Does the birth control pill make you sick? Update post 53

[LisaR]

DD (16) is trying the BCP for the third time in her life. She tried it once when she was 12 and once when she was 13 and vomited both times so she refused to continue taking it. Can't blame her. Her periods are out of control and she has two days a month that she can't get out of bed. Something needs to change.

Both times she tried the pill in the past, she was vomiting within 8 hours of taking it. She took it this morning with a Bonine. Not sure if that will help but thought it might work as a mind over matter type thing since I know she is thinking about it.

If she makes it to tomorrow without getting sick, do you think she is good to go? Or is this something that is going to build up and she will be hurling all Christmas day? I'm just sitting here waiting for her to hurl. Ugh!

Update: Post 53

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I never take any meds in the morning, it makes me too sick. Has she tried taking it in the evening?

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

DD (16) is trying the BCP for the third time in her life. She tried it once when she was 12 and once when she was 13 and vomited both times so she refused to continue taking it. Can't blame her. Her periods are out of control and she has two days a month that she can't get out of bed. Something needs to change. Both times she tried the pill in the past, she was vomiting within 8 hours of taking it.

You just described me perfectly, especially the bolded. The only pill that works for me is Ortho-tri-cyclen Lo. No side effects for me whatsoever. Is your daughter on a low-dose BCP?

 

[hereyago]

Her body has to get used to the hormones in the pill. I recall when I first starting taking them or anytime I changed doses, I would get that same reaction at first. Sometimes it can take a month for things to even out.

if it last longer then that maybe a lower dosage would be required. Hope she feels better from both the pill and her periods.

You should read the paper that comes with it so you can see if anymore "symptoms" arise with starting to take them.

 

[HM]

I also take mine at night at bedtime.

See if she's on a low estrogen dose pill, and if not, find out if it's possible for that to work for her situation. I'd think the less hormones the better. (I take the pill mostly to keep my hormones even, to prevent migraines).

I'm sorry your DD has such a bad situation going on. {{hugs}}

 

[LuLuO]

It never made me sick like that but it negatively affected my mood. I went through a lot of different pills before I found one I could tolerate. But if it does make her vomit it likely will not be as effective. I don't know if I'd want to take bonine every day to take the pill. Would something like Minera be an option for her? Not sure if there is an age recommendation on that but it is a hormonal IUD so I don't know if that would cause vomiting also.

What does her doctor say? There may be other options to treat a heavy period. Has s/he suggested any?

 

[LisaR]

I never take any meds in the morning, it makes me too sick. Has she tried taking it in the evening?

The first two times she took it at dinner so she was puking in the middle of the night. Fun! So this morning she ate breakfast and then took it. The hope is that if she has to get sick, it won't be in the middle of the night.

You just described me perfectly, especially the bolded. The only pill that works for me is Ortho-tri-cyclen Lo. No side effects for me whatsoever. Is your daughter on a low-dose BCP?

It is a low dose one. She took the Ortho-tri-cyclen the first time so this one is something else but the doctor said it is very low dose.

I'm hoping the fact that she is older, her body is bigger (normal size but at 12 she was super tiny), and she is actually better hormonally now than she was at 12 when she was even more messed up, will all factor into making this a better experience. Fingers crossed!

 

[LisaR]

It never made me sick like that but it negatively affected my mood. I went through a lot of different pills before I found one I could tolerate. But if it does make her vomit it likely will not be as effective. I don't know if I'd want to take bonine every day to take the pill. Would something like Minera be an option for her? Not sure if there is an age recommendation on that but it is a hormonal IUD so I don't know if that would cause vomiting also.

What does her doctor say? There may be other options to treat a heavy period. Has s/he suggested any?

She could have a baby, an ablation, or a hysterectomy! Of course, none of those things are recommended for a 16 y/o. Unfortunately, there aren't many other options. She was taking mega-doses of Advil and they even tried pain pills. Nothing worked. They say for her age, the pill is the best option.

I don't intend on giving her Bonine on a daily basis. I just figured for the first few days, it might ease her mind a bit and help with any nausea.

 

[clutter]

I took LoOvral for a gazillion years. Non-stop, to suspend my cycle. (Pushed back a hysterectomy by 30 years.) One time, I started getting paranoid on them. Really paranoid. Then I realized that I'd gotten the generic rather than the name brand. Went back to brand, and I was fine. The point is that different pills may be slightly different, but may cause huge differences in the person taking them. (Clearly, the millions of other women taking the generic didn't have my symptoms.) So my first question would be whether the doctor changed to a different bcp than last time. If not, you have a greater chance of the same problems recurring. But you might find that a pill with the same compounding from one pharmaceutical as another might give you different side effects.

Good luck. If she has problems, try another. As a wise woman (my doctor) once said "Why do you think there are so many out there?"

