Natural hormone symptoms and conditions

I have been on Loestrin 24fe for the past three years. The first two years were great; no period since Dec 06, it's very rare that I have any spotting. Since June 2008, my health has gone down hill. I have had extreme weight gain (20 lbs), retaining fluid, fatigue,terrible migraines, memory has gotten poor, lack of concentration, depression has gotten worse, very very moody and will cry at the least little thing. I have also experience eye floaters and eye twitching. My dr. wants to change my BC to Yaz, but the horror stories are the same. At this point, I really don't know what to do. I have been on BC for 18 yrs total. When I first started taking Loestrin, it was wonderful.....up until last year. I am still taking it, not sure if I should switch to another type or totally go off of BC to give my body a rest.

THE MIRENA HAS RUINED MY LIFE. AFTER 2 YEARS OF HELL, I HAD IT REMOVED, THEN I STARTED YAZ BUT I HAVE NOT HAD MY PERIOD YET SINCE I HAD THE MIRENA REMOVED 3 MONTHS AGO. IM ALWAYS THINKING IM PREGNANT BUT THE TEST ALWAYS COME OUT NEGATIVE. WHEN WILL I GET MY PERIOD? IM TIRED OF THINKING IM PREGNANT WHEN IM NOT. WHATS WRONG WITH ME? BY THE WAY DID I MENTION I GOT OVARIAN CYSTS BECAUSE OF THE MIRENA. I NOW STOPPED TAKING BIRTH CONTROLS SINCE MY HUSBAND IS AWAY WORKING AND I DON'T NEED BIRTH CONTROL. IM STILL WAITING FOR MY PERIOD TO COME. I HOPE I AM NOT GOING THROUGH EARLY MENOPAUSE. IM ONLY 27 YEARS OLD. IVE HEARD ONE OF THE SIDE EFFECTS OF IUDS IS EARLY MENOPAUSE.

Has anyone seen concerned citizen lately. I'm wondering what Singulair does to cortisol levels. This is the natural hormone produced by the adrenal gland that allows you to deal with stress. I'm wondering what happens to a human being who's physical ability to deal with stress has been compromised.

hello all, i've been reading your stories and feel i need to write mine too. i started taking Yasmin about 4 months ago. and i really do not know what to think. i haven't put any weigh on or got acne (which were my worries) and my periods got very light and completely pain-free. i did have constant but mild headaches (which i never have) and my sex drive has gone down (never had any problem before). more importantly, emotionally i am feeling terrible. i cry non-stop and i feel totally unstable. I am going through a lot of changes in my life (change career, country, new relationship, etc) so i thought i could be just that i am feeling stressed. but i think this is more than that. my anxiety has rocketed, I never felt like this before, I have racing thoughts almost constantly, panic attacks, and something that i think it's called 'depersonalization' - has anyone got anything like this? it feels like you're looking from outside yourself, if that makes any sense...not nice at all.
as I have a tendency to feel anxious anyway I really don't know whether the pill is causing this or not, but i feel i am going mad. as i read the postings i became more worried that it might be Yasmin
i went to the doctor who suggested to carry on for a few more months to see if the symptoms go away. i followed his advice (as those days i was feeling surprisingly well, and was optimistic about it) but i am still very concerned.
also, has anyone had a really bad depression/anxiety attack when taking antibiotics + yasmin? i could have killed myself that day. felt better when i stopped taking the antibiotics.
again, is it my mind...? or is it Yasmin...?
any comments would be really great

My symptoms are the same as all (anxiety, mood swings, low sex drive) and I plan to have this thing taken out ASAP. It has been so bad lately that I cannot function. I've had more panic attacks than I can count in the last couple of weeks. What I want to know is how people fare on the other side of things. I would imagine it takes a while for your body to regulate after removal, but how long. And to echo- no more artificial things in my body.
Side note- has anyone tried cold shower therapy, apple cider vinegar or lemon balm for the anxiety? (******)

I have been on synthroid for about 3 yrs. I am considered subclinical (can't find hypothyroidism with blood test- normal range).
Grant it, the medicine took away the almost angina pain and loss of breath. However, my body seems to have deteriated structurally. I have tremendous lower back pain, that worsened. I have been in pain every day since. I starve, (veggies - then dinner). It's been very, very difficult. Always looking for help.I'm hoping that a natural hormone will change this, I know my husband will be glad; he won't have to hear me cry anymore.

