Todays blog is about choosing your body and what you put in it safely! To include choosing your medicine safely and ensuring that you have your upmost well being at hand.
This is featured off of my personal experience of encountering being placed on a medicine I had no knowledge of. Had not looked into and trusted my doctor prescribing it for me. I was just excited to be clear of acne and to feel beautiful in my own skin, not knowing the giant risks.
Not to mention giant risks it also speaks on pregnancy and the medicine I was taking! so, keep reading.
In the year 2020 everybody knows that it was a huge mix of stress and new unimaginable things it seemed like around every corner. Whether it be the pandemic, losses, school, flying insects or what have it. It felt like an insane year for the books, heck toilet paper Christmas ornaments came out of it.
Now, the beginning of the year 2020 I made the big decision for myself to remove birth control out of my system after being on to for over 10 plus years. December 2019 was my stopping point, I said enough was enough.
I received much backlash from family and friends to stay on it as they wanted me to not conceive and to protect myself. Now, me being the person navigating my own body I knew that the best option for myself mentally and physically was to not be on birth control. Some people have a hard time understanding that others can feel what certain medicines do to them that are not healthy.
When I removed myself from this medicine I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulder. Why did I feel like a weight was lifted? This medicine caused me many stresses daily;
- It made me feel groggy and always exhausted no matter how much sleep I got
- I was emotionally imbalanced (I felt angry and upset non stop for literally no reason, could be a radio person talking about something small or even spilt milk)
- I had what felt like death periods off and on, one month would be short and amazing and the next? I thought I was dying.
- I just didn’t quite feel like myself, the full potential that I wanted to live by.
You see I could keep listing things because while on this medicine I was miserable. One downfall though of getting off (or so it may seem as it was close together), I started getting bad acne. I had acne on my face, chest and back. Now this isn’t like me as growing up I had pretty clear skin besides the occasional zit in high school.
The topic of birth control and skin care will make more sense with reading further down the blog! I promise.
Dermatologists
So of course, with acne making me feel insecure I wanted to pursue going to a dermatologist to get my skin to wear I felt good within it. This began my journey into finding the person I felt right for me. I talked to other people that were familiar with this to help me know where to even start honestly!
First Encounter
The first encounter I had with a dermatologist was iffy honestly. I went into the appointment and walked out with one prescription that was a topical agent. I used this for months, and it just wasn’t working for me. I thought at first it was just I did not give it enough time, but it just wasn’t working for my skin alone.
So I went to re-schedule an appointment at this location and unfortunately this dermatologist had since moved on. They set me up with another appointment with a new dermatologist within the same facility.
I waited for what felt like forever to get in as they are booked up.
Second Encounter
My Second encounter was I thought way better than the first because she seemed very eager to fix my acne problem. She was very nice and made sure to check every bit of my complaints.
I was instructed by this dermatologist to take two skin topicals and a pill. Now the two skin topicals are not the complaint that I have had. The issue that raised was the pill she prescribed, which is talked about more later in this story.
Initially I was told to take a strong round of antibiotics to get anything out of my system to help my skin get ready for its new journey. Once I took this round of antibiotics I then was prescribed a generic brand called “Spironolactone”.
I was told when I went into this that the “spironolactone” would be a longer term option to combat acne and was not given a time frame to get eased off of it. I took two 50 milligram prescription pills twice a day, which honestly seems like a lot.
So I went through many months of taking this medication.
Fast forward too around January of 2021 so a year later, I had another appointment scheduled to ensure I was up to date on what I needed. I was told that my dermatologists last day was actually the day of my appointment. So I continued through with it and arrived on the day of my appointment.
I was told by the same doctor that my regiment still looked good and she would extend my prescriptions for another 6 months to give me time to find a new dermatologist to visit.
Third Encounter
So the third encounter, was in the year 2021 as well, August to be exact! I located a new dermatologist at a complete different facility. When I arrived to this appointment I was still using my two topical prescriptions but had ran out of the “Spironolactone” the Saturday before my appointment.
I made contact with who I am calling the nurse assistant first who asked me all of the typical questions like what medications are you taking. I ensured to tell them that I was not taking birth control, like I always do.
She asked me if I was actively trying to conceive to which I answered no. I also explained that though I was not trying to conceive we were doing nothing to stop it.
They called this “taking the goalie out of the game”. This basically means that there is nothing stopping the score from happening.
So my new dermatologist came in and instantly I vibed with her more than anyone before. She had such an upbeat and positive attitude. She was loud and strong, which is good in women!
She ran through the basic stuff with me and then brought up my medicines. She touched on keeping me on my topical prescriptions as they were helping to maintain my clear skin.
The HEAT of this story then came forward. My new dermatologist then proceeded to tell me that she was taking me off of the prescription of “Spironolactone”. She described to me information I had NEVER heard before that were VERY important and that I should have been told.
