Emotional Wreck
November 15th, 2007 @ 5:44 pm by Mrs. Corn
I have a confession to make.
Ever since our wedding, I have been a complete and utter emotional wreck. I thought maybe it was because I was coming down from the wedding planning high. Or perhaps it had to do with the stress of losing my job at 8:30 in the morning the day we returned from our honeymoon. Or quite possibly, it was a combination of the two.
But I had a feeling it was something else. Something felt really different.
Finally, today, I have an answer.
I have been using the generic form of Ortho-Tri Cyclen for years. It is called Tri-Sprintec - it comes in a yellowish blister pack and each week of pills is a different, darker shade of blue until the last week, which are white. Mr Corn and I have always joked that I am always my most emotional when I am on the dark blue pills.
Tri-Sprintec
Because I apparently didn’t have enough on my plate, and Murphy’s law being what it is, my prescription needed to be called in to the pharmacy again around the same time as our wedding. I was very proactive in making sure that this happened so that I could pick up a three month supply right before the wedding and not have to worry about running out during our honeymoon or anytime shortly thereafter when I would be in the midst of the name change/insurance change process.
I picked up my prescription just before leaving to go to Newport and it wasn’t until I got down there that I realized that the pill pack looked different. The blister pack was greenish and all the pills were blue except for the last week. Also, it was called Sprintec, not Tri-Sprintec. I called my Doctor’s office and a nurse there suggested that it wasn’t something they were aware of and that I should contact the pharmacist. So I called the pharmacist and spoke with a younger sounding male who assured me that there was no real difference between the two.
Sprintec
I have been taking the Sprintec ever since. I realized the other day that the sadness and moodiness and depression I have been experiencing matches what I used to feel on my worst days on the Tri-Sprintec… but I was feeling this way throughout the month. I mentioned this to Mr Corn, and he suggested we start to consider other birth control options, since we assumed that the Tri-Sprintec no longer existed and was replaced by Sprintec.
In the meantime, I realized yesterday that I was about to run out of the Sprintec, so I called the pharmacy to set up a pickup. A few hours later, the pharmacist (a woman, this time) called me because my insurance had changed (I am now on Mr Corn’s plan). Since I had her on the phone, I asked her if she knew if there was a difference between the two.
And you know what? THERE IS!!! She immediately told me that there is a difference in the hormone levels in the two packs and that some women take the Tri-Sprintec because the regular Sprintec affects them too much emotionally!
In the end, I had to contact my doctor, have them call in a new, CORRECT prescription and then go and pick it up. It turns out, my doctor was out the day I called to have the prescription refilled right before the wedding, so another doctor called it in incorrectly. But I would have just continued to take the wrong thing, thinking there were no other alternatives, if the pharmacy hadn’t called because my insurance had changed.
I figured I would share this tale on Weddingbee for two reasons. First, because when I tried to look up information on the difference between Sprintec and Tri-Sprintec I couldn’t find anything, so I figured maybe this would help someone else who has experienced this. Secondly, because this entire situation got me thinking about how getting married requires so much more thought and consideration in other areas of our lives than is ever posted or written about in the magazines.
Odd as it sounds, part of our planning for the wedding included figuring out when my period was going to be and then choosing our wedding date and planning our honeymoon around it (in the end, I just ended up shifting my period by a week by taking an extra week between packs). I also had to plan ahead to have my prescriptions all in order so that I had time when I got back to change my name and insurance information and didn’t have to deal with a lag in my prescriptions.
But I know I can’t be the only person who has had to deal with all of this. What are some of the things that you have had to plan for that aren’t covered on The Knot or in Martha Stewart weddings? Any tips to share with the readers?
Related Posts
31 Responses to “Emotional Wreck”
OMG!!!
I take the EXACT same BC, (Tri-Sprintec) and they pull that stunt on me!
I knew however, that there were different levels and the Sprintec could put you in a bigger funk.
Madness. I’m glad they finally got it all straighted out, of course not without putting your emotions on supercrazy!
I am so glad you figured that out… makes you wonder what else we take for granted with medication!!!
Congratulations again– I’ve so enjoyed reading about your wedding and looking at the BEAUTIFUL photos!
Wow. Thank goodness it didn’t affect you so much during the wedding!
I had a trial of Ovcon for 3 months, and I think it gave me a mental meltdown. I ended up calling the doctor’s office (totally hysterical and in tears!) because I thought something was really wrong with me. They switched me to Yasmin, and then Yaz, and it’s been great ever since!
Sounds like the moral of the story is: be very, very careful with your medications! I plan on just shuffling pills around so the wedding goes off without a hitch (or bloating, or cramps … ) 
One of the things I had to think about while wedding planning that I have not read anywhere was..can I be real for a minute?…my period! Ummm…why is that? I guess it’s supposed to be common sense, but not even my bridesmaids realized that this was just one more layer that they would have to consider when planning their own. What makes this an extra tricky situation for me is that I have an I.U.D., so my period comes when it pleases, and stays until it pleases. Since taking it out is not an option, I will just be praying.
it always makes me wonder why drug companies make brand name medications if the hospitals rarely carry them! mine tried to get me to swith from my name brand to it’s generic but i refused. i’ll pay the extra 10 bucks for my peace of mind, thank you very much.
