Can Loestrin Birth Control Be Causing Side Effects – hair loss, fatigue, dizziness?

Like many 20 somethings I went on birth control pills and never looked back. My gynecologist made me believe that it was going to be the end all, be all to any hormone issues that I was having. I suffered from really bad cramps, a very irregular period (it would skip months at a time due to my fitness routine and low body fat %) and hormonal break outs that just made life miserable sometimes. I also always felt really bloated and irritable during my PMS so I spoke to my doctor and she said to go on birth control pills. I thought like many girls, what could be the harm in that?

It took about a year to even find a birth control that worked for me. I was prescribed Yaz (read some of the lawsuits happening with women who also took Yazmin here), Ortho Tri-Cyclen and then Loestrin. The worst part was having to test each out for at least a few months to know if it would work for me. That was terrible to have to stick to a prescription that makes you feel worse, gain weight, lose weight, feel more bloated, less confident, etc. It was like a roller coaster ride I wish I never stepped foot on. The doctors will tell you that birth control can help with acne (every teenager then goes on birth control, for the wrong reasons). I wish in retrospect I didn’t put any hormones in my body when I was still going through my growing phase as a young adult. It doesn’t seem right to me to put fake hormones in your body while your hormones are all over the place.

None the less, I set out to find the right birth control for me. After a year of wasted money and time, doctor visits and endless prescriptions we settled on Loestrin. It sounded good, I mean the name itself sounds like “low estrogen” and that to me sounded great; lower amounts of the fake chemicals just enough to balance everything out. Loestrin worked with my body better than the others I tried. Yaz made me retain water and feel fat all the time, Ortho Tri-Cyclen made me feel sick and very dizzy all the time..but Loestrin seemed to just do its job with no side effects, at least none that I could tell at the time.

After a few months on it my skin was good, still had the occasional hormonal break out right before or after my period but I could handle that. I didn’t feel bloated or gain weight – all good things. Fast forward to a few years of being on the same birth control and then things seemed to change.

I noticed that my period disappeared, literally for months at a time. Now for someone who is in a serious relationship this is cause for concern. I had to always wonder if things weren’t working, am I pregnant, where did my period go? Isn’t it weird for your body to NOT have a period? That bothered me, even though us women hate getting a visit every month, I wanted to at least know that “hey is everything still working in there?” – especially as you get into your 30s and you start to think about family planning. Is what I am putting into my body, that is causing my monthly menstrual cycle to go MIA, good for me? What happens when I want to have children? It was even increasingly uncomfortable to go to doctor appointments and have them ask “when was the date of your last period?” and have to sit and really think hard and say a few months ago….then reply with “no I’m just on Loestrin” Ohhhh, they would say.

 There is no denying that messing with your hormones is going to have consequences but most of them you won’t notice until years later. I had been on Loestrin for around 5 years, maybe 6. Loestrin has one of the highest doses of androgen. The four inactive pills you take at the end of the month contain iron, which is why I think in the beginning I never felt very weak or dizzy. After a few years on the pill I would get severely weak, dizzy the week before my “phantom period”, so weak I would sometimes have to sit down in a store and quickly eat a protein bar or some kind of food with sugar. It was almost like I was having a low blood sugar attack. I would feel really sick and dehydrated and have to lay down. That was one side effect I didn’t like, because I never knew where I would be when one of those episodes would happen. I had an incident while traveling to Texas where I literally blacked out and collapsed at football game, had to be taken out by paramedics and I knew it had to do with my iron levels. That feeling of weakness comes every single month, no matter how much or what I eat.

I started to notice that my hair was shedding – a lot! More than I ever remember it shedding, literally hair was all over the floor in my house, filled up my brushes, my drain in my sink and shower. Every time I rain my hands through my hair it would break and shed. There was never a time that I would wash my hair that at least 30 strands of hair wouldn’t come out. At first I didn’t pay it any attention; the average female sheds around 100 hairs a day, but this was seeming a bit excessive. It took a few years for me to really notice that my once really thick ponytail of hair was feeling thinner and thinner. I think the hair loss I experience from birth control was the most devastating. I was scared to go off of birth control, it was keeping me from getting water retention, I had no real cramps and my skin was clear. If I went off of Loestrin would things go south?

I have to say that the choice is still tough. I went off of birth control for a while last year, I waited to see what would happen. I was hoping things would drastically change one way or the other but they didn’t. In fear that I would break out every month, I guess that might make me too self conscious, or vain to some, but if you battle with acne as a teen you know the feelings you felt when you hated your skin, I didn’t want to deal with that again. I went back on Loestrin and want to go back off of it again. My hair still sheds like crazy, but the only thing I can do is try to supplement excessive hair loss with vitamins and supplements, a good diet and drinking lots of water, and trying to maintain my stress levels. No one can tell me that birth control didn’t have anything to do with the thinning of my hair. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not bald, if you see photos of me I have lots of hair, however if you saw me 10 years ago my hair was so thick it annoyed me. I can tell more now when I put my hair up in a ponytail that is just so much less hair than I used to have. Messing with my hormones by taking this drug is what I know did it.

Today I try to do everything I can to keep my hair as healthy as I can. I take Viviscal which I think has kept my hair healthier, I take fish oil and silica for cell health, I take a multivitamin and resveratrol. I eat a diet high in protein. I drink a ton of water daily and I use all natural products on my hair. I try to blow dry only when needed and use heating tools only when I have to as well. It sucks to think that I have to always worry about my hair but it’s a side effect they never tell you when you go on birth control. Its not an “upfront” thing you will be told, they will make it sound glamorous and easy and just part of life. If you don’t HAVE to take birth control, don’t. I really didn’t HAVE to, but they sold me on the “no bloating, no cramps, great skin” pitch they give you.

My goal is to go back off of Loestrin and just let the chips fall where they may. I have heard many women say they lost more hair and broke out like crazy after going back off of it, but honestly I’d rather have that happen naturally than because of chemicals in my body. I want to be able to get a normal period again, even though some would think it’s great for you to miss your period for four months at a time, I can’t imagine that is good for you. I’m tired of the dizziness, the clumps of hair in my sink, the “phantom” periods, etc. I’d love to hear how other ladies have dealt with birth control side effects, what BC did you take and have you gotten off of them?

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