SORRY HAVEN'T TRIED IT YET CHECKING OUT WITH OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAKEN IT.COULD ANY ONE LET ME KNOW HOW IT WORKS FOR THEM? THANK YOU.WILL BE STARTING SOMETIME TOMORROW PLEASE LET ME KNOW THANK YOU

Hello EveryOne out there...OK OK....

Now Why have I been out of touch since Sept 14th.... 2007???

I have been VERY VERY ill.....

Y'See, I went to see this new Doctor (Quack) for continued pain in my chest (sternum) area....that I have been having trouble with all Summer. (Severe Costochondritis/Fibromyalgia) By Sept 14th, this Quack who claims to be a Doctor had given me this prescription for Prednisone pills (20 mg each)....with orders to take mega doses of this toxic poison in order to combat the pain I was suffering. I was so desperate to get out of pain that I went ahead and filled the prescription and started taking the pills that eventful Friday night. I made the fatal mistake of trusting this Doctor!!!

If I had any sense God gave green apples I would have researched this a little before taking this medicine!! I would have run like all heck in the opposite direction!

I had been taking these reccomended large doses for approx two weeks back then per Doctor 'Quack's' order.... I have been hooked after the first week....and now currently desperately trying to get off of it with only marginal success!!

I have been on this Prednisone crap for some 49 days, currently and desperately trying to get off of it....with terrible side effects!! I have experienced every side effect known to the Devil himself and even discovered some new ones that I never knew was possible!? Case in point! I can't sleep night after night without terrible withdrawals all night long!!! I am forced to contend with them every night here. Not to mention I fight the withdrawals all days long too. I have this inept doctor and I am sorry I even went to him in the first place...!

The withdrawals I am now getting are harder to deal with than the original chest pain itself!!! Not to mention even eating the so-called 'wrong' foods sets off even more withdrawals almost immediately. I am now extremely sensitive to light and the sun~ not to mention.....noise....and stress....

I am much sicker from this Quack Doctor's so-called "HELP" than I ever was before....

I don't mind saying his name and trying to steer everyone away from this jerk Doctor here in Las Vegas who takes advantage of people in pain when they are desperate by feeding them toxic poisons and passing the poison off as something harmless thats gonna help them??? Just ask me who he is and I will tell you. I have no qualms about it....

Bottom line is I have spent this last month trying to get off this crap and I just found out that the withdrawals may bother me up to a YEAR after I take my last dose of this crap poison!! I have been going thru H***!!! A nightmare I would LOVE to pass onto this Quack who pretends to be a doctor!

I am down to about 7.5 mg per day now from about 180 mg that he gave me originally Sept 14 2007. Believe me this was not easy thing for me to do. I went "Toxic" on this drug weeks ago and it has affected my ability to process, think and reason properly. I feel like part of my mind is now missing or went on permanent vacation!! Dizziness,feeling like I'm gonna pass out, Brain Fog and Mass Confusion is the order for the day~depending on the time of day???

"The side effects of prednisone include adrenal suppression, which can occur with periods of prednisone use to surpass seven days. Adrenal suppression refers to the body’s inability to synthesize natural corticosteroids, resulting in a dependency on the prednisone taken by the patient. This is why doctors do not recommend the cessation of prednisone when the patient has taken it for longer than seven days. They reduce the dose gradually over a few days in the case of short-term prednisone use, and over weeks or months in the case of long-term treatment. Stopping prednisone treatment abruptly can cause the life-threatening Addison’s disease, in which in the body no longer produces sufficient amounts of adrenal steroid hormones"

I want to SUE this Doctor for making me this sick!!!!!

SDR

GRRRRRRRRRrrrrr!!!!!!!

