Anyways, she also does custody assessments and other psychology stuff for the courts, and she says if any of the kids she’s talking to are on this drug, she gets them taken off it so she can find out what they’re actually like. She’s also been on it herself, and she knows just how messed up it makes you feel.

She’s also said that I need to get off the Pill. She believes strongly that depressed women should not be on the Pill unless it’s absolutely necessary—it messes up the brain chemistry.

My GP warned me about none of this stuff. I think it’s time to find a new doctor.

Yes, it certainly does and especially if there’s something wrong with your cervix that prevents it dilating naturally.

Mearl, I only just read your post about your period woes but I had to pipe up and say that I had very similar problems for 20 years which, naturally, no doctor bothered much about while I flailed around desperately trying various methods of pain relief. Eventually, after the birth of my two children, I tried an hormonal IUD (Morena) which lasts 7 years. If you’re lucky (and I was) your periods stop altogether and I have absolutely no pain any more.

The insertion of the IUD was painful and humiliating because the gyno was a pig. There are no female gynos where I live and my wonderful GP wouldn’t insert it because I’d had two caesarians and that would make the insertion without pain relief more difficult and more dangerous. Do I need to add that gyno didn’t bother giving me any pain relief?

Anyway, the only good thing about the visit was the info that the “problem” with the insertion was that my cervix won’t dilate naturally for some reason and the pain I experienced during my periods was due to the build up of menstrual fluid, which then forced its way out in a surge, then the cervix would close down in a spasm, then the whole process would repeat again and again until period was over - no wonder it was painful! I’ll let you all imagine how my gyno dealt with finding a cervix resisting his efforts to shove an IUD into it.

Anyway, long and short of this was to say: Mearl, maybe it’s worth considering that your cervix may be the culprit with you, too. Dunno if that’s any use to you now that you’ve managed to get rid of the hellish cramps for now but extra info can’t hurt, especially if you’ve managed to get yourself a female gyno. Good luck!

I’m glad the IUD is working for you - Paraguard is the copper one, correct? I believe that is the one I had my eye on. I’m through with the damn hormones. I haven’t been taking my pills for about a month now, which has made my birth control options annoying and risky. I guess that’s what I get for whorring it up.

Sure enough, depression and mood disorders are listed as a side effect. I then did some checking via Google about my particular BCP, Marvelon, which is a combination pill (estrogen and progesterone) and found that it’s noted for causing nasty emotional side effects (depression, anxiety, mood swings). Some medical sites from Britain even say to quit taking it immediately if depression develops. And I’ve talked to a few women friends now who’ve been suicidally depressed while on BCPs.

In my doctor’s defense, I haven’t really discussed my depression with her. I’m from a family of upper-class British immigrants who adhere to that whole stiff upper lip, keep your troubles to yourself way of thinking, and I guess that has carried over. It genuinely never occurred to me that I should tell her at my annual physical that I was seeing a psychologist for depression.

Even more fun? The steroid control meds I’m on for my asthma also list depression as a side effect. So basically, the two drugs I put into my body every day are likely to make me feel like an emotional train wreck.

It sucks so much that we have to do this research ourselves and go tell the doctors what we need and want.

I’m not sure why so many docs don’t even offer the IUD. I had to go to my gyno and ask for it. She was happy to do it, but no gyno in the history of my 25 years of going to them had ever even mentioned the IUD or diaphragm as an option. My conspiracy-theorist side thinks it has something to do with the fact that the IUD is a once-a-decade expense, while the Pill is an ongoing, eternal, monthly expense, and Big Pharma wants us spending as much as possible on scrips.

Oh, also: you should know that IUD insertion hurts, because they dilate your cervix, but you’ll live through it, and it’s totally worth it.

I have an appointment with my doctor next week to talk about alternatives (IUD, diaphragm, anything non-hormonal!). I just don’t think adding a medication that is known to cause depression to an already emotionally overloaded life is a good idea. It’s going to mean readjusting how my partner and I handle contraception, but he’s willing to do whatever is needed.

I just really need to feel better. I’m tired of having the floor drop out from under me every month. It’s been an eye-opener to realize this few days that I’m not the only one who’s had this happen on the pill.

And yes, I’m seeing a really good therapist too.

FEDERAL LAW says that YOU own your medical records, and Dr. Ego better fucking well get up off of those records at your behest, pronto. I wish I could remember the name of the law, but it’s a patients’ rights bill. And furthermore, weight gain, depression, and loss of libido are documented side effects of estrogen treatment. I get exactly the same side effects, which is why I now have an IUD. Which, by the way, ROCKS. Paragard, lasts ten years, no hormones, no nasty side effects.

I’m sure you’re tired of beating your head against the wall, but if you can stand one more round, I suggest you threaten Dr. Ego with a lawsuit if he doesn’t release your medical records to you. Stand in the office until you have a copy in your hands. He’s a MISOGYNISTIC ASS, and he’s breaking the law. If worse comes to worse, call the nearest university law school and ask if they have a pro bono law clinic. Most public universities have them. You deserve to control your birth control choices.

It all started with the pill - three years later I’ve gained 45 pounds, I’m clinically depressed (have always had a little in the background, but the damned pill makes everything worse), and I have zero sex drive. About this time I’m put on antidepressants and my health insurance changes. At the behest of my mother, I reluctantly go in to see Dr. Ego, tell him about my problems and ask to switch birth control pills and/or get an IUD. He dismisses my problems - “Well if you only eat junk food and don’t exercise, you’re going to gain weight,” (and here I am, a vegetarian who has done two competitive sports for ten years - I guess I can’t figure this out for myself). He’s not interested in my sex drive because, hey, a 21-year-old college student shouldn’t be having sex anyway, right?

I tried Planned Parenthood, but they want records of my last pelvic exam, which Dr. Ego isn’t willing to transfer, and an additional small fortune to actually insert the damned IUD. I am a poverty - stricken (been on food stamps, etc.)college student who makes minimum wage (yeah $5.15 an hour won’t even make enough to pay income tax - you do the math)and is scraping by on third-party loans to finish my “education” at a dead end school in a backward state. The saying here in Oklahoma is “We’re the buckle of the Bible Belt!” I can’t afford this nonsense.

That and trying to pry my life free from my mother’s death grasp for simple pleasures like going to a female doctor in the same town I live in, have me pretty well fed up and pissed off. IBTP.

Hah, vee, at least it wasn’t your own mother telling the docs to save your ovary at all costs, despite the fact you have been telling her for ages you don’t want kids. Why not, you might ask? Because you don’t have a good maternal role model, that’s why. Funny, that.
Somewhat back on track, I’m hoping to become an OB/GYN in the future, and I plan on keeping all of y’all in mind when I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgJmaAknKrA