Update about me and THE PILL

So I have been off the pill just about a month.  Guess what?  I haven't had any usual IBS problems.  I can't believe it, I'm expecting any day now to have an attack or double over in pain.  At first I thought it was just a coincidence that I'm feeling better, but now I am starting to believe.  I have been eating chocolate, candy, potato chips, raw onions, raw bell peppers, raw tomatoes, pizza, Chinese, Arby's (roast beef & curly fries) and cheese stuffed ravioli.  My next step is to try pistachios (because they always gave me D).

Ladies, are you on birth control?  If it happened to me it could be that it's happening to you.  I don't see my GI (or my gyno) for a couple more months - but when I do, I will for sure be asking about the effects of birth control.  I remember reading once (I posted it in another post here) that The Pill disrupts the flora balance in our intestines.  We should be taking probiotics if on the pill.  Why don't our gyno's tell us this?  Why don't our GI's know this?

I'm really hoping this isn't all a coincidence.  It seems too good to be true though.  I am still taking probiotics and Zelnorm but I have stopped Digestive Advantage.  I will be praying for you all to feel better, and for myself to stay better.

I've been on the pill for years, but four months ago (about 2 weeks before my IBS symptoms started) I switched to a generic brand. I noticed last month that my symptoms started to disappear near the end of the placibo pill week. As soon as I started taking the regular pills again, I started get RLQ pain and bowel issues again. I'm thinking about giving up the pill for a month to see what happens but my husband is not going to be very thrilled! Anyone else with these types of issues?

Bera, I noticed when I switched to generic Depo Provera that it was not the same! The medicine was so thick that my mother had a really, really hard time getting it to go through the needle and then when it did, it hurt. I have never had Depo Provera injection to hurt and my mother and my fiance neither one have had problems giving it to me. I thought generics were supposed to be exactly the same stuff as name-brand, but that's certainly not true in this case. I don't know what the difference is, but it's a painful one.

So it may be that you just need to go back to your name-brand pill, especially if it never caused you any trouble before. I'd certainly rather pay more for the name brand stuff than to hurt every time I get a shot.

i am on Avaine but i have experienced no ibs relief on it--but other pills i have been on made me nauseous, avaine does not.
--bunny

Michelle,

It sounds like you and I are in the same boat.  I had been on the same pill (generic) for about 8 years and this whole time I have been yo-yoing from C to D to OK.  I'm wondering if I should try another or just give it up completely.    

No, I didn't have any weird feelings or side effects when I stopped the pill.  Although, getting my period off the pill was not fun.  It isn't fun ON the pill, but worse when off.  Feel worse, blah, cramps, D from cramps, etc.  I'm also not looking forward to my boobs shrinking (they're already small!) and getting acne, and maybe getting my cysts back (they were painful and in my breasts).

I really want to stay on birth control but I refuse to trade it for IBS.

Michelle, talk to your doc and insurance to see what you can do about your generic pill.  Good luck! 

7LIL~

It really does sound like we're in the same boat again and I do like the BC for the light cycles and acne.  It really helps in both departments, but I'm like you.....I would rather have acne than IBS!!!  This is so interesting!  See, I don't cycle at all when I'm off of birth control.  She says my hormones are fine, I just don't have a cycle.  No one knows why I don't cycle.....which is cool with me because I don't have to go through PMS and all the cramping and headaches and stuff!!  But, it's not cool with my GYN!!  She says no, you must cycle!!!  So, what about all the girls on the shot that don't cycle??? 

You might wanna try the alesse...it's the lowest estrogen BC.  I think I'm reacting to the estrogen.  So, if the Alesse/Aviane still gives me problems,  I will ask for that "mini pill" that is progestin only.  It doesn't have any estrogen in it.  It's only 98% effective against pregnancy, though.  And you have to take ALL THE PILLS in the month.  You can't skip the last week and not take the pills for that week (the placebos), like I always do!!  

I don't know.....I am coming off of this pill (microgestin), regardless. I called the nurse and asked her if  I had to wait until my next cycle to  switch to the Aviane, because I just started the new month, on Christmas day!!  Crap!  I don't wanna have to wait another month!!!  This sucks!!

Thank you for your post!  I might just have given my the answer that I have been desperately seeking!!  And another thing, after I researched the pills.....Here's a wonderful site where I found all this wonderful info!!!  It's awesome! 

http://www.wdxcyber.com/ncontr13.htm

Bera~ 

Isn't that strange that your symptoms started when you started Aviane, too??  do you think I should even try it??  I guess I could.  It does have less estrogen in it than what I'm already on so I don't think I would have WORSE side effects than what I'm already going through!  They ALWAYS say that the two are identical, but they sure do react differently in my body. 

For Example:I was just prescribed Pamine Forte 5.0mg for my spasms.  It ended up being too strong for me, so they called in a script of the regular Pamine 2.5mg.  It's the same drug, just one is double strength.  I can cut the 5.0 tabs in half and take those with no problem but I have an attack everytime I take one regular 2.5 pamine.  I called the pharmacist, and he told me that the COATING on the two pills is different even though they're the same pill and my body rejects the harder coating.  It doesn't even look harder to me.  THAT'S FREAKING WIERD!!!  My body is THAT SENSITIVE!!  So, no two pills are exactly the same, according to my body!! LOL!! 

