Taking the pills symptoms and conditions

I am 26 years old and finishing on my 2nd week of my 3rd pack of Loestrin. Reading these post is the only thing that makes me feel better. I switched to Loestrin from Yasmin because it made my blood pressure sky rocket. Before Yasmin I have never had high blood pressure. I am extremely active. I am a runner and have been for several years. I haven't had too bad side effects with Loestrin prior to this month. I have noticed a bit of moodiness but I knew that would occur when switching BC's. I am also a little less energetic. My daily runs are getting a little harder than they used to be. This week (3rd month 2nd week) I woke up with EXTREMELY tender breast and radiating back pain. My breasts have started to go back to normal sensitivity wise but are a little larger than they where. My lower back still hurts. Looking back I remember that the past 2 months I have had lower back pain prior to my period but never the tender breast. My skin did break out a little the 1st month but that is normal with every BC I have tried. Another negative that I have experienced is the anxiety and chest pain. I have constant anxiety that I am pregnant but thankfully its always wrong. I take adderall everyday and have been for the past 8 years so I thought that may be what was causing the anxiety but now after reading these posts I feel that its the BC. I also get frequent chest pain. It feels like someone is sitting on my chest. On a positive side my periods are much lighter than before. I suffer from horrific menstruation to the point where I can't move from bed. Im going to give this BC a little longer but if my symptoms keep getting worse I am going to have to switch. Thanks everyone for being honest about this BC. I thought I was going crazy.

I haven't read through every single one of these but out of the couple of dozen I have, it seems like all of the issues are with the Lactase enzyme in concentrated pill form. I'm just curious if anyone has experienced these same violent side effects with the Lactaid milk. I've been using the milk for several weeks now and admittedly do experience some VERY mild nausea that I can almost certainly attribute to the Lactaid milk. Otherwise though, I have to say I have not had any of the violent pains and vomiting many others here have complained of.

I'm just wondering if it's not only the enzyme that's causing the problems but could it possibly be the actual process of the enzyme converting the Lactose sugar in the body that is causing the side effects. I'm just kind of thinking(typing) out loud here but........ I wonder if many of you who have complained about these violent symptoms would actually experience them with drinking the Lactaid milk vs. taking the pills. Only because with the milk, the process of the enzyme converting the Lactose has already occurred.

Would anybody be willing to give this a shot just to see if there would be a difference?

Wow it is crazy how so many women act so differently to this drug. I got on here to see all of the negative effects which luckily I don't think I have experienced. I'm 25 and got on Yasmin a few months ago and felt great. I had noticed that I was becoming very emotional, irritable, and had a lot of pain with my periods (cramps and back aches). So I thought Yasmin sounded like a great cure for the problems I was experiencing. My mom actually made me aware of the recall so I immediately stopped taking the pills. The first month being off the pills seemed fairly normal. These last two months have been horrible though. Every time i begin to PMS I feel like I did before ever taking Yasmin. I've been fighting with my boyfriend and family members because either I'm very irritable, sensitive, or depressed. The couple months that I was on Yasmin no one even noticed when I was on my period because I acted completely normal. I think I'm one of the women who Yasmin may be a blessing for. Or maybe I have some underlying issue and Yasmin helps to mask it, I'm really not sure. That is why I'm posting here for any feedback, even the negative because it will help me to research all the angles. I think our bodies react differently to different drugs. I feel like a crazy women without Yasmin after experiencing those few wonderful months while I was on it. Please provide your input.
Thanks,
C.
Pueblo, CO

I have been on Yasmin for around 5 months now and am absolutely fine for the three weeks of taking the pills, however as soon as i stop taking them on the pill free week i become extremely aggressive and emotional. I cry all the time and feel so depressed and angry. I feel myself become furious over the littlest things. I have also begun to have panic attacks over small things and have become scared of everything. Has anyone else experienced this?

