Birth Control Woes

[bewize]

I started on a birth control pill last summer called Beyaz. It was expensive and didn't seem to do much beyond the name sake in terms of being helpful. About a month later, I started shedding a lot of hair, but I didn't put two and two together until October.

I lost a lot of hair in September, like sobbing on the couch while N brushed out clumps of hair a lot (and yes, that is literal and yes, I am scarred from it emotionally, if not actually physically). The trash can was full of it.

I panicked.

And someone suggested that it might be a side effect of my birth control. I looked and yep. I researched and double yep. I talked to my doctor and got switched to Loestrin. Two months later... I'm not shedding hair anymore.

But, I have bald spots. Actual balk spots.

To those who have seen me, but not noticed, thank you for not noticing. To those who noticed, but didn't say anything, thank you even more.

I don't consider myself overly vain, but this has been incredibly hard on me.

A few days ago, it occurred to me to wonder if my hair would ever grow back. I was talking to my mom at the time, and she jumped on google and found out that, apparently, it is a common enough side effect that a lot of people complain about it.

I'm torn between being pretty angry and still just upset. My doctor never mentioned that this was a likely side-effect (nor did she mention that it was 3 times more likely to cause DVT than other types of birth control pills). There are several class action lawsuits against the company, although I can't confirm if any of them include my symptoms, or just the blood clots.

I also can't find much about whether or not my hair is going to actually grow back. I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard.

The new pill seems to have made me pretty wretchedly sick. I haven't had cramps like that EVER. I mean EVER. I hurt so badly for so many days that I was honestly starting to wonder if it could be something worse. My back hurt, my stomach hurt, my legs ached, my hips ached. And no amount of pain pills helped. Showers, heating pads, massages... nothing. I just hurt.

So, this isn't really a request for advice or anything. I'm just bitching about it. Because it sucks.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

Uggh, worst. I'm sorry you went through this :-/.

[haruka]

I'm so sorry! I don't know much about birth control anymore (I only ever took it decades back, and for a short time.) What I do know I've heard mostly on the childfree comms, and there it's more a matter of finding longer-lasting methods, like Implanon and Mirena.

I hope you can find something that isn't so hard on your body. :(

[branchandroot]

That sucks massively, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this crap. And all the more because this is exactly what your doctor should have told you about!

...you might want to talk to someone about those cramps. I would hold hope for your hair, because it takes a /lot/ to kill follicles permanently, even chemotherapy doesn't do that. But if the new stuff unbalances your hormones enough to hurt that bad, sometimes /that/ doesn't come back on balance again. Least, it didn't for me, and I eventually jumped through the hoops to have a hysterectomy, years later, because of the pain. Which actually made me really happy! But the pain /sucked/, and I would never want anyone to go through dealing with that if it can be avoided.

[escritoireazul]

That really, really sucks. I had a similar reaction when my hair started falling out because of my bipolar meds, which I keep taking because I like how they help (and taking zinc helps stop some of the hair loss), but when it first started happening, god, I was so freaked out and upset. My hair. All the other side effects, whatever, but my hair.

I hope yours grows back soon. <3