Know what you mean symptoms and conditions

Was put on Toprol XL while in the hospital. Taking 50 mg along with 50 mg of Vasotec. Discontinued the Vasotec because of cough. Put on Cozaar. Dr also prescribed hydrochlorothiazide which I decided not to take. For a month I was lethargic, no appetite or thirst, worsened sleep problems, and MAJOR depression. Started to research and decided it was the Toprol. On Wednesday I cut the dosage in half, by Saturday I started feeling more like my old self. By the following Wednesday I was back to normal as far as I could tell. Cut the dosage in half again and a week later, stopped Toprol all together. Best decision I ever made!!!!!

I started taking this pill about 2 weeks ago. The very first night I woke up with awful nausea. That continued for about 3 days. Like some of you, I feel like I'm not even myself anymore. I cry for no reason at all. My fiance says he doesn't even know who I am anymore..I'm SO moody! This is the first birth control I've been on, so I don't know what else to compare it to...but so far I don't like it. It's made my face break out a little too, which never happens. And I do feel bloated a lot. This sucks.

I am just finishing my 2nd month of this pill. I have been on numerous BC’s since the age 17. I have had some good ones and some bad ones but usually the side effects that caused me to go off the pills was cramping and/or spotting. Recently I had been on Yasmin (not Yaz) for about 4 years. In the past year I had gotten over 10 yeast infections due to the Yasmin. Prior to this past year though, Yasmin was great. Anyway, my GYN switched me to this and I am on my second month. The first month it was like I had my period everyday for the month. I truly don’t know when I actually had my period. My poor husband, I kept telling him “I think I have my period again.” Then when I thought it was gone b/c nothing for a few days, it would come back. But I decided to stick it out. I called my GYN and the nurse said “try to stick it out for three months, it usually gets better.” So I am. And this month, its starting again. I am suppose to get my period in a week but 3 days ago I started bleeding again. But I also have been feeling very lethargic, depressed and I have gained weight. I actually did not even think it was because of the change in the pill until I came across this website today. But I truly have many of the same symptoms you all are talking about. Mostly, the tiredness, weight gain and depressed feeling. But I have others. I have NEVER been over 135lbs in my life now I am at 140 and I haven’t changed a thing. I certainly could exercise more, but that hasn’t changed. In fact, I have been trying to eat LESS to lose this weight but I keep going up. Now I am thinking it may be due to this pill. I am glad I came across this website. I am going to go to my GYN before the next month and say I want off. The one good thing is… I haven’t had a yeast infection since being on this pill! I was getting two a month at times! I am truly glad I came across this website or else I would have never known. Thank you all for sharing your comments about your experiences (both positive and negative).

Not good news. The attorney who was handling my case against the clinic and the nurse called today to say that we'd have to drop the case for lack of evidence. Absolutely incredible! I had the shot about 2 years ago, and the indentation is still horrible looking and painful. It has filled in to a small degree, but is still discolored and very noticeable.
Because it was used for a purpose that is indicated in the drug literature (allergies), the shot was generally in the right area (gluteal) and we can't prove what needle was used or how deep it was injected, I'm screwed. Even though I was given 80mg...too bad!
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it looks like it'll be really tough to win this type of case. Bastards!

Hi all. I was diagnosed 3 or 4 years ago with epilepsy. So far, I have on about 5 different epilepsy meds. I can't recall the first 3 but had to get off them because of physical side-effects. My last one was Dilatin which worked pretty well for a year. I slept great - 8 hours on the dot. Then, I started to have short seizures that began to successively lengthen. So, I was switched to Keppra.

I started at 250mg/2xday on Keppra and now am up to 1000mg/2xday. I also started taking B6 100mg/day. A couple of days after starting Keppra, I started to get slight headaches. These went away after about 2 weeks. I also got a numb patch on the same place on the bottom of each foot. When I went up to 500mg/2xday, the numb patch spread, I started to feel off-balance, and I started to get the "rage" symptoms. I went up to 1000mg/2xday and most of the bottom of my two feet went numb and cold, I began to get slight tingling in my fingers and a mild case of tightness in my chest. I still felt off-balance and the rage symptoms were there. It began to get hard to get to sleep and I would get up unnecessarily early and not be able to fall back asleep. I want off this med. Maybe it works great for other people but for me it I take it at the levels I need to, I won't be able to work or do much of anything.

Kim,

you've mentioned that problems with the b-vitamines. I had a pretty similar experience with it. I didn't know if it was just in my head or really caused by the vitamines. Everytime I took one of the vitamin b (complex) pills about 2 hours later I felt something like uneasily, nervous and a dizzy. It was a very weird feeling that went away again after a few hours more.

I find it interesting, that you seem to have that feelings, too... So there must be a connexion..... Damn why can't anyone finally find out what that pill really is doing with our bodies and our metabolism!!!???

Your post really made my cry now kim! I know so much how you are feeling right now and reading all those things makes me remember, how I had been feeling about 1,5 to 2 years ago.... Life seemed so empty and meaningless, it was just a "being there somehow", not a "life". I exactly know what you mean with every single word you wrote!

But Kim believe me: You'll get out of there and one day you'll be able to do all the things you've mentioned again!! I'm so sure!! Try to believe us here, we really know what we're talking about. I never thought I'd be able again to sing in my band, I totally quitted thinking about. And now I'm back and still can't believe it!!

And try not to care too much about what other people, who DON'T really know you and your problems, say!! I know it sounds hard, but caring about their words, too, only makes it worse!! I know how they look at you and ask you, how you're doing, and the only thing they