I check back from time-to-time on this website. For me it's returning to the crime scene. It's like looking at an Alfred Hitchcock film, the one about a sociopath who observes a sea of humanity from a top of the ferris wheel, and concludes that humans are just so many ants for whom the observer should not be overly concerned. And so a large pharmaceutical company devised levaquin. From a top of the ferris wheel it appeared to big pharma that its medication helped many people and squashed only a few. It's a tad sinister. The anonymity of it all. The stunning ineptitude of the FDA. The lassitude. The profit motive. A pharmaceutical scourge adversely impacts the health & welfare of thousands upon thousands of ignorant and hopeful patients who put their trust in their doctors' hands. Harried doctors in turn put their trust in hapless pharmaceutical representatives who pass along trial packages of ludicrously-named meds, which the reps urge upon doctors too harried to read the insert's small print. In some instances the patients become deathly sick from the prescribed medications. But the patinet cannot discern cause and effect. "Are you nuts?" asked the doctor. You want me to believe that the pill caused the pain? No way. I'm your doctor, and I believe it not at all." But the pill DID cause the pain. Image the aftermath of levaquin where the patient experiences insomnia, depression, heart palpitations, profuse sweating, eye floaters, headaches, tendonopathy in the calves, ringing-in-the-ear, anxiety, and intense agitation. "Gee, doc, I only suffered a mite from prostatitis BEFORE I took your pills. But it seems like my life is on-hold, in suspended animation, after I took three pills from your five-pill prescription. Do you think there is any connection between taking the pills and the fact I feel so awful that I want to die?" Strangely the medical profession by and large sees no evil, hears no evil, smells no evil. The patient feels as if he were in one of H G Wells' short stories about a small island where medical experiments are performed routinely on caged and mute humanoids. The experimenters profess ignorance, visitors to the island remain ignorant about the experiments. Only the human guinea pigs know the full extent of the horror, but they remain drugged and too incapacitated to make any impact even upon the well intentioned. It's really ghoulish. It's fiendish. It's today's reality for many for whom the health care industry has run amok and gobbles up 16% of GNP.

Reading your comments has really put my mind at easy. I'm 23 and on day 4 of my third pack. My first month I got a regular period, but I didn't get a period during my second month on the pill (which means that I am a little over a week late right now). In the past I have been on Ortho Tri Cyclen and Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo, and my period has always been on time. And in the 10 years that I've been having a period, it occasionally been early, but never late, and I have never once missed a period.

I've spend the last couple days terrified that I was pregnant (even though I have consistently been taking my pill at the same time every day), but this forum makes me feel a lot better. I think that I will still go out and take a home pregnancy test to be on the safe side, but hopefully my missed period is just my body's reaction to Loestrin.

I will give my body a couple more months to adjust to the pill, but if irregular, late or missed periods continue I am definitely going to switch birth control pills. It is not worth the anxiety of thinking I might be pregnant.

On the bright side, I haven't experienced any of the other side effects that you guys are mentioning. This pill has helped with my cramps, and I haven't experienced any change at all in my moodiness, energy level, acne, or weight.

Well I have been taking this pill for about a year and for the last months the side effects have gotten worse. At first I ignored them because I didn't realize they were indeed side effects. I am experiencing shortness of breath, numbness in my arms, mood swings, depression, hair loss, and this awful dark brown "stuff" instead of blood when my period is supposed to be on. I also now suffer from cramps and severe back pain that I never had before. I started taking the pills to prevent pregnancy and for lighter periods. But I would now have to agree it is hardly worth it!

I was prescribed biaxin for bronchitis a little over a week ago. I took the first two pills and the next day I had a sore tongue with red patches and ulcers all over it and I felt like I had bladder infection. I didn't stop taking them. I took 2 more of the pills and woke up the next night with severe depression and anxiety. I stopped taking the pills altogether and I haven't slept good, it has been a week. I have anxiety every day, panic attacks and nightmares in the night. I am extremely moody, irritable, I have crying spells for no reason. This is really scary, I will never, ever, ever take this medication again. The doctor gave me lorazepam to help with the anxiety and told me it would take 2 weeks to leave my system, one can only hope and pray......

I've was on Yaz for 10 days and just stopped taking it due to eye problems.. My contacts keep fogging up , or getting oily residue on them. My contacts slip all around my eyes. I am also experiencing vaginal secretion changes as well.. Wondering how long it will take to get back to normal since I have stopped taking the pills? Anyone have this happen to them? Its freaking me out!!

