# abnormal bleeding (advice please)



## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

Hi Girls,I've been taking the contraceptive pill for about 8 years now to help me deal with heavy and painful periods - and things have been fabulous up until now.This last year my doctor has had me on anti-depressants (celexa) to help deal with my IBS and depression.Two months ago the doctor gave me a higher dose of celexa as during the winter months I feel really depressed and it is suspected I suffer from SAD.Now since taking this higher dose of anti-depressants I have been noticing blood in between my periods and my period this time week has produced alot more blood than I usually do - or the perception of it. (I usually bleed heavy for two days then light for 3 days) - this time I have beld pretty heavy since friday last week which is 5 days.I haven't noticed anything else wrong, no pain or anything just this extra bleeding.Does anyone know if this could be a side effect of the anti-depressant mixing with the pill?I guess I'm a little freaked out about it - I don't know that I feel comfortable enough talking to my long term doctor about it.Clair


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## Nat (Sep 29, 2001)

Clair, Talk to your doctor; only he or she can tell you if it's normal or not. Let us know...







Nat


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## Tiss (Aug 22, 2000)

Clair, Do you mind me asking how old you are? I started having irregular bleeding at around age 40. But since you're on the pill, I'd ask my Dr. Maybe you need a pill with a different doseage of hormones.


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## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

Hi Tiss,I'm 28 years old. Well I see my doctor on friday so I guess I must bring it up with him.Clair


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## mally (Jan 8, 2002)

If you're interested in a food regimen that might help, I made this site based on my experiences. http://jelleym.tripod.com/sorebleedheal/index.html


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## belinda (Oct 18, 2001)

Hi ClairIts very unlikely that this is due to any interaction between your antidepressant and contraceptive pill. This interaction is one of the first that is tested for when the drug is in development because oral contraceptives are in such common use. If any occur they have to report it on their datasheet by law. I have looked at the one for citalopram, and there isn't anything mentioned.Hope you get this sortedBelinda x


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## christine (Jun 4, 1999)

Claire,Whether the drug interaction studies have been done or not between Celexa and your oral contraceptive it MAY be that it affects just YOU this way. I say that if it is your gut feeling that the Celexa is causing it than it probably is. I was taking birth control most of this year and I was doing swell on it. Then I got a toenail fungus and had to start taking Lamisil. Since it is an antifungal, I was very careful to check with the doctor and pharmacist regarding any affect it might have on my birth control pill. I was told that there was no interaction. I started taking the Lamisil during the last week of one of my pill packs. Then into the second week of my pill pack I started with breakthrough bleeding. This was after 3 weeks on Lamisil. It was very bad bleeding also. I quit the Lamisil, quit the pill and generally got freaked out because all the doctors say that it shouldn't be happening. Even the manufacturer of Lamisil said it wasn't a problem. I did some searching on the web and some site did mention that Lamisil had caused menstrual irregularities in women who were using oral contraceptives. But, I guess the incidence wasn't high enough to warrant reporting. I then started back on the oral contraceptive without the Lamisil and did just fine. After a few months of taking the pills, I added the Lamisil back in and the same thing happened. My gynecologist finally admitted that both drugs were processed in the same area in the liver and the Lamisil must be throwing off the estrogen/progesterone ratio. It didn't make my pill ineffective, it just made my uterine lining unstable. The fix for this was just a stronger pill. This may be all you need to do while you are taking the Celexa.Christine


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## Clair (Sep 16, 2000)

Hi All







Christine - you maybe right. I mentioned it to the doctor and although it doesn't mention in any of the literature about interactions between Celexa and Microgynon - my doctor was of the opinion that this is just break through bleeding because I have no other symptoms.Well the doctor said to keep an eye on it and let him know next month if is continuing then I might need to swap oral contraceptives.Well as you can imagine this is a huge weight off my mind - phew!Clair


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## Nat (Sep 29, 2001)

Glad you got some answers Clair...







Nat


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