Thank you, Ramona Lindsey, for being real! I appreciate it and will say a prayer for ya!
As a general rule, birth control pills come in two types - mono-phasic and tri-phasic. Mono phasic has 1 level of hormones all the way through the month. Tri-phasic has three levels. (Hence the different colored pills.) Its a matter of preference really, not so much that one drug always has more or less. If you are on anything that is “tri” anything, its triphasic and if your pills aren’t three different colors THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG!
Thank you, Ellie. WHY I couldn’t find that information by simly googling is beyond me.
I’m just glad I can prove I wasn’t going crazy!
Wow! That’s crazy but thank goodness you figured it all out, and it wasn’t because you weren’t coming down from a wedding high. Actually I’ve been on BC for my skin for YEARS, but since we went on vacation and I didn’t get to refill it before I went (stupid insurance policy) I ended up not taking it for a few weeks and drastically noticed my hunger level went down. I am a HUGE SNACKER, always have been. But my weight gain coincided with when I started on BC. So I’ve decided to NOT use BC until after the wedding to aid my weight loss goal. I ight consider going back on though a month or two before the wedding so I can control when i get my . or not.
You know, I thought about this the other day - having your period during the wedding - and thinking about how much of a pain it would be. But, thanks to your post, I did the counting “1, 2, 3, period …” and I should be good. Thanks for being real - because we know as women it’s not all about lace and flowers!
I would also advise brides to be careful with your insurance company’s mail-order pharmacy. I sent in my script for Tri-Sprintec and they sent me a different generic called TriNessa, even though I specifically stated on the form no substitutions. Come to find out quite a few lots of TriNessa have been recalled over the last two years, the last one as recently as Sept. 2007. The cust. service person had the nerve to ask me what my issue was with the generic. I pointed out that Tri-Sprintec is already a generic for Ortho Tri-Cyclen, and that this isn’t something trivial. This is a matter of having a baby or not having a baby!
I actually had the opposite problem - when I got on the generic birth control brand they tried to switch me from Sprintec to Tri-Sprintec as well and I wouldn’t have it! I’ve been on the monophasic (same dose with every pill) bc as long as I remember, so I was afraid to switch (I had a friend try the patch for a week with some horrible side effects). But, like you Mrs. Corn, I still have to warn my FI when that third week is coming up!
I’m okay with the tri level or the regular pills, for whatever reason, but I have a lot of spotting when I switch so I try to stick to one or the other. I had to shift my period for the honeymoon too, and I’ve had to shift it for finals week once. Can you imagine cramping hardcore suring an organic chemistry final exam? Yuck. 
I use the Sprintec (started at 4 or 5 months ago) and i definitely noticed that I felt more emotional the first month or two while I was adjusting to it. I even cried at work in front of my boss over something that in hindsight was not a big deal..whoops!
Luckily my wedding date and period didn’t match - so no shifting necessary.
For me the problem was just starting the birth control. I’d never used anything before - and it definitely effects my body - biggest changes are my emotions, my boobs filling out - ugh!, and my lack of sex drive! (I hate it and am hoping to change soon!) Mix heightened emotions with the last couple months of wedding planning and the outcome is not pretty!!! Way too many tears!
If you are engaged and not currently on birth control - I would suggest starting 4-6 months prior to wedding (even if you aren’t having sex) to give your body (and you) time to adjust. Maybe even if to switch if it doesn’t agree with you!
Random question - is anyone using LADYCOMP for BC? It’s basically a contraption that does all the calculating for the ‘family planning method’ for you - takes your temp everyday. I’d like to hear some first hand reviews! I’m willing to give it a try - but it freaks the hubby out!
I’ve been on Depo Provera for 4 years and haven’t had my period in about 3 3/4 years, so luckily I won’t have to worry about planning my honeymoon around it.
yay!
OMG, Glad to know I am not the only one. I recently switched from Zovia to Sprintec and seem to be either a whiney little girl or a total b*tch…supposedly it takes 3 months to get used to it and some of the more emotional effects go away…but still not cool that they switched your pills!
I feel like your cycle and weddings are never discussed, but sometimes, that’s one of the most important things in making you feel confident, assured and prepared to walk down that aisle. Mrs. Corn, I applaud you for talking about it!
Oh. My. Gosh. This post came at EXACTLY the right moment. I was put on Sprintec two months ago and I have been feeling totally out of whack ever since. I didn’t think about it being my BC until I read this. And then I spent 3 hours on the Internet researching. I’m going to call my doctor immediately. Thank you so so so much!
