Expert: Diane Cheryl - 10/21/2010

Question
Hi

I am 30 years old and have been on a few different pills in the past and have had absolutely no problems with it. I have always started to take it the sunday after my period. The last time I was on the pill was in the year 2004 or so. The pill i was on was Loestrin24fe.   About 4 weeks ago i went on the loestrin pill again. But i did not wait to the sunday after my period. I took it the sunday before my period. I started to have breakthrough bleeding and also started to notice strange feelings in both my legs. The best way i can describe it is when you've been sitting on your foot and lose all feeling and then when you get off your foot, you feel the blood rushing back in. That is what i felt in my legs.  I felt as if blood is rushing into them. I also felt them tingly from time to time and had sporadic twitching and pain on certain points in my legs. I took the pill for one week and 4 days and then just stopped taking them. As the days went by, my legs started to feel better and better.  Its been about 3 weeks that i stopped taking the pill and today out of nowhere, I started to feel all these symptoms again. Could the pill have caused this? is this a circulation issue? could it be a clot? I dont have any pain thats gotten worse and my legs have never swelled. But I am concerned that i have these strange feeling in my legs.  I am also thinking of waiting until i get my period again to start a different pill, orthotricyclen. SHould i still go on any pill? Should i get this checked out?

Any information that you can give me will help.
Thank you

Answer
Gale,

I would recommend talking to your doctor about all this before deciding for yourself. I don't know what could be causing this condition but it's possible that the hormones in the birth control pill could be a cause. But why would it happen 3 weeks after stopping the pill?

I don't recommend the birth control pill or any kind of hormonal birth control. I think there are too many risks and side effects. I only recommend non-hormonal methods, such as condoms, Natural Family Planning and of course, abstinence.


Please email me at CHERYL51@aol.com and we can discuss all the options and information. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Diane Cheryl