Well ladies, I have been on birth control since April 4 2009 and just got off of it on July 25th. throughout that time, I had NO major symptoms! I loved it and bragged it to all of my friends are are planning to get married in the coming year. I only threw up twice (separate days) on my second pack. and spotted everyday throughout the first pack in April and some through the second pack until about May 15th. But by the end of that second pack in May (after the sugar pills...which I did not take) I finally stopped bleeding but did not have a faux period at the end of May. I started the new pack in early June and at the end of it (July 2-3) I had a 3 day period as promised. I began taking the pills again (third pack) up until the 25th (before the faux pills came up) because I began to re-think my decision of altering my reproductive system! So now we are going to do the Natural Family Plan as of 07/25/09. However, I have no had a period yet and according to the pack should I have followed it through would make me have a faux period on July 29-Aug 1. Does anyone know why this is? And also, I have egg white CM and the same 'ol cramp in the ovary I used to get before I went on the pill as if I am OVULATING and my period to show in 14 days from today...which I thought was impossible because my body needs time to re-coup...Yes, I've only been on the pill for about a good 2 months before quiting but is it possible to become pregnant?

I am a 62 year old male who works out and is in good shape. I developed a case of diverticulitis and was prescribed a 10 day course of Avelox, 400 mg. per day. I began taking the pills and they worked on the diverticulitis. However, after 7 pills, I developed pain above and below the knees and down at the ankle. This pain is in the tendons. It feels like a permanent Charlie Horse. I went to the doctor today and his belief is that I do indeed have a side effect, since I am in otherwise good health, the pain is in both legs, and the onset coincides with taking Avelox. Unfortunately, he said they do not really know the mechanism of this reaction; they don't know how long it lasts; don't know if it goes away, etc. Now I must really watch myself for who knows how long because of the danger of popping a tendon. This is incredible to me. Seven pills and perhaps permanent damage? I am wondering if any of the people who have posted tendon issues have improved or gotten worse after time.

I can't believe what im reading here... I too have been taking doxycycline for bronchitis(spelling) i thought i was dying... the first day i took one i puked within a half hour of taking it, after that i continued taking it with food, then on day 3 i woke up in the middle of the night sweating so bad my sheets were soaked and not to mention the headaches are unbearable. i quit taking the pills right after and have a doc app/ this drug is ridiculous and obviously there are a lot of people who seem to have the same side effects.. i think it should be pulled

I have been taking LoEstrin 24FE for over a year now. I experience the spotting and normally have my period during the 2nd or 3rd week of taking the pills. I still have extremely bad cramping and I have constant back pain. My moods are crazy; and I mean crazy. I have attributed these symptoms to other things in my life, but after reading this blog, I am concerned that all of my symptoms are now related to this pill. I normally have a period for about 4 days, the 2nd day is quite heavy. I am a little nervous that I have been taking this pill for a year and never thought it could cause my issues that I have been having. I am scheduled to see my GYN in a few weeks. Suggestions?

I had been taking Femcon since March 2008 when my doctor switched me because of my girly issues. I actually started taking BC about 8 years ago because of very very heavy painful periods that lasted 20 days and would make me bed rest for 2-3 days. (I took Yasmin for 6 years and looooved it until i got use to it and my periods started returning to their old self about 5 years in). Femcon seemed like a great thing to take and actually worked wonders until December 2008. At that point my doctor recommended me taking the pills nonstop to see if that would help control my bleeding and regulate my hormones. About January... lets say 12th, i started having SEVER diarrhea... im talking like 4-10 times a day. I became severely dehydrated and i, on a normal day drink at least 3 liters of water and no other fluids. This continued until about 2 weeks ago i stopped taking my pills and have now switched to the DEPO shot.. ALL DIARRHEA has stopped... the stomach cramps and everything... before i was living on Imodium when i had plans or was out of town and now... i have a huge bottle and have not used any in a while....

Hello! I am 19 years old...been on birth control since I was 14 to regulate my periods. I just started Loestrin about a week and a half ago. I started on a Thursday and by the following Tuesday I was crying for no reason!! My hormones are so out of whack! I broke up with my boyfriend because of it (we are back together) because I thought it was him even though he hasn't done anything wrong. I stopped taking them yesterday. Today I still cried. I think it will take a few days before the depression goes away. But I am never taking Loestrin again! I have a friend that was on it and she was depressed for a while!! I cry for no reason, I have been SO nauseated and I have had headaches! This is ridiculous!! I have taken plenty of birth control pills and NONE OF THEM have made me feel this way! My suggestion... NEVER TAKE THE PILLS. I missed taking the pills by an hour ONE day and the next day I was spotting. How ridiculous is that?!?! So.. I would suggest not to take them.

