Posted by sexylexy on January 19, 2004, at 12:01:34
In reply to Re: Question for my girls » sexylexy, posted by Mariposa on January 18, 2004, at 11:33:30
Hey there!
Just wanted to give you my experience with birth control. First of all what I am going to tell you I really do not want to come accross as boasting but I would like to share so you can see what those damn little bc pills can do.
I am 24 years old. No body in my family has depression or any other than mild anxiety in my mother. My life up to this point has been pretty fairy tale. Parents happily married for 29 year, I would call my parents my best friends we are very close, I have never been denied anything ( I asked for a used car and my parents drove up to college with a brand new mercedes for a suprise), I have always had a lot of friends and more happy times than sad ones. In a word you could say I am blessed.
Last year I moved away from home and all my supports to a large town where I knew not one person. I was able to go out, make friends, date and adjust pretty well. While in my new city, I decided to start dating a guy from back home seriously we dated all second semester of school then I moved home for the summer to be with him.
That summer I got on the pill, I have always had PMS which boarded on PMDD, however after being on the pill for 1 month I noticed the PMDD was full fledged, the next month I moved back to school. That month two weeks before my period I had PMDD, from there it picked up to 3 weeks then full fledged month, I thought I was just home sick for my family and boyfriend. I was so angry and sad all the time, soooo sensitive ect. From there I started feeling worthless and the whole thing snowballed. I finally went home for fall break, I was horrified to find that I was no longer attracted to my boyfriend and even more sad at home because I thought I should be happy. I was crying all the time for hours, my family and boyfriend did not know what to do with me. Finally my dad looked up all the stuff I was taking (vitamins, bc pill ect) The bc pill has a rare side effect of not just depression but severe depression. That night I discontinued the pill that night and with in 24 hours I was me again. It was unreal, for 10 days I was fine, went back to school and was normal. My mind was so quiet it was amazing. Unfortunatley, on the 10th day, one of my friends died unexpectedly, once my body started feeling sad, I became terrified of becoming depressed again. So scared to the point that I started becoming depressed. I started feeling that way and booked a plane home. I spent a long weekend at home and was able to pull out. After that I was fine for 21 days until my boyfriend and I got into a huge fight (we NEVER fight) again I started to get sad then scared of being sad the whole cycle. This time I was not able to pull out of the fear which lead back to depression.
I went to the doctor who said that the depression from the birth control had become a phobia for me and the bc taught my body how to be depressed. He told me that I would need about 6 or so months on an anti depressant so my body could forget depression.
This started a horrible 3 weeks on Zoloft and now a much better time on Lexapro. I am started to see me come back. My family and boyfriend (who some how stuck it out still loving me) have begunt o notice a change. I think now I am just to scared to belive that this could be coming to an end. I guess that will go away with time.
I am actually a psychology graduate student and do therapy with college age students. Although, depression is listed as a "rare" side effect of BC I cannot tell you how many of my clients have come in complaining of similar symptoms, when they either change bc pill brands or get off the pill they become differnt people. Anyway, I am sorry to be so long winded but I think that everyone should be warned about this or at lease be aware. Thanks, I hope this helps.
Lexy
poster:sexylexy
thread:302141
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040118/msgs/302742.html