Hard core symptoms and conditions

Just reporting back with some information.
I've been off of Yasmin for over a month now. Overall I've been better but there have been a few "relapses" where I've become so dizzy/lightheaded that I hard-core started to panic. Those days can be disheartening.
I've read some previous posts from an RN who said that Yasmin in particular, suppresses your androgens (testosterone) which causes many of these symptoms. This also explains why sometimes it takes a while for these symptoms to "catch up" I know I was feeling great when I first started.
I'm a lot better now that I stopped Yasmin, but I know it's going to take up to six months to get back to normal. Have your doctor check your hormone level. Even if it's " low normal" that isn't healthy for say, a 20, or 30 year old.
For herbal supplements I would suggest Ashwagandha. It's supposed to help production of your androgens. Also keep hydrated and have plenty of Omega-3 fatty acids.
What I also encourage is to talk about your situation. Once you open up, you'll never know who you'll find that had the same issue. We women can be a very helpful resource for one another.
I'll keep you posted on the progress and I hope the best for all of you.

I have been on Lamictal for approximately 7 years. The product initially seemed to work a bit on controlling my seizure activity, and did provide a bit more confidence in social situations. At this point I was taking 400mg per day, and had little side effects other than the absent mindedness, and occasional problems with vertigo.
Briefly, about a year ago, I began having an increasing number of partial and general seizures, and was brought up to a dosage of 700mg per day. It was at this point that I began noticing what could only be called "hard-core" side effects. These included days where I was just totally confused, paranoid, suicidal, having an unrelenting feeling of not being able to breath, feeling bloated in my abdomen, and regularly being struck with a very irregular, very scary, rapid heart beat.
At this point, I am taking 600mg per day, and am still having most of these side-effects, but in decreased frequency. My neurologist never mentioned any of these possible symptoms, and doesn't seem overly concerned about any of the problems that I have mentioned in the past. With this in mind, it is somewhat relieving to see that there are others out there who are noticing similar effects.
If anyone can explain the difficulty breathing thing a bit more, it might help me wrap my brain (no pun intended) around this whole mess. I'm not sure if it's related to a decrease in blood pressure - I've been monitoring mine and haven't seen any irregularities. Or if it's related to a decrease in the amount of oxygen in the circulatory system due to the drug itself, or as a side-effect of the shallow breathing I have read about in other posts here.

Please talk to you doctor before ever stopping a medicine cold turkey, you must ween yourself off of anti-depressants/anti-anxiety medications in order to avoid serious side effects. I've been told that the withdrawal symptoms can be worse than any other drug around (including hard-core narcotics or alcohol).

My view on YAZ is simple. It sucks! This is by far, the worst birth control I have ever taken! My side effects ranged from fair, to mild to uncontrollable. At first, everything seemed ok. My periods did not get any shorter, and they didn't get any lighter. Over time, that changed. However, its still not normal. I always tend to start my period 2 days AFTER I start my new pill pack (after the "reminder pills.") I gained 24 pounds on the pill in a year, so I've been working out hard core for the past three months and lost 5 pounds. Its horrible! I also reported to my doctor that I had a HUGE decrease in sex drive. My husband and I now have sex once a month...IF he is lucky! I also at times feel like I hate the world and everyone in it. I become very depressed, and I start to think about how crappy my life really is. Granted, I'm not in the greatest job in the world...not even a good one. But I was fine at it before I started taking YAZ. -I've been written up because of a supposed "attitude" I had while starting YAZ. I also am experiencing bad cramps before I start my period along with Diarrhea. I've recently noticed that my vision is starting to "blur" and I feel like I'm going cross eyed when I talk to someone and look them in the eye. I am hugely dissatisfied, and DON'T recommend taking this BCP to anyone.

Hello! I've been taking Lamictal for about 6 years now. I'm diagnosed as BP II and have the most difficulty with depression. I currently take 500 mg-- 400 mg at night and 100 mg in the morning. I have to say that Lamictal has been very good to me for the most part. As long as I don't put myself into extremely stressful positions-- such as my last job-- I do quite well. I also take a combination of supplements with Lamictal which seem to give the extra push that I needed to completely get out of my last depression. I take 1000 mg EPA (fish oil), B-100 Complex, Folic Acid, Cal-Mag, multivitamin (high quality, organic), Vitamin D (at least 1000 mg) and a few others.

