My teenage daughter has been taking birth control pills to help with her horrible period. She has been taking them for about 8 months, and they really haven't helped at all. The doctor wants her to try Loestrin 24. Have any of you tried this before? She was using Ortho-tri-cyclen, so she changed her to Ortho-Novum 7/7/7. She has been sick the entire 10 days that she has taken it, so we are changing again. Her acne has come back already too.
I took Loestrin... hated it. I had weird symptoms... including night sweats, irregular periods and weight gain with it.
I went back on the generic of Yaz and all that went away. Everyone is different... I did fine with Ortho 7/7/7 many years ago also. Don't wait... get the dr to change her pill.
maybe ask about the genric of yaz.. I have taken that for many years and have horrible periods.. it helped my acne and I also skip the week of no pills.. my dr. said I may so I don't get a period.. the dr. said to give my self a period 3 times a year.. I like it way better than loestrin.. it made me feel bloated..
best of luck.
Lenc
I apologize for this not exactly answering your question (I was on BC pills 2 diff times; even though it was the same kind of pill, the 2nd time I was on them they really messed me up. So I think everyone will react a little differently to them) but you may want to research Shepherd's Purse extract/tincture. It's supposed to be the 'natural' way to even out horrible periods and menopause and pph. Best wishes!
I def don't take it at the same time every day and I basically have no period any more. I'll have 1.5-2 days of light spotting *sometimes* in the middle of the month but that is it. I've been on it since March.
Loestrin 24 has worked for me. It is part of my bedtime routine, so I take it faithfully around the sme time each day. I also started taking it because of horrible periods. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone responds in different ways. I hope your daughter finds something that works because it does make life so much better.
C.
I hated Loestrin 24. If you don't take it at the same EXACT time every day, you'll start you period. This was my experience anyway. I'd forget sometimes for like half a day and then bam! I would spot for days in between periods. I'm now on Trivora and having a much better time!
has she tried the kind where you only have 4 periods a year? maybe that is an option. R.
I love my Loestrin! I had horribe periods from day one! Two days of cramps, sometimes vomiting from them, 7-8 days of bleeding really heavy. I had acne on my back and arms, sometimes chest and face. Tried 6 different types of BC pills. Some caused breakthrough bleeding, some caused cramping all month, some did nothing.
Eventually I was diagnosed with PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) which causes your body to mix up two of the hormones in your cycle so your egg starts to develop but before its finished and the egg releases it forms a cyst. Anyway, it makes your body resistant to insulin and can end up causing type two diabetes, which it did with me. (way back before PCOS had a name they werent really sure what to do for it)
My sister had tried Loestrin Fe and said she had zero side affects, so when the doc said he wanted me to use BC again to help with the pain and heavyness of my cycle, I told him I wanted to try Loestrin. It is the best one I have ever been on! I have almost zero pain from cramping, usually just a little tension in my lower back and my period has gone from 7-8 days to 3-4!
It does not help acne, BUT if it her pain and heavy bleeding is from PCOS then metphormin takes care of it too!
Some tell-tale signs of insulin resistance from PCOS are acne,especially on arms, back and chest, heavier hair growth as in the thighs and chin (more masculine areas that girls don't usually have trouble with, dark streatchmarks and the darkening of skin in the arm pits or really anywhere that skin touches skin a lot or something touches skin a lot. For instance I have dark pits, a dark line across the back of my neck that looks like its dirty, dark crescents inder my breasts, a dark line where my underwire sits on the side of my chest,below my pits, and, well, even the vaginal area has darkened. (I thought it was my getting older that did that until the fertility spec. told me it was the insulin resistance from PCOS.
Checking for PCOS would top my list if she has any of these (you didn't say where the acne was, I don't think). Many women have it and don't know it. They don't know what causes it and it can cause fertility problems, although a good fertility doc with specialty in PCOS helped up get pregnant on the first try, without fertility drugs, and we had twins! (my age was a factor in the twins)
Either way, sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error to find the right BC pill for you. Mine is definatly Loestrin Fe (with iron)
Good luck and i hope her next cycle is pain free!
Oh to edit: you do have to take it at the same time everyday as it is a lower dose, but you are supposed to do that with any BC pill and it comes in a generic called Junell
Have they determined what is causing the horrible periods? That should be the first step. It may be something like PCOS or endometriosis that can be treated without birth control pills. Just putting a young girl on BCP without a diagnosis is like putting a bandaid on an infected wound. You can't see the problem, but underneath it is growing and multiplying. Check out the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. It will teach both of you about the female reproductive cycle, what can go wrong, and ways to fix it, while protecting her future fertility.
Like Cathy said, everyone responds differently, but my experience with Loestrin 24 Fe was horrible. I started having anxiety issues and panic attacks. At first I didn't realize that it was the pill that was causing it, but somehow I finally realized that the problems started a month or two after I started taking Loestrin. I insisted that my doc change my pill (he said he didn't think the pill was causing the anxiety) and poof! the anxiety and panic went away. To think, I was on an antidepressant (and dealing with side effects from those pills as well) when I really didn't need to be!
My doc switched me to Yaz and I was fine on that as long as I took it at the exact same time every day. Otherwise, I got a little moody. Eventually I switched again from the Yaz to a pill I could get a generic for (apparently the version of Yaz I was on, was the only one for which there wasn't a generic). Now I've been on Tri-nessa for four months or so and have had no side effects so far.
As far as periods, both the Yaz and Loestrin virtually stopped my periods. Since I've been on Tri-nessa, I've started having periods again but they are fairly light.
It's really a tricky situation since every woman responds differently to different bc pills. Are you taking a pill that you like? I wonder if genetics has anything to do with it...maybe she should try the same pill or something similar to what you are taking.
Hello....i was on the Loestrin 24 and it DOES NOT help at all with the acne. I had to make sure that i took the pill at the same time every day and make sure i took them everyday. If i missed one or was off an hour my body would override the pill and give me my period like someone sliced my insides. My acne is better now that i am off the pills and TTC. Good luck and if this pill dont work have her try the Orthro-tri-cyclen lo. if they have one. Do not let the doctors put her on the seasonique....its not good for a womens body.
When I was about 12 I started on a birth control pill bc I was having almost constant,very painful periods. I don't recall what kind I was on at the time. I think it might have been the ortho that you mentioned. It helped regulating but not much with the pain. When I was 19 I got an ultrasound and they discovered cysts on my ovaries. I elected to have laproscopy surgery. This was to not only remove the cysts but to see if I had endometreosis. It turns out that I did. The doctor then had me come in and get shots periodically that completely stopped my period for several months. It was basically like fake menopause, with hot flashs and all. It did alleviate the pain and some of the irregular periods I was having. Years later, after having a baby, my periods have become very painful and irregular again. I tried taking bc but it made me very sick to my stomach. As of now I am just dealing with it as best I can without bc. It is very likely that she has cysts and/or endometreosis. I would definitely take her to the gyno to have an ultrsound done. If it turns out she does have endo, the treatment I talked about can really help for an extended period of time. Its not a forever cure but it definitely worked for me for quite some time.