I have been on Levoxyl for 10 years and have never felt "good" yet. My dtr thought maybe I needed an increase, so I am on 125mcg three days a week, 112mcg the other four days. Upon taking the increased meds, I was experiencing headaches every morning, and also severe exhaustion every afternoon. I also have muscle pain and cramps, and memory loss, thinning hair. I also have developed a stomach issue- maybe acid reflux, probably because I feel hungry all the time. I would really like to explore the natural thyroid but my dtr is not familiar with it but I think would be willing to try it. Can anyone advise me on the process of switching over? Has anyone weaned themselves off the levoxyl alltogether? I have a friend who was on it for 10 years and her tyroid no longer has a problem. She is totally off all meds.

Guest 37262-

The swelling of the breast is due to adding an un-natural hormone to your body. It is an increase to the existing progesterone and estrogen naturally occuring in your body. We all have progesterone and estrogen receptors in our breasts-that is often why many women's breasts grow when taking hormones. Its not really a healthy thing although many women think its great, I think its actually what's causing breast cancer as there are so many women and the #'s growing. My own personal experience is that it doesn't go away until you go off of all hormones.

On the gaining weight, it sounds like you are one of the unusual women to gain/rather than lose weight on Yasmin. Watch that, discuss with your OBGYN and pay special attention to every other symptom that may develop.

Yasmin is really not a good birth control pill. There are so many women on this site and the new one in the UK who have suffered horribly with serious symptoms. so my recommendation would be to get off it and practice natural protection/non-hormonal methods.

lulubae,

Without knowing how long you have been on yasmin, many women here, in over 3,058 results had trouble with libido. LIkely due to the suppresent of adrenal glands, the diuretic, and the change in natural hormone as Yasmin contains a synthetic homrone-drsp-a diuretic actually.

Without knowing how old you are, and having been on bcp's much of my life and now only coming to understanding the problems and risks and suffering from being on yamsin for only 1.5 years-its a hell of a pill-I'd reccomend diagphragm or cervical cap. Or practicing naturally by time of month.

the hormones and bcps just not worth the toll they ultimately take on your system. While its so easy to pop a pill every day, it really is, loaded with side effects.

Hope that helps. Read through this and anything you can find on bcp side effects. It adds up.

Silke-
So glad to hear from you. I am just interested to know because I had lab tests done (blood) as well and mine came back "normal" low normal so I ordered a saliva test online for a hormone profile because I read that saliva tests are more accurate than blood tests for hormones and my labs came back that my testosterone is way low as well as some of my other hormones which were too low for a woman my age. ( By the way I have been off the yasmin since the end of Nov. 2005) So now I am looking into bio Identical hormone replacement, which is a natural hormone much like the hormones our bodies make already NOT the synthetic junk in BCP's. I think in my case that the yasmin supressed my androgens and testosterone which are the male hormones, guess what these hormones are responsible for? skin elasticity, mood, sleep balance, cholesterol levels, muscle integrity... among other things...hmm sound familiar? a lot of things we and other people on this site are complaining about. I am still looking into finding a good doctor for the BIH replacement but you can read up on this on www.salivatest.com click on 24 HOUR HORMONE HOTLINE on the bottom paragraph of the second box on the left hand side of your screen, then on the next screen scroll down to 630 ANDROGENS: Testosterone and DHEA listen to what the hormones are responsible for. 627 All about Hormones is very informative as well, actually if you click on a lot of the numbers there you can learn a lot, as well as about saliva testing and BIHR. You can order a saliva test by clicking on the home page you started out on, at the very top it says order test kit. I ordered HORMONE PROFILE I. That measures your estridiol, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and cortisol levels in the am. This will give you a basic idea of where your hormones are at. I would be curious to see where your levels really are as well. Let me know what you think. Bitter RN-

Hey Lisa!!

Don't worry!! I understand your pain, because I went EXACTLY through the same thing!!

I remember myself asking my husband a thousand times "Oh my god, I feel like it's all coming back, I'm so afraid everything could get as bad as it was months ago..." and so on. And that happened around the same state as you are now!! And I also remember my mum and my husband always telling me "It won't come back, everything will be better again in a few days, it's just your hormonal imbalance." And I was so thankful for their words!!

