[CHDchest]

So I subtly asked for hormone tests at the doctor this week. I said, "you know I am tired a lot and I tend to blame everything that goes wrong on my heart condition. My friend said if your hormones are out of whack that can make you tired."

She told me that a hormone test would be useless because I was on the pill and that my levels should be fine. She did however agree to send me for a thyroid test because I was on amiodarone, a heart drug known to stuff up your thyroid.

So I was wondering if taking the combined pill pretty much meant that your estrogen and progesterone levels were basically fine, and therefore taking any herbs/ using creams etc to boost levels was unnecessary? When I was 18 I was initially started on a higher dose pill and within 6 weeks I was sick all the time with headaches and could hardly keep anything down and I was swapped to a lower dose.

Anyone else been told this about the pill? I don't think I have grown much on it.

[AbiDrew85]

Well. THAT is nonsense. In fact being on The Pill should be a good reason to keep them closely monitored to make sure they are both: doing what they're supposed to, and also, NOT causing any severe disruptions of your natural hormones.

Think about it. The Pill is basically super low dose HRT... And anyone on any sort of HRT is on close monitoring of their hormone levels.

[Outofstyle]

My doc said the same time. Basically it was my doc schluffing off my request. And half the time doctors try to prescribe bc as a way to regulate hormones (aka for acne and such).

But I agree with Abi. Doctors aren't always in the right with the things they say.

[SarahSchilling]

My doctor asked me what I was taking, and I replied with PM and SP. He gave me a look and said he was only concerned with "real" medications.

Long story short, he prescribed me some antacid I didn't want, and never got to the root of my problem, which may very well be related to herbal substances.

He is no longer my doctor, and I would suggest you may want to find someone else as well. Most of them, in my experience, are just slaves to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

"What? You want to test your hormone levels? Your insurance doesn't need to pay for that, just keep taking these pills, they'll fix everything."

LOL, so typical. Sorry for the rant, your situation isn't the same as mine exactly. I just hate the way most doctors treat people.

[AnnieBL]

While I agree with all the other replies you have received, I think it possible that the doctor might have intended to mean rightly or wrongly that the readings from the BC hormones might mask any real imbalance, and that if you believed that your hormones were out of balance, the reason was much more likely thyroid problems caused by amiodarone, which has a substantial iodine content and is powerful drug notorious for its very high incidence of side effects, particularly thyroid problems; and also for its very slow build up and subsequent elimination from your body, as well as its interaction with other drugs such as warfarin, which it greatly potentiates. If you are taking it only on a fairly temporary basis, for example to determine whether it will stop an arrhythmia or preparatory to a cardioversion, then it is probably not a good time to test for anything except for problems caused by the drug itself. When I was put on it back in 2000 after a failed cardioversion and preparatory to another and final failed attempt, it reduced my pulse rate to ridiculously low levels (sometimes below 30), and by the time I got off it was just beginning to have some of its scary vision side effects - and there is no way you can get it out of your system in a hurry. At least I didn’t turn blue like a smurf. If you are on it long term, you are probably escaping the side effects, except perhaps thyroid problems. I'm not meaning to scare you because it certainly is supposed to work in some cases where nothing else does, but you need to watch out for its side effects.

[Doll]

You're doctor's a moron. Get a new one. Seriously.

There are so many different types of birth control pills/shots/patches/etc., and each has their own mix of hormones. Some have only estrogen, some have only progesterone, and some are a mix of the two. I'm guessing she didn't test your hormones before putting you on the pill? I honestly believe that any doctor worth their merit should test a person's hormones before putting them on birth control pills. I was NOT tested before being put on birth control pills either time, and while the first time I was fine, the second time they put me on the wrong type of pill for my body and I suffered pretty severe side effects from the imbalance of hormones, including a total loss of libido for a few years and a period that lasted a month and a half.

There are so many hormonal side effects of birth control pills that doctors aren't willing to talk about. It's easier for them to sign a script and have you on your way. But that's not the proper way to go about things, and could very well be the reason you're feeling under the weather. For your doctor to think that birth control pills just "magically" level out your hormones is ludicrous and incredibly ignorant.

Seriously, consider finding a doctor that actually knows their ass from their head. But as far as growing breasts from birth control, some people experience growth, others don't. I never did. If you aren't seeing any changes in your breasts, it's likely that the hormones in the pill aren't strong enough to push your body into a "second puberty" so that it can grow breasts, and you'll need to supplement hormones in other ways to start growing. I tend to think those who experience growth from the pill probably already have naturally higher levels of E and P in their bodies.

Keep in mind the primary purpose of BCP is to prevent unwanted pregnancy and to control irregular periods. They are not manufactured to grow breasts, as plenty of women on the pill probably don't want that side effect anyway, so they aren't going to have strong enough hormones to grow breasts in individuals with naturally low levels. You'll need to look into an herbal program in order to start growing, but I highly recommend you test your hormones first (I didn't, but I also wasn't on BCP and therefore could more easily diagnose my levels based on my symptoms alone).

Best of luck with everything, and I hope your thyroid's ok. I struggled with mine for the longest time before realizing what the problem was. Hope you get everything figured out!

[CHDchest]

Thanks Doll! I have been on the same BCP for 12 years and somehow managed to go up a cup size over that time - it may have been age related, it may have been getting my severely leaking mitral valve repaired, I'm not sure.

I got my thyroid tests back and there's something wrong. My TSH is really low (about 0.05 which I am guessing is practically non existent) and T3 and T4 (I think) are high, but only slightly out of range.

I was on amiodarone which is known to cause thyroid problems, but I always had normal TSH on that drug and have been off it for a year so anything it was going to cause should have happened by now. So my dr doesn't think it was caused by amiodarone and it doesn't make much sense that it would be.

I'm wondering if 5 months of NBE could have caused this? I only do massage and hypnosis (just started some noogling) but have had a cup size increase (although it comes and goes) which seems to be a pretty dramatic change given the methods I am using. Could subtle changes in my hormones have led to this?

But then - it could be another congenital heart disease thing, my experience is the older you get the weirder it gets. So far I have ended up with scoliosis and cirrohsis of the liver (even though I hardly drink) and have found out it's somehow related to the heart (scoliosis caused by surgical trauma, cirrohsis caused by heart failure) so it wouldn't surprise me if my CHD is somehow stuffing up my thyroid. It's just all very weird and hard to stay on top of.

[CHDchest]

Just got told by a friend on my CHD forum that amiodarone can cause thyroid issues well after you stop taking it. Will the side effects of this med ever stop Stupid hospital cardiologists

[AnnieBL]

This probably tells you more than you want to know:
http://www.emedicine.medscape.com/articl...view#a0101