Menstruation symptoms and conditions

I have taken Estrostep Fe for as long as I can remember. I have always experienced pretty much all of the symptoms I have read here since I began taking it. This was the first and only birth control I have ever tried.

From what I'm reading though, it's hard to tell if what I have been experiencing is normal problems women have when their hormone levels change (anytime you change a birth control or start taking one for the first time this WILL HAPPEN guaranteed-it's a product of being a woman) or if the problems are caused by the pill.

I have however noticed through the years that certain things make the symptoms worse. Mostly dietary changes, things you eat during hormonal changes, among other environmental things actually contribute to the problems.

I'm wondering how many people that have posted here about their problems started on the pill for the first time using Estrostep Fe and also how many were just reaching the age where that wonderful gift of getting a period arrives?

A lot of teenage girls don't realize that BOTH the pill AND your period (even without the pill) cause big changes in hormone levels...and starting both at the same time, well.....if that's the case, then a lot of these posts make sense and seem to be completely normal.

FYI-to anyone frequently switching birth controls and not waiting at least 3 months in between to let your hormone levels stabilize..you can expect hair loss and/or facial hair, migraines, weight gain, and a host of other problems.

My point is, you can read things in these forums and think WOW I HAVE THOSE SYMPTOMS TOO!! DOWN WITH ESTROSTEP! without stopping to think about these things as well:

1. Women always have and always will be known for their mood changes, and bouts of depression. You also have to remember that during menstruation your body goes through a little phase that closely mimics that of being pregnant according to many doctors..PMS is a common thing. not just caused by birth control.

2. It is normal to have sore/tender breasts around the time of your period, before during and even after it. Look it up on any medical website!

3. read the side effects of the stuff BEFORE you decide to switch. they are put there for a reason.

4. the pill warns against taking it if you have or could have certain medical conditions. don't just blame it on the pill, go tell the doc EVERYTHING no matter how embarrassed you feel about it (trust me, they hear and see worse all day long)....don't be surprised if you find out you have some underlying condition you didn't know about. also, if you are overweight..taking most birth control pills is NOT a good idea for many reasons..the risk of blood clots (that can lead to stroke/heart attack goes WAY up)-also if you smoke..but did you know that if you are overweight your chances of getting pregnant on the pill DOUBLE (if your BMI is over 27%)..

My point is, keep an open mind, and for those of you just becoming a woman-learn more about how your body works because you'll need to be able to differentiate throughout life between the normal aches and pains and the ones that require a Dr. or hospital visit.

good luck!

side effect: bleeding at urethra

For a long-term sinus infection that has drained my energy, I took my first pill in the Leva-pak about noon today with a large glass of water. Ate lunch. Planned to vacuum, but it was difficult to get into and around in our garage (we made a space for a car to go in now that mornings bring frost outside.) So I ended up moving things around in the garage. Major moving around, some stuff heavy. I was thrilled to have energy and strength to actually do something at last and to think of how long I had been listlessly surviving and at times even bedridden before this magical pill.

About 8:30 I came in to pee and found my undies bloody. Bravo, I said to myself, 10 years post menopause and I got my period again. This is the drug of youthfulness: energy and menstruation. Fortunately I still have a few sanitary items around for female friends who visit, so I got to be one of my friends.

But it seems that the blood is coming from the urethra, not from the vagina. And I have some discomfort there. So I recalled that the drug pakage said to drink plenty of water and realized that I hadn't had any more drinks since about noon or 1. I drank another glass of water and headed back to the garage.

I finished up the garage (who said I'm obsessive?) about 9:30 and came in to find out more about the new drug. I saw that the pack said right on it that drinking plenty of liquids PREVENTS THE FORMATION OF CRYSTALS IN THE URINE. So I drank 2 more glasses of water, thinking maybe crystals have formed in my urine and are cutting into the tissues of my bladder and urethra making them bleed. Guess these crystals must be softer than kidney stones or maybe much much smaller, because I've seen the pain folks get with kidney stones, and I would not be sitting here reading your experiences and now typing up my own to share with y'all if I had as much pain as kidney stones cause!