 

[RadioNate]

Ortho-tri-cyclen makes me vomit.

There are tons of pills to try with all sorts of combination and strengths of hormones. I think all of them will make you a little queasy at first but that should subside after a few days.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

Some people just can't handle birth control pills. I am one of them. I tried so many and even the ones they claimed was the mildest made me more miserable than when I was not on them. I never had vomitting spells when I was pregnant like I did on the pill. I am tired of losing half of my month to misery. I am tired of the pain. Getting older has not helped my symptoms. Finally moved to an area that has a reputable specialist. Have an appointment this week. I hope I can get some relief and that he doesn't suggest bc pills. I just can't go through that again. I feel for anyone dealing with this issue when all the doctors want to do is force you to take bc pills and tell you there is nothing else that can be done.

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

I know when I started my birth control, I was very sick, and had a few other small side affects. I refused to take it after that. The next time I went to the doctors, they persuaded me to try it for a month to see if the side affects went away- they eventually did. It may just take her body a while to adjust to it.

 

[BCV513]

Every brand is different. I had to try three different ones before I found one that worked. I got nauseous with all of them for the first week for the first few months. It's just a matter of finding the right combo.

 

[VickiVM]

My 15 year old is also on a low dose bcp and was ill for the first few weeks. Our dr. recommended taking them in the evening with her meal. That helped. Also, after about the 3rd month on them, she was much better and the nausea pretty much disappeared. The package did say that nausea is a common side effect and goes away after a few months.

She is so happy to have shorter, less painful periods now!

 

[roxysmum123]

Poor kid, that's gotta be frustrating. Oral contraception wasn't a good match for me either (I never actually vomited but had consistent nausea) so I switched to the Nuva-Ring. I've been happy using it, and if I am ever sick I'm not puking up my medication. The other benefit is I only have to remember about it 2x a month instead of daily because to be honest if I didn't have my head securely attached to my neck I might forget it some days too.

 

[luvmy3]

There are Progestin only pills (mini-pills). It is different from a low-dose pill since it does not contain Estrogen. It may be easier on her system.

 

[LisaR]

My 15 year old is also on a low dose bcp and was ill for the first few weeks. Our dr. recommended taking them in the evening with her meal. That helped. Also, after about the 3rd month on them, she was much better and the nausea pretty much disappeared. The package did say that nausea is a common side effect and goes away after a few months.

She is so happy to have shorter, less painful periods now!

That's what we are hoping for!

If she just gets nauseous, I will be able to convince her to tough it out and the feelings will subside. I think if she vomits from this, she will refuse to take anymore. I can't really blame her. If someone told me to take something that was guaranteed to make me puke, I'd say No Thank You! It has been 3.5 hours and all is well so far. She is hanging out with friends today so that will help keep her mind occupied.

 

[LuLuO]

She could have a baby, an ablation, or a hysterectomy! Of course, none of those things are recommended for a 16 y/o. Unfortunately, there aren't many other options. She was taking mega-doses of Advil and they even tried pain pills. Nothing worked. They say for her age, the pill is the best option.

I don't intend on giving her Bonine on a daily basis. I just figured for the first few days, it might ease her mind a bit and help with any nausea.

Ugh. I really sympathize with your daughter. I have menorrhagia. I am now on day 14 of my period and wonder if it will ever stop. I am much older than your daughter and I agree that none of those alternatives are options for someone so young.

I've always had heavy periods but nothing too awful until I had my son almost three years ago. Since then it has been horrible. My periods are irregular, I am trapped in the house for at least two days every month because it is so heavy, and I have spotting between periods.

I've had ultrasounds which showed my lining was much too thick. I had a D&C which didn't help. I tried birth control again and that didn't do anything. I was on a clotting drug called Lysteda for a while and that was a wonder drug. You have to be very careful taking it but it was great. I had to ask my doctor for it and she wasn't very familiar with it, but did prescribe it after she did some research. However, after we found out about my heart problem in April, they said I couldn't take it any more. I had an ablation scheduled for May but found out a few weeks beforehand that I had to have open heart surgery. My cardiologist doesn't see the ablation as a necessity at this point - easy for him to say - but said we'd discuss it in March.

 

[LisaR]

There are Progestin only pills (mini-pills). It is different from a low-dose pill since it does not contain Estrogen. It may be easier on her system.

I totally forgot about that. I do remember asking the doctor she was seeing when she was younger about the progesterone only pills and there was some reason why she didn't want her on those at the time. Of course, I don't have a clue what that reason was now. It might have been simply an age thing at the time. I didn't think to ask this doctor about them but will keep that in mind.

 

[marie1203]

They all work different for different people. Yaz made me lose weigh and moody. I change to ortho and it works great. Maybe you will have to try a few more until you find one that works for you dd.