Cyclical symptoms and conditions

I was given topamax to treat headaches and cyclical mood disorder. I was not given any info about side effects or that, at the time(April of 2006), the drug was not FDA approved for treating mood disorders. I took about 3 25mg tablets a day for 6 weeks and started noticing pain in my chest, stomach, back, and neck, my heart felt irregular as well. Towards the end of the 6 weeks, I felt so bad that at times that I had to crawl to the bathroom at home because my body and heart felt so weak. I weighed 135 pounds before starting the drug and 117 after, lot of weight to lose for me in such a short period of time(my weight very rarely fluctuates at all). I started noticing that when I would eat a large meal, I would then be hungry with an empty stomach an hour later, and about 15-20 minutes after taking my 2nd pill for the day I would feel shooting chest pains and become slightly dizzy, I would take my third pill at home a couple before bed and the symptoms were even worse. I called the on-line nurse late at night a few times and they would say it was just anxiety, my friends and family that knew about all this would also say that I was just worrying too much. I decided to take matters in my own hands and started doing research on the drug. I found all the information I needed, that was not given to me, decided I was experiencing some of the specific side effects people had noticed. I finally decided on my own to stop taking the drug after my doctor told me that all this was because I wasn't taking a high enough dosage, I still can't believe that she said that!!

Now that I've had some time to look back and gather myself a little, I know that I also experienced side effects such as dizziness, loss of taste, decreased sex-drive, Loss of wittiness, feeling like being in slow-motion, slurring speech, heartbeat going from 64bpm sitting on the couch to 128bpm after walking to the bathroom to pea, difficulty breathing, basically felt like crap but was too drugged up to really notice.

It did stop my headaches and stabalized my mood but I think the improvements in mood were primarily due to the fact that I wasn't all there. DEFINETLY NOT WORTH ALL THE SIDE EFFECTS!!!

As soon as I stopped taking this, I felt much better in the head, noticing that I was probably running on about 70% for the past few weeks. Also gained back all the weight very quicky. I felt like myself again and was rejuvanized in my life!! Primarily all the side effects disappeared and I moved on with my life. Unfortunately the chest pains slowed down but did not disappear. I felt like, and still feel like, I had a broken Sternum. I went to the same clinic and had numerous tests done(EKG, blood tests, X-rays), everything came up clear. I have had to tell some of my friends, numerous times in the past year, not to restle with me or hug me too hard because it hurts.

I have not been taking any perscription drugs for the past 14 months because of all of this and now have recently started feeling increased pain in my chest(the chest pains never completely went away) . I do not have health insurance but am going to get this all checked out ASAP, I will post again once I find out what's going on.

My wife's side effects are:

Cyclical headaches, Muscle neck pain, Depression, Weepiness, Anxiety, Sunken Eyes, Dehydration, Feeling of Abnormal Facial Skin Texture.

Okay, today I picked up my new prescription that will enable me to get off Yasmin in four days, after a whopping three weeks on it (my last active pill is this weekend.) I hate this pill. I have not been on the pill in several years, at which time I was on Alesse (symptom free) after two other attempts at other pills. I have a history of fibrocystic breast pain, which means that my cyclical breast tenderness, swelling and pain is worse than the average woman's. About a month and a half ago I decided to start BCP again, and at my exam my doctor was about to prescribe Alesse but then suggested maybe I should try Yasmin, because it supposedly is a really good, mild pill for women with bloating and breast pain like I have and was comparable to Alesse as well. Supposedly, some special hormone acts as a diuretic.

Um, wow, how wrong he was! Day one and day two were actually fine. A little touch of nausea but that's all. Then day three and I started to notice the problems, which have been drastically increasing in severity each and every day since:

Breast tenderness has now turned into extreme breast pain and bloating.
Unbelievable fatigue.
Absolutely no energy (and I am an extremely energetic, healthy woman.)
Loss of sex drive (just what I need in a new relationship, right? Thankfully my boyfriend is extremely understanding.)
Foggy feeling in head.
Anxiety.
Turned my regular period (which I was in during my first week of active pills) into a full week of breakthrough flow that was VERY different from my normal menstrual flow.
Yeast infection (although that may be a relapse of one I had before I started this pill).
Depression.
Irritability.
No desire to exercise at all (I love to swim and I can barely drag myself to the pool!) I just want to lay around.
General "not right" feeling in my mood and head.
Cramps all month.

I called the dr's office at the end of week one about the breast tenderness but was intercepted by a nurse who insisted I give it a few months. I was willing to at the time but the other effects started to take hold after that and finally yesterday after three calls got my own doctor on the phone, who, after hearing my list of symptoms, didn't even argue with me and immediately wrote me up a new script for Alesse which I picked up today. I find the better doctors are the ones who accept that your body may not be adjusting well to a particular pill and willingly change your prescription upon request. That's how I found Alesse years ago, after trying to others. I was pretty much problem free on Alesse.

I cannot wait until this Saturday, my last Yasmin tablet!

My daughter started taking Yasmin last year just before her 15th birthday. She is normally a happy well adjusted teenager, with the normal worries and anxietys. Sometime durng this year she started having horrible panic/anxiety attacks, which included uncontrollable crying, hyperventillating, having terrible thoughts, saying hostile things she regretted to people she loves. I have been called to pick her up from school, and leave work or other appt. THey seem to be cyclical, about 10 days before her period. She even started seeing a therapist and we werer getting ready to puther on an SSRI. THen I started thinking about Yasmin--and went on line to research the side effects, when I found this website. She had another attack this weekend, so we are going to the therapist this morning and then the gyno on THursday. I am definitely taking her off this pill.