Ugh....

Long story short: I am 24 and have been on birth control pills for over a year. I have tried Nordette, Otho Tri-Cyclen, Desogen, and something else that I can't remember...and have had problems with ALL of them. They have all made me completely miserable...SO anxious and moody and depressed.

Several months ago I switched to Ortho 7-7-7. It seemed to work well...at least I didn't notice the usual emotional problems! My boyfriend and I decided to take a "break" at about the same time that I was supposed to start my next pack (about 5 weeks ago). I stopped taking the pills because I figured I wouldn't need them. Well, fortunately, the break was a LOT shorter (like two days :rolleyes: ) than I had thought it would be. I decided to just wait out the month and then start taking them again. So a week ago when my cycle restarted I started back up on the Ortho 7-7-7 but YIKES! NO good!! The past week I have been very anxious and moody again! I don't remember having these problems when I was taking them before. Maybe my body just needs to readjust? Could this be the effect of stopping and starting them again? Or should I try yet ANOTHER pill?? Do some people just not handle ANY pills well??

I know it sometimes takes a while for your body to adjust to them, so I tempted to stick with the Ortho 7-7-7 for a few more months (especially since I don't remember having problems with them before!) ... problem is I've become a pretty difficult person to live with right now and I'm afraid this craziness is gonna do in the relationship (poor boyfriend has had to deal with WAY too many of my hormone-induced mood swings over the past year and a half and his patience seems to be wearing thin...)

Sorry this is so long! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

I have never been able to take birth control pills. I took them when I was in my late teens for about a year maybe, and I gained weight and was probably the most depressed in my life ever. I tried about 4 to 5 different types, I'm sure the earlier ones had more estrogen, but I took it all the way down to the lowest dose estrogen and it still had an impact.

I can be kind of moody to start with, but am very aware of my mental states and finally correlated that no matter what BCP I tried, the end result was depression. The last time I tried was about 4 years ago, in an attempt to help the horrible periods I was having (due to a fibroid) and found myself crying at work for no good reason at all. And that was by the 4th day or so. That's it, I tossed them - decided never to try again. It's too hard on my mental health and physical body. Much easier to deal with a condom. Condoms are great. They don't affect my mental health or make me gain weight. My husband, in agreed with my assesment of the pill and is happy to wear a condom.

I have thought about the progesterone ones, since I think I might have an estrogen imbalance to start with, but haven't been brave enough to go for it. They do say that the POP's don't have as many incidents of side effects.
skycloud

Quote from physhstick:

Ugh....

Long story short: I am 24 and have been on birth control pills for over a year. I have tried Nordette, Otho Tri-Cyclen, Desogen, and something else that I can't remember...and have had problems with ALL of them. They have all made me completely miserable...SO anxious and moody and depressed.

Several months ago I switched to Ortho 7-7-7. It seemed to work well...at least I didn't notice the usual emotional problems! My boyfriend and I decided to take a "break" at about the same time that I was supposed to start my next pack (about 5 weeks ago). I stopped taking the pills because I figured I wouldn't need them. Well, fortunately, the break was a LOT shorter (like two days :rolleyes: ) than I had thought it would be. I decided to just wait out the month and then start taking them again. So a week ago when my cycle restarted I started back up on the Ortho 7-7-7 but YIKES! NO good!! The past week I have been very anxious and moody again! I don't remember having these problems when I was taking them before. Maybe my body just needs to readjust? Could this be the effect of stopping and starting them again? Or should I try yet ANOTHER pill?? Do some people just not handle ANY pills well??

I know it sometimes takes a while for your body to adjust to them, so I tempted to stick with the Ortho 7-7-7 for a few more months (especially since I don't remember having problems with them before!) ... problem is I've become a pretty difficult person to live with right now and I'm afraid this craziness is gonna do in the relationship (poor boyfriend has had to deal with WAY too many of my hormone-induced mood swings over the past year and a half and his patience seems to be wearing thin...)

Sorry this is so long! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!