![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by CareBear04 on August 18, 2004, at 18:38:01
hi everyone!
i know that birth control pills often cause mood changes and depression, and this has happened to me on Alesse, the lowest dose pill. this was a few years ago before i went on antidepressants and mood stabilizers. now i'm about to try the pill again, and for medical reasons, i've been advised to take continuous oral contraception, eliminating the placebo week and my period along with it. both my psychiatrist and my gyn agreed on a low hormone pill and gave me mircette, but i've heard that i need a higher level of hormones to prevent breakthrough bleeding and spotting during continuous OCP. has anyone had good or bad experiences with the medium dose pills like norinyl or lo/ovral or some of the others in the range of 30-35 micrograms? i'm on 1350mg of lithium. will that be enough to cover me in the chance that i get moody from the pill? any advice would be great! thanks!
Posted by SAW on August 19, 2004, at 2:00:32
In reply to mood changes related to hormone dose?, posted by CareBear04 on August 18, 2004, at 18:38:01
> hi everyone!
> i know that birth control pills often cause mood changes and depression, and this has happened to me on Alesse, the lowest dose pill. this was a few years ago before i went on antidepressants and mood stabilizers. now i'm about to try the pill again, and for medical reasons, i've been advised to take continuous oral contraception, eliminating the placebo week and my period along with it. both my psychiatrist and my gyn agreed on a low hormone pill and gave me mircette, but i've heard that i need a higher level of hormones to prevent breakthrough bleeding and spotting during continuous OCP. has anyone had good or bad experiences with the medium dose pills like norinyl or lo/ovral or some of the others in the range of 30-35 micrograms? i'm on 1350mg of lithium. will that be enough to cover me in the chance that i get moody from the pill? any advice would be great! thanks!I took Yasmin purely to skip P's prior to my wedding. (Am unable to have children). I couldn't understand after a month why I had changed so much. I became a raging, irrational, emotional, overly defensive and sensitive lunatic. This was just on a mental level. Physically, I was also experiencing all sorts of horrors. It was only when my husband was about to call our wedding off that I looked back to see what had changed in my life. Realising the changes began after starting Yasmin, I immediately researched and was horrified to see that these reactions are quite common. I stopped taking it. (And had my P's at the wedding!). Anyway, my point is that this spiralled me into further depression even when the extreme side effects of Yasmin lifted. I had thought I was fully recovered (suffered total mental breakdown a few years ago) so denied being depressed. I may have relapsed anyhow, but place a fair amount of blame on Yasmin as being part catalyst. I was so sad on my honeymoon though should have been the happiest in the world. My husband was so confused. Anyway, hoping I'm on the mend now after 10 days on Effexor XR. Am new to this site - thanks for letting me ramble.
PLEASE BE CAREFUL CAREBEAR, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO HORMONAL CHANGES
Posted by sanfran on August 19, 2004, at 9:58:32
In reply to mood changes related to hormone dose?, posted by CareBear04 on August 18, 2004, at 18:38:01
Hi CareBear!
Many of my doctors told me also that the lowest dose pill would not affect my mood. They were all completely wrong. I have a twin sister also, who is bi-polar (I am not), and we both had horrific mood changes on the pill.
My feeling is, when you have a mood disorder, your brain is ultra-sensitive to ANY chemical change...so adding yet another element into the picture is a recipe for disaster. Hormones are powerful little stinkers..I see it every month for 2 weeks before my period. Yoga has helped me 'BE' with all the changes that happen at that time...instead of fighting it.
Are there any other options/procedures you can have instead of going the route of the pill?
> hi everyone!
> i know that birth control pills often cause mood changes and depression, and this has happened to me on Alesse, the lowest dose pill. this was a few years ago before i went on antidepressants and mood stabilizers. now i'm about to try the pill again, and for medical reasons, i've been advised to take continuous oral contraception, eliminating the placebo week and my period along with it. both my psychiatrist and my gyn agreed on a low hormone pill and gave me mircette, but i've heard that i need a higher level of hormones to prevent breakthrough bleeding and spotting during continuous OCP. has anyone had good or bad experiences with the medium dose pills like norinyl or lo/ovral or some of the others in the range of 30-35 micrograms? i'm on 1350mg of lithium. will that be enough to cover me in the chance that i get moody from the pill? any advice would be great! thanks!
Posted by CareBear04 on August 20, 2004, at 12:43:53
In reply to Re: mood changes related to hormone dose?, posted by SAW on August 19, 2004, at 2:00:32
thanks for the advice, SAW! i'm so sorry about what happened to you on yasmin, especially since it affected your wedding and honeymoon. i hope you're feeling better now! CB
Posted by CareBear04 on August 20, 2004, at 12:53:45
In reply to Re: mood changes related to hormone dose?, posted by sanfran on August 19, 2004, at 9:58:32
hey sanfran!
yeah, i'm bipolar, too. no one in my immediate family has ever tried birth control pills, so i don't have a good basis to know how i would react. when i was on alesse, i got really depressed really fast, but that was before i had ever seen a psychiatrist and before i was put on mood stabilizers. my last pdoc was really uneasy about my starting birth control (and i didn't while i was with him) but he thought that, in theory, a high therapeutic lithium dose would cover me against hormonal mood changes. in the past few months, i've been told that i have two medical conditions that can be treated or alleviated by oral contraceptives. i'm seeing a new doctor on tuesday, so maybe he can assess the overall situation and make some recommendations. thanks again for your help! cb
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.