I'm 21 and have been on and off birth control since the age of 14. I've always had terrible periods. My cramps are cripplingly bad and cause me to projectile vomit. Birth control I've been on in the past has made me gain unexplained weight fast (which I always lose as soon as I go off of it). As someone who has struggled in the past with eating disorders this is definitely not a pleasant side effect for me so I generally avoid the pill. In the last 6 months, my periods began getting worse again (they sometimes calm and spike depending on time of year, diet, etc). So I recently went to the obgyn after being off the pill for a couple of years. They did tests on me and discovered I have Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, uterine fibroids and the cysts on my ovaries are constantly rupturing and leaking the fluid into a cavity in my pelvis causing a build up and more pressure and discomfort. So the doctor prescribed that I take Loestrin24fe. I'm only halfway into my second packet and already it's been a nightmare. As bad as my periods used to be, at least the majority of the pain was only for one day. About a week ago, I experienced extreme nausea. I was waking up ever couple of hours in the middle of the night to vomit. I've had a constant uncomfortable feeling in my uterus (kind of similar to mild cramps), my chin has broken out in pimples (which is really rare for me), I'm by no means overweight but I've been exercising 2 hours a day for several weeks and have mysteriously gained weight, I've been moody and teary, had continuous headaches, my sex drive has dramatically decreased and my vagina sometimes feels uncomfortable, slightly itchy or painful (and this is with just sex with my husband by the way, I don't have an std or random partners or anything haha) and then to top it all off, last night I almost fainted. I had a sudden fever and broke out in a sweat and then felt really itchy all over. Especially on my back. My husband looked and said I had broken out in a rash covering my back and spreading to my chest. I drank some water and went to bed and I guess I slept it off because I feel okay today. Bottom line is that I wouldn't recommend this pill to anyone. I've had unfortunate side effects with BC before but none like this. Only problem I'm having now is deciding whether to finish this month's packet or just quit halfway through.