Anyway, with those two more glasses of water, I came online to see the deal with urethral bleeding caused by Leva-pak, and what do I see. Well, the first website I went to said about reading the pharmacist's paper that came with the L-pak. (My doc calls it L-pak, and I hope it's not gonna be L for me as it has been for most of y'all.) Now I wondered if the pharmacist had even put one in. Went and looked and sure enough, there it was, and it said to drink plenty of water "to prevent the formation of crystals in the urine." No further info about those crystals or their side effects. Some words about bleeding but totally vague, like does drinking water cure bleeding?? Who knows?

That paper the pharmacist put in my bag also said that one of the side effects can be "excitement". I thought, that's my side effect, and I am very happy about that. Garage is too. Hubby is too. Life is good. Leva-pack is good for me, for us for the world.

Anyway, back at the puter, eventually I found y'all and your many stories of pain and suffering caused by Levaquil. But, lo and behold, NOT A ONE OF YOU HAS MENTIONED MY BLOODY SIDE EFFECT. That goes to show what drinking plenty of liquids can spare you. Save ya a quarter wasted on sanitary pads you coulda given your female guests. Save ya from washing blood out of your undies again. Save ya from worrying about whether to call the doc (pharmacist is home in bed by now and tomorrow is Sunday. It figures.) And whether to take another pill.

Sheesh, it's a slow business trying to type up my story for ya, now 11 and time for more water, I figure. Be right back again...ok. I see the bleeding continues but it's a LIGHT DAY.

Well, now I've read this whole webpage top to bottom, and I feel pretty worried about taking enough of this Levaquil stuff to get exploding tendons and total nerve damage and pain and suffering and crippling and insanity and death by anaphylactic shock if I take another one.

I probably will take another one, just being sure to drink plenty a water too. Excuse me a sec while I go get another, as it is now after 10....okay I'm back now.We'll see as time goes along about taking any more. And if I am a good scout, I should come back and provide the REST OF MY STORY in a few days.

I saw that someone here said that Cipro is a fluoxosomethingorother too. I don't know why the doc didn't pick Cipro for me today instead of the Leva-pak. Maybe the last drug rep in his office gave him some good lines about the advantages of L as opposed to C, who knows? Anyway, if Cip and Lev are in the same family, I must say that as a postal employee, I am ready to take Cipro at the drop of a hat if our new machines spot anthrax in the air where we work. Sounds like those postal employees who died would have survived if the docs had recognized what was wrong with them and given them the Cipro early on. At least, other people who showed up sick afterwards with anthrax exposure got Cipro, and most of them survived, I heard.

The upshot is that I hope we don't take away the fluoxisomethingorothers until we find somthing better. Law suit perhaps, but not to deny the life-saving drug from EVERYBODY because some folks have bad side effects. Instead, we should find out how to test each person for having trouble taking it. You know, put a little drug in with some of their hair and a little in some of their blood and a little in some of their pee and see if it curdles or grows sprouts or something to show how each patient will react to it. Then tell each one what to expect from the various drugs available for that person's ailment. Then the patient can decide which side effects he wants to sign up for or if he just wants to stick with his original ailment.

I have not decided whether I will take any more of these pills. I will observe my crochety side effect and watch for any new ones that may pop up before I make my decision each day. I am very very concerned about long lasting muscle and tendon pains. I have not been able to hike now for about 3 months due to loss of energy, strength, and confidence. And I sure don't want to miss 3 more months trying to get over exploded achilles, burning knees, seizures, or nerve damage etc.

As a postal employee, I never do any research into cures for ailments. I am fairly experienced with ailments. I cannot provide you with any good excuses for not seeking to find cures for our health troubles.

I feel lucky to have been born when and where I was. I waited until central heat, air conditioning, cushioned seats in heated, air-conditioned autos(spare me from buckboards on unpaved "roads"), and penicillan. That penicillan brought me through pneumonia in 1947. Had I arrived 5 years sooner, I doubt it would have been available to me. Hmmm, I wouldn't a been available to share my story with you folks this evening either. So I must say a blessing for all those who try to improve my health when I go to them for help with my various complaints. Sure, money may be highly motivating for some of them, but Donald Trump and Bill Gates found ways to make money without going into medicine or research and drug development or doctoring.

So far, that's my story, my red flag today.

