Hormonal balance symptoms and conditions

I would also just like to add that I have developed a ganglion cyst in my right wrist, and do experience frequent joint pain. I don't know if this can be attributed to the use of Yasmin.

I never thought about the side effects of mirena. I had mine in over 4 yrs. and now I've realized the maybe everything that I've been going through could be because of it. I've been depress, moody, in pain all over and I feel like no doctor knows what is going on with me. I have gain a lot of weight, I'm heavier now than I was at 9 months pregnant. I'm a 36 year old married mother of four, my youngest is five now. My main concern is that lately, I've been feeling this terrible pain on my upper back and neck. I feel my bones crack with every movement, they crack even when I breath. A few weeks ago I went to the doctor and she order an x-ray of my neck and it showed some deterioration of the bones. I've been so worried, even thinking that it could be cancer or something. Now after finding this website I am wondering if it could be the Mirena.

Hi everyone, just wanted to update you on my state ( please see my post on the 9th September). I stopped taking Yasmin on Monday after only 6 days, on Tuesday heavy bleeding started. Today is Thursday and the bleeding has gone down. However, my head is still in the fog and I had a very bad headache all night. I was supposed to go back to work today but I am not sure if I can get through the day and deal with my work. I went to a health shop yesterday and got lots natural supplement: fish oil, primrose oil to help restore my hormonal balance, ginseng to bring my energy back and I just hope I will get better soon. By the way, just spoke to a doctor who prescribed it to me, he was very surprised that I reacted so badly as he said that this was "the most common pill prescribed on the planet and the lightest one available on the market". But he said it should be out of my system in several days. I hope so and just can't wait to become "normal" again. I still can't walk properly as I feel dizzy and out of place. Does anyone know when the side effects will disappear? I've only been taking it for 6 days and it turned my life upside down.

I only started taking Yasmin 11 days ago. I noticed that it had an effect on my moods straight away. I felt constantly irritable and like I was about the burst into tears for no reason. I have also completely lost my sex drive. My skin has become really really dry and my vagina is very dry and painful. My eyes are so dry that it's even giving me problems trying to get my contact lenses in. I am going to stop taking the pill now even though i haven't finished the packet because I just don't think these side effects are worth it.

I am 41 yrs old and have been suffering with very heavy, clotting periods for the past 5 years. During those 5 years, I tried several different hormone therapies to control the bleeding, but every one of them caused extended periods lasting 10-12 days with only a week or two of no bleeding in between. I went to the GYN and her recommendation was to try the IUD as a way to lessen the bleeding and help treat migraines I also have during my cycle. I had the IUD inserted on Feb 12, 2008 and have experienced the following ever since: very sharp pains in my abdomen, constant minor cramps, extreme bloating so that my clothes do not fit, nausea just enough to not want to eat, constant light bleeding forcing me to go through several pantyliners a day, and very sore and full-feeling breasts that remind me of the days of nursing my baby, night sweats which I've NEVER experienced before. I do not have any desire for sex, but that is partly due to the constant bleeding. I went to the ER for the sharp pains in the abdomen to check for IUD perforation, but all their x-rays and CT scans showed it was in place. The CT scan showed a small spot near one of my ovaries that was 'explained away' as probably a result of ovulation. In all my years, I've never felt ovulation to that degree, this pain was a stabbing feeling from the inside. I decided to follow the GYN's recommendation to keep the IUD in at the time, but I now have an appt in two weeks to have it removed. I thought I had researched all there was to find about this hormonal IUD before my decision to have it placed--if I had come across this forum at that time, I would have said no. I was a little hesitant to go this route, putting a foreign object inside my body, but didn't listen to my own instinct at the time. I wish I had now, and I will definitely share my story with others so that they will be well informed before making this decision. My next options (as I am finished with having babies) are either thermal ablation or hysterectomy--at this point, I would welcome the hysterectomy because it would make all this bleeding/cramping STOP!

