Mood swings and pill?

Avatar for marchand7
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mood swings and pill?
2
Thu, 05-13-2004 - 5:34pm
I have been on Orth-try-cyclen for about 6 years. I have terrible moodiness during the seven off pills. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this? I never thought about this untill my DH and I started fighting and he says he goes through this every month and I have talked to several women who have switch pills because of the same thing.

If I so switch what brand would you recommend? THanks KATIE

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 05-14-2004 - 2:09pm
Anything? Just kidding... Some women get moody during their periods on the pill just like they do when they're not on the pill--and the reason you have a period is technically the same in both cases, you don't have the level of hormones in your body that you usually do, which is why you bleed.

I'd imagine that some women see a difference when they switch to a different pill, but which would be the right pill to switch to is probably impossible to say because we all react a little differently to each pill. A reasonable place to start, though, might be Ortho Cyclen. It's the same hormones as the third week of OTC for the whole month, so you'd have more consistent hormones (more progestin, same estrogen) while you were taking active pills (that tends to help mood swings on active pills). Or another option might be OTC Lo to reduce your estrogen dose but keep the progestin the same. If you try one and it works, you know which it was because you didn't change types of progestins, just the doses. If neither worked, you could try a different pill with a different progestin. It's a trial and error process when you switch pills, many of us have been through it!

I'm not sure if that helps or not but I hope it does! Take care...

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-19-2004
Fri, 05-14-2004 - 5:34pm
Oh man, my late third week and off week moodiness on OTC was just the worst.

At first, before I started the pill, I was pretty moody in general. The first 2 or so months on OTC were a nightmare, I was having crying jags and awful irritability the whole time, but then during the third month it just magically cleared up. But, after about 3 and a half years I started getting moody during the end of the third week and the first few days of my fourth week of the cycle. After 2 years of being a royal pain for about a week a month, nearly back to where i started before I went on OTC, I opted for a switch.

I can't really tell you if a switch will work for you, because I still haven't decided if it's working for me. My boyfriend and I talked about it and decided that if the moodiness was due to my period and pill withdrawal and not the pills themselves, then maybe going on Seasonale would help, switch hormones and have fewer periods and therefore less moodiness.

Well . . . i've only been on the seasonale for 3 weeks. I've been pretty irritable for the last two, but nothing like my transition onto OTC. I have a feeling this is a transition phase, so I'm going to stick with these pills for at least three months and hope my mood swings calm down and actually improve. My friends and boyfriend are being very supportive. ;)

It was strange, though, the first week on seasonale I was downright cheerful, fantastic mood. now i'm a little more stable than I was during the second week, but i'm still finding myself snapping at people for little good reason.