Suffering from mood swings, headache, dizzy and nausea. Taking levest. Side effects of pill?
Patient: Hi, I have been on The pill (levest) for about a month now and have noticed a lot of changes and I m not sure if it s because of the pill. I keep having extreme mood swings and snapping at my family, I have a few headaches and the other day it was one of the non pill days I felt really dizzy and nauseous and weak. My energy is really low all the time to the point where I can just lay in bed for hours or even on my floor cause I just can t be bothers with anything. And in the past 2 weeks I have felt extremely depressed to the point where I randomly cry at things and get really upset and unhappy with my life even though i don t have any huge problems? I also get really paranoid and look too much into what people are saying to me. Also have been bleeding the whole time. Is this due to the pill and should I switch /come off it? Thanks! Doctor: Hi.Thanks for asking in Healthcare Magic.Do not worry. The problems you are having are due to the influence of hormones present in Levest. The progesterone, Levonorgestrel in Levest is responsible for headache, mood swings, nausea, dizziness, depression and fatigue. Levest also results in bleeding/ spotting between periods. It may take a minimum period of three months for your body to get adjusted to the effects of such hormonal pills. If these side effects continue and interfere with your daily activities then you can switch for another OCP combination with lesser amount of progesterone. Triphasic pills contain same amount of estrogen in all 21 tablets but varying strength of progesterone for every 7 pills in the pack.  Progesterone is started at a minimum dose and increased every 7 days. Triphasic pills are claimed to mimic the hormonal pattern that occurs during a normal menstrual cycle. Since progesterone is causing the side effects you can consult your treating Dr and opt for a triphasic pill and that may solve your problems.I hope this is useful to you.