My experience with Birth Control Pills
Sep. 30th, 2012 02:55 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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vaginapaginaI'm 30 today. I had a Pulmonary Embolism 2 weeks ago. I never would have imagined I would say that , at 30. I never really thought I'd experience any life-threatening illness until I was in my 80s or hopefully later. But now, having experienced a PE (blood clot in my lung) and dead lung tissue because of it, I now realize how fragile my life is.
I was put on birth control pills to regulate my menstruation because it was fairly heavy/long/irregular at about 18. I was a very healthy child and adult. I never experienced any type of surgery, ER stay, no sprained ankles. I never smoked. I work out several times a week. I eat healthfully. I was on and off the pills over the past several years and only began them when my period started to be irregular again.
First week of September I started to feel pain in my left upper chest area when I breathed in. It felt like a sharp pain in that the more deeper the breathe, the larger the area that hurt. However, it seemed to generate in the upper left shoulder area and at the center of my breast. I had that for a few days, went to my doctor who is a Nurse Practitioner. She said she had no idea what my symptoms could be from besides a muscle strain and she sent me off with ibuprofen every 8 hours. I did that and then Sunday rolled around and I had gone a whole week with this pain and it hadn't subsided. My husband took me to the ER because he thought i it was best to go. A chest Xray was clear. My vitals were fine. My bloodwork showed an enzyme which had elevated levels that basically said I had a clot somewhere. A cat scan showed I had one in my lung and it was big enough to warrant a 4 day hospital stay. I went on blood thinners, I had bloodwork taken every 4 hours, I had some pain pills and I was a wreck. I now have to be on blood thinners for the next several months, I have to be monitored with blood work to prevent another one from coming. The doctor said he basically believes the PE was due to the birth control pill. I had a lot of tests completed to determine if there is an underlying cause such as a rare blood disorder or some type of cancer but more than likely that is not the case. In any event, I now have to restrict my diet, be more cautious and not bump into things or get cuts, and have developed anxiety over this entire situation...
Anyway, i wanted to get my story out there. I'm a healthy young woman with no family history of clots and no other risk factors of PE except the fact I took a birth control pill. I personally feel this is wrong and unfair. And to anyone who may have experienced something similar, you are not alone. I am not advocating for someone to not take birth control pills... but what I am saying is that you should be cautious when taking them; knowing your family history in addition to gaining knowledge about all types of BC so you can make the choice that is best for you and your body.
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no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 08:53 am (UTC)WRT the anxiety-not surprising in your situation, but awful to deal with on top of everything. Have you ever read about practicing Mindfulness? That might help you stay rooted in the present and ease anxiety when it flares up.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 04:57 am (UTC)Did you need any resources?
This is a great pdf workbook:
http://presence-awareness.com/uploads/COGNITIVEMINDFULNESSWORKBOOK13.pdf
Another great intro/overview: http://www.scribd.com/doc/4004508/Introduction-to-Mindfulness-Exercises
http://www.stillmind.com.au/mindfulnessworksheets.htm
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 01:57 pm (UTC)(*Statistics are also rarely fair. Some things raise risk, but all HBC holds the risk of clotting issues like this, and it doesn't strike because someone took the last cookie. It strikes randomly. There is no justice in it.)
Try "almost dying" at age 18.
Date: 2012-09-30 02:43 pm (UTC)They wouldn't admit me or check me until my leg was so swollen and painful that I could not walk. (They later told me that if it had broken off and went to my lungs at any point while I was walking on it, I could have died instantly. Gee, thanks, guys.)
And sure enough, as soon as I was admitted and on blood thinners, it broke apart and half went to my lungs, resulting in an 11 day hospital stay.
It took ten more years before I was diagnosed with two MTHFR gene mutations and am FINALLY getting help for all my issues.
I was lucky-- my mom forbade me to be on BC before 18, and since I was not sexually active, I didn't care. My docs said if I had been put on it, they weren't sure I would have lived. Of course, I am never allowed on hormonal BC.
BE CAREFUL! Be aware of pains in your chest and legs and if it feels weird, demand a blood test! Don't leave til they give it to you!
Re: Try "almost dying" at age 18.
Date: 2012-09-30 03:52 pm (UTC)it wasn't HBC in my case, but around giving birth the body thickens the blood on it's own to prevent bleeding to death during child birth.
a week before i was due, the young doc in the hospital freaked out because my blood pressure was a bit on the high side (read: NOT too high as in going through the ceiling, but on the high end of the normal range. which is normal for me because i'm a bit overweight. but i disgress).
so he thought it might be pregnancy poisoning (don't know if that is the correct english term, it's a literal translation from german, but usually there is at least one of two other symptoms necessary for that diagnosis, one being a lot of bilirubin in the urin, the other being a lot of water in the feet, both of which i didn't have) and wanted to keep me for a day for observation.