May THE FORCE be with each of you as you search for the best solutions for your ever-new mind and body problems. May we seek wisdom widely and recognize that what used to work for us often won't work any more because our bodies keep changing. We are along for the ride and hope to make it as pleasurable as possible as we round each curve and surmount each hill.

God bless us all, each and every one.
Christmas is coming...Tiny Tim's words echo through the years.

I am glad to have read the post below me.

From the majority of posts on this forum, it makes it seem as though Yasmin is an evil poison that the medical community is using to destroy women. I was seriously frightened after reading all the comments. While I do believe all these women about the negative effects of Yasmin, there must be some out there who are pleased with this pill. Everyone's body is different. I have been on it for only 5 days now, so I can't really say anything yet.

I will report back after 3 months or so, unless I have gone bald, blind, insane and bed ridden with head-to-toe pain at that time. I guess that could happen but I really hope it will simply calm my awful menstruation and help my husband and I delay pregnancy while we work on being able to afford to at least take care of ourselves.

This site is the absolute life saver. I have had my mirena in for two years and am getting it out as sson as I post this I will call my GP. I ahve been sent for every test for every disease under the sun and have only now come to the conclustion that it is all the mirena. Numbness down my left side (I had tests for ms and other serious neurological disorders), abdominal pain, swelling, headaches blurry vision acne like I never had before not efven in my teens. The good thing was it stopped my period all together but now I now haow unatural that is. Thank goodness for all your posts. If I wan;t in Australia, I would be joining in the class action. I have lost two years to this thing with constant doctors and worry about more serious implications. I have had stress leave off owrk and all the time my GP has said it would not be the Mirena.

I've been on FemCon now for 4 mos and it's been great! I had some breakthrough bleeding for the first 1 1/2 but that's normal usually when you start a new birth control pill. I haven't gained any weight and I have very little cramps during menstruation. My face has cleared up since I've been on it also. And fortunately, it hasn't affected my sex drive...

It was nice to find this website, finally figuring out a reason why I get my yeast infections, headaches, naseau, pain on my left breast bone, fatigue, mood swings, etc... I always thought it was just me, but I'm now thinking that maybe it's not. I've had recurrent yeast infections ever since being on Yasmin (I've been on it for over 4 years) and my MD has never mentioned it could be the pill. I finally started seeing a connection between the two when I started tracking what happens to me when I miss taking the pill (ALWAYS a yeast infection). And it got me to thinking that maybe there are other women out there who suffer from the same thing. Also, at some points I actually thought I had serious mental/health problems b/c of my consistent headaches, fatigue, and mood swings. I used to be really active up until I was 19 when I started on Yasmin, and it went downhill from there. I guess I just thought that this was just my normal grown up self (I know sounds kinda lame). And I've totally experienced the lack of sex drive, it seems I'm only interested the week before I get my period or when I'm on it.

I am really getting more and more upset and frusturated reading these women's posts. Just today on teh "forum" post (see above-3 different ways to communciate about Yasmin)a 20 year old who had never been on a bcp got a pulmonary embolism two monhts on Yasmin!!!

Then I read Tricia's post and it makes me angry. How do we stop this stuff and stop the harming of more women!!!

And I got these damn tests back today from an RN who really doesn't know anything about Yasmin, high rates of potassium and suggested I find out an OBGYN and a Doctor! This is making me nuts. I keep finding inofrmation on the web that starts to add up. I know Yasmin increases potassium in the blood-but I went from 4.2 in Dec. 2005 to 5.7 Jan. 2007? One year? And I"ve been off of it for 3 months? The chest pains started in May 2006.

My breasts hurt. I have chest pain and going on 5th month of bronchitis like symptoms every menstruation! What the hell?

CHEST PAIN AND MENSTRUATION LINK

After being completely perplexed as to why every month, I am experiencing these horrendous chest pains I found two pieces of research that are of particular interest about women's menstruation, varying levels of oestrogren and heart disease. I haven't previously found anyone that understood why/how this happens, but loads and loads of women on medication.com who reported sometimes, almost immediate chest pains.

