Alesse turned me into a psycho b*tch. I am on Yasmin now...much better

i tried doing the birth control pill and it was horrible.. every fight with the bf made me more emotional... i didn't like how i felt like i wasn't in control of my feelings...

depression and loss of sex drive

I was mostly fine on Yasmine, only having a decreased libido, but switching to a generic... hoo boy. I was depressive with major mood swings and suicidal ideation. I got off that ASAP, slightly less painful periods were NOT worth my mental health.

my body has rejected every form of hormonal birth control. from the shot, to pills, to even the ring, i had not only mood swings, but mid-month spotting, hair loss, jaundice, vision abnormalities... you name it!!! my dr. wants me to try an iud....she can keep that! i have three beautiful kids, 9,6,&3, and i seem to be doing pretty good with my calendar.

I was on tricyclin and I became severely depressed. It took me months to figure out what was causing it! Now I've got an IUD and I couldnt be happier!

huge depression issues and weight gain (45lbs over 10 years). Didn't realize my depression was from the bc until I went off it and realized how much happier I was.

I'm on Yaz and went off of it for a couple of months over the summer and I was am emotional mess and I didn't get my period for 2 months straight. I was crying at the drop of a hat. I am back on it now and I feel much more level. No bad side effects. Just good ones.

I'm on Yasmin; have been for the past year. It's regulated my nightmarish cycle very well, as I used to get severely socially anxious right before/during ovulation, AND PMS, and then my period too (so basically I had ONE GOOD WEEK per month!).

That being said, it equalized my moods by bringing me down to a more constant, lower level. I guess that's better than having dramatic hormonal swings, but I'm definitely less cheerful (on would-be "good days"). Not really sure if the BC pills are to blame or not.

Since I got my period when I was 12, I have had horrible cramping (doubling over in pain), 8 day long periods, and obnoxiously heavy tampons and pads worn together would be leaking in an hour. I tried many BC's, a few made me gain weight, etc, but Yasmin is great. The side effects at the beginning for me are always there (breakouts, etc) but my periods are only 2 days long, and cramping is minimal.

hate hate hate the pill. going to ask for a new method next month. i've been on various types of the pill for years, and i can't take it anymore!!!

I have tried tricyclin and its variations for almost 10 years. I switched to YAZ 2 years ago at my doctors recommendation. I like YAZ better because I am only moody two days of the month, and I know exactly when they are...no more craziness. I wish I could try and IUD because I hate the inconvenience of the pill, but my other medication requires me to take hormones...ugh

I got seriously depressed and suicidal on depo provera and then went CRAZY on the birth control pill.
I'm staying away now.

It made me a total b*tch, I gained about 20 lbs and I lost my (usually huge) sex drive. After I stopped taking the pill, it took almost 2 years to get back to normal. Not worth it for me!

I'm on levora (a generic somethingaruther) and it basically makes me a nutcase. It takes MASSIVE amounts of self control to not cry/yell at the drop of a hat.

I was on seasonale for years. I just stopped taking it a few weeks ago. I had been depressed for years, had bad acne and no libido whatsoever. Almost immediately I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I'm no longer depressed and my acne is clearing up substantially. I'm only 24 and like the security of the pill, but I don't think I can take hormones anymore. I've heard so many horror stories about IUTs... any suggestions?

and by IUT I mean IUD, oops

It made me crazy, so I just stopped a couple weeks ago after 12 years of taking the pill. It's quite shocking coming out of this fog...

i was sick and upset all the time... and i gained so much weight and even after i went off birth control altogether my metabolism hasn't been the same ever since. it sux.

Omg, I have been off of my BC for about 3 weeks now and I'm pretty sure that my hubby wants to divorce me. I've been up and down like a yo-yo! He never knows how I'll be feeling one minute to the next, poor guy.

My sex drive really hasn't been affected, my moods are better actually, I am on Yaz. My boobs grew a size, (From a small C to a small D), I have a horrible cycle, but the BC helps. I get moody for a few days, but then I'm better.

i was on seasonale for years & did fine with it, then decided i wanted to try depo again at the beginning of spring. it made me sooo moody. so then i got off bc completely for a few months & my acne cleared up at first, then came back with a vengeance PLUS i had spotting for four solid months, so now i'm on generic yasmin, my acne's going away & the spotting disappeared immediately. also my boobs have grown & feel less bloated.

The first BC I was on - it was in the UK and probably comparable to Ortho - made me NUTS. I cried at everything, spotted, gained 15 lbs. and stayed there. NuvaRing has been fine as far as I can tell. I might be a bit moodier and a bit less into sex but it's much better than the high-hormone ones.

I've been on BC for endometriosis since I was 14. I can only use triphasic bc, where the amount of hormone is different each week. I tried a monophasic pill and the patch, and both turned me into a raging b*tch. It was awful!

Hell yea dude, I'm so irritable at work these days! I can't even stand to hear my co-workers having a normal conversation, all I'm thinking in my head is, shut the eff up! I'm on Loestrin right now, I switched from Nuvaring. I think that my hormones are more affected with the pill.