How funny. I chose my date around my period too! I barely told DH about that (4 months later).
Wow. Yes, I also shifted my period by a few days so that it would be over before the honeymoon, ha. And, I also have been an emotional wreck since the honeymoon, and it has sucked big time. Although for me, nothing has changed with my birth control.. but just last week I came across something talking about how Yasmin (what I take) can cause depression, and it caught my attention.
I started googling and came across all these accounts of women developing severe depression after taking Yasmin - and it sometimes didn’t start til after a year or two of being fine. I’ve been taking it for almost 2 years but this depression is getting out of hand.. so I’ve decided to stop for awhile and see if things get better… our endocrine (hormone) system is so complex that it can be risky to continually be altering our levels with artificial hormones. Such a pain!! I hope your emotions get back to normal after working out the BC issues.
Mrs. Corn…thanks so much for sharing. You should really try YAZ!!! I get a LITTLE emotional but this was normal before I took the pill….I guess that’s just nature!
FH refers to that “dark blue” week as “blue week”. Like, “Uh-oh, is it blue week? Is that why you’re yelling at me for no reason?”
I’m glad other women get emotional at different times during their BCP cycle, and I’m not just psycho!
I went through the EXACT thing you did but opposite! I found I needed a higher dose of estrogen to remain stable throughout the month… the different levels of hormones in the “Tri” packs made me a little loopy.
I went to the doctor THREE times before she agreed to change my pill. She said it was in my head, it was because I didn’t exercise, etc etc. FINALLY I got the pills I wanted ::rolls eyes::
For all of you ladies on hormonal bc (that are having not so good side affects) I would most definitely recommend an IUD. I have the Paraguard which is a copper IUD, completely non hormonal and it’s been great. While I never had any major side affects on the pill (mostly lack of sex drive, which pissed me off 
) I didn’t like filling my body up with hormones.
Anyway, this could turn into a much longer post but suffice to say, the IUD has been fantastic. No monthly refills (good for 10 years!), no hormone flux, no weight gain. You have to be willing to relax your period schedule a bit, as it may not be as regular as the pill but for me, it’s totally worth it. This site has a ton of good info/reviews from women on every sort of bc & I found it super helpful :
Just my two cents
Here’s the site btw: http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/forums/ubbthreads.php
Oh wow. This post could not have come at a better time. Thank you, Mrs. Corn! I’ve been having skin troubles recently for the first time in my life, so I switched BC from the generic Loestrin to the generic Ortho (the same one you normally take)! My gyno warned me that the new pill would have higher levels of hormones, especially during the dark blue week. Well. It’s my first “dark blue” week. And I am an insane person. I don’t remember the last time I felt this unbalanced! So, if Tri-Sprintec is doing this to me, I can only imagine how you felt on regular Sprintec. I was wondering if this was a result of the pill, but I wasn’t sure until I read your post. Now I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Sunday can’t come soon enough!
Thank you again for giving me some reassurance that I’m not really a crazy person!
I’m currently on the patch (Ortho-Evra) and I absolutely LOVE it. I was on those “dark blue” things for about five years in college and after and oh dear, my poor then-boyfriend. I switched to the patch maybe five or six years ago and it’s totally worth it. I feel like a normal person most of the time - except for a maybe a few “crazy person” hours, but I think I mentally allot those just for the hell of it. And there’s none of that “it’s noon, I have to take my pill” thinking!
So many comments already! Scary to see that Trinessa has had few recalls during the last few years. For me I only noticed that I get quite nauseous and want to throw up every morning during the first week of Trinessa … The rest is fine.
First of all, birth control is so tricky, I switched from yasmine to yaz last summer and my personality has done a 180, in the middle of the pack I always feel more short tempered and irritable. Also, I can time my breakouts to the pill.
Second, there are so many things involved in planning a wedding. Mine is in eleven days and I just want to crawl under the bed (with my fiance) and hide. To many details, to little time and a mother in law to be with cancer makes me feel like vomiting all over the world. The stress of it all just makes me want to cry.
Mrs. Corn, Newport, RI
Age and Occupation in '07: 31, HR for public accounting firm
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Consultant for public accounting firm
Engagement Date: October 7, 2006
Wedding Date: September, 2007
Blogging Since: June 1, 2007
Venue: North Lawn of Fort Adams State Park
About Me: I am a lazy scrapbooker who loves the instant gratification of making cards and I am very easily distracted by all things shiny. In honor of my childhood nights spent hibachi BBQing on the beach with my family, we are hosting a traditional New England Clambake for our reception.
Wow, that sucks that you were such a wreck from the hormones. I’m glad you figured it out!
Like you, I also took an extra week of pills to shift my period, so I wouldn’t be on it for the week leading up to the wedding, or on the honeymoon. It doesn’t really effect my mood, but I get horrible cramps and just feel bloated and gross…which is not the way I want to feel on the day I get married!