Thanks all for your input and repeated encouragement to look into a continuous pill cycle. I’m feeling more human today–just completely exhausted–so I can think a little more clearly.
I know the “period” is just withdrawal bleeding, so my logical side should eventually prevail in this debate with my emotional side that worries if I don’t get a so-called period, I won’t ovulate when I go off the Pill. We have a long history of reproductive issues in my family, and I connect the lack of ovulation my sister has with her going off the Pill. More likely, it’s just coincidence. I certainly had no problem conceiving within 2 months of going off oral contraceptives–after having been on them for 10+ years without interruption.
What I find odd is I have headaches the last 3-4 days of active pills in the packet, and sometimes those are quite harsh. Not skull-shatteringly torturous as a migraine, but pretty sucky no less. The migraines kick in after about 5-6 days of inert pills. I don’t get why I’d be getting headaches while I’m still taking the hormone.
This month I had some mood swings (typical PMS-y type stuff), artificial hormones notwithstanding, that seemed to flood past the Pill’s ability to hold them in. Not as horrible as when I wasn’t using oral contraception, but not fun for anyone no less.
Obviously it’s something I’m calling my OB about tomorrow. Lucky me got stuck with this brain-baker over the weekend. I normally start a new pack tonight, but I’m thinking I might skip tonight’s dose until I hear what the OB says. If I end up taking the two pills together tomorrow night, that’s no big deal.
Weird thing is, migraines always leave me with a suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper tender scalp over the affected area. That patch on the back of my right side feels like it’s been sunburned, then someone’s pulled my hair reeeeeeeeally hard. Weird…but preferable to the other pain.
Just popped in to mention Vitamin B, especially Vitamin B6. It does wonders for pre-menstrual hormone problems, and is especially effective when taken with Evening Primrose Oil. Really, if I didn’t take it for the week before, and the days of my period I’d be ripping heads off left, right and centre in a constant state of rage. It’s worth a try for keeping those moods under control…
It could be that the synthetic hormones are causing your migraines. I used to get migraines the week before my period, while I was still on the pill and the ring, before my placebo week like clockwork. Every. Single. Month.
Six months ago I got my IUD and I have only had one migraine since, and even that was shortly after going off the ring. Getting off of hormonal birth control has made all the difference, for me.
I get menstrual migraines. For now, we’ve fixed it somewhat by putting me on Seasonique, one of those period-every-three-months pills. That means I only get the hormonal migraines 4 times a year.
However, they’ve been getting worse lately, and I’m unwilling to deal with them even that often (especially as I get stress migraines, too- it’s not like I’m getting migraines only 4 times a year, it’s that I’m only getting hormonally-triggered ones 4 times a year, and that extra four times sucks.) At my next visit, I’m going to talk to my doctor about a continuous pill so that I don’t get a period.
If you can’t find another option that would prevent both migranes and PMS I vote for PMS. It sucks, to be sure, and I spent Tuesday night sobbing uncontrollably on the couch because my eye wouldn’t stop twitching, but I am better able to work my way through an emotional meltdown than I am able to handle living with the constant pain of a migrane. Best of luck to you finding an option that doesn’t make you go through one or the other though!
Thanks again, everyone, for your input, advice, and concerns. Thought I’d update you–since it’s finally a workday, I was able to call my OB/GYN. Describing my headaches on active pills and this hellacious weekend-long migraine, she immediately said, “Oh no, we need to get you off those immediately.” She said that migraines matching what I’m describing suggest an increased risk of stroke ( :eek: ) and to forget The Pill and opt for other BC methods.
Regarding the mood swings and such, she recommended some sort of mini-Prozac pill taken the two PMS-y weeks of the month. I’d rather this first OC-free month I try more natural approaches, such as the primrose oil and vitamin B featherlou and Butterscotch suggested. We shall see.
I love being a woman, but THIS shit ain’t on the plus side of womanhood.
I was just about to reply noting the low-dose Prozac for the mood swings, but I see your doctor has already recommended it.
I’ve pretty much just given up on hormonal BC. I went through five different types over four or five years and never found one that didn’t give me migraines. One or two of them helped with the PMS, but not by much.
If it makes you feel better at all, it might not just be a choice between migraines and mood swings. When I went off the NuvaRing, I began to notice all sorts of other side effects I wasn’t having anymore. For instance, and I suppose this isn’t a big deal, but for two appointments in a row, my dentist commented on how much better my gums looked. I tried to pretend I was flossing more, but when she asked about medications and I told her I was off the BC, she went, “Oh, that’s it!”
Well, I believe I’ve now had an actual full-blown migraine as opposed to one that was just in the neighborhood. I’m four days into the inert pills of these higher-estrogen variety as prescribed by my OB/GYN, and this morning at 4 a.m. I awoke to a blinding headache. I got up and took four ibuprofen and sat up in the darkened living room, as lying down seems to worsen the pain. The pain was worse than ever before, and this time I got the nausea to go with it, as well as the reaction to light and sound as described above. I longed to drink some coffee as that always helps the pain, but I was so nauseated that I couldn’t. Finally I forced the coffee past, in between waves of nausea, and tried not to hork it back up. Fifteen minutes after getting a bit of caffeine down me the pain abruptly subsided and then the nausea was quelled. To top it off, all this was accompanied by my very first hot flash!
Gotta call the doc and talk about this latest course of BC pills. The extra estrogen certainly helps with the anxiety and depression. While on them, I even get cramps and tender breasts, something I haven’t felt for years! But migraines of this magnitude make me rethink the wisdom of taking them.