She notified me that this medicine causes SEVERE birth defects in baby boys upon conception and can cause birth defects in infant girls just probably not as severe. She touched on the fact that it depletes basically all of the testosterone out of your body.
Now I was in absolute SHOCK hearing all of this. Anyone that follows me knows that I just encountered an extremely rare pregnancy that affects 1% of the population. Also with other medical things occurring this set on a light bulb and honestly made me furious.
I thanked the doctor for helping me and the nurse also advised she was going to look into the fact of molar pregnancy and the correlation of the two possibly being connected. I walked out knowing exactly what I was taking and that if I do end up conceiving a rainbow baby I can just stop my topical agents and be safe.
This dermatologist was the best I had ever seen. Why?
- She was upfront and honest
- She told me side effects that are major for medication
- She made sure I was informed and knowledgeable about what products I was using
- She had a great personality that reflected she truly cares about her clients
- SHE KEPT ME OFF OF ANYTHING THAT COULD HARM MY UNBORN CHILDREN BEFORE THEY EVER COME INTO THE PICTURE.
The Light Bulb
Now this block is titled the light bulb because after my third encounter with a dermatologist so many things had finally been explained that I was confused about.
I had a molar pregnancy that occurred while taking medication that was dangerous for conceived babies and causes sever birth defects. At this time there is no reason discovered for why molar pregnancies even occur, but the odds are there that it could have some factor. With not taking birth control there should always be a caution for what you are taking.
Now this is partly my fault because I should have not trusted the doctors who prescribed me stuff and looked more into myself to just be knowledgeable about what is going in my body.
The flip side of that is the doctor should also not prescribe dangerous medicine to people that are not taking contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. Anyone I have speaked with says it is extremely important, as I have always been open about not taking birth control.
Now when it comes to my situation birth control causes a hormonal issue that makes me severely emotional and to feel out of wack. Not knowing that the medicine I was taking was also depleting my testosterone out of my body made this issue elevated. I didn’t know why. The OB also just assumed it was birth control and addressed it accordingly on their end.
Had the second dermatologist notified me of all the information on this medication upon prescribing it months of emotional issues could have been handled way quicker and safer.
Now, after my molar pregnancy I went through a face of testing and such to ensure my health was going to continue in the right direction. This caused me to be placed back on birth control for the duration of my “treatments”.
The second that I was cleared I removed myself from birth control, yet again to make sure that I took care of my own well being.
I then had unexplained bleeding for weeks at a time that was causing me to feel very weak. When I removed myself from both birth control and the “Spironolactone” the bleeding came to an end. I felt almost normal again.
All of these very well could have no connection, but with all of the math and documentation I have tried to do with the dates some of it does seem to have a connection at least at the surface.
Spironolactone – The danger
Now I am going to go into what this even is because I HAD NO IDEA. Not a lick of a clue when I was placed on this. Had I have known? I would have never subjected myself to this.
- It is the generic brand for ALDACTONE
- It says that this medicine can take 3 to 6 months to start taking effect in your body
- This medicine is not considered safe to treat men as they apparently have developed breasts during the time frame.
- It decreases Testosterone
- It causes sever birth defects in babies
This is just a short list of things that occur with this medication. It isn’t safe for men to take and even some women.
Spironolactone is an anti-androgen (anti-male hormone) medication. It blocks the androgen receptor and reduces the level of testosterone and DHEAS. It also has diuretic effects and can lower blood pressure and reduce fluid retention seen in conditions such as heart failure and chronic liver disease.This medication can also treat hypokalaemia (low potassium levels).
More!
Now I do want to say that the acne medicine worked great in the aspect of removing my acne from my body.
What I didn’t know is that while I had my molar pregnancy issue I was placed back on birth control. So the combination of both the acne medicine and birth control made me feel like I was going INSANE. I couldn’t understand why my emotions were so crazy.
I thought that it was just the birth control, because it had always made me feel so off…
Little did I know it was both of the Medicines!
So since I’ve gotten off both?
- I have felt like myself again
- I haven’t cried as much
- I’ve stopped uncontrollably bleeding
- I stopped having such hormonal imbalances
I am myself… again…
MY ADVICE 🌿
So my note today I PLEASE be careful what you are putting into your body.
PLEASE research things that are given to you.
Please take care of yourself over everything
Finally. DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU. If you don’t want to take birth control, don’t. If an acne medicine isn’t right for you, don’t take it.
Just make sure you are doing what is fit for you and to prevent pregnancy if that’s not something you want to take on.
Much love, B.
Resources
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-6288/spironolactone-oral/details
https://www.afwomensmed.com/health-library/hw-view.php?DOCHWID=d00373a1
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