If only I had known then what I know now. I allowed my 16 daughter's doctor to prescribe her oral contraceptives to regulate her menstrual cycle. That, by far, was the worse parental decision I've ever made and I doubt that I will ever forgive myself. After 9 months of taking the birth control pill called Yasmin, my daughter's prescription ran out and all hell broke loose.

Shortly after finishing her last pack I noticed my daughter's hair thinning and it continued to thin with each passing week. This went on for several months. During this time she also developed very bad acne and her pores became enlarged from the excessively oily skin. Her appearance was so upsetting to her I had to pull her out of school during her senior year of high school and home school her. She lost so much hair you could see her scalp. My daughter does have some signs of regrowth but progress is very slow.

There were other physical changes of concern besides the hair loss and severe acne. My daughter developed a moon face and has gained about 10 pounds despite eating a high raw diet and daily exercise. She also lost a lot of muscle. Recently, my daughter shakes a lot when she's upset. Evidently, these are all symptoms of adrenal fatigue and/or hypothyroidism.

Some research on the Internet produced many similar stories from other women who quit Yasmin and became hypothyroid, estrogen dominant, and suffered adrenal fatigue. Evidently, it can take 2 to 4 years to recover from this evil pill. I am hoping that a raw diet will hasten my daughter's recovery. We're at 75% raw right now and can't do any higher than that for now, for fear of causing more hair loss. I allow her to sleep as long as she needs to and wake up on her own. I give her massage therapy twice a week. I also changed her workouts. Instead of cardio, which can further stress the adrenals, she is doing yoga and belly dancing.

Anyone have any suggestions or a similar experience to share? I would appreciate any help you can offer.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2008 08:29AM by roxeli.

My wife had similar problems on the patch. She then switched to the pill and it got worse. We now do the rhythm method. She stopped losing her hair once she got off the pill and stopped eating soy. If you guys are eating soy, you should google its harmful effects. Good luck.

wow roxeli, thanks for sharing that. you're an amazing mom! good for you and all you are doing to help your daughter through this. most people would just keep trusting the doctors, keep treating the symptoms, etc. but you have taken your power and responsibility back and are really going for it! i really admire you.

i would add that you should forgive yourself. you did the best you knew how to do at the time, and now you know better and are doing better. also, there are no accidents... if this health crisis of your daughter's is what brings your family to raw foods and vibrant health and inspires and helps other people in the future, you'll look back on it and see it as a blessing. you'll be so much better able to act positively and proactively if you are not beating yourself up over the past (but you sound awfully positive and proactive now!)

Ditto on maui_butterfly's post.

I never had any problems with oral contraceptives, but I must confess I take half doses. I feel virtually no side effects that way.

I didn't come to raw from a health crisis. But I did come to it from being convinced that there was no better way to minimize risks of diseases and to slow down the rate of aging as much as possible.

I think any kind of oral contraceptive is against all nature was meant to be. I was on the pill (too many years ago to say) and they affected my eyes. I now live my life with permanent blinds spots. I see well with two eyes. But when I close one, half of what I see out of the other is black. It affected both my eyes that way.
Anyway, if you listen to these drugs on the television and hear the side effects of them, they are really scary. I would rather have the original problem than the side effects.

I will light a candle for your daughter and you!
Love and Light.

I'm so sorry that you and your daughter had to go through that. I hope her recovery is quick. I'm sending lots of love to both of you.

Has she seen an endocrinologist to find out why her cycles were irregular in the first place? Doctors put me on birth control to regulate my cycles, but I could never stay on it (it made me mentally unstable). I suffered with menstrual problems my entire adult life until just a few short years ago when someone finally listened to me and sent me to an endocrinologist. You don't have to take the medications they recommend, but if they can give you a diagnosis you can then see what natural ways you can find to help her.

Again, I'm sending lots of love to you both.

Wendi Dee
XOXO

Thanks for all the well wishes and kind words. I appreciate the support.

My daughter did see an endo before the pill just to rule out PCOS but all her tests were well within normal. The endo also was the one who gave the doctor the recommendation for birth control to "jump start" my daugher's ovaries. I just hope my daughter recovers all her hair and that her skin clears up again.

ALl the best to you and your dauughter. Try and forgive yourself as you were only doing the best you knew at the time.

oh my gosh, this is very hard to read. i am so sorry and i wish that i had more than that to offer you. keep on the healthy path, it's the sure road to recovery. remember that it may take time to heal, it only takes a moment to break a bone for a very long time to get back to where you were before that moment. be patient and good to yourselves (both you and her) throughout. best of luck.

i have some thoughts about where you are coming from with the mama guilt and i want to say that i think these experiences, while very difficult, are just what is meant to happen. it's hard to accept that, there are many thoughts of "what if" and "if only" but those don't get you anywhere but down. you can't take responsiblity for what has happened, blame and guilt are useless here, and trying to see the sense in it all can drive you crazy. But... what if this has happened to prevent something worse from happening in the future? you just never know, you can't second guess these things... your daughter will never touch hormone drugs again, maybe if she hadn't had this experience she could have had a much worse one later on with some other hormone drug, it could have made a pregnancy impossible or tragic, it could have really hurt her in a way she would not recover from. you can't know what might have happened, you can only be grateful that it didn't. she won't allow hormone treatment for her children, her family and friends and their friends and their friends will be affected by her story. and she will recover. it's valuable life experience gained, at a very high price but maybe that makes it even more valuable.

i send you much healing energy. take care.

check out stopthethyroidmadness.com

there is also a yahoo group to join which is very helpful.

Very best wishes coming your way!

Quote

Posted by: cocoa_nibs (IP Logged)
Date: April 07, 2008 11:47PM

check out stopthethyroidmadness.com

After looking at that web site it makes you wonder if your better off or worse off with the madness "help".