The pill almost killed me.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2004
The pill almost killed me.
19
Sat, 06-05-2004 - 8:24pm
I took Loestrin Fe 1.5/30 (AKA Microgestin Fe 1.5/30) for TWO WEEKS and it could've killed me! I have a blood clot in each lung and can never use birth control pills again. I have to be on Coumadin (blood thinner) for a year at least, and maybe for the rest of my life. I have to go to the lab twice a week to have blood drawn to make sure I'm on the right level of medication. I've never had anything like this before, so I shouldn't have been at risk. I'm a healthy, non-smoking 19 year old, and ended up in the hospital because of something that's supposed to help you. I want to sue the company (Watson) but I can't because it's in the label that it can happen. Well, I'm one out of the millions of BC users, and it just "happened" to me. So be careful, girls.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
Sat, 06-05-2004 - 9:01pm
How did you know that something was not right? What made you go to the Dr?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-13-2004
Sat, 06-05-2004 - 9:27pm
Wow that is scary! I wish you a continuing recovery.

Can you tell me how you noticed when this happened? What were some of the symptoms you had? Thanks for the information to remind us that this DOES happen to people.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2004
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 3:12am
Well to Jenn, good for you that you're unimpressed. The message isn't meant to rub people the wrong way. It's a warning. Get over yourself.

To everyone else, my symptoms were: trouble breathing/shortness of breath, tightness/heaviness of chest, very fast heart rate (110-120) in doing normal activities, like walking across the room, severe and sudden dizzy spells, headaches.

So I went to the doctor. The doctor said "Well, we'll do a D-Dimer, but it just sounds like stress..." Anyway, the D-Dimer which is basically a blood protein test, checks for high clotting factor concentrates in the blood. They called me back later, saying "You need to come in, right now" So I went back to the doctor. They gave me an injection of Lovenox (Enoxiparin) in my stomach and sent me straight to the hospital for an emergency CT (cat) scan. Well, sure enough, a blood clot. Two, in fact. One in each lung. So I was admitted to the hospital that night. The next few days, my heart rate and breathing got even worse. I couldn't breathe without oxygen, though my blood/oxygen saturation was fine. I could get up and walk around without my pulse shooting up to 145, and me feeling so light-headed I could barely stand up. I had to be on a heart monitor the entire time I was there. The whole thing was just a bad experience. So if you have any of the above mentioned symptoms, and you're on the pill, PLEASE call your doctor because it can be fatal.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2004
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 3:16am
OOps, I mean I COULDN'T get up and walk around the room without my pulse shooting up....etc....
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-15-2003
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 3:56am
Thanks so much for sharing your story. Hopefully it will help other women to be on the look out for the warning signs and to know that, while the risks are usually low, they should be taken seriously. Thank goodness that you were smart enough to see your doctor. It's scary to think that it was almost passed off as being caused by stress. I think the other poster was pretty harsh in putting all the blame on you, saying you were the one that chose to take the pill despite the risks. I don't know what your situation was like, but when I was a teen, my college health center was practically handing out birth control pills without explaining the risks or warning signs. They were so focused on preventing teen pregnancy that they didn't seem to take seriously the risks of potentially fatal complications. When I voiced my concern after carefully reading all of the patient information, they pretty much poo-pooed my worries and said that only older women who smoke need to worry. I have found that most doctors I've been to, NEVER tell me about the really scary, albeit rare, adverse events that COULD happen with medications simply because they usually are so rare and they don't want to scare their patients away from taking the medicine. I'm one of those people that is very paranoid about such complications, so I always read everything that comes with medications. As a result, I often decide that the risk it not worth, which can be frustrating like when I have to suffer through a migraine because the migraine medicine I could be taking caused cardiac failure in a some patients. With the birth control pill, I took consolation in the knowledge that I would be at higher risk of death from being pregnant than from being on the pill. I'm really sorry about your experience, but thanks so much for sharing. Be sure to come back when you're ready to look for a new method a birth control! Take care.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 8:57am
Hi karync85, welcome!

Oh hon. I'm so sorry! I hope you are well along in your recovery. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Your story points up the fact that serious health problems (even though very rare) can occur while on hormones. As another member mentioned the risks associated with being pg are much greater than the risks from problems caused by hormonal contraceptives, none-the-less they do happen and can be life threatening. There are other effective methods of contraception besides hormones so when you are ready to look for another method please come back and see us. Let us know how you're doing, ok? Wishing you a complete and speedy recovery!

Good luck and hugs

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-29-2003
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 10:54am
What an ordeal! Though the risks are there, the chance of it happening to a woman your age and that doesnt smoke is low. I definitely can see why it would take you by surprise. I wish you a complete recovery.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-29-2003
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 10:55am
OH, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

(reffering to Jenns response only)


Edited 6/6/2004 10:59 am ET ET by ilv2cook

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-05-2004
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 4:48pm
Hi,

I just read your story and it scared me because I just recently read about a young girl dying while on the pill. She too had blood clots that traveled to her lungs. If you are interested in the story, please copy and paste the following website to your browser, if you can't click on it. Best of luck in your recovery.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ForeignBureaus/archive/200311/FOR20031112a.html

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 06-06-2004 - 5:51pm

Hi Karyn,


I'm so sorry to hear that this happened to you - but very glad that you sought treatment and are doing well now (despite the coumadin, which I know is a pain).

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