The first published by BBC in 2004 (google chest pains and menstruation) basically confirms that a woman is more vulnerable to sudden, serious heart disease during the time of the menstrual cycle when her oestrogen levels are at their lowest. (Known as 17-oestradiol which circulates in the bloodstream and dip sharply around menstruation. -Experience of chest pains during this time when there is not enough blood flow to the heart. This study was conducted by a team from Laval University in Quebec Canada. Their research confirmed a rise in reported cases of serious heart disease among pre-menopausal women. Aged 35-47. These women were admitted to the hospital for heart attack or chest pain. What is particularly interesting, is that 20 of the women reported heart related problems within five days of the beginning of their period when oestrogen levels are at their lowest. What is particularly interesting is that even though this article points to this being more common in women over 55, yasmin has been identified as having more risk to blood clots and heart troubles than other pills and am wondering how its effects on our hormones make us more suscectible to heart disease.

The second a piece by the Annals and Internal Medicine. Google chest pain and menstruation.

After being completely perplexed as to why every month, I am experiencing these horrendous chest pains I found two pieces of research that are of particular interest about women's menstruation, varying levels of oestrogren and heart disease. I haven't previously found anyone that understood why/how this happens, but loads and loads of women on medication.com who reported sometimes, almost immediate chest pains.

The first published by BBC in 2004 (google chest pains and menstruation) basically confirms that a woman is more vulnerable to sudden, serious heart disease during the time of the menstrual cycle when her oestrogen levels are at their lowest. (Known as 17-oestradiol which circulates in the bloodstream and dip sharply around menstruation. -Experience of chest pains during this time when there is not enough blood flow to the heart. This study was conducted by a team from Laval University in Quebec Canada. Their research confirmed a rise in reported cases of serious heart disease among pre-menopausal women. Aged 35-47. These women were admitted to the hospital for heart attack or chest pain. What is particularly interesting, is that 20 of the women reported heart related problems within five days of the beginning of their period when oestrogen levels are at their lowest. What is particularly interesting is that even though this article points to this being more common in women over 55, yasmin has been identified as having more risk to blood clots and heart troubles than other pills and am wondering how its effects on our hormones make us more suscectible to heart disease.

The second a piece by the Annals and Internal Medicine. Google chest pain and menstruation.

hi guest 36095.
i also still get chest pains,i have been off yasmin for 8 months. i only seem to get them either around ovulation or menstruation but it feels like someone is sitting on my chest or like i have broken my ribs or something. i also get a sensation of not being able to get enough air sometimes. these sensations are linked to hormone imbalances and hopefully they like all the other wierd and not so wonderfull symptoms will go away.

Silke.
please don't stop posting on here,you have helped so many people as you are one of the longest suffering that still visits the site. you give us hope for the future!

Kim123.
i know you feel like you are going crazy and just want anything that will heal you NOW but silke is right there is no magic cure only time will heal,your body needs time to repair itself. take the vits and minerals,carry on with your exercise and walking and keep trying to relax. we have all been were you are now and we KNOW how you are feeling. we are all just trying to reassure you that it will get better. i promise you. i felt so bad at times i wanted to end my life but i am still here and you will be too.you will use your valuable experience to help all the other new ladies that join this site. every day.
email me if you need a chat.

best wishes to you all.

sarah

hi kim123.
you mentioned that you have been given natural progesterone,i believe it can sometimes make you feel a little more anxious for a little while but that it should eventually settle,it's something to do with the receptors,if they are full of estrogen,when the progesterone is introduced it has to release the excess estrogen to be re-filled with the progesterone,i have not tried natural progesterone but i am so scared of playing with my hormones now that i have been taking a low does agnus castus capsule daily instead of trying the natural progesterone cream. our hormones are so complex it is really hard to know what is the right thing to take or do. you may be feeling more anxious if you are somewhere near ovulation or menstruation? look up pmsa. you may find many of your symptoms,i get virtually all of them so it seems to be a really exaggerated case of pms. pmsa is anxiety lead and pmsd is depression lead. you may find that that constant feeling under your skin is anxiety and that it will lessen with time as the anxiety itself will.magnesium is definately a good idea,i take it daily and i'm sure it helps me. eat a diet high in fibre and drink loads of water,the fibre helps to remove excess estrogen and the water will speed the process as it keeps your kidneys clear and aids digestion. i hope some of this will help you. as voicesi says,hang in there it will get better,please stay positive,remember the good things in your life and really push yourself to do the things you love,you will get stronger and more confident again i can assure you of that,this time last year i wanted to die,i felt terrified all day,everyday,i cried all the time,i couldn't eat,sleep, or care for my children. i thought i had suffered some kind of mental breakdown and was going to be institutionalised, now 8 months after i stopped taking yasmin i can go out again,i can enjoy my life and enjoy my children again,in a strange way this experience has shown me how wonderful my life was,i always thought it was dull,but i just took it for granted,i will never do that again,i think of every day as a blessing because the story could have been so different if i had not found this site and these amazing women that shared their experiences and gave me the help,advice and courage to find my way back to health again even though many were and still are suffering themselves,you will see me posting on here very frequently as i try to return the help and support that was given to me to other people,i may not always be able to help but sometimes it can help just being told that someone else knows how you feel and has been where you are now,it always comforted me.