And the best of all: They were right !! Evertime I was nearly about to despair (and that didn't happen only once during the very hard last year, but every few weeks!!), a few days further everything had gotten better again!!

It always helped me to remember, that it's all a hormonal thing and hormones are fluctuating over a month. And being on bcp for such a long time (during that time the hormones were constantly nearly on ONE level!) your body reacts to those natural hormone fluctuations more sensitive than before. Your system will gradually get used to that fluctuations again and you won't feel them in such a heavy way any longer!!

I'm 1 Year and 2 months without Yasmin now and still feel those fluctuations very often. But remember that I still didn't get my period again... (last one was on easter 2005.....). So I think in my case everything will be 100% back to normal and healthy again, when I'm finally getting my period.

I hope this helps and feel free to E-Mail me or post here again if you've got any further questions or jus need some pep talk!! I know how important that is, I needed it the same way one year ago!!!

Best wishes, god's bless and keep looking forward to better times Lisa, as hard as it may seem on some days!!!

Silke

I was given a sample (two packages) of Yasmin by my gynecologist to help control terrible period symptoms. I only completed one month due to the side effects. The good news was that I did not get the horrible cramps during the one month I was on Yasmin. However, the side effects were unbearable. I bled for almost three weeks, including light cramping throughout. I was nauseated and lost all appetite; I would forget to eat until I was about to pass out. However, the worst was its effect on my mood; I was having symptoms of anxiety, depression and paranoia, with an inability to think clearly. (As a counselor, I recognized these pretty quickly, though it took me a couple weeks to link these with the pill.) This is very abnormal for me, and I normally do not experience mood swings due to natural hormone changes. Also, I would have difficulty sleeping, and would wake up in the night terribly anxious and sad.

I realize that many or all of these side effects may have gone away after a couple of months. As bas as they were for me, that was not an option. Part of the problem for me was that the hormone levels were just too high; I am only around 100 pounds.

The good news for me was that my mood went back to normal in only a day or two after I stopped taking Yasmin. The odd thing was that I noticed a recurrance of mood symptoms the week before my next period, which came on schedule. I seem to have been back to normal permanently since then. For those of you with similar symptoms, I hope your rebound is as quick as mine. Don't get discouraged with a slight relaspe!

I would like to start off saying that I have been on Yasmin for almost a month. I know it isn't very long, but I have seen women posting who have symptoms after only days of being on it. When I first started them a few weeks ago, I did have some nausea, and mild cramping, but it seemed to subside after about the first week. Other than that I haven't had any side effects. I think this just goes to show that everyone is different, and these pills interact differently within each person's system. I was prescribed Yasmin for birth control and debilitating PMS symptoms, and I hope they continue to work well with my system. I was hesitant at first about using any hormonal methods of treatment, but my OB/GYN explained to me that most women who have bad PMS have a hormonal imbalance, and BCP are a good option because they override your bodies natural hormone production, by supplying a constant amount at regular intervals. (So you posters who say you don't want to put extra hormones into your bodies, you really aren't, because your body stops producing it's normal amout to compensate for the pills.) So if you are having a horrible experience using these pills, then I agree you should seek an alternate brand or birth control method, but for all potential users of this brand, it isn't fair to say it is a horrible, awful, dangerous pill for everyone, because it may just be right for some of us. Try to keep an open mind.

Levoxyl is an evil drug. I went off on my own against doctors orders and found a doctor to prescribe the leading brand of natural hormone. After 6 months on Levoxyl, I had heartrate of 120 at rest. Nausea, diarrhea, hair loss, weight loss. I suffered on this stuff for 6 months because my "labs were in normal ranges". I took myself off, and within 9 days my heartrate had dropped to 84. No more nausea, bowels were fine. Found a new doc quick. I was only on .05 Will the docs tell the FDA about my side effects? Probably not, its their wonder drug...and they make plenty of $$ for prescribing it. They tried to convince me that synthetic hormones have no side effects. You could hold me down with a gun to my head and I would never ever take any brand of synthetic T4 again.