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All those women are also x

atomicstone — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:41:45 -0800

Are there things we can say about women who do not do well with hormonal birth control as a group? I attempted some pubmed research on this, but while I'm a crack legal researcher.....nada.
There's a group of women for whom any kind of hormonal birth control makes them "crazy", sad, or otherwise baaad. Is there anything we can say about these women in other health-ways? Do they die of X more? Menopause is some specific experience for these women? I'm interested if there is any research in this vein and, if so, what it says. Help?

I don't even remember what my periods were like in 2004, man.

town of cats — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:58:11 -0800

What was it like for you to quit hormonal birth control after using it for a long time - let's say 5 or more years? I know it's different for everyone, but I'm about to quit using HBC after 8+ years without a month's break and I'm a little nervous about what it'll be like. I want to get some sense of the range of experiences people have had so it's at least a bit less likely my body will manage to really surprise me. Did you feel like your personality was different? Did you have spotting? How long did it take for your periods to get regular again, or to start ovulating?

The ins and outs of sex with the Nuvaring

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:19:05 -0800

I've looked at every question here dealing with the Nuvaring, and read all the patient information, and yet still I don't know: What does it feel like during sex? If you're a man -- can you feel it, is it uncomfortable or neutral or pleasant? If you're a woman -- does it get in the way, do you find it comes out easily?

I've also read differing opinions on whether you can or should take it out during intercourse -- either that there's a 3-hour window, or that that window is only for occasional emergencies where the ring has come out without you noticing.

Thank you. Enquiring minds want to know!

Did giving hormonal birth control another go fuck up my cycles forever?

fiercecupcake — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:23:24 -0800

Long shot: would taking hormonal birth control (HBC) for several weeks continue to affect my premenstrual moods for several months? I asked this question back in October, after having taken Lo-Loestrin Fe for 6 weeks. I went to the clinic and ended up being prescribed Microgestin Fe 1/20, and took the rest of the Lo-Loestrin for 2 weeks, and then an additional 2 weeks of the Microgestin before I just couldn't take any more. Suicidal thoughts, neediness, paranoia about my relationship, bursting into tears at the slightest provocation. Fucking terrible.

So I was on HBC for a total of 10 weeks. Before this round of HBC, I had pretty decent periods; a little grumpiness, cramps for a few days, bleeding usually lasted 7 days. I'd say the physical symptoms were much worse than the emotional. Starting with this round of HBC, my physical symptoms decreased pretty dramatically (maybe half a day of cramps now) but my emotional symptoms are far worse. It's now been... about 5 months since I've taken any HBC. Within a month of quitting it my cycles became as regular as they were before (25-29 days).

Now a week or so before my period I have days (today is day 5, though there was a brief respite yesterday) of crying at anything, feeling desperately lonely when most of the time I am a very comfortable introvert, actual soul-crushing depression (I've had clinical depression, and this is like that, but shorter), near complete loss of appetite/eating disorder crap resurfacing, and occasional suicidal thoughts (don't worry, like I said, I have had and dealt with these, I'm not a danger to myself, but they're disturbing).

Could that brief round of HBC have changed everything? Of course I will be making an appointment at my ladyparts doctor tomorrow, and I can, I'm sure, talk to my old therapist if need be after that, but is this even possible?

Or did this happen to you around this age? What is wrong with me?

Helpful?: I'm soon to be 30; date of LMP was March 16.

Where's my period?

calcetina — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:56:59 -0800

Last week, I abruptly stopped taking my birth control pill (Aviane) four days before I was supposed to start my placebo pack. When will my period start? I usually use another HBC, but the pharmacy switched me to Aviane, which made me nauseous and irritable. The side-effects made me procrastinate taking it, and eventually I kept doubling up and/or missing too many pills. Last Saturday, I realized that I had 4 pills in the pack left. So I decided to stop taking them, let my period come, and then start over fresh with a new pack of my old BC.

My period hasn't come yet and, to complicate things even further, I had (protected) sex last week while I was not on BC.

Should I just start another pack of BC (usually I wait until after my period to avoid spotting)? Should I take a pregnancy test? When would it be accurate? How royally fucked over are my hormone levels right now?

