The pill almost killed me.
Find a Conversation
The pill almost killed me.
| 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.

Pages
I wrote a few weeks ago about it. I have "sub-massive" clots in my lungs. When I asked the doc how many clots I had, I had I expected an answer of "a few" (I knew I had more than one since they said I had pulmonary emboli instead of embolus) but I didnt expect to hear "sub-massive". I asked what exactly sub-massive meant and he said it meant that HALF my lungs were covered with clots. I just turned 29 and I don't smoke. I was only on the patch for 5 weeks. I had noticed a few weeks prior that my heart would start racing for no reason and I'd feel lightheaded. I wrote it off as stress. It wasn't until I had an agonizing contracting pain in my back (back of my ribcage) that I went to the ER. They gave me morphine and sent me home thinking it was a kidney stone. They had done a CAT scan on my kidneys but not my chest (and saw no stone but still thought it was there). Then a few hours later they called me and said to come back to the ER because they had "re-read" my CAT scan and the scan of my kidneys had caught part of my lungs in it. They said I had "processes" all over my lungs. Turns out they were all blood clots.
I too am on coumadin and I've been having twice a week blood tests. This week it goes down to once a week (I've been out of the hospital only 2 weeks).
One thing my gyno said when I called him about this... he said that if/when I'm ever pregnant that I'll need to be on blood thinners the whole time.... keep that in mind Karync85. I'm sure it applies to you also.
I'm feeling better every day and don't need heavy duty pain killers anymore. I'm going back to work tomorrow after being out 3 weeks. I hope you are doing well too!
CheckeredButt
Edited 6/6/2004 9:39 pm ET ET by checkeredbutt
I wanted to second the motion to talk to your doctor about genetic testing for Factor V Leiden, prothrombin 20210 and MTHFR. These are the three most common genetic abnormalities that make people more likely to clot, and getting tested yourself is the best way to determine if your siblings and parents could also be at risk for clotting. A good friend of mine was tested after her sister clotted while on the pill, and it turns out she has all three mutations. Luckily, they discovered this before trying to put her on the pill, and when she got pregnant she was on lovenox the entire time (not really as much of a pain as you'd think, and totally worth it) and she's never had a clot. I feel pretty strongly that knowledge is the best preventative measure.
Good to know that your genetic tests did not point to one of those variants - although in a way it'd be nice to have a definitive answer as to why it happened to you.
Thanks for posting a very important experience. Your experience has reminded me to take a more serious look at my own birth control pill. I have been on Diane-35 for several years now and recently found out that it is a very bad pill in terms of clotting problems and women have died from taking it. I originially started taking it for acne problems and now I use it as a BC method as well but because of the clotting problems associated with this pill, I have been contemplating a switch to something else and this post has reminded me to do so. My question is, does anyone know of a pill that's not as risky as Diane-35 in terms of clotting but is also effective in combatting bad skin? Also, has anyone had problems with Diane-35? Thanks.
I am very glad to know you are doing ok and that the clots were caught in time.
Pages