I'm nearly 20 years old, I've been on birth control for just approximately over two years, I've been taking Ortho Tri Cyclen for over a year now, it's a triphasic, low androgen, combination pill, FDA approved to treat acne. For almost the first year of taking it I had pretty bad acne, it finally cleared up. About 7 months ago I accidentally messed it up and didn't take it for about a month and now after being on it for the last 7 months again my skin has been HORRIBLE. Currently dealing with hormonal breakouts and bad cystic acne, it is causing really really bad depression and anxiety, I don't want to leave the house and it is honestly making me hate being alive. I have a prescription for sulfatrim which is supposed to be the be all end all cure next to accutane and it hasn't done anything, meaning that basically it is definitely hormonal caused by my BCP. Also have a prescription for two acne creams. Just legitimately wondering why the BCP is causing me acne when it shouldn't. Alesse also ruined my face and everyone else I know who has taken that one has had perfect skin from it...
@sek1397It sounds like that isn't the best pill for you - some people have to try a few different ones before finding which one works best. It shouldn't be taking that long to take effect! I have personally had great success with Ortho Tri Cyclen (Tri-sprintec), but different types work for different people. I think anywhere from 2-6 months is a decent time frame to see if a pill is working for you, but if you've been taking it for almost a year with no results it might be time for a change. I would ask your doctor to try a new pill. Like the person above suggested, maybe the "Tri" aspect isn't the right fit for you.
I agree that tri-phasics suck for people sensitive to hormonal changes both skin-wise and mood-wise. After my disaster experience with hormonal treatments in general [including Sprintec, the monophasic generic for Ortho tri-cyclen] I see zero point in torturing oneself with adding a greater hormone imbalance and worsening acne with pills. Have you ever considered that you're just not meant to take BC at all? Even my last Derm admitted that some women only ever get worse on contraception. It's not a miracle cure for acne, it can worsen acne. (Same with Spiro, by the way.) If you're truly tortured over the mystery, get a female sex hormone panel done and see if you have estrogen dominance (though I'd be shocked if you didn't, since BC causes it).
I stopped taking Sprintec about 2 weeks ago, and my breakouts have slowly been improving, so I think at this point you should do yourself a favor and stop taking it to see what happens. Honestly, I doubt it'll get anything but better for you. Thing I believe have sped up my healing: I did a colon flush (well...this was kind of an accident - I took magnesium citrate for constipation but it worked a little too well), I've been drinking water like a fiend, and I've been drinking Yogi's detox tea to strengthen my liver. Also, I moved to FL and I've been putting seawater on my face as a toner and getting plenty of sunlight, which definitely helps. If you can't get to the beach, you could try organic sea salt with warm water as a toner once a day, it's very healing and anti-bacterial.
The goal is to get the hormones OUT of you as safely as possible - the best way to do it is having at least 1 BM a day and urinating regularly, since BC messes with your liver and excess estrogen from the pill and the environment can stay in your bowels if you aren't going to the bathroom enough. Start eating a lot of Omega 3s, pop a Vitamin E capsule every day for wound healing, don't touch your face at all, and get cortisone shots in the cysts before they leave scarring (it's not as bad as it sounds, I promise - the shots are a piece of cake and do help a lot).
Cloudy dreamer, I'm wondering if I got the right hormone test done or not. I told my obgyn that I wanted a saliva hormone test done to check my estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels but she ended up doing blood work and told me all my levels are fine....I still don't think she did the right test. Do u know if my levels could be checked properly through the procedure she did?
On 1/12/2017 at 11:59 PM, jspencer said:Cloudy dreamer, I'm wondering if I got the right hormone test done or not. I told my obgyn that I wanted a saliva hormone test done to check my estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels but she ended up doing blood work and told me all my levels are fine....I still don't think she did the right test. Do u know if my levels could be checked properly through the procedure she did?
It doesn't hurt to do both a saliva and blood-based hormone test.
You definitely need to get a copy of those results and see exactly what she tested for. She should have taken a more comprehensive approach and checked your DHEA, thyroid [T3, T4, etc.], LH, etc. Just doing estrogen, progesterone and testosterone isn't enough for a detailed look into your hormonal health.
Also, something interesting I've discovered is that estrogen dominance can impair thyroid function without making a huge imbalance show up on your labs. I believe this has been my problem since age 17. I've consistently had a goiter on and off in my throat, eyebrows/lashes falling out [now more than ever, AFTER taking high estrogen BC...coincidence? nope], cold hands/feet, brittle hair, difficulty losing weight, etc. Yet all my thyroid labs always came back normal, doctors looked at the blood work and wrote me off. So take it from me...you need to investigate on your own and keep digging. I would highly recommend seeing a naturopath that specializes in female hormones as well.