Hi everyone,
I wanted to share my experience with birth control and let you all know of the hidden dangers that aren't on the birth control inserts.
About one year ago I began to take birth control for the first time. I noticed a mild increase in weight within the first month of about 5 pounds, which is what I expected based on everything I had read.
Thankfully, I didn't have any other concerns or risk factors, like smoking, clotting factor problems, or blood clots. So I figured a little extra weight was ok.
In December I went on my honeymoon, and out of the blue, my eye lids got really swollen and puffy red! I looked like Will Smith in the Movie Hitch! I thought something at the hotel caused it, or maybe the champagne we drank the night before.
Whatever it was baffled my husband and I , but resolved within a few days.
About 3 months later, my eyes did it again! Now, I have never had any allergic reactions or conditions that cause me to get hives so I was very puzzled. We began to make notes of my food, environmental factors, perfumes, fragrances and anything I touch or ate to figure it out.
But again, in about 3-4 days my eyes were back to normal.
Now summer was upon us, and it was July, and boom, my eyes swelled up again! This time it was both eyes, were before it was just one at a time, and I couldn't open them at all. I had enough, and made an appointment with the allergist. I went through an arsenal of tests, including patch testing, and only came up with one allergen sensitivity. Rubber varnish lacquer! Obviously, not something I come into contact with and was only exposed to it because of the patch testing.
After a week's dose of Prednisone my eyes were back to normal. Still perplexed, I was beginning to think I may have an unknown food allergy, so I stayed away from Tuna and red wine.
Then in September my eyes began to get a chronic raccoon like appearance, I had purplish red discoloration all over my eye lids. It looked like I put on too much eye shadow, my eye lids were constantly tight and puffy along the lash line, and it looked like I was sleep deprived.
Then in October my lids began to shed and flake. They would get very dry and painful, start to crack and then scab over. It was a painful cycle that happened every week to two weeks. I thought it was my face wash , makeup and shampoo, so I stopped using everything.
Switched to baby products, fragrance free , dye free items. But that still didn't work. I looked up articles online, but couldn't find any insights. I saw dermatologists and they just called it eczema.
Then in November, my hair started getting really dry, flaky and my scalp had all these little bumps of build-up and white flakes. I tried dandruff shampoos, T-Gel shampoo, psoriasis lotions and shampoo, olive oil, but the symptoms kept coming back.
I was convinced this was going to be a life long problem, and my only relief was Aquaphor ointment. But by the grace of God, I finally found my answer! About two weeks ago I did one last Google search, and figured I would try one more time, then make an appointment with my eye doctor.
While reading multiple web pages, I found a link to a scientific journal that had an article about androgen hormones. The article explained that androgens, like testosterone and progestin cause an increase in your body's sebum production!
That explained my strange scalp issues, but what about the eyes? Well, I found another article about eye lid inflammation, and what I had was called Blepharitis.
There are a few different forms, ranging from allergic, chronic, and inflammatory. I had a combination of allergic and inflammatory. The article stressed the importance of specialized eye lid rinses. And also described my symptoms to the T! Turns out I was allergic to something in the birth control!
And the exogenous hormones in the pill reved up my sebaceous glands, and caused my scalp to over excrete sebum.
Wow! This was shocking, I felt upset and foolish that I inadvertently caused this myself. I freely put these chemicals in my body everyday when I took my birth control pill and all the reading and labels in the world on the birth control and pharmacy bottles never told me any of these risks!!
So I wanted to share my experience with you to be aware of the potential dangers of birth control, and the unexplained toll they can take on your body.
Thank God, as soon as I figured this out and stopped taking the birth control, my symptoms have been improving daily. Now my eyes are pretty much back to normal with just a little bit of dryness and flakes left.