My daughter has been on Yasmin for almost a month and the side affects for her are terrible. She has experienced major depression and pms symptoms. I'm relieved to know that these symptoms are "normal" for this type of BC. We will probably switch to something else.

I want to reiterate that I am simply stating my personal experience with Yasmin how I felt on it what concrete factors I discovered with my hormonal balance with both salivary and blood tests, which both stated I had low testosterone. There is indeed a lot of controversy over salivary testing for hormones, one website will tell you it is the most accurate reading, while another will tell you it is unreliable. The same can be said for blood testing. As for bioidentical hormone replacement the same goes for this issue. Some will praise it others state it will do nothing for you. I think all of the women on this website are well aware of how adversely a drug can react in your body and are cautious of anything they will continue to put into their bodies, myself included. I am simply trying to give some insight into the root of the problems we are experiencing having experienced them myself, so that they may find knowledgable medical professionals who can help them make informed decisions regarding their health. Note that I do not encourage anyone to take anything without the direct supervision of a skilled physician, as is the same route I am following with my doctor.
Thanks, BitterRN

Dear Sophie!

So sad to hear, that you're feeling that bad again...
And I know, that I might be telling the same in every of my posts... But at the point of 6 months without Yasmin I felt exactly the same way as you do now!

I really thought it never would get better and I was about to doubt Yasmin as the reason for all this. Every few days I had thoughts like "Well, if it's still not gone it might not be the Yasmin" or "I'm so afraid that it's really all in my head and has nothing do do with Yasmin" and so on...... And only my mother and my husband kept telling me in such times, that it IS the Yasmin and that it definitely takes MUCH MORE time to get that stuff out of my body than a few months...

I think those doubts are pretty normal, because there is nearly NO doc, who's telling you the same. Most of them keep saying, that you have to be healthy within a few months after Yasmin or it was not the reason.

And Sophie: This is DEFINITELY WRONG!!! I found two docs in all that nightmare who kept telling me, that it might last a long time, even until the rest of Yasmin ist really gone out of my body. My family doc explained it that way: The chemical hormones really stick within your tissue and every cell of your body after taking it that long. And it's not pulled out of it and you fat tissue within a few months!!

Some other woman wrote about a few months ago here in this forum, that she even believes, that if the weight you put on during Yasmin goes down again, there are still rests of that artificial hormones released as the fat tissue is slowly catabolizing. And that's exactly how it feels for me!! My weight is going down every month about 2 - 3 pounds. Very slowly though, but it is!! And every few weeks I have bouts of Yasmin-Symptoms again. Well, that might also still be caused by my hormonal balance which is still not where it should be.

Ok, just a few thoughts. Perhaps it can help you a bit Sophie. I wish so much, it would!!

The other one who said "Please take Prozac": Ok, I'm really glad, if it's helping you somehow. But I'm sure enough, too, that there might be problems again, when you try to get off that stuff in a few months. I was on "Zoloft" which is an SSRI, too, and had the worst times of my life within that ONE WEEK on it! Surely not everyone is the same and perhaps you should try it, if you really think you can't bare those symptoms any longer... I stood it for about 1,5 years now and the year before I didn't feel healthy, too, as the problems began to rise there already. And believe me: Those were the hardest times of my life so far! I never thought that you can suffer that heavy way without dying as a result of it!

But you can, and I stood it without chemical medications. The Valerian helped me very much in very hard times, when I felt a panic attack rising or I just felt nervous and anxious somehow. And it gave me no side effects at all...

The other very important thing: I started to distract myself as soon as I somehow felt able to do that! I listened to music again, tried to do some light garden work, played computer games, read books and so on... It's very important to find yourself some things, which you really LIKE to do to distract yourself from thinking about yourself and your symptoms constantly!

My husband started to take me out again to parties or just go for a walk and so on. And even if I had some panic attacks (AGAIN: NOT AT ALL AS BAD AS WITH YASMIN!) or I felt weak and anxious during that things, afterwards I felt proud of my, that I had got through this and was still alive! That's how I slowly learned to get back to life again!! And it was so important.

