Loestrin 24 Fe and leg pain

I am so glad I found this site. I'm 42 and the doc put me on these stupid pills because of ovarian cysts. The first few days were fine but by day 4 I had awful stomach and lower back pains and by day 9 I had leg pain. I have had awful insomnia which I NEVER had before. One other thing that I thought was odd I woke up in the middle of the night soaking wet, like I had peed myself but it wasn't urine. I thought I was really sick and then out of curiosity I googled these pills and was shocked at what I found. I will stop taking them tomorrow, it's not worth it. The body and joint aches are awful not to mention the bloating. I look like I'm 5 months pregnant. I wish I had seen this site at the first sign of my symptoms because I would have stopped right away. I was really starting to think I was going crazy.

I am in my 2nd pack of Loestrin 24 FE and was put on them due to my extremely heavy bleeding. I am 39 years old and am not using this for birth control just period control. The first month went great, bled for 3 days and then stopped. My 2nd pack is going horrible. My legs are always cramping and hurting. In general I feel like I have the flu. I started my period after taking the second pack for 1 week and now at week three i am still bleeding and cramping. I am due to start taking the brown pills in three days and do not know if i am going to take them or skip them and go straight into the white pills again or just quit them all together. I do not feel that bleeding like this all the time is of any help. How many of you have experienced bleeding like this and continue the pill to see it quit? Also, I do not always take the pill at the same time, it sometimes varies by an hour or so.

Oh yes not to mention that the faint leg pain has become chronic. I've even had to do an EMG and still no results on what's wrong with my leg. I'm very scared because my body is acting in ways I can't even understand. It seems the only way to get my period started again is with these pills. My OBGYN thinks it's just from stress but i don't know...

Yes, I do agree that everyone reacts differently to bcp, and should decide for themselves once taken the pills, their own opinions. However, even though many women on this website have negative comments about Loestrin, believe it or not, it has helped me. The comments have not persuaded my decision to start or stop the pill, but has let me know that what I'm experiencing is NORMAL! I was freaking out and my doctor was of NO help! The extreme moodiness, pregnancy symptoms, back pain, fatigue, and worst of all(no one posted but makes sense now) was after intimacy I would immediately have severe cramps, leg pain, and back pain that lasted about 30min. I felt as if I was in labor, and I know that feeling. So yes, decide which pill is right for you, but Loestrin is NOT the pill for me!!! Thank you to all the comments posted because it made me realize I am not alone, and helped me figure out why I was experiencing these symptoms when my doctor couldn't.
Tahira, N.Y.

I hate this pill. Im nauseated, cramping, bloated, angry, have high axiety, cry at the drop of a hat, leg pain, headaches, bubbles in my stomach. and it even gave me an infection canadisis (like a yeast infection of the skin). which I found out was actually a symptom of this pill! I want to switch so bad. But i have been on and off this freaking pill three times this year. Im worried that if i switch to a different birth control I'll just experience new horrible symptoms. Luckily no weight gain though. but horrible break outs as well.

First off, i think its important to remember that all bcp have these side-effects. its not that one pill is better or worse than another, its that everyone's body reacts differently and sometimes you will experience these side effects and sometimes you wont. all these horrible things women are listing about Loestrin, other women have said about other pills.

for example, when i first started taking a bcp, i was on ortho-lo. this one seemed fine at first (outside the three month adjustment time) then one breast started to swell and ache while the other was fine. it was just my body reacting to the combination of hormones in that particular pill. i know other women who have taken ortho-lo for years and have been fine with it. But i wasn't.

eventually i decided to try a new pill and a friend recommended i research Yasmin. i found many sights just like this one with women going on and on about how evil it was. for every good review, i read ten bad. but my doctor decided to try me on it anyway thinking i needed i higher level of hormones and the five months i was on it were horrible. severe weight gain, cramps (i never had them before), spotting, migraines, NO sex drive, etc. i went back to my doctor and she was surprised because both Yasmin and ortho-lo are supposed to be good drugs. bottom line is, they weren't good for me. she decided to switch me again, this time to a lower level of hormones, but with more active pills, trying to find the right balance for me.

now i read everyone saying horrible things about Loestrin but I have to tell you, i've been on it for a few months now and have never felt better. i didn't even have the months of 'adjusting' to a new pill. i think i may have finally found a combo pill that works for me.

all bcp pills have side effects and you can read horror stories everywhere about ALL kinds of pills. it DOESN'T mean the pill is horrible, or awful, or evil or the worst kind ever. it just means, that for whatever reason, its not right for you.

so if you are out there, reading comments like this on all these pills, please don't take all these comments to heart. read them, take heed, but don't dismiss a pill because it gets bad reviews. i've done my research and they ALL have bad reviews. You have to know that all pills have some side effects BUT each woman's body is different and just because some women experienced bad things on this pill, doesn't mean you will. we are all different after all. you can judge how you will react to something based on someone else's experience.

if you're looking to start taking bcp or looking to switch, be sure you know your own body, communicate with your doctor and know that somewhere you may be able to find a bcp that works for you. i'm lucky i found one in Loestrin.

Much Luck.

hi,
i have had many of the symptoms explained on here. I am 20 and getting married in August so I figured I needed to get on these soon because we do not want to get pregnant. These have been horrible so far! I have had EXTREME moodiness, headache, no sex drive, nausea, horrible breast tenderness, vomiting, dizziness, weird vision problems- I couldn't see out of the corner of my eye, leg pain, hair on my nipples?which ive never had before.(anyone have this?) I am also always bloated and tired. This is my second pack and I just started my period on time yesterday so should I stick it out or change pills? anyone have any good info or opinions??? Thanks!

Wow - so many of you with the same symptoms and side-effects I'm experiencing. I was on Ortho Tri Cyclen years ago with minimal side effects beyond slight weight gain during the first few months. With this pill, I feel like I've become a monster. I'm bloated and I've been bleeding for 9 days now (I started the pills the day my period ended, on the advice of my doctor. I began bleeding a week later and have not stopped.). I'm normally a very happy person, but in the 2.5 weeks I've been on this medication, my moods change faster than the weather - I go from happy to despondent over the smallest, most insignificant things and cannot be cheered up. I have constant anxiety. I've cried more in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last year. I get angry over nothing, and I feel lazy all the time. My normally above-average libido is in the toilet. Fortunately, my boyfriend is incredibly understanding and knows that the changes I'm experiencing are due to this new medication changing my body chemistry.

I don't want to be like this, though. I don't want to be angry, sad, anxious, lazy, or uninterested in sex. I don't want a month-long period for 3 months while my body adjusts. I'm not in the physical condition to be able to shrug off an extra 10 pound due to bloating, and I'm tired of popping Advil to deal with my cramps. Before I found this site, I thought maybe the symptoms would go away in the next week or so, but I've now decided I'm not waiting this one out - I'm calling my doctor and finding a different alternative. This is simply unacceptable.

Also, I know it has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the medication, but their website disgusts me. "Cammie's Story"? If they spent half that advertising budget on research to eliminate the horrible side effects of their product, perhaps the pill would sell itself.