Estroven symptoms and conditions

I am a 26yr-old, another victim of Yasmin.

My story's gonna be a bit long, but hope you can bare with it.
Please also forgive me for my incorrect grammer as English is not my mother tongue....but I hope I can get my message across to all of you.

Here it goes!

Ever since I had my first period at a late age of 18 (I was anorexic and severely underweight btw the age of 14-15 when I was supposed to start my mensus had I been healthy,,,,), my mensus had never been regular.

I only had about 3 full-fledged mensus per year, with occational spotting.
Apart from that, I was a happy, bubbly, cheerful lady.
Nevertheless, worried about the side effects of "not shedding", I made my first visit to the gyn.

The Dr. ultrascanned me.
Both my uterus and ovaries were normal in size.
She ran a blood test for my hormones and thryroid level.
They both came out fine.

So then she recommended me to take Yasmin, which will help to regularise my cycle and "shed" all the accumulated lining.

I was quite happy during my first box as I lost my water weight, and my skin cleared.

But then the nighmare began......

Half-way thru my second box, I suddenly became sooooo depressed.
Sure, I did have some ups and downs prior to taking Yasmin, but the ones I'm experiencing while on Yasmin is just beyond anyone's imagination.

Prior to taking Yasmin, I was confident with myself, which I believe made me an attractive person.

HOWEVER, ever since the onset of depression, I seem to have lost all the confidence in me.

All that "self-esteem" I used to possess is now GONE.

I feel so insecure about myself, and don't feel good about myself even when I'm in my favourite outfit.

Before Yasmin, I was so easily "turned-on" !: listening to my favourite tune turned me on, watching drama with my fav actors turned me on, thinking about what to have for dinner turned me on.... just about any thought was enought to mass-produce dopamine in my brain.

But these days, none of these make me happy.
Nothing makes me happy, but anything can make me go DOWN.

I've been off Yasmin for 5 days now.
I do feel slightly better than 5 days ago.
But I'm suffering from elevated heart beat around midnight, which is making me insomniac.

But my biggest concern is ;

WOULD I REGAIN THAT "GLOW" IN ME?
WOULD I REGAIN MY CONFIDENCE?

Also,

Is taking Evening Primrose Oil beneficial to regain my peaceful hormonal level?
Can I start taking EPO directly after stopping Yasmin?

By the way, I notice that I look older (as in aged) ever since taking Yasmin. Does BCP make you age faster? Or am I just imagining things out of depression?

PLEASE HELP....

Thank you for spending your time to read my story,,,,,,

I've also had so many problems that I never realized until recently were related to Yasmin. I'm so angry at myself for not realizing sooner. I started taking Yasmin about 3 years ago because I was on Ortho Cyclen for a long time and stupidly thought maybe I'd try something new. Ortho was great, the only reason I switched is because I like to run my packs together and skip periods and I was starting to have breaththrough with the Ortho. BIG MISTAKE. I've had nothing but issues since, and I consider myself a stable, normally functioning woman. Since staring Yasmin 3 years ago, my libido has completely dried up. In fact I can barely let my sweet hubby touch me, let alone initiate it. We're starting to argue constantly because things irritate me that never did before. I've had mini anxiety and panic attack symptoms, blurry vision, foggy head feelings, and weird inner ear pain with occasional ringing I never had before. The worst part is, shortly after starting this terrible drug I developed IBS when I'd never had it before. Now I literally run for the potty after every meal. I cannot even lead a normal life anymore. I've struggled off and on with depressive type feelings, but for the most part have been able to muster through. Some days I am just so fricking tired though I can barely get out of bed. Oddly enough, I also get very hungover from even small amounts of alcohol....(also unusual for me)

More recently I have developed increasing chest tightness and palpitations. I am only 33 and have been checked out and they say nothing is wrong, except for my BP which always used to be very low, and has risen steadily over the last 3 years. I have also experienced significant bloating to the point most of my clothing no longer fits, despite the fact that I eat little given the IBS. My thyroid has been tested and is fine.

Finally, my hair has gone from great spirally curls that I loved to limp, weird half staright, half frizzy. I've never had this ever before. You literally could see this happen over the last few years as new hair grew in, it pushed the curls out and left this behind. I actually blamed my hairdressers and went from salon to salon before I put it all togehter!

I stopped Yasmin 2 days ago as I have had enough. I want to take something though so I started Seasonale, but this will be it. I'm giving it 6 months and if things aren't better I'm done with hormonal BC. I think with so many women who have had serious problems on this pill, you'd think they would listen. My GYN said no way it could be the Yasmin causing the IBS, but Yasmin does increase serotonin levels and the number one side effect of serotonin is diarrhea...so I think it is the cause!!

I JUST started Loestrin 24 Fe (day one) and have been reading many articles and websites (anything from the literature in the research journals to the Mayo Clinic posts). I have just read through this entire site and took in all the feedback from the women who have shared the side effects. I have NEVER taken BC until now. I am trying it to keep monthly bleeding and mood swings to a minimum. BUT, I see some serious side effects (depression, acne, weight gain) - these seem worse than just dealing with the monthly symptoms and taking some pain relievers.

Should I STOP? Any advice from veteran birth control users?
Michele