I notice that when I take it at night if I don't go to sleep right away, my mouth and tongue will tingle. Sometimes when I take it in the morning, I feel foggy and dizzy and sometimes get vertigo. Every now and then the side effects seem to get worse, which I am not sure about. I started searching on the internet because I've been noticing that the "tip of the tongue" problem has been occurring more and more often. I often cannot think of the word I want, simple things even. As others have mentioned, I also have difficulty with memory. I am still very successful, currently pursuing a 2nd Master's Degree, but have noticed that achieving the same level of quality of work takes a lot more effort than during my previous degrees.

I do have some periods of anger/irritability and have recently been sleeping a lot, though it probably has a lot more to do with the time of year-- winter with less light-- than anything else.

I am particularly worried about my memory loss and inability to sound "well-spoken" in a setting which demands that of me. It is frustrating! I don't want to do any lasting harm on my brain. After increasing to 500 mg from 400 mg, I have noticed more of these brain issues, but I'm also doing so much better mood wise!

Well, for me, I'm a hard-core smoker. I will be 40 in April, 2008 and I started smoking when I was 13 1/2 yrs. old. Anyway, yes I've had the nausea, but as long as you eat a meal and take right away, I haven't had that problem again.

Well, I'm in my third week and still smoking. Is anyone else slow like me? I was up to 2 packs a day so it's a really major struggle for me. I am finding it longer periods for me to crave a cigarette, but then I have to have one. Yesterday I had 26 cigarettes. Which, yes I know, it sounds like a lot! But on the other hand that is a half a pack I have cut down so far. I'm going to stick with it but...

I have to say, I also am suffering a lot of mood swings. I didn't think I was acting paranoid, but my daughter said I was and then I read that a few other people were having the same problem. At least I know I'm not alone anymore and talk about anger and sadness, I got them. The headaches are a real bitch for me too, but maybe I'm more susceptible since I do suffer migraines. I'd love to know if people are having that problem. Some of the reviews I read mentioned headaches, but I'd like to know if they were terrible or mild headaches. Otherwise I'll worry there is something else going on with me. With all the problems, I want to continue taking, I've tried the gum, the lozenges, the patches (allergic to the adhesive-terrible rashes, itching, and heart palpitations), cinnamon sticks, regular gum, smoking cessation classes, and etc. I need something to help me. I just want to live a normal and healthy life.

I have been prescribed Lamictal for seizures, and am currently taking 400mg daily, with my 300mg of Dilantin. Had horrible side effects this weekend-nightmares, exhausted, worsening depression, crying jags, difficulty swallowing. Has anyone else experienced mood changes for the worse while on this drug?

First off, I am so relieved to have found this website and to have figured out that i am not going crazy...
This whole thing started off right away when i started to use NuvaRing.
I think by the second day that i was on it I was in the metro and when the metro reached the next stop the doors didn't open right away and i started to have an intense panic attack feeling like i was trapped and became extremly nauseous... worse then i've ever had in my whole life... I didn't know what was wrong with me and for the past two weeks i thought that my life would never be the same and that i would live like this forever...

I tried so hard from when this started to happen to me to try and figure out what was wrong and i couldn't think of anything that could cause me to feel this way... Then this morning it hit me that it could be the new birth control that i was taking and i started to research and found this:)

I've also experienced extreme nausea and lack of sleep... also sometimes i would feel extemely hungry and sometimes i would feel like i couldn't even look at food. My breasts have been hurting a lot; like when i'm on my period... and i've had terrible mood swings and a lack of patience.

Recently terrible depression has started to occur to the point where i even thought about killing myself which is something that i have never thought seriously about in my life...

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS HAS ALL BEEN IN ONLY A PERIOD OF 2 WEEKS!

this thing is terrible and i would never reccomend for anybody to begin taking it. It should be taken off the market.