Thank you all guys - I didn't know we were so many... I come from Europe (here and especially in my country, we are not that concerned with lactose intolerance - we generally try to avoid diary food) so on my last trip to US-I bought these pills hoping I can finally eat diary... The first week I didn't feel anything, but after taking a pill every second day approximately (I try not to eat diary as often) everything changed - I started vomiting a lot as if I had food poisoning! Something that irritates me the most is that I started doubting that something is really wrong with my stomach and even went to a doctor, but after I vomited few times in a row after taking the pill, I finally stopped taking the pills! I am very content I found this forum - now it's crystal clear what was wrong with me all these days... Thank you all!

I've taken Metronidazole three times/day for two weeks for a foot infection. The metallic taste and nausea appeared after 7 days. Now it's horrible... every single meal that I've had since I've been taking the pills now gives me nausea, so I can't eat. Today I had a cup of coffee and it has been the most horrible experience (nausea, vomit, headache). I've felt really tired, I can't work, because of the nausea and fatigue. I'm done... will not continue taking my pills any more! DO NOT DRINK COFFEE IF YOU'RE ON METRONIDAZOLE!

I never really paid much attention to side effects on pills because I have never experienced any adverse effects, until loestrin 24 fe that is! I couldn't believe how terrible I felt after only taking this for one week. I was tired to the point of not wanting to get off the couch. I felt so sick to my stomach that I couldn't eat more than a few bites of food at a meal. I cried at the drop of a hat and I felt so anxious I couldn't believe it. I decided to stop taking the pills even if it meant some horrible period for a month. I didn't care! The next morning I already felt ten time better. I can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow! I will never take this medicine again. And maybe now I will listen a little closer to possible side effects!

I started with Provera in early March 2009 then my doctor prescribed for me to start taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo as soon as I'm done with Provera to control my heavy bleeding, both pills were not strong enough so I was prescribed to take Femcon Fe in the same month. I have finished 2 packs and have experienced a major weight gain, my appetite increased and always hungry. I feel nauseated all the time after taking it and I'm always sleepy and fatigue (don't know if this is from Femcon or my anemia). Towards the last week of my 2nd pack, I had a severe migraine attack that caused me to extremely vomit which I have strained or pulled a muscle in my chest and had numbness on my left side of my head and body. Ever since this migraine episode, I have headache everyday and blurr vision on my left side and decided to discontinue taking the pills. My Internal doctor performed an EKG and made me set up an appointment to take an Echo Stress Test which resulted an abnormal unspecified cardiovascular. Now I'm doing a thorough follow up with my Cardiologist and doing a second step of Nuclear Stress Test to identify the abnormality of my heart. In addition, my Neurologist set up an MRI to follow up on my migraine, headache. and numbness on my left side of my body. Before taking this pill, I only had the bleeding problem now I have additional "serious" medical condition that I have to worry about. Taking this pill is not worth it and I would not recommend this to anyone.

Hi, I've been looking for information about Femcon Fe. This is the 5th type of pill that I've taken. (I've been on the pill for 11 years and have always had breakthrough bleeding). My doctor just started me on Femcon thinking maybe I need a higher dose of hormones. It's only been 10 days but so far I feel like a completely different person. I take the pill before I go to bed and in the first few nights I woke up a couple hours later with horrible cramps (worse than on my period). The cramps have for the most part gone away but I am emotionally a completely different person. My fiance said the first couple days were terrible mood swings, but now I feel completely detached or disconnected from having any emotions. I just feel like I'm in a fog. And for the past 4-5 days I've had trouble sleeping, had terrible headaches, and zero sex drive. I would much rather deal with breakthrough bleeding than deal with this constant disconnected feeling. Does anyone know if it's bad to just stop taking the pills? I ordered a refill of my old Yasmin but it won't get here for a few days.

I am 19 male and i finished my z-pack medication two days ago and i still have a ringing in both of my ears. I can't hear anything out of both ears except if you yell into my ear. I took it because my ear drum ruptured and i had an ear infection in both ears. Now what? I guess this will last up to 10 days, but i am scared to see if this is normal or not. I didn't feel any different when i was taking the pills, just a fever every now and then and a headache once or twice (nothing worth complaining)...but i hope i get better soon because i am in college and i can't hear what my professors are saying..lol

Let me start by saying WOW ... I've been on AVIANE now for roughly 6 months or more yet have been on Try cyclin and Alesse in the past. I went in expecting to get Alesse, came home to notice it was Aviane (Pharmacist must have switched without saying anything), didn't think anything of it and just started taking the pills (thinking it doesn't hurt to try a new brand, to not let your body get too immune to a certain kind). However I have had nothing but problems and have finally decided to research it more.

