I am 37 and haven't used birth control pills since before my last pregnancy 6 years ago. I just finished my first month back on them (for excessive menstrual bleeding) and I had light headaches almost daily and monitored my bp which slowly went up - today at my general practitioner physical he said I have to go off them and call my ob/gyn b/c my bp was elevated and if it doesn't come down, I will have cardiac problems! Well I finished the one month, and don't plan to start a new pack - I was biding time until an ablation in the fall . I had no bp issues prior to the pill. Anyone else experience this???
I have already had a tubal ligation, the pill was for excessive menstrual bleeding - I am planning on having an ablation in September, just was trying to get through the summer - but it is not worth the BP issues. I have used BP meds in the past for migraine prevention, not b/c I ever had high bp - but I try to stay off of meds if I can. I just hope it really was just pill related and my bp will come back down to normal here now that I am off.
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Yes, I had this happen before I even had any kids (I was only about 22). I found that I was able to take other kinds of pills, though. I stopped taking them, though, because of the side effects.
work with your ob/gyn. I always had low bp until the last 3 yrs. I had a tubal after my 3rd and stayed on pill for heavy bleeding. Lowest dose we could find. Had to switch several times. Now I cant take any. Your Dr. will (should) work with you to find the best way to handle this. Dont get upset if it takes awhile
Good Luck!!!
I have not experienced this personally, but my best friend had to stop taking BC pills because her blood pressure shoots up whenever she takes them. Her doctor will no longer even try her on them anymore, after having her try several different ones with the same result each time.
Hi J.,
Unfortunately I've had that same thing happen. For me it depends on the brand I'm using. My doctor and I had to experiment with a couple of different brands until we found one that didn't affect my BP as badly. You might want to try talking it over with your OBGYN. There might be other options for you. Good luck!
R.
I don't think the pill elevated my bp but i do know i kept a headache while on a certain pill. See if your doctor won't change you to a lower dosage.
Oh absolutely, I had the same problem. Don't let anyone scare you, if you keep taking the pills you will probably have to be on a blood pressure pill. I have high blood pressure and I'm 26 it runs in my family. I take a progestrone only birth control that won't effect my headaches which I have horribly but I'm taking topamax for and it won't affect my blood pressure either. The estrogen is what makes you have the headaches and raised blood pressure. Ask your OBGYN about the progestrone only pill I have no periods and it doesn't affect my blood pressure, my topamax, or my headaches. My mother couldn't take Birth control at all because she had high blood pressure at 18. It's not gloom and doom. You can take the blood pressure pills and be just fine or you could take the progestrone only pills. I love my doctor, I totally trust her, and she said they are fine for me. If you need to know anything else you are welcome to reply to me! Good luck!
Yeah, same issue. I am 34 and I have high blood pressure due to family history and was never on bp meds b/c it was just a little higher than normal. After 17 years on the pill (different ones - low estrogen, etc. every few years), I started having major headaches, migranes regularly and felt awful. My GP and OBGYN both said that since my bp was already a little higher than normal, the pill was most likely making it worse. They both told me they reccomended that I don't take the pill - any types of them - any more. I have to say, I have been off of it for 3 years now (and have a beautiful 8 month old daughter) I feel so much better! I felt a huge change only after a month of being off of it! I am on bp meds now (even after going off the pill for 2 years, my family history kicked in!), and it is really no big deal. I just have to watch my salt intake, and make sure I get regular excersise. If you do have to take bp meds, it is no big deal. If you are looking for another birth control method, you might talk to your OBGYN about a Mirena. That is what I am using now and I have not had any problems and he said that it won't create any problems with my bp. It just gives off a very low dose of progesterone locally in the uterus. My OGBYN said that even the nuva ring would probably cause my bp to rise again.
