Health anxiety due to starting birth control

[anxious_thoughts]

Hello,

I've had a couple problems with my period earlier this year so my gyno recommended I go on birth control to help regulate my periods, and want some me to keep taking them for 3 months. She gave me Alesse 28. I'm 24 and this is my first time ever taking birth control. I started my first pill last night, I took it at 11:45pm.

What I'm most concerned about are the side effects. I actually didn't feel any last night other than my heart beat feeling like it was going a bit faster than usual. But that could have been because I was anxious about it. Anyways, I'm terrified of negative side effects happening especially within the first three months. I totally scared myself after reading some reviews about the pill online. Just so scared about blood clots, depression, feeling dizzy, or things related to my blood pressure. I'm overweight so this also worries me.

Can someone tell me about their experience on the pill? Especially when you already suffer from anxiety.

[AntsyVee]

I’ve had a great experience on the pill. It actually helps with my anxiety just as much as my antidepressant. I’ve been on it for 10+ years, and I’m overweight, with no adverse experiences.

[Annaboodle]

I had a really positive experience with the pill. I went on it in my teens due to incredibly heavy and irregular periods and it regulated them and made them completely manageable. No problems with side effects. Remember with any meds that they have to list all possible side effects (MyNameIsTerry posted a really good explanation about this, but I can't find it. It was about pharma companies legally covering themselves).

It sounds obvious but please keep in your mind that almost no one ever posts on the Internet when they have a really positive experience of something. It's always going to be problems, fears and horror stories and they simply don't reflect the general experience. I have insomnia. Try searching for "I can sleep" and you'll see what I mean - it even auto corrects you to the negative.

[swgrl09]

Ok so I have been on 3 birth control pills during my life. The first gave me stomach issues, so I called up the doctor and they switched me right away. The second two didn't give me any issues at all. They honestly just made my life a lot better. I only changed again because I wanted one to help with my acne more - acne I had previously to the pill, not caused by it. But then I was on for 10 years until we decided to get pregnant. My periods were soooo much more manageable. My skin got better. It was definitely worth it.

[anxious_thoughts]

I’ve had a great experience on the pill. It actually helps with my anxiety just as much as my antidepressant. I’ve been on it for 10+ years, and I’m overweight, with no adverse experiences.

Hello AnstyVee, thank you for the response!
Seriously feels better to see there are people that didn't have horrible side effects with the pill and have been on it for a long time. That's great that it helps with anxiety! I just took my second pill last night and I woke up nauseous. I had my lunch and about 15 minutes after eating I threw up. I'm pretty sure it's because of the pill as I'm not usually the type to be throwing up. I'm a little surprised though because I took the pill 12 hours ago.

---------- Post added at 11:45 ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 ----------


I had a really positive experience with the pill. I went on it in my teens due to incredibly heavy and irregular periods and it regulated them and made them completely manageable. No problems with side effects. Remember with any meds that they have to list all possible side effects (MyNameIsTerry posted a really good explanation about this, but I can't find it. It was about pharma companies legally covering themselves).

It sounds obvious but please keep in your mind that almost no one ever posts on the Internet when they have a really positive experience of something. It's always going to be problems, fears and horror stories and they simply don't reflect the general experience. I have insomnia. Try searching for "I can sleep" and you'll see what I mean - it even auto corrects you to the negative.

Hello Anna! Thanks for responding :). It's great that you also didn't have any side effects with the pill. I've been taking my pill late at night so that I can sleep through the side effects. However, today I woke up nauseous. I had lunch and then threw up a little bit. I'm shocked cause it's already been 12 hours since I took the pill. I thought by now the symptoms would at least wear off. I'm thinking of calling my gyno about it. Is throwing up a bad symptom where she would tell me to stop taking them?

Haha you're very right about people only posting negative experiences on the internet. So very true! Seems like that's all you can ever find especially when it comes to BC pills. Actually, all my friends that are on it all have said positive things.

[Geepee]

I was on a variety of pills for over 10 years. The only reason I swapped around was because of the positive side effects different pills can have for example helping with clear skin, body hair etc. I never had any problems so please try not to worry. If you have any concerns the Family Planning Association have a national number you can call. I have always found them very helpful. Wishing you all the best.

[Weasley123]

I'm 39. I'm on the pill loloestrin fe and have been for 4 years. I took the oil in my 30s too but had a long break. I have no kids by choice. I worry about health rushes especially breast cancer but it hasn't been proven that they are linked abs the pill helps prevent ovarian cancer. Blood clots are really rare. I have white coat hypertension and my dr still lets me take the pill.

[.Poppy.]

The first time I went on the pill I took Yaz - before it had some negative connotations to it. I did okay for awhile, but then it started making my migraines worse, so I went off it.

I'm now on an ortho tri cyclen generic. I don't have any complaints. There are tons of side effects listed out there, but they're pretty rare.

The pill helps with acne and it makes my cycle lighter and far less painful. I also took Accutane a couple of years ago - there are some serious horror stories out there for that drug that put me in a major HA spiral - but wouldn't you know it, nothing happened. It cleared up my acne, but no major side effects - my skin didn't even get all that dry.

So yeah, there's a lot of crazy on the internet. We have all seen it before.

One of the girls I work with took BC and it did cause her blood pressure to rise (it can happen). But it's not one of those scary, immediate things - it was just higher a few times when she went for checkups, so they switched her.