Today I still have times, when I'm feeling very weak (the last 2 days for example I had again some weak muscles and fogginess in my head, as I'm right around the time of ovulating!!) but I try to not let those days get me down too much! I just ask my husband "Will I be better again tomorrow" and he gives me the answer "Yes, you will, and you know it! It's still just your hormones getting back in balance". And that's all I have to hear to feel better and delighted again!

It's so important to have someone around you, who keeps telling you such things (even if it sounds a bit weird...) and it is sometimes the only thing that really helps!! And THEY'RE so DAMN RIGHT!!

It would be so good, if some of the women, who wrote about 1 - 2 years ago here in this forum, just to hear how they're doing now. That could be another help for people like Sophie (or sometimes even me!!) who are still within that Yasmin nightmare and don't believe in getting better with time!! Please write hear all of you out there, keep us updated on how you're doing.

Sophie I again send you a big hug and all the strenght I have today. Believe me, better days are ahead again (well, didn't you have them already within the last few months!!?? Think about it!!)!!

Oh another thing: I started writing a diary about August 2005 (that was about 6 months after stopping Yasmin!) just to have an overview over my symptoms and especially the time they are rising and then getting less again!! That showed me exactly, that everything comes up again around the same time every month! Perhaps that might be one thing to help you, too, Sophie and every other lady out there still suffering!??

I wish you all the best and stay strong everybody!!!

Just like to tell you another thing: I was a singer in a band for about the last 14 years!! I wasn't able to sing in my band for the last 2 years and you know what!? I'm on tour with them again and will be on stage every weekend in November again!! I never thought I'd be able to do this ever again!!!!

So keep your head up everbody and look into a better future!!

Silke

Hi, I was searching on the internet for potential emotional and hormonal side effects to Yasmin because I started taking it 2 weeks and 2 days ago, noticing immediate changes in my physiological and emotional state. The advice nurse of my OBGYN stated that my side effects seemed extreme in comparison to the stated side effects the company warns against. I am so glad to have found other women experiencing similar things.

From the beginning I have experienced nausea daily. I developed severe cystic acne within the first week. My appetite shrunk considerably. I began feeling some shortness of breath and have consistent sleep disturbance. I feel as if there is some type of electric current running through my legs. I guess we could call that anxiety. My body temperature has shifted drastically and out of nowhere I have hot flashes but am only 29 years old. My emotional state is in constant flux. I can be laughing one moment and crying the next.

At the start of the 2nd week I woke up in the middle of the night, looked at my fiance, and decided I wasn't in love with him. In fact, I wanted him to get away from me completely. It was at that point I realized that the only change in my routine had been the addition of Yasmin. I am highly irritable and headaches come on daily towards the end of the day.

I was advised to at least finish this first month cycle if not a full three months. I have just this week to get through before the placebo pills kick in. I will be switching back to Levlen which was good to me for 14 years. I only switched because I had been on the same pill for so long but I am convinced now that if your hormonal balance is right, one should not mess with that. I hope I will not have much transition time before feeling normal again. In addition, I hope that some of these drug companies start disclosing the potential emotional and physiological side effects to changing one's hormonal balance.

Dear Sopie,

you just sound like me around the same time after getting off Yasmin... I exactly know what you're going through, believe me!!

And another thing you can believe me: IT WILL PASS!! I'm sitting here, about 1 year after Yasmin and can't believe myself, that I'm telling you this.... I never thought I'd be able to live a normal life again, because the symptoms I went through were that sever.... Sometimes I thought my life was about to end!! Today I'm able to work again, go out again (wasn't able to even leave my house for shopping or anything for about 4 months around December to April 2005!!). I'm nearly back to a healthy very happy person!! Not 100%, yet, but it's getting better every month!!

After all I went through and all I have read here in this forum it seems to be very normal, that for the first few months after Yasmin you'll feel worse around the time your period starts and sometimes around ovaluation. It's all because of the normal hormonal changes your body has to go through within a cycle. While you are taking a bcp these monthly hormonal changes aren't there in the same intensity as they are without a bcp, so your body has to learn to handle that sometimes very severe changes during a cycle again!!