Michelle :)

Hey Des,
No, I haven't been to the Gyno yet to discuss anything. I talked to an RN friend of mine, who has IBS, she tried it and didn't like it. She said it gave her horrible cramps and D. I'm afraid to try new things. BUT, I will discuss my options with the doc when I go in a few months. Thanks for suggesting it and directing me to their website (a while back in another post).
I hope you had a fabulous Christmas!

Fly, my periods were never regular and I would go for a month, maybe as many as three months, without having one. Then sometimes it was light and sometimes it was normal to heavy. My mother nagged me into going to the GYN for it and she did blood work and said that my hormones were all within acceptable levels. Then she just shrugged and said some women just don't have regular periods. So I don't think anything is wrong with you not having one--unless you want to get pregnant. I haven't had a period in something like two and a half years now because of the Depo (it's progesterin based--maybe even progesterin exclusive) and I think it's just wonderful. I asked my GYN if I get my tubes tied, can I still have it to keep from having a period and she said absolutely. Your dr. thinks not having a period is not natural--how can fake hormones forcing you to have one be natural? Making you have a period is not any more natural than me taking Depo to keep from having one (although I at least get a benefit from not having one; you don't get any benefit by having one).

I think people who are all up on women having periods are crazy. I read an interesting article once by a femal gyn who said that women weren't meant to have a lot of periods. Back in caveman days (or the middle ages, for that matter), women were paired off/married as soon as they reached puberty (not universally true in the middle ages, although a lot of peasant girls did become sexually active before their marriage in their later teen years) and then they had a succession of children. When they weren't pregnant they were breast feeding, which can alter periods. They continued this cycle until they either died or hit meopause (which they seemed to do a bit earlier than women nowadays--usually in their mid to late 30's). All in all, she concluded, women would have actually had few periods. There was also the problem of famine. Being malnourished and/or underweight causes a woman to become infertile/not have a period. So with the advent of birth control devices and the plummet of birth rates, women suddenly started having a lot of periods. Which the dr. argues isn't natural. Nature says stay pregnant all the time, but I think, barring that, just simulate prenancy by not having a period or ovulation.

But don't despair too much, ladies. There is clinical trial (I believe it's a clinical trial, but it may still be in the development stages) that has just gotten underway testing male birth control. Someone could have invented it ages ago, but drug companies, in their infinite male wisdom, thought there was no market for it. The people working on the drug finally got money for funding when something like 95% of men surveyed said they would consider taking it if it had no effect on libido. See the drug companies didn't factor in the men whose wives and girlfriends can't take BC. And they didn't factor in the men who don't trust the women they are with to have taken their BC. Men can not want to have children just as much as a woman can not want to have children. A woman can get an abortion, but a man who has knocked a girl up can't force her to give it up, nor can he get out of paying child support. So, in some ways, the man is more on the hook for a baby than a woman. Anyways, it was estimated that a male birth control pill or injection (or both) would be available within the next 10 years. I'm afraid that won't do anything for your immediate relief, but hopefully it will help when it does get here.

My gyno claims no break from the pill is needed. He went further to say that studies have shown older women who have been on the pill for several years have a lower risk of urteran and ovarian cancer.

Hey guys. Im on Yasmin (it says 3.0MG/0.03MG...dont really know what that means but maybe you guys do? haha) and it has drospirrenone and ethinyl estradiol in it. no progesterone...and I havent really noticed a difference in my IBS since taking it...except im a little more gassy and prone to diarrhea and cramping on my period(placebos)...does anyone here take it?? I thought maybe you guys if you were having problems would like to try it..it does wonders for your skin and boobs haha!!!

I think we should just start a women's group to ban periods forever. If we never have them, then we wouldn't have these problems to begin with.

Michelle, I think you should get a second opinion. I don't see why you can't come off birth control whenever you want. It's not like it's insulin for your diabetes or anything. It's there for YOUR convenience, nothing else. If you are prone to cysts or to endometriosis, then you may want to stay on it to keep them at bay, but other than that, it's your choice. I mean, what if you wanted to try to have a baby? You can't stay on it and get pregnant, lol. Since you've been on it for so long, you may have to be weaned off with lower doasges to keep your body from going into hormone shock (i.e. really bad PMS), but that shouldn't take too long, I wouldn't think.

I have come to the conclusion that everything both causes and prevents at least one form of cancer. You know what? Life is a terminal illness. You can either make yourself miserable for decades trying to squeeze out one extra year of life (which you will be too old to thoroughly enjoy anyways), or you can try and live well now while you are young. Periods suck and impare my quality of life. Therefore I elect not to have them. If going without them increases my chance of uterine or ovarian cancer, then so be it. Take those things out if necessary; I certainly don't plan to use them. If going without a period decreases my chance to have certain cancers, then that's just peachy keen. I'm not really worried about anything except how my digestive tract is functioning today. After all, almost everything is genetic. Either you're destined to get it, or you're not. What you eat and what medinces you take have only the smallest imact on it (if any at all). Given that I come from two families that have above-average life spans and very little in the way of life-threatening illnesses, I'm set for life. Between my genes and medical advances, I plan on living to be 130.

7Lil,

Which pill were you taking??

Michelle :)

Will do, I hope you CONTINUE to feel better!

Thanks,
Michelle