best wishes to you kim123.

sarah

I haven't had this confirmed yet, but I think this itchy, swollen skin in the perineum area is from the Ring. I've been using it since July of 2005 and honestly didn't notice any problems at first. I am loving the short menstruation time, actually. Then this past spring I noticed this severe itching in the groin area and the doctor actually said she didn't know what it was!

Just wondered if anybody else had had something like this. I know its not a yeast infection or any other type of infection (the doctor tested for that stuff).I haven't had any other negative experiences with the ring.

Hello ladies
I have been off the pill for three and a half months, and have been getting slowly better. My question is, why do I feel worse this month than I did last month? I keep thinking that I am getting better, but I feel like this month I have taken a bit of a step back. Has anyone else experienced this? When I was so sick in August (due to Yasmin) I thought I would for sure be back to 100% by December. Sadly, I do not feel like I am there yet, which scares me. For some reason I had the three month mark in my head, because a doctor told me that it takes about 3 months to have your hormones back to normal. Now I worry all the time about not getting better fast enough, which makes my anxiety spiral out of control. I am sure that my hormones were pretty messed up, like many of you have experienced, so I know that it takes time. However, I just cringe at having to wait a whole year to feel back to normal!

I know that many of you have heightened anxiety right around ovulation and menstruation. I am ovulating right now and have actually been experiencing anxiety since my last period. In my past two cycles, I only had it around menstruation and ovulation. Is there any explanation for this, or have any of you experienced taking a step back when you really thought you were nearly 100%? Please let me know! I am driving myself crazy with the anxiety of feeling abnormal.

I hope you all are doing well! I think of all of you often.
Best,
Erykah

Hello all,
I have a question regarding menstruation. I have been off of oral contraceptives altogether since August. My first and second period came right on schedule. Now I am waiting around for my period. Even though it is only a few days late, I am terrified of pregnancy even though I use barrier methods and chart my temperature. Is it normal to have periods be a bit irregular, even if the first few after quitting were regular?

Sophie,
I just read your post and hope you are feeling a little better by now. We all know exactly how you are feeling and that the thing with post-yasmin is that one day you are fine and the next day you feel terrible.

When this happens to me i try to remember that the chances are high that by the next day i will be feeling a little better. I am off yasmin for a little longer than you. About 8 months. I think that from 6 months onwards i started to get a little better.

I was able to start making since of things again.

If you can keep a diary of how you are feeling you will notice a pattern. This helps you to ride out the bad days.

It might be helpful to note the day you are ovulating and how long after that until you start to feel bad.

Yesterday i found out that i have a luteal phase defect. This has been linked among other things to contraceptive use. But the doctors have said that it is treatable with progesterone.

I have been keeping a menstrual diary for the past four months. I noticed that my cycles were getting shorter and i was ovulating earlier.

Try this and it might help. I really hope it does. I know it is not an instant cure but it might put you on the road to recovery earlier. This along with all the great advice from flowerbabies and everybody else will keep you going until soon you will have no more yasmin poison left in your system.

I know i have mentioned this before but i feel that LDN has helped me hugely. It is currently used as an ms drug but is been prescribed off-label for pms and hormonal problems. Google "low dose naltrexone" to get info on it.

