<p>Wow. That’s really scary. I’m so glad you saw a doctor! I’m surprised people on birth control or HRT aren’t more aware of that risk, so they can keep an eye out for the symptoms of it. I know that many years ago the amount of estrogen in birth control pills was much higher than it is now, but there’s still enough to create a risk. I’ve been on HRT for about 11 years now; it’s one of the first things I was warned about and one of the first things I think about whenever I get a cramp in one of my legs. And because of that, whenever I’ve had surgery they’ve put those compression pump sleeves on my legs afterwards until I’m up and walking around.</p>
<p>Thank God you took this seriously! I am so very glad that you are going to be ok.</p>
<p>Ditto to all who said they are happy you are getting medical treatment. Thank the good Lord!</p>
<p>I guess the cramping COMBINED WITH the swelling was the key to something more serious? Good thing to remember…</p>
<p>Thank goodness you went in when you did!</p>
<p>Sometime to keep in mind if you are taking HRT, patches or creams have a lower risk of causing blood clots than pills. In part because they don’t have to be processed through the liver so the dose needed is much lower.</p>
<p>OMG! I am so glad you got medical help! Take care of yourself and yeah for the CC members who raised the proper flag. </p>
<p>I remember my doctor making me go off the BC pill when I turned 30 because if blood clot risks. I used to work with a woman who had a stroke in her late 20’s from the pill.</p>
<p>Thank goodness you saw your doctor!</p>
<p>So glad you posted this so you could realize the possible seriousness and thank you CC’ers for connecting the dots with the OP. Wow. You all made my Friday reading this thread. Get well soon!</p>
<p>I was prescribed to Yazmina for severe perimenopause symptoms. The reassurance/reason for that particular pill was it is so low in estrogen. I always read the potential side effects stuff and asked doc about blood clots, but she said it was going to be so short term, and I’m thin and active and she saw no risk for me.</p>
<p>We didn’t discuss what the symptoms of blood clots are–I had looked that up at one point on my own, and everything I saw said a leg that is off-color compared to other leg-- red, swollen, streaky, hot, etc. My leg never was any of those things, except slightly (very slightly) swollen compared to other. The docs could barely see a difference. The tenderness at the ‘charlie horse’ site was a tip off to them, but i thought it was muscle soreness.</p>
<p>I have been reading about Yazmina and apparently it is very bad for this problem --much worse than other pills, even those with higher estrogen-- and it also causes elevated potassium levels (something I don’t recall reading in the literature) which can dehydrate and cause even more clots. So now I’m thinking–here I was eating lots of potassium rich foods, for treatment of the charlie horse, and that probably made it worse.</p>
<p>However I do think if I had gone to doc when I had the first charlie horse there would have been a good chance that they would have thought it was just a charlie horse and I was just a dippy hypochondriac! I had no other symptoms then and I understand that many docs miss this when it is in early stages. And sometimes, you can have DVT with NO pain/redness in legs.</p>
<p>They market Yazmina and Yaz (sister drug) heavily to dermatologists for off-label use for acne treatment…and even in young women the rate of DVT is high.</p>
<p>^thank you for sharing this info. D’s dermatologist proposed an acne treatment that would require her to take BC for precautionary reasons. We are still on the fence about this as she is, in my opinion, still too young. </p>
<p>…and I’m glad to hear that you received proper medical attention and averted something more serious!</p>
<p>Isn’t CC great?!</p>
<p>Wow! Thank goodness for CC advice. Glad to hear you have been diagnosed and treated properly. BTW-you can insist on being seen by your PCP rather than a PA any time you like.</p>
<p>My doc put me on low-dose BC to treat severe peri-menopausal symptoms. I took them for two months and felt increasingly sad for no reason. One day, while on the way to the grocery store, I realized that my life had no point and I felt completely hopeless. It dawned on me right then that I had never felt this way before taking the hormones. I stopped that day. Were those feelings caused by the pills? Who knows. I haven’t felt that way since I stopped taking them.</p>
<p>BBMom good for you for responding to what you were feeling. That happened to me on a new blood pressure med once and it was so insidious I didn’t realize it. Thankfully my husband is a pharmacist and did and I stopped the med and felt myself almost immediately. It was a good lesson for me and made me realize how horrible clinical depression must be, I’ll never forget how wonderful it felt to feel good again.</p>