Know anything about HBC? Recommendations?

[effydesmarais.livejournal.com]

I posted details about this in an earlier question, but in case you don't remember -- I was on Microgynon throughout my teens to help me with my horrendous and debilitating periods. It worked fine for years. Around the middle of last year after I turned 21, it stopped working. By that I mean that around the middle of each pack I would get all of the horrible periody symptoms that you get before you bleed, like incredibly sore breasts, crampy feelings in my stomach, and severe lower back pain. The painful boobs lasted pretty much throughout the whole month. I went to my doctor who told me that it is common for HBC to stop working like this as your body naturally changes hormonally as you enter your twenties, which affects the way they operate. She switched me to Loestrin. That was in November I think. For the first couple of months it was fine. The symptoms were gone and it was working as it should. But last month and now this month I have been feeling crampy again. I'm about halfway through a pack and for the past two or three days I have had lower back pain and that horrible vague crampy feeling. Also I have gained weight since starting Loestrin -- probably (as I mentioned in another post) because it has increased my appetite and I have therefore turned into some sort of human vacuum. I don't know, I have always had a really fast metabolism and have never before gained weight like this, so it's confusing for me. Maybe since hitting my twenties it's just slowed, and combined with the increase in appetite it has made me fatter? I think I remember reading that HBC can't actually in itself make you gain weight...is that true?

I don't know anything about HBC. I know there are different types and that each one works with your body in a different way, but I don't know what these types are. I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion about which one might work for me? I looked it up and it seems there are a TON available, I don't know where to start. If both of these pills are failing for me, does that maybe say something about the kind of pills I should be avoiding? Do you have any recommendations?

Really they are still working in that they keep my periods from being debilitating, but this mid-month-symptom-fest is bothering me. Is it possible that maybe this is something that my body is just going to do from now on regardless of what I'm taking?

Comments

[archangelbeth]

For the large majority of people, HBC does not cause weight gain at all. (Except Depo -- statistically, that one can cause weight gain.) However, HBC does have the potential to cause hunger, water-weight bloating, and difficulty gaining muscle because of added estrogen (combined HBC; dunno if added progesterone is also a problem). Also, if you have hypothyroidism, the estrogen in combined HBC will interfere more with your thyroid hormones, binding them so the body cannot use them. Hypothyroidism causes weight gain, primarily by slowing your metabolism to a crawl. (I'm hypothyroid. I was untreated for years, due to dismissing the signs. I don't recommend it.)

I'd suggest testing your thyroid just on general principles because I'm a fanatic now. Get the numbers. Your TSH should be between .4 and 4, and ideally no higher than around 2. You may also want to be tested for thyroid antibodies, in case you have been mildly hyperthyroid for a while, and your thyroid is dying from it. Not likely, probably just normal metabolism slowing... But I'm a fanatic.

That you're getting PMSy symptoms suggests to me that you might want to get your overall vitamins checked: the vitamin Bs, vitamin D, iron, potassium, yadda. Basically, for some people, PMS (and similar issues with HBC) is largely rooted in vitamin deficiencies. I started taking B and my PMS got WAY better. But some people take extra B and get more irritability/anxiety, so testing is probably less stress than taking it and seeing if it works.

You might also need a higher-hormone dose to thoroughly keep your ovaries not only too hypnotized to ovulate, but too hypnotized to have any shadow-cycle at all (as some people seem to do).

Or you might just need a different synthetic progesterone. For that, check the active ingredients of the pills that don't work for you, and select one that has a different progesterone. (You can tell which is which, because the one that starts with "e" will be in all combined pills except Natazia. If all else fails, you can try Natazia!)

I hope those are useful suggestions! Good luck.

[effydesmarais.livejournal.com]

Holy cow that was informative! Thank you, I will check out everything you suggested.

I have actually had my thyroid checked multiple times over the years, as all of the women in my family have an underactive thyriod and I show a lot of the symptoms, but I have always been told I'm fine. I haven't been tested in three of four years though. Can a problem develop over time? Or is it something that you only need tested for once?

Thanks again for all the helpful info,

[archangelbeth]

The problem can absolutely develop over the years, especially if it is an immune system disorder (very likely if it's hereditary! my mom has it, and her father may've died in part from untreated, undiagnosed hypothyroid complications). Basically, your immune system attacks your thyroid over and over again, damaging it more and more. If you have Grave's, then your thyroid "bleeds" thyroid hormone when attacked (causing hyperthyroidism), until it's too damaged to produce any thyroid hormones anymore and you become hypothyroid. If you have Hashmoto's, then the immune system just kills it a little at a time (in 25-man raids, looking for Phat Lewt) and it slowly... stops... working... *thud*

So, my thyroid fanatic advice? Get tested again. Demand to see your test results, and since you have relatives with hypothyroidism, I would strongly suggest getting your antibodies tested at the same time. Even if your TSH is "fine," if you have antibodies, you are very likely to have problems in the future -- and might want to talk to an endocrinologist about whether it would be worthwhile to start supplementing your thyroid now. I believe there is some debate as to whether it helps slow or prevent the immune system's thyroid-trashing, to start treatment at "borderline" levels where antibodies are present.

Even if your TSH is fine, and your antibodies are low... I'd say get tested at least every few years, and keep a personal eye on what your TSH does. Family history and all that.

Good luck, and I'm glad to have been informative!