If you can try to remember when you do feel bad that this is not permanent, it will go away soon.

Migraines during menstruation are usually because of the change in hormone levels. I suffered too from them and sometimes could not even open my eyes to light. Along with nausea this can mean that you get anxious because you start to become afraid that something more sinister is happening.
This then starts a vicous circle.
Why not ask your doctor for an anti-migraine prescription. I took these for a while when my migraines were at their worst. They really do work. The trick is to take them before your migraine starts.

If you are keeping a diary you will notice that the migraines come at around the same time every month.
I hope this helps Sophie. I wish you the very best of luck. Just Remember that this WILL go away. You WILL be ok again and there are people on this forum who know exactly how you are feeling.
murph70

hi jess,
the symptoms you have could well be down to yasmin,you may be hyper sensative to the effects of the artificial hormones,i think it depends what state your hormones are in before you start taking this stuff. i felt great on it for about six months,pain free periods,slight weight loss,reduction of cycle related acne etc. but then things started to change and i became ill both physically and mentally with no explanation,i felt that way for 1 year until i found this site and stopped taking yasmin,since then all my symptoms have pretty much vanished although they resurface briefly during ovulation-menstruation but that is because my hormones are still out of whack. my advice would be if you are feeling a bit off talk to your doctor and see if there is an alternative to yasmin,if you are starting to feel closteraphobic (sorry can't spell !) and never have before then i would think that yasmin may effect you badly mentally,something to do with oral contraceptives depleting seratonin levels,most of us on this site have had panic attacks/anxiety attacks along with agoraphobia or paranoid delusions,we are not mental it is this pill! some people do really well on it and feel sick for a couple of weeks then improve but i suspect if you are feeling bad after a few days then it may not be the right pill for you. sorry for the long post but it really upsets me when more and more women are being prescribed this rubbish that has nearly destroyed so many women here,all the symptoms we experience are to similar to be coincidental,the one common factor is that we have all taken yasmin.
best of luck to you whatever you decide to do,i hope you feel better soon.

I have been taking Apri (generic) for 2 months now. I will not be taking it anymore, as it has caused me to have trouble sleeping, anxiety, and severe mood changes. I have also noticed a lot of bloating around menstruation, enough that my clothes won't fit. My periods have been lighter than before, the only plus in my book. I also have decreased interest in sex.

andiegags,
my pms was never like this either! i had very few pms symptoms before yasmin,i would be a bit cranky a couple of days before i came on my period and has sore boobs but other than that,nothing! i have been investigating my symptoms again lately and have found that some birth control pills can cause pms or pmdd and if you look at the symptoms of pms on a good site many of the anxiety problems etc are common to extreme pms. some birth control pills are also known to reduce serotonin levels in the brain (this also happens naturally in women with pms around ovulation) so that may explain the anxiety/depression getting worse around ovulation/menstruation. i am just about to try adding a low dose of 5-htp to see if that will help improve my anxiety,i already take magnesium,calcium,and a vitamin b complex along with omega 3,6 & 9 oil. i really feel for you,i had a really bad episode of anxiety last year that lasted about 6 months,i developed agoraphobia as a result and i still have days when i can't leave the house especially when i am ovulating.i hope that things will improve,i know it will take time but i am convinced that recovery is possible and probable!

I have had dizziness, rapid heartbeat, headaches, intolerance of caffeine and alcohol even in small amounts.

Also, menstruation for over a month and exhaustion due to an epidural of kenalog to treat a herniated disk.

Has anyone had prolonged periods as a result of same and did you take progesterone to stop the period?

I am reluctant to take any more medicine as I usually prefer physical therapy and other natural means if at all possible but I am getting very drained as the days go on and I continue to menstruate. I have taken a blood test which shows "normal "ranges for everything although I am on the border line of anemia.

My back pain is better but had I known how poorly the cortisone would affect me I would never have chosen this procedure.

The doctor says that I just have to wait out the side effects.

I have been suffering for what is amost 2 months and I am anxious to return to a normal state so that I can regain some strength. I have been greatly weakened overall despite the moderate relief acheived for my back pain.