For the first few months, if I were to miss a pill i'd spot for the rest of the month (nothing like having your period for 30 days) ... I've gained at least 15 pounds which is ridiculous as I play for 3 indoor soccer teams, bounce on my trampoline daily and can not seem to shed any pounds (only gain).

I'm waking up frequently throughout the night, have had heart palpitations, my hair is thinning, have had more yeast infections in the past 6 months than I've had in my life, etc... Luckily my sex drive hasn't decreased (thank god) but I have noticed its more painful during sex (vaginal dryness) and now reading all these posts things are starting to make A LOT more sense.

Luckily as well i'm able to control the irritability and depression however it does come quite frequently.

OH also not to mention the acne, I wash my face twice daily and seem to be getting acne quite often.

Other symptoms i'm experiencing are:
Dry mouth, no motivation (even to play sports and that's a passion of mine), lack of confidence, bloating, increased hunger, heart palpitations, memory loss, etc...

I'm going to look at switching IMMEDIATELY!!
Thanks girls for all your posts ... helped me figure out what my symptoms were caused from :) Good luck to all you!

After being on YAZ for about 7 months and realizing how it was harmin my mind and body, my doctor told me to stop taking it immediately, even though it was mid-cycle. he put me on Loestrin24fe because "there has been a much higher success rate with a lower dose of estrogen" NOT IN MY CASE!

i started taking it on a Tuesday, it is now the following Monday and i have already experienced:
harsh aches and pains throughout my body, unbelievable mood swings from cryin until my eyes hurt for NO reason to sitting and talking calmly within 5 minutes of each other, once again a complete lack of sex drive which i *just* recovered from with YAZ, not being able to eat yet having extreme weight gain??? my stomach is completely round when i have had a 6pack for my entire adult life and my jeans will not get past my thighs anymore, my skin and hair are oily and i have broken out worse than i did when i was a teenager ...

and the BEST one yet! Severe Panic Attacks during the night to the point where i am terrified to sleep because of waking up hysterical and actually "feeling" my dreams. i woke up from a nap yesterday crying uncontrollably because i was convinced i snapped my spine/neck because i dream it, felt it snap and HEARD it snap in my dream. it is all too real and i am on lack of sleep AND not eating for a few days.

Needless to say, i have stopped taking the pill as of last night. i am hoping to get back to normal in about a week because i clearly cannot function like this. I missed a gorgeous Easter day yesterday because i was having a low grade panic attack ALL day and couldn't eat or even talk to anyone.

i am not going to let another bc pill ruin my life this year. its not worth it but i must ask, where do i go from here? i am concerned about getting an IUD because my body seems to have every side effect possible with any type of birth control but i think the IUD is my only option besides complete abstinence.

i hope you can help me. my daughter is almost 17 and started on yaz for severe cramps, heavy bleeding, and pmdd. within 2 weeks, the boyfriend that she hated to be apart from, annoyed her. he was all she thought about before.
about a week later, she said that everyone was bothering her and she needed a break from everyone. she stayed in her room in the evenings-not like her. she even broke up with her boyfriend. she said she wasn't upset with him, just not interested. she got back with him 2 days later. her gyn switched her to loestrin. after 2 days, she seemed to be doing better, but only for 3 days. i don't know if it's the hormones or if she's going through something. she is normally an upbeat, optimistic person. i don't know what to do. she was very serious and happy with this boy 3 weeks ago. i don't know if she could be depressed because she doesn't feel the same about him or she doesn't feel the same about him because of the pills. any opinions or suggestions?

I started on Aviane exactly two weeks ago. The experience was terrible. I am a PhD student trying to finish up a thesis. There is a lot of stress in my life and to compound the problem I have a history of depression. With therapy I was actually feeling pretty good and my depression have been mild, until I took Aviane. For the past two weeks, I have been feeling severe depression; I didn't want to get out of bed, work on my thesis and I always felt like a failure. At night, I feel very awake and I can't sleep though I don't drink coffee past 5 pm and I go to bed at midnight usually. It's 3 am right now and I still cannot go to bed! I have been sleeping at work, and experiencing poor memory as well as a side effect of not sleeping well.

At first I thought it has just been a bad episode of depression, which sometimes happen during my period. It usually goes away when my period stops. However, it has been two weeks since my period (when I started taking Aviane) and there is no end to this nightmare. I'm glad I chanced upon this forum. I am going to call my doctor right away and see if I can stop taking the pills tomorrow.