May 2012 Weddings
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Birth Control Woes
So.. I usually take Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo, but decided to take the generic version of it to save money, and it was a HUGE mistake! 
I am feeling dizzy, have back aches, and my boobs hurt so bad! I can't believe that a generic version of the same pill could cause so many problems! No I have to wait two months to get my regular pills back, since I get 3 month packs of pills at a time. I am NOT taking these anymore.. I can't handle it..
Anyone have these problems.. or not on birth control? H and I don't want a baby for awhile, so I'm nervous to not be on birth control for these next two months.. we will be using condoms.. but it is still nerve-racking!
Re: Birth Control Woes
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I'm sorry to hear that! What a pain! Wish I had some advice for you but I dont even take any kind of birth control.. I dont think I can get preggo. If I could, me and the H should have a hundred kids by now LOL
Can you not call your doc and have him do something about that?
Baby Foster Due March 12, 2014 It's a BOY!
Engaged 12-12-10 Married 5-12-12 Baby 3-12-14
Call Me Mrs.Foster Blog
H and I aren't using BC or any protection for that matter. But we don't care either way right now if we have a baby or not. So it doesn't bother us. I will say that because you have been on BC for a while that it will be okay for about a week but make sure to use protection if you don't want any babies.
I think you will be okay just make sure you pay attention and are being safe about it and you should be okay. I do agree that getting off the BC is a good idea since you are having such crazy side effect from it. Very weird that the same medicine did that to you.
If you are unable to change pills and don't want to continue taking the generic pill, I would use one of the period tracker tools. I have "P Tracker Lite" on my iphone, and it keeps track of when I should have my next period. It also tracks when you're most fertile and ovulating. So in addition to using condoms, you could track this and not have sex during that timeframe. Of course, it's not a guarantee but should reduce the chance!
I hope you start feeling better!
Most women ovulate at different times in their cycle, the phone apps only go off the average fertile windows so the chance of them being correct are pretty low. I had a friend who tried to get pregnant using these apps and when she started charting her temps she saw this her app was way off (by about a week!).
OP, when I first went on the pill, it turned me into a crazy person. I had really bad symptoms. My doctor told me wait it out for three months, and they eventually went away. It could just be your body adjusting, even though it's the generic version, the levels of hormones might not be exactly the same and you're just getting used to it. Sorry you're uncomfortable though
I'd be so nervous going w/o my pill...it's too bad that you feel so bad! I've never had any serious adverse reactions to pill switching... however, I did just switch my b/c all together... ditching the pill and switching to a non-hormonal IUD... i can't wait to see how I start to feel and what changes with my body being off the hormones...
Good luck with everything! I know it might seem like a waste of money, but if oyu aren't taking them anyway, i'd go back to your doc and see if you can get your old perscription back and get back on those ASAP.
I took a few different generic forms of ortho tri cyclen lo an never had issues that I noticed. I would talk to your doctor and I'm sure they should be able to switch you back immediately. My doctor used to keep samples around, or they could call and talk to the pharmacist and get you back on the other one ASAP.
I think you will be fine with condoms though :-)
If I remember right birth control is (relatively) not as expensive as many RXs so I would just ask your pharmacy what the cost for buying it is without going through insurance. I know it's annoying but if I remember right a month was $20-$40 depending on what I was taking. I was on a high deductible plan for awhile and learned what the market rate for prescriptions was.
Oh and call around to different places- brands cost different amounts at CVS vs Walgreens, vs Safeway or Walmart.
This! Do you take your pill at night, right before bed? If not, try that. You'd sleep through some of the side effects.
And ditto whoever said that the period trackers can be way off. They base their prediction off of an average 28 day cycle with ovulation on CD14, this is not typical for many, many women. The only way to really determine ovulation with any sort of certainty is by BBT charting and/or OPKs. If you truly don't want an oops, either use condoms and learn how to chart your BBT/use OPKs or keep taking the birth control. OPKs are way cheap on Amazon. Look for the Wondfo brand, they do work and are a lot cheaper than buying them at the drugstore.
I have been using the period tracker on my phone for over 2 years. It automatically figures out your average cycle length after you track it for a few months. Mine is 33 days. and its spot on when I start.. just had to throw in my two sense cuz I've used that app for a while and you change the settings to how long your cycles are or let it figure it out automatically after a few months.
Baby Foster Due March 12, 2014 It's a BOY!
Engaged 12-12-10 Married 5-12-12 Baby 3-12-14
Call Me Mrs.Foster Blog
The trackers definitely are good to figure out when you're getting your period and other info if you have regular cycles, but they can't tell you for sure when you're ovulating. I just wanted to mention that because I wouldn't be comfortable using them in any way as a method of BC because it's not reliable enough for me!
Update: I called the pharmacy and they are letting my refill my pills early. Its a relief, but still stinks that it is SO expensive! Oh the joys of being a female
Thanks for all of your replies!
It's likely even less accurate at predicting ovulation then, since you have a longer than average cycle. It's great at the stuff you're describing, but I would take it's estimate of when you ovulate with a grain of salt without confirming with temps or OPKs.