Ultra-low-dose birth control pills with generics?

fiercecupcake — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:57:38 -0800

Hormonal birth control question: Lo Loestrin Fe has no generic, and even with my crappy insurance is unaffordable for me. What are other ultra-low-dose birth control pills that DO have generics? Special snowflake information: I don't tolerate HBC well, and this is sort of a last-ditch effort for me after my IUD insertion didn't go as planned (near uterine perforation, many days of pain, removal, sad face). I have been on Ortho Tri-Cyclen/OT-C Lo in the past (2000-2004) and it was horrible -- no sex drive, crazy moods, depression.

After the IUD insertion/removal, my dr. gave me a prescription and two months' samples of Lo Loestrin Fe with a manufacturer's $10 discount card (which wasn't supposed to expire till March 2012 but apparently has expired already). The first month of Lo Loestrin Fe was tough, but it seems to be evening out. So I go to fill my prescription and even WITH my insurance it comes to $74 a month, which I can't afford.

I'm currently trying to get an appointment to talk birth control at Planned Parenthood, but I'd like to know if there's a list somewhere of ultra-low-dose pills that have generics. There's so much advertising crap online that I'm having a hard time.

(To ward off derails: My boyfriend has offered to help out, and may for the next month, but that's untenable in the long run -- $74 is still a lot split between two, and I'd rather shoulder it myself. And I would love to get sterilized, but obviously I can't afford it. If you have some special knowledge of clinical trials of Essure in the Austin area, please let me know :] Or for that matter, trials of non-Paragard copper IUDs.)

dr. jekyll and mrs. hyde

iLoveTheRain — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:16:19 -0800

I am having a hard time reconciling why I want to break up with my boyfriend at least once a month. Please help. I'm struggling with some lingering depression left over from a traumatic last year of college and a bad reaction to shitty HBC. My boyfriend and I just hit 4 months officially (and 8 months unofficially) and there are times where I am so profoundly grateful to have found someone as wonderful as him, and then the rest of the time I'm crawling out of my skin around him and keep trying to break up because of [insert myriad of depression-fueled excuses here].

These depressive episodes are starting to break my heart. I cannot understand why I wake up sometimes when I'm sleeping over at his house and I find myself thinking, "Who is this? What have I done? Why am I in this relationship?" My therapist insists that I not give in because the relationship as a whole has had a significantly positive impact on my life, but how can I reconcile that when I feel like running and hiding from this gorgeous, wonderful man half the time I'm with him? I feel numb during these moments. I cannot process compliments or affection and I find that even physical interaction is forced on my part because somewhere some part of me is going "If you felt normal you know you'd want this!" Now I'm starting to wonder if these thoughts are actually a subconscious desire to flee that's entirely separate from the hormones and the depression. Bottom line is that my BF does not deserve to be with someone who is constantly trying to decide if she can be with him or not. He's been so kind; he just says this is something we'll get through together, as if simply loving me with all his heart will break through whatever it is I'm going through.

What do I do? I am so cold and distant to my boyfriend right now and yet all I want is to be held and kissed. What is wrong with me?

This is not who I am!

iLoveTheRain — Tue, 10 May 2011 11:22:56 -0800

My HBC is screwing me up. Help! Over the past three months I've started taking LoestrinFe. Previously I was on Yaz for 2.5 years and I inadvertently stopped taking it last summer around August because it was making me suicidal and I couldn't deal with it anymore (ie I tried to kill myself. good times.) After I went off Yaz and dealt with two or three months of "normalizing", I suddenly felt vibrant and glorious and happy again, albeit slightly impaired physically when it came to painful periods and intense acne again.

Now I'm on Loestrin so I can have sex with my boyfriend and control the hormonal issues I have. Loestrin is making me feel dangerously dull again -- dull to the point where I no longer remember what it feels like to love my family or my boyfriend or feel high on life. I cannot differentiate between normal feelings and HBC-addled feelings. Once a month I have a serious freakout and my poor boyfriend has to put up with me thinking I don't love him enough to be with him (and then I go back to normal and like him plenty). I can't do that anymore. My doctor prescribed OrthoTriCyclin Lo for me to start next month when this last pack of Loestrin is done but that apparently has even worse side effects and I know that all HBC is like that.

I'm really at a loss here. I need some form of birth control to supplement my boyfriend's use of condoms, and I need something to help control my acne and painful periods. I don't want to have to take an SSRI plus birth control.