well, once you stay in a hospital bed for any length of time they shove a tube in a vein in your arm. and the doc ordered the nurses to measure my blood pressure on BOTH arms every hour, just to make sure. so they did. remember the tube? yeah, that was still there. so they basically put the compression sleeve over the tube in my vein every hour and squeezed tight. it hurt. i told them it hurt and if they could please either remove the tube our only measure on the other side, because it hurt. they told me i shouldn't be a whimp, after all i wanted to give birth soon, so i should just suck it up.
well, at the end of the day, everything was fine. the tube was removed and i was sent home to wait for labor to start. which it did a week later. my arm still hurt. when i came back to the hospital i told the nurse about how my arm still hurt and if this time she could put the tube in my other arm. she couldn't (has to do with the setup of the emergency operation room), but used another vein. all good, went home with my little baby boy shortly after. he was healthy, i was healthy. or, was i?
my arm still hurt. i told my brother and sister in law how my arm still hurt after that first tube, and how it was starting to feel warm and swollen.
my sister in law works in another hospital and had come across some blood clots caused by IV-tubes before. so, one morning before work she dropped by at my place, drew my blood and sent it to the laboratory to be tested for clots. turns out that's what it was. stupid hospital.
thankfully everything dissolved without anything going to my lungs, so at the end it was mostly a nuisance. guess i got lucky after all.
Re: Try "almost dying" at age 18.
Date: 2012-09-30 04:25 pm (UTC)my daughter went through it when she was pregnant at the end of may and through the month of june. fortunately her daughter was born fine, but it was scary for us as parents because we live half the country away from her. (we're in texas, she's in florida.)
Re: Try "almost dying" at age 18.
Date: 2012-09-30 06:20 pm (UTC)well, the thing is, i didn't have it. i had half a symptom of three symptoms, and that half one could easily be explained otherwise. the doc was just a total nutcase.
i'm glad your daughter and your granddaughter were fine.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 02:02 am (UTC)I took both Yaz and Yasmin 2 years ago. The most current/last BC I took, the chances are currently very low (0.06 % in getting a PE). I had the PE and an infarction- which is also rare.
It is wrong because the statistics are so low for this to occur. It is unfair because the risk factors that increase your chances of getting one from BC - I don't have and have been doing all the things to prevent them for years.
I agree that benefits can outweigh risks, in general for a lot of medications. However, my doctor never explained these risks to me for BC. I think I would have stopped or reconsidered taking it years ago since I was only on it to regulate my period. I never even knew what a PE was until this happened. I'd rather have my 2 week period over this, any day.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 02:32 pm (UTC)My only risk factor was the pill. I ended up having a partial hysterectomy. Couldnt be on the pill any more, but couldnt have my peiod, because of my clotting problems and mennoragia.
I was 25.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 08:43 pm (UTC)I think it's definitely worth knowing about the potential increased risk with pills that contain DRSP; I just wanted to add in a source with some exact numbers. Well, the most exact numbers we have to date.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 03:36 pm (UTC)I haven't had a PE or any clots, but my brother had 2 clots in his lungs in his early 20s (few years ago) after having a DVT in his leg. He definitely could've died, and thank god my mom works in healthcare and linked the leg pain and chest pain/difficulty breathing together. The doctors and nurses weren't treating it as anything serious before that. As far as I know, he has to be on blood thinners for the rest of his life and he has chronic pleurisy in his lung. My mom and grandmother both have had superficial clots in their legs due to bad veins. Strangely, none of us carry any genetic blood abnormalities.
Anyway, my doctor recently made me stop taking the pill until I got my blood tested. Nothing showed up, but I think it's safer that I just stop taking it. Even the blood specialist was like "I think you'll be ok" but I dunno man...I don't want to risk it.
And on a semi-related note...when I went to a gyno's office a couple years ago and they made me fill out one of those medical history forms where you can check off things that apply to you and your family history, no where did it mention clotting(!!!) Yeah, I definitely brought that up with the nurse. So much oversight :-/
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-30 10:04 pm (UTC)how high were the levels of that enzyme?
i had terrible bronchitis last month (its not completely gone)
& i am over 40, heavy & do smoke sometimes. because of a really
bad pain in my left side, i had that blood test done & they said
my levels werent *that* high but if i wanted to be sure i was ok,
i should have the cat scan. since im uninsured, i declined.
ive had some pain on that side still (not nearly as bad) but now im REALLY nervous.
ive avoided BCP for many reasons.
they just never seemed worth the trouble to me.
(especially after taking them & going hormonally off the charts depressed/manic)
glad youre better!
:)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-01 01:33 am (UTC)I don't know if it's any consolation, but her anxiety over the blood thinners has abated as time has gone on...she was hospitalized for the PE in May. She continues to inject herself once a day...although her diet is not very restricted. She takes Fragmin, but I suspect that you might be on Coumidin (warfarin) which seems to have way more lifestyle modification requirements. Is there any chance you could be put on Fragmin instead?
Thank you for sharing your story.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-02 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-10 01:13 am (UTC)FPAMG.net (http://www.fpamg.net/)