I'm on Yaz and it's been pretty easy so far... really short period, normal sex drive, and up until this last week, no mood swings. My poor, poor fiance... and poor, poor me.

I am never doing hormonal birth control again. I have tried many types... the patch, pill, the ring...everything! They all leave me with terrible mood swings. Any little comment would make me cry. I was so depressed I wouldn't want to do anything or talk to anyone! The months I spent trying to find a BC that worked for me were some of the lowest times I have been through in my life. I put a major strain on my relationship being so depressed. My sex drive was also lowered dramatically. Being on BC just isn't something that is worth it to me.

Wow, reading your comments, I feel like the lightbulb went on. I had never even correlated the two (!!!!) but since I changed BC (from the pill to the ring) I've been more depressed, more emotional, or plain BATsh*t CRAZY for 4 days a month - and never thought it was due to the different hormone regimen!?!?!?

It's been almost 3 years, and I thought it was just "turning 30" that made me like a sappy insane b*tch:
- The butterly is deaaaaaaad, why did you let the butterfly diiiiiiiiiiie
- honey, butterflies only live for a couple of days, it's not my fault!
- yes it iiiiiiiiiiiiis, you're such an asshooooooooooole

Time for a call to my gynecologist.

i've been on the ring since january and have not dealt with any unusual moodiness. the week before i can tell i get a bit more emotional, but that's pretty standard for me. that and feeling hungry all the time! lol

Improves my mood... but at the same time I don't have much emotion anymore.

wow Hiding55 that's so funny you say that because for me it's the opposite, I went on Yaz and was crying at everything!!

i've stopped using the 'hormonal' versions because they don't sit well with my psyche and my body. i think that there are a lot of alternatives that you can look to these days that it's almost ok to move away from things like that.

I've been on and off tricyclen lo for 2 years now... the first time I took it it made me bloated and crabby for the first month and then I got rid of acne and lost some weight-

When I broke up with my boyfriend I was so depressed that I thought I would live a sexless life for the rest of my life- and ditched the pill.

[Before the pill i had severe anger issues and moodswings, not so much bipolar as you're all probably thinking... it was more of i would only get mad about certain things (usually I had a happy span of a month before i'd get into a funk) but boy once I was mad I would literally feel the need to strangle somebody/scream/cry and throw a tantrum.. my entire body would feel like it was on fire..
anyways I would also get really sad like that too, as well as happy.. I guess you could call it extreme moods.]

BUT moral of my novel is that when i was on the pill my moods leveled out and I find that I am an extremely mellow person and I'm rational and level headed... when I was off the pill I went crazy... so crazy that I got on the pill purely for the sanity and peace that came with it...

I've been dating the same guy for almost 7 months now anyways, so my pill-taking is somewhat more justified than lying to my gyno to get a quick fix for my madness, yes I realize theres something wrong with that but for now it's fine.

btw have you ladies heard that APPARENTLY taking the pill changes the type of men that you are attracted to?/ screws up women's natural "mate-finding" abilities?

hmmm....

Thanks to everyone who wrote in. I am experiencing some serious mood swings while I am having my period. I become so absent minded it is ridiculous! I also become very insecure and depressed. I wonder if it has to do with my birth control...I have tried different, ortho-tricycline lo, ring, and others...they all seem to have the same effects. After talking to a co-worker and seeing these posts...maybe it is time to take a break and see if my mood swings are caused by BC and improve. Anyone have the same issue?

Omg I just recently moved to new jersey to be with my fiance while he finishes school. Then we will move back to my home town in florida together. Well I have been on yaz it made me so depressed and my mom was ready to get me counseling thought i was having major issues. Then I went on Ortho Tri Cyclin lo and it made me have weird side effects like stomach pains and fatique and headaches. Now I am on Loestrin which I started when I moved here going on 6 months ago. i have had one period which i thought was weird and was about to go off it anyway. Well i have been a total basket case up here crying over every little thing you can think of. My fiance was leaving for work and I thought he wasnt leaving for another hour I started crying! He and I both were just ready to break up and I got on here and read all these posts and it made me remember how crazy I was on the yaz and im even worse on the loestrin. Birth Control is definately not for me! THank god I realised it, i about lost the man of my dreams! haha

I am so happy that there are other ppl that feel the same way that I do, but i feel sorry for all of you that are having the mood swings and depression and no sex drive like me. I think it has totally ruined the quality of life. Im 23 years old and have been on bc since i was 16 and although it has taken years for me to be like this it just feels so aweful. Always feeling sad and feeling like I cant enjoy anything. I am going to stop taking bc after my last pill and am so hoping that I will feel better.

I just started the nuvaring...and find myself EXTREMEMLY irritable..like almost uncontrollable...I am also bi-polar and regularly take my meds...does anyone know if this could be a contributing factor in my mood?

I just started a progesterone-only pill (Camila) and I've really been feeling overly depressed and ready to cry...and randomly fighting with my boyfriend about nothing. He's asking me every night if I'm ok and if something's wrong and then I want to cry b/c there is nothing wrong but I can't explain it! I'm fearful the switch from the combo pill to the "mini-pill" isn't for the better.