What can I do for the remainder of the month to help me cope with the personality changes I'm experiencing? I can't go off the Loestrin without finishing the pack per my doctor's request so I'm stuck till June 1st. This is very scary for me -- I was so unhappy on Yaz and I cannot stand being unhappy again, especially because it is harming my relationship with such a good and wonderful guy.

Just let me let go of my eggs!

Anonymous — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:24:30 -0800

Did you stop taking HBC, not because you wanted to get pregnant or because you were having problems with it, but just because? I started taking HBC (Estrostep/Tri-legest Fe) about 7 months ago. It was my first time on any hormones, and I didn't have any noticeable adverse side effects. It did lighten my period every month. I am a single woman in my early twenties and have this desire to start ovulating again. This sounds silly, I know I'm still young, but what if I end up with someone who's not really compatible with me?

I practice safe sex, I get tested regularly and go for yearly pelvic exams. It's just that I'm currently partnerless and am wondering about how going off the hormones would affect me. If you decided to do this, would you advise it? What things changed, for worse or better? Is this a bad idea, if things are going all right? Note I'm particularly looking for experiences that deal with voluntarily going off HBC, not for women who had to because of bad side effects or other medical reasons. However, I welcome any stories! Thank you very much.

How common is mood side effect on hormonal birth control?

elif — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:53:13 -0800

I saw a gyno today in hopes of finding the right hormonal birth control, as I've had mood problems on it in the past. He told me that mood issues with HBC is uncommon; that he sees maybe 2 patients a year that complain of mood side effects on HBC. He even went as far as to say that he saw one woman last week who complained of it, and I'm the second patient this year, so I've met his quota for the year of women who complain about this. Details about me:
-During my teen years I took the pill with no problems. I don't remember what it was called-- probably some Ortho tri cyclen variety.
-Many years later, I went on Yasmin for a few days before quitting it-- I was crying in the middle of work, and I knew it was related to the pill.
-I was on Nuvaring for a year before it caused some mood problems and killed my sex drive, so I stopped.

Before this gyno, my then-doctor told me that the Nuvaring could not cause low sex drive or depression. I dumped her because I thought that was bad advice. Now this gyno is telling me the same thing-- that depressive mood is not a common side effect. I'm beginning to see that HBC is not for me, but seeing that so many women complain about the same issues I have, can I trust what these doctors are saying? Do I have confirmation bias?

NuvaRing out for 1/2 hour longer than it ought to have been... looking for advice and experiences.

exlotuseater — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:09:12 -0800

NuvaRing out for 1/2 hour longer than it ought to have been... looking for advice and experiences. NuvaRing users:

We are looking for reassurance and personal experiences from women who use the ring, and/or clinicians or docs that are familiar with the action and pharmacokinetics of the ring.

So. The ring came out during sex, and was reinserted three-and-a-half-hours afterwards.

The literature that is supplied with the ring states that if the ring is out for more than three hours, contraceptive efficacy may be compromised. How much?

NuvaRing releases a combination of estrogen and progestin, providing a sort of threefold defense against pregnancy-- one, it prevents ovulation. two, it thins the uterine lining, forestalling implantation of a fertilized egg, and three, it thickens cervical mucus, making it more difficult for semen to get past the cervix.

Is ~30 minutes over really long enough to allow progestin levels to drop to a point at which ovulation would occur? I imagine that the 3 hour limit is fairly arbitrary; the assumption being that 3 hours is completely safe, but anything over that increases one's chances.

This occurred on the 16^th day into the cycle, though from what we understand of the action of the ring, it's moot, as ovulation is completely suppressed.

We have posted to the nuva_ring lj, vaginapagina lj, spoken to a clinician at Planned Parenthood (who are usually fairly helpful, but this one was completely off with her facts regarding the official time limit re: length of time out), and gotten a lot of conflicting information, from "oh, don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll be fine, don't bother with Plan B, to "well, it depends.. would a pregnancy be devastating right now, or not?". PP provided a dose of "Plan B", but we're wary of using it having heard some horror stories of really bad reactions.

If anyone can provide peer-reviewed studies or statistical papers on exactly how quickly the efficacy drops after the three-hour mark, that would help too.

We're really just looking to assuage our nervousness.