Vent - Birth control feels like it's been ruining my life

Hi everyone!

I'll try to tell this story and ask for advice while leaving as few personal details as I can. I'm a 21-year-old college student in her final semester of undergrad, and just sent in my graduate school applications recently (yippie!) However, since the start of the semester, something has seemed to be wrong with me, and I just can't figure out what.

My first week of classes, I was incredibly ill. I thought it was just a prolonged stomach bug that I caught during my winter break that was taking a while to go away. But starting the 8th of February, I've had some serious nausea and motion sickness problems. Walking, going up and down flights of stairs, and sudden movements have ended with me throwing up, and sometimes even just out of the blue, I get incredibly nauseous.

I have no idea what could've caused this. I'm on a variety of meds: sertraline, Adderall, Zyrtec, and take NAC and other supplements. I've been on birth control, Junel 1.5/30 (the 3-week pack that skips your period) since approximately June, and none of these symptoms were occurring prior to February.

Ever since that Sunday, things have been an absolute shitshow. I've been trying to go to class and throwing up, professors have been asking me to stay home, but at the end of the day, I've received a ton of absences and have tried my best to keep turning in assignments in spite of everything. It's my last semester at this university and frankly, I just want it to be over. I am in complete agony, I was nauseous all the time (nausea has decreased since stopping the birth control, but it comes back in moments of high anxiety), and I'm stressed about finishing this semester.

Once my last packet ended, I have no longer been taking any birth control. My best conclusion about this entire situation was that it was in part due to the birth control, with the nausea and vomiting just being really extreme and rare side effects. I spoke to my doctor in the midst of everything, and she lowered the dose, giving me 1.5/20 in a four-week packet, but I haven't been able to acquire it. My hormones are coming back, and they're coming back strong.

Most of my professors have been pretty understanding of the situation, and provided me with alternative assignments and the ability to attend class virtually through Zoom for the time being (supposedly my school doesn't offer remote learning as an official accommodation...but if professors offer it of their own choice, the school doesn't seem to mind.) It's been helpful, I have no doubt, but one professor seems to be hesitant. She has been emailing me suggesting that I withdrawal from her course because there is, pragmatically (her words, not mine), no way I can be in this class without going to class, going to the lab, or pushing myself to a point of exhaustion or further illness. It's a volunteer learning sort of class where we go and work with members of our local community as part of our grade, and write reflections on it. I don't disagree with her, and I understand where she is coming from, but if I were to withdrawal from the course, I wouldn't be able to graduate in May.

Obviously, I'm freaking out and absolutely terrified. The programs I've applied to begin this coming June, starting pretty quickly after I graduate from undergrad. I've been feeling awful about everything, and feel so guilty for not being able to make it to class, even though this happened out of nowhere. I'm at a loss for words, and have no idea what to do anymore. Per what I said earlier, I've assumed it has been my birth control, as has my doctor, but nobody's certain. I've been in contact with my university and the administrators, and all of my professors, but time is running out.

First, I'd be curious to know if anyone else has taken birth control and experienced side effects like these, and I'd love to know what potential remedies or treatment you may have sought out. I've been trying all sorts of anti-nausea remedies, but none of them have been too helpful.

If anyone has any thoughts on my academic situation, I would love to hear some thoughts there, too. I don't really know what else I can do for myself, and I'm starting to run out of ideas. I've tried to stay positive, but man, staying positive is hard.

Thanks in advance, everyone <3