Hormones are affecting your whole body and chemicals. So it seems, that the hormonal changing during a month is affecting your brain chemicals also (serotonin, and so on...) which can bring on that anxiety symptoms. Sometimes the symptoms while getting back your hormonal balance after stopping a bcp are pretty similar to symptoms some women have during menopause!!

Things that might help: Perhaps you should take some supplements. Magnesium and B-Vitamines seem to be the most helpful things, because they are affecting your nervous system and whole metabolism in a very important way, and bcp is causing a lack of both of them!! If your anxiety seems to be unbearable sometimes, another thing that might help is valerian. It's a mild herbal medicine, which helps you to calm down a bit without making you addicted to it!! Around a few months I always had those pills with me for "the worst case" of a heavy panic attack. And sometimes it already helped to prevent me from such an attack just knowing that I had those valerian medicine with me!

Hope this helps a bit, but please believe: You will not stay in this phase, everything will get lighter and better slightly every month, please stay strong and believe in better and happier times, that definitely are ahead for you!!!

Best wishes and god's bless to you!!

Silke

Hello everyone,

I am so glad to have found this website. This has been the BEST therapy ever... to know that I'm not alone in this. I started taking Yasmin on Jan 1, 2006. To give you some background, I am 27 years old and have always been very healthy. This was the 1st bcp I had ever taken... and what a nightmare it has turned out to be. Within weeks of taking the first pill, my heart would race a mile a minute, I had some shortness of breath, a complete lack of appetite, I was dizzy and sometimes felt like I was in a fog... in short, I was a shadow of myself. I think i gradually got depressed b/c I was so frustrated from feeling like total crap. Finally, i couldn't take it anymore and quit taking the pill (mid-pack) about 6 weeks after I started. I immediately began to feel better. However, a week or so after quitting cold turkey, I started to have some headaches (nothing major) and still feel dizzy and experience shortness of breath from time to time. I still don't feel 100%... I've been off Yasmin for 3 weeks now.

How long did it take you all to feel normal again? I was only on this awful pill for 6 weeks and I feel like it's completely wrecked my hormonal balance. Suffice it to say, I will NEVER recommend Yasmin to anyone!!!! They need to take it off the market. My OB has recommended I use Mircette/Kariva, which has a lower dose of estrogen. I'm not going to take it until my body is back to normal...

Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you, girls, for your support. We WILL get through this!!

Hi Sherry!!

Sad to hear, that you're still not doing better with the weight... But please don't be despaired about what your doc said (1/2 year to let all the symptoms go away...). I've heard from so much women (they've been told so by their doctors!!) that it can last about a year or even longer to get finally back to a normal hormonal balance and fitness and weight (well, I think I've posted this already a few days ago)!! It's so different in every woman!! No doctor should say or perhaps even swear that everything has to be fine again after 6 months off a bcp!!

That's the only thing that keeps me up, when I'm brought down again by all these horrible things that happened to me within the last 3 years and especially withing the last 9 months... (Still got no regular period after getting off Yasmin in february this year!!!).

And I'm afraid that until my regular period is finally back, there'll be either no chance to get off all that "pudding" I've gained, not to talk about the withdrawal symptoms of Yasmin that I'm still hit by from time to time...

So Sherry, and everyone else out there, stay strong and don't lose hope!! I'll try and give it a year as some women said and see, what I'm looking like then and if my scale is finally moving someway down... That means for me, another 6 months (I think about may or june 2006...) with lots of heavy bones to carry every day which gets me sometimes really out of breath... absolutely different from my old self...

And please: It would be so helpful to hear, if there are women out there, that went through the same torture as many of us (the weight gain AND all of the other horrible symptoms) and perhaps are finally doing better after months or even years!! It's so important to share every information anyone can give us about this nightmare!!

Take care!!

Silke