved the freedom of not taking a pill evey day and my periods were very light, and lasted only a couple of days. I had used the NuvaRing faithfully up until January of this year when I became separated from my husband and decided that I really didn't neeed to be on birth control since I wasn't having sex. Until I came upon this message board I'd never been aware the NuvaRing had so many side effects that were NOT listed in the medication info. I am a nurse so I realize that there are side effects of medications that sometimes aren't listed, but that's usually because they are very mild and may only be experienced by a few people. Since reading other people's experiences with the NuvaRing, I am now starting to wish the NuvaRing never existed and I am very angry at this drug company for it NOT listing side effects that seem to be very common in users. I too had the annoying, embarassing, heavy discharge which was sometimes a brownish color, and it also had a funny smell to it. I almost felt like I could "smell myself" down there sometimes, even if I was clothed. My breasts were always tender, and my neck, shoulders, and all my joints ached and were stiff all the time, I noticed those symptoms more just after my period ended and I reinserted the ring. Otherwise I was fine and enjoyed a wonderful sex life and was happy.
Then about 2 years ago, I started to have a lack of motivation, uncontrolable mood swings, and I felt nervous and depressed all the time. My moods were horrible! I'd make the biggest deal out of nothing, lash out, and cause a lot of tension and fighting in my home. I felt depressed, wthdrawn, and wanted to not be around people a lot. Everyone annoyed me; EVERYTHING annoyed me! I became a very mean person. The weight gain was a horrible issue. I'd gain 20lbs. in three months easy and it WASN'T because I was sitting around stuffing my face. I had to almost starve myself to lose the weight. I'd finally get sick of eating rice cakes and salad all the time and start to eat normal again...and BAM...the whole weight gain cycle started over again. My weight kept going up and down like a yo-yo! I am a very active person, I like to eat healthy and exercise, and weight control had not been a issue since pregnancy. Sex began to be a chore for me and I hated it. The thought of having sex made me sick. I had a bad self image because of my up and down weight all the time and I would do anything to avoid letting my husband see me naked. I didn't want to be touched. My breasts weren't just tender, they were so annoyingly sensitive that I almost wanted to punch my husband if he touch them because the over sensativity sent a sickening feeling to my stomach. My cervix hurt during sex and the pain made it unbearable if my husband was inside of me too deep. I also experienced spotting after sex, sometimes heavy. I've never experienced those problems before. I also began to experience about 1 1/2 wks before I was to take out the NuvaRing, I'd start to have a heaviness in my chest almost like a panic attack was coming on; this would occur almost daily. Everytime I tried to inhale it was like I couldn't get my breathe in, and the coughing was horrible. I'd also not be able to fall asleep at night or I'd wake up in the middle of the night panicing and crying over stupid things. I used to blame it on the stress I was having in my marriage, but I'm starting to wonder if the NuvaRing was really the cause of the stress in my marriage! My husband would get so mad at me beacause of my moodiness and irritability that he started not wanting to be around me and started not coming home after work so he wouldn't have to deal with me. I became even more depressed and started having suicidal thoughts because I was unable to control my mood swings and didn't know why. Needless to say my husband left me. And since I didn't plan on having sex , I stopped using the ring. With in the next month my moods became stable, I was happier, felt good, and I began to sleep a lot better. I thought it was because my life was beginning to calm down.

Then in April, I'd started seeing someone and once again found the need for birth control, so I started using the NuvaRing again. I started to feel like crap again during the first week I used it. I had no idea why I was feeling this way again, until now. I have discontinued using the NuvaRing this month, not because of the way I was feeling again, but because I found out I'm pregnant. I'm not happy at all either. I don't want anymore children. Thanks NuvaRing! Had I known all this time that it was the ring that was making and had made me in the past so miserable, I would've just gotten a tubal and not wasted my time using such life ruining and ineffective birth control, and maybe I'd still have my husband too. If anyone out there reads this and their doctor has said it is such a wonderful method of birthcontrol...don't believe a word of it. Use something else. Take the advice from me and all the others here who've shared their experiences with you.

Is loss of sex drive a problem when you are on Topamax? Also, does the weight loss stop?

My wife is getting really skinny. She pops off at me when I ask her a question....and I have given up on sex.

She's free of migranes though and I guess that is all that matters. She's been on it for about a year.