I have a history of depression; i've been
on 3 different antidepressants in the past
and i'm sort of wondering if i'm having a
relapse from going on the pill earlier
this month.
I thought that my new boyfriend completely
cured my depression because he's been
making me so happy. Not only is he the
first person who's returned the strong
one-sided loves that i've experienced for
years, but he also talked me out of
suicide, edited my 350 page novel, talks
to me just about every day (sometimes for
hours on end), and even broke up with the
girlfriend he was living with in order to
be with me. The problem is, he lives in
scotland. So I bought a plane ticket to
scotland, and that's where the birth
control pills come in.
I only have one week to be with him, so I
wanted to be absolutely sure that I
wouldn't get my period that week. My
periods have always been irregular, heavy,
and heavy, so my gynecologist told me to
go on birth control to regulate that
problem (and so that when I make hot crazy
love to my boyfriend I don't get
pregnant).
But ever since starting the pill, i've had
nausea, headaches and fatigue just about
constantly and it's interfereing with my
school work. It's exam week so i'm
almost in the clear, but i'm having so
much trouble coping with the stress of
exams. I keep bursting out in tears
randomly and feeling really down, and it's
weird because I was so happy a few weeks
ago.
I can't figure out what to do. I don't
even know if it's the pill or if it's just
exams! But the packet said to watch out
for signs of depression...
I need all the advice I can get here.
Even my boyfriend doesn't know what to do,
he's been trying to give me advice on my
shitty sleep schedule, but even that isn't
fixing the problem. Any suggestions on
what to do are greatly appreciated.
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Carifairy
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Nov 2005 Posts: 2610 Location: Charlotte n.c.
Thanks: 12
Thanked:0
Posted: 12-12-06 15:53pm
Hormonal birth control can cause
depression to worsen, which is why I
cannot use it.
I take 100mg of zoloft every day, but if I
went on the pill I would have to double
it.
An iud is a hormone free birth control
device, you should consider talking to
your doctor about hormone free birth
control.
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mglan
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Dec 2006 Posts: 20
Posted: 12-13-06 09:16am
Talk to you doctor/gynecologist about your
side effects. Maybe you should switch to
another brand of pills. Depression and
other mood changes may occur with pills.
Women with a history of depression should
be carefully observed and the drug should
be discontinued if depression recurs.
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cln1812
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 524 Location: La Porte, TX
Posted: 12-13-06 16:05pm
Hormonal birth control can exacerbate
depression, especially in women with a
history of depression. I have a history
of eating disorders & depression (took
antidepressants for several years) and
cannot take birth control pills because
they bring back the depression. It's a
different sort of depression than what I
had while I was being treated for
depression--namely, that the pill-induced
depression involved severe mood swings,
bursting out in tears randomly at small
things (like spilling a soda or burning
dinner). I realized I had a problem
when I was crying daily again and nothing
seemed really wrong in my life. I'd
wake up feeling this close to tears. I
had to stop the pill and am doing
fertility awareness method with condoms
during my fertile time and am much
happier. I have had no panic attacks
since stopping and haven't needed to take
xanax for months (on the pill I was taking
it almost daily).
