Novel symptoms and conditions

hI was diagnosed with severe endometriosis at 20 years old had my first laparoscopy at 21 (September 2003) and my second at 23 (January 2005). After my first laparoscopy I was placed on Yasmin by my GYN who said it was a great drug and would help with my pain and clotting. I had just started dating my now husband and didn’t seem to have any side effects of from it. If I recall correctly at one point after my second surgery I stopped taking Yasmin, but after a lot after clotting went right back on it. I will be 27 Saturday so have been on Yasmin for the last 6 years.
My husband was a paramedic/EMT (so knows a little about this type of thing) before he joined the military 2 years ago and prior to that I lived close enough to home to keep the same doctors (even while at college). Now that we are a military family we have to jump through hoops to see a doctor, but would visit home every few months so I continued to see my same doctors. We recently had to move across the country so I am not able to do that and now have to see the military doctors or wait for approval to go off post. This week for the first time I ran out of my prescription so my husband and I decided I would just get off of it for a little while.
Sorry for the novel, but I am getting somewhere with this I promise! I caught a 24 stomach bug last week and can’t seem to recover from the nausea and dizziness so bad I barely stand up. Saturday would have been my last day on the pack, but since I was sick the last pill I took was Thursday. My husband thinks I am dehydrated, though can’t understand why after plenty of rehydrating including military rehydration packets. Something told me maybe I am having withdrawals from Yasmin (though I have never heard of withdrawals from birth control) and decided to look it up. After reading many forums which ultimately led me to medications.com I am thinking the following symptoms I have been experience the last year that doctors just can’t seem to figure out could be related to the Yasmin. My symptoms are:
• Low blood pressure (daily for the last 4 months and periodically over the last 6 years or so, going as low as 79/47 and consistently in the low 80’s over low 50’s in recent months)
• Excessive weight gain -25 lbs over the last year I started at 130 (still a little high for me, but have always had a slow metabolism) and had been that for at least 8 months prior. In September of 2008 the first 5 lbs came on, it’s starts with a fluctuation between 130-135 for a month or so than one day I am 135 and can’t go below that no matter what I do including exercise and eating right than fluctuation between 135-140 than 140-145, 145-150 and same thing up until now where I am 150-155 and seeming close to hitting the 155 mark. I have never been over 140 max and was only that as a kid after my parents divorce which I lost was never more than 128 tops. Oh this week when I was sick I threw up for a day and half and didn’t eat for 4 days and still gained 4 pounds, how is that?!?!?
• Extreme Fatigue
• Thirst ( which I can’t seem to quench no matter how much I drink)
• Dizziness
• Problems breathing (like I can’t catch my breath)
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Frequent urination
• Heart palpations
• Depression/Moodiness/Crying for no reason
• Breast pain
• Cellulite I never had before
• Ears hurt a lot (but checked out with no problem)
• And the last one I wouldn’t have mentioned but I too have the pain/numbness in my right arm going from my neck down to my leg and lots of pain with it. I was in a car accident a few years ago and have a back and neck injury as well as nerve damage on my right side which I thought was the pain I have been feeling but it has been getting worse and am only mentioning it because it’s someone else’s symptoms as well.
Now until yesterday I thought my low blood pressure and weight gain were signs of an underlying problem and the rest were symptoms related to those things (I am on wait-list to see an Endocrinologist), but now I am thinking it could all be from my birth control. Do you think I am reaching here, or considering what is being learned about the drug is it a possibility? I greatly appreciate anyone’s comments/suggestions. Thanks so much for listening.
S.

I was prescribed Loestrin24Fe 3months ago because I had an ovarian cyst for a few months. Also (aside from the cyst) I had a history of endometriosis, severe cramps and uterine fibroids. My periods would come like clockwork, however I would spot for about 3weeks out of the month. Basically, I'd have about 4days a month spot-free.

Since taking Loestrin24Fe, my spotting has decreased significantly, and I'm looking forward to even more improvement. 1st month on this pill my cramps were nothing to write home about. 2nd and 3rd months, I could have written a novel as the pain was baaaad, but still not worse than before beginning Loestrin24Fe. I have had 2 yeast infections, that being said, I also have a new sexual partner after over a year of having no partners at all, so- I don't want to blame the pill for the yeast infections.
My bleeding wasn't terribly heavy before this pill, but it has gotten lighter- which is fine by me.

I have noticed that my fuse is much shorter and I've made mountains out of mole-hills. I feel for the first time in my life that I've been experiencing a bit of anxiety...nothing clinical, but there nonetheless.

So far I am very pleased with this pill and I'll continue to take it with an open heart and mind. Simply not spotting for nearly an entire month has done wonders for my psyche, and for me dealing with a little anxiety is worth it. I feel now that I know what the cause of the anxiety is, I am better armed to cope with it instead of letting the anxiety grow legs and run wild.

I have been on Lamictal for Bipolar II for a little over two years now. The first side effect I really noticed was that I had zero desire to exercise anymore. I used to be pretty athletic, loved to go on hikes, now I could care less. Also, my brain is mush. I am a former honors/ Dean's list student; I had one professor in college tell me I was the only person in class who would ever be able to write professionally, and I have been trying to write the same novel for three years now. I forget how to spell words and how to formulate sentences. I can never find the right word. I forget what the plot is, what I wrote in the last chapter, so I am constantly re-reading what I wrote. I started to think that I had ADD because I couldn't focus on anything, and I couldn't remember if I had always been this way or not. Granted, I think I have always had a bit of a problem with executive functioning- organizing, prioritizing, completing tasks- but it has always been more of a problem with keeping my house clean, etc, NEVER with writing. Also, I have always been very good at remembering names, dates, events in history- the random sort of information that makes a person stellar at Trivial Pursuit- and all I can say now is, 'Uhhh... oh, man, I KNOW THIS.' Also, I am becoming incredibly antisocial, which I think probably has something to do with the fact that I no longer know how to talk. (A sidenote: I'd say chances are good that I have Asperger's; socializing has always been a challenge for me. My point here is that I'm wondering whether Lamictal is making the things I have problems with worse, ie, executive functioning, socialization..., etc. I used to be able to overcome these impairments intellectually; now that my brain doesn't function the way it used to, it's way harder to compensate.) I had a conversation with my husband the other day about all of it, whether he thought Lamictal was truly helping me. He told me that I no longer seem interested in doing anything anymore; that I am no longer sharp like I used to be; that I lack the vitality I used to have; that I no longer get excited about anything anymore. Now I know that Lamictal is a mood stabilizer, that I am on it to stabilize my moods, so obviously there are no longer going to be the highs that there once were. But now I feel so flat and dumb I just don't know. By the way, I have worked my way down to 75mg at night from 200mg. (Which is an improvement, I'll give you that- before I was scared to drive because I'd practically forget I was driving, that's how crappy my short term memory was.) Just so you know, I don't feel depressed, so it's not that my dose is too low and I'm experiencing depression. I just don't feel much of anything at all anymore.