Since I’m writing a series of posts about my experience on different medications, I figured that I would talk about my experiences with different birth control methods, as well. Not only have I just started a new antidepressant, I’m starting a new birth control this week, so it’s relevant. As I did in my first entry, I’m going to talk about the different pills that I’ve been on, and then in the next entry, I’ll talk about the new method that I’m going to be starting tomorrow.
When I was 16, I went on Ovcon-35. I never had any problems with it, or any side effects that other people complained of. No nausea, no weight gain, no emotional rollercoaster. My boobs got huge, my sex drive went up, my period got lighter and shorter. Basically, this pill agreed with me, and I stayed on it for the next 5 or 6 years.
Then my gyno told me that they had stopped making Ovcon, and so I went on Loestrin-24, which was a lower dose of hormones and promised shorter periods. I hated this pill. Absolutely hated it. It completely killed my sex drive and I lost the ability to get off. This was not okay with me, and so after 6 months or so, I asked my gyno about trying something else.
It turns out that they didn’t really discontinue the Ovcon that I had been taking, but they made it chewable and changed the name to Femcon-Fe. But it was the same exact hormone combination that was in the Ovcon. So I switched to that and things were back to normal and everything was great. And then, about 6 months ago, we switched insurance and the copay on the Femcon was way too high for me to continue taking it. My gyno suggested Seasonique, the pill which gives you only 4 periods a year.
Seasonique reminds me of this:
My first cycle on it wasn’t too bad; I had no breakthrough bleeding or side effects that I could really notice. However, when I got my period, it was AWFUL. I’m someone that’s never had bad cramps, and am used to a short period and fairly light flow. I got cramps so debilitating that I was in tears, and I was curled up in the fetal position in bed for 2 days. On top of that, my flow was insanely heavy and lasted longer than my periods normally would. The second cycle on it was worse. My face broke out, I got my period for a solid two weeks during a time when I wasn’t supposed to have it at all, and I had the same debilitating cramps and heavy flow when I did get my period again.
I need to get the fuck off this pill. And so, the next entry will talk about which method I’m going on, as well as chronicle my first experiences with it.
I'm Britni, a snarky bitch and generally awesome person. I write about sex, love, and bullshit. If sex-positivity, discussions about BDSM and kink, queer issues, and topics that are completely inappropriate by society's standards make you uncomfortable, then this blog is not for you.
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6 Comments
I wish the different varieties of the pill weren’t so hit and miss. I went through a couple nightmare pills (exacerbated depression, mood swings, nausea, vomiting) before finding one that my body was happy with (Yasmin for me). I also wish the damn things weren’t so terribly expensive! I’m lucky enough to have very good insurance coverage, thanks to my mom’s generous employer, so I only pay $5 for 3 months worth. But my carrier recently fucked up and decided to cancel my coverage without reason or warning (being fixed, thank gods), which prompted me to find out what it costs without insurance. I can’t pay $60 a month! And there’s absolutely no way I ever want to put myself through hormone hell trying to find a cheaper one that works. It was bad enough the first time. It seriously irks me that there isn’t easy, affordable access to the wide variety of birth control options. Grrr.
Best of luck finding something that works!
I can so relate with this. Oh for fuck sakes I can’t wait to get off this pill. I myself wrote a post May 12 about the same thing. Fortunately once I’m done with this pack, I’m done.
I have 9 days, stand back America!
I’m pretty lucky here. Anytime I’d ever been put on hormones of any kind (before I went on birth control) I reacted really strongly. I don’t tend to get a lot of side effects from meds except for hormones. My body seems to hate them. So I knew before I ever even went in to get on the pill that my body needed as low of a dose as possible. The first pill I was on was loestrin and it was mostly fine. Then Planned Parenthood stopped carrying it so I went on Desogen. Also mostly fine. Those two are pretty much some of the lowest dose hormones you can get and they’ve shortened my period, made it more bearable, and kept my cysts at bay (the reason I continue to take the pills). But, they make my already low energy self have even lower energy. I don’t like having no energy, but it’s almost worth it when you consider what happened when I tried something with a higher dose.
When I was in school they had pills for $7 a pack which was way less than what I was paying at PP so I decided to give it a try. Problem was that they only had like 4 options. I took the lowest estrogen pill they had which was orthocyclin lo. I took it for 3 days. After 3 days the side effects were so bad that I had to stop. I had a TON of energy which was fabulous except for the fact that I was using all of that energy to be obsessively paranoid. I already suffer from paranoia, but that was the worst I ever had it. I stopped taking the pills and never looked back.
Eve, just FYI, Yasmin does have a generic now. I think it’s Ocella? I stumbled on it via an old prescription one month when I forgot to call Bioscript (which is another good idea — three months for the price of two! Great if you can get it). So yeah. Maybe it saves you twenty bucks. Hope that helps.
Thanks. That’s good to know, in case I ever need it. The insurance mess up is being fixed, so I get to continue getting Yasmin for $5 every 3 months, but it’s good to know I have options if I need them.
That video is hilarious.
I have been on so many different types of birth control. When I was a teenager I was on Ortho-tricyclen. It was okay, but I was kind of emotional. After my first kid I was on the patch, then the nuva ring and both made me horribly emotional. Then I tried Yazmin and had the same issues. The only birth control that didn’t make me insane was a progesterone only pill ( I think they only make one kind) and I got pregnant on it. I did have a very high sex drive that I was happy with when I was taking it though.
I kind of hate that doctors seem to just cycle through the shit they’re getting paid to suggest more frequently instead of doing hormone panels and looking at your history before sending you to the pharmacy counter.
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