I was prescribed Sulfameth/Trimeth DS 800/160. I have to take the pill 2 times a day for 3 days for a UTI. After taking my first pill the burning went away, but I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible abdominal cramps, worse than the ones I would get with menstruation. I also had headaches, neck aches, diarrhea, nausea and a wicked loss of appetite. I can't believe after all of these negative side effects the drug is still prescribed! I would rather have the UTI than have to deal with Sulfa ever again

I have been on "Yankmearound" for 4 months now. I was on it about two years ago and don't remember have the same side effects as I do now. In fact then I remember only really having anxiety which I am predisposed to, breast tenderness and loss of libido which I thought had to do with my relationship. Well this time my anxiety is pretty bad despite the fact that I am willfully unemployed and exploring a creative direction in my life- I should be much more relaxed! I have also started to notice a sleepless night aroung the start of menstruation each month since I started that has gotten noticeably worse. This month it lasted for the entire duration of my period and seems to be continuing on post starting a new pack! I have never had such problems sleeping thnakfully before taking this poison. I'd really like to know if anyone has experienced such syptoms of insomnia though because of course it is hardly discussed in the Package Insert. I am looking to go off this and looking for non- hormonal options that are not scary like the IUD which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility! Have anyother methods worked out there ie. female condom, diaphragm, cervical cap? For the typical "no can do condoms man" that I always seem to date.

So my symptoms this time were: breast tenderness, marked loss of libido, anxiety- sometimes creeping up and intense with no conscious indentifiable cause, and this wretched insomnia and ssleep disturbance ie: can't fall asleep maybe until late mornig hours, or wake up after every few hours or wake up early in the morning.

I think what you mean is your daughter is down to 2 pills and went back up to 3 pills? each pill is 5mg so she is now back to 15mg? I also started at high doses like that, two times. Once at 50mg and the second time at 60mg because of a complication due to a surgery. I don't know if any problems that you mentioned are specifically due to prednisone. It does affect the adrenal gland hormones, but I'm not sure it affects the sex hormones (menstruation and breast soreness). My cycle was not affected by prednisone. I do know the mood swings and anxiousness are normal with prednisone. But even though it is the nature of the drug, my particular doctor assured me that at the low level of 2 pills or 10mg a day, it shouldn't be as severe as on the high doses. In fact, we should be feeling a lot better. But of course it depends on our personalities as well. It is normal though, I feel, to have depression, fears and anxiousness just because we have been sick, and perhaps been sick for a long time. Please, with any mood problems, don't dismiss it completely as the drug's fault, especially if you are at a low dose and still feel miserable. We need support if we are sick, and need to understand and deal with our changed lives. It is very stressful to be sick. Good luck to everyone and I wish you strength and healing.
Patience.

Thank you voicesi/#12857 for your sound advice.
Unlike you however I have only taken this poisen for 4 months and it's already taking me longer to clean out of it. It seems to me that all of us who didn't get a recurring period are suffering from the bloating so its definitely a hormone issue there. I went on provera recently so I just got my period. the bloating however isn't easing up and I did do all necessary bloodwork and all came back fine except for my T3/T4 which is def. due to yasmin. I'm tempted to take that waterpill for just a short time since I have so much of this retention that it practically ruins my life. The last 3 months was a nightmare. Especially now in the summer, I haven't stepped into a bathing suit yet.
My internist said it takes 6 months for your body to completely clean out of bc. He doesn't believe in natural products and told me that for the next 3 months I should take provera for 7 days starting on day 20 of my cycle so like this i will regulate my menstruation to 30 days thereafter.
It is all so confusing. everyone with different opinions.
Thanks everyone for your support and keep posting your strides in recovery. You all give us strength to hold out!
Love and light,
Sherry

Hey everyone,
I've been posting for quite a while about the significant weight gain I've experienced since quitting yasmin. It's day 62 off my pill-I haven't gotten a period yet and I have such severe bloating w/ weight gain ever since that I feel as if i'm gonna burst soon. It seems as if I'm the lone wolf on this one as very little woman have wrote about this bloating AFTER they stopped. Anyone out there in my shoes too? If I would've know the havoc these TINY pills will wreak on the quality of my life, I would've never even considered taking the pill. Now I'll have to take medication to bring on menstruation, and who knows what that's going to cause.......ugh.....I'm totally depressed......