Icky Pa-tooie!
On Monday evening I took my first dose of birth control pills in over a year. I had been excited that Dr Williams prescribed one of the pills that I'd had good luck with in the past, as I've been on so many different birth control pills over the course of 12 years and had side effects with nearly every one. Tuesday morning I woke up, feeling just okay and kinda gloomy. I started freaking out about many things over the course of the week, getting really bad on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday night I had a bit of a melt-down. I don't even know what triggered it. I was exhausted and headed to bed but was unable to fall asleep because I felt like the room was closing in on me. Eventually, Chad came to bed and I started a full on panic attack. My legs began shaking uncontrollably, I felt clammy and nauseous. I also felt like there were hundreds of pounds of bricks on my chest. Chad tried his hardest to calm me down, even trying to talk me into my "happy place" (aka: Disney World). Unfortunately, I think that backfired because I knew the only way to go there was by plane. I think I started to hyperventilate. I was an absolute wreck.
At this point I just laid there, sobbing, and pouring my heart out to Chad. At some point I must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing that I remembered was waking up at 4am because I had to poop. (Sorry for the TMI!) I did my thing and crawled back into bed, where I started freaking out yet again. My alarm went off a half an hour later and I jumped into the tub, still somewhat anxious.
Getting ready for work was painful. At one point I just sat on our bed, rocking back and forth crying. Finally I got back up, pulled my hair up, and left for work. I was still pretty strung out, though.
I had to stop at the gas station to fill my car up with gas before hitting the road. There were two other cars there pumping gas. As I was pumping my gas, a Dodge Ram pulls up behind me and puts his window down. I immediately started freaking out. I didn't even completely fill up my gas tank, I just didn't want to deal with it. I got my receipt and headed to work. I was still hysterical, though, so I called my parents. I started wondering if part of this anxiety was associated with being homesick. After I got off the phone with my parents, I called Chad. He made a really good point - I started "freaking out" after I started taking the birth control pills. I decided that I needed to follow up with the doctor's office. I cried the rest of the drive to work, and probably until around 7:30. Things got better after my coworker, Tracey, arrived and I wasn't alone.
I did send a message to Dr. Williams office, and decided to send one to Dr Vanderzyl as well. Things just weren't right. I received a message from Dr Williams office that they were going to speak with him after he returned to the office, then I received a phone call from Dr. Vanderzyl's office. I explained in detail everything that I was feeling, and was told that she'd call me back after she spoke with him. It wasn't long before I got a call from Dr Williams - he said it could definitely be associated with the birth control pills, so they called me in a different kind. Being nosy, I did some research on it and found that the most common side effect was nausea. Bad news. Around 5pm, Dr Vanderzyl called, and told me he wanted me to relax this weekend and if I was still having these episodes come Monday, he wanted to see me. I relayed to him what Dr Williams said, and expressed my concern regarding the nausea. God love Dr. Vanderzyl - he told me if I had any of the nausea to call him and he'd call me in a prescription for an anti-nausea medication. Whew!
When I spoke with Chad on his way home, everything started making sense. See, I never had panic attacks until December 2009 - I started taking that birth control pill in November 2009. I did well until the day we left for Florida for our wedding, and I had another panic attack. The next one came the day before our wedding, the next two were within a week of our wedding. I didn't have another one until we moved to Texas. And then, after my surgery (and after switching to a different birth control pill), they stopped. Once that pill was no longer in my system, I was fine. I started taking that pill again - BAM! Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.
I feel much better today and haven't had any anxiety related issues. I've also not had any side effects with the new pills yet. Thank God for small miracles! It's still early, but I don't feel as "heavy" as I did while taking those silly pills.
I'm so thankful that my husband (once again) realized what the problem could be, otherwise I can only imagine how horrible I'd feel today.
On Wednesday night I had a bit of a melt-down. I don't even know what triggered it. I was exhausted and headed to bed but was unable to fall asleep because I felt like the room was closing in on me. Eventually, Chad came to bed and I started a full on panic attack. My legs began shaking uncontrollably, I felt clammy and nauseous. I also felt like there were hundreds of pounds of bricks on my chest. Chad tried his hardest to calm me down, even trying to talk me into my "happy place" (aka: Disney World). Unfortunately, I think that backfired because I knew the only way to go there was by plane. I think I started to hyperventilate. I was an absolute wreck.
At this point I just laid there, sobbing, and pouring my heart out to Chad. At some point I must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing that I remembered was waking up at 4am because I had to poop. (Sorry for the TMI!) I did my thing and crawled back into bed, where I started freaking out yet again. My alarm went off a half an hour later and I jumped into the tub, still somewhat anxious.
Getting ready for work was painful. At one point I just sat on our bed, rocking back and forth crying. Finally I got back up, pulled my hair up, and left for work. I was still pretty strung out, though.
I had to stop at the gas station to fill my car up with gas before hitting the road. There were two other cars there pumping gas. As I was pumping my gas, a Dodge Ram pulls up behind me and puts his window down. I immediately started freaking out. I didn't even completely fill up my gas tank, I just didn't want to deal with it. I got my receipt and headed to work. I was still hysterical, though, so I called my parents. I started wondering if part of this anxiety was associated with being homesick. After I got off the phone with my parents, I called Chad. He made a really good point - I started "freaking out" after I started taking the birth control pills. I decided that I needed to follow up with the doctor's office. I cried the rest of the drive to work, and probably until around 7:30. Things got better after my coworker, Tracey, arrived and I wasn't alone.
I did send a message to Dr. Williams office, and decided to send one to Dr Vanderzyl as well. Things just weren't right. I received a message from Dr Williams office that they were going to speak with him after he returned to the office, then I received a phone call from Dr. Vanderzyl's office. I explained in detail everything that I was feeling, and was told that she'd call me back after she spoke with him. It wasn't long before I got a call from Dr Williams - he said it could definitely be associated with the birth control pills, so they called me in a different kind. Being nosy, I did some research on it and found that the most common side effect was nausea. Bad news. Around 5pm, Dr Vanderzyl called, and told me he wanted me to relax this weekend and if I was still having these episodes come Monday, he wanted to see me. I relayed to him what Dr Williams said, and expressed my concern regarding the nausea. God love Dr. Vanderzyl - he told me if I had any of the nausea to call him and he'd call me in a prescription for an anti-nausea medication. Whew!
When I spoke with Chad on his way home, everything started making sense. See, I never had panic attacks until December 2009 - I started taking that birth control pill in November 2009. I did well until the day we left for Florida for our wedding, and I had another panic attack. The next one came the day before our wedding, the next two were within a week of our wedding. I didn't have another one until we moved to Texas. And then, after my surgery (and after switching to a different birth control pill), they stopped. Once that pill was no longer in my system, I was fine. I started taking that pill again - BAM! Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.
I feel much better today and haven't had any anxiety related issues. I've also not had any side effects with the new pills yet. Thank God for small miracles! It's still early, but I don't feel as "heavy" as I did while taking those silly pills.
I'm so thankful that my husband (once again) realized what the problem could be, otherwise I can only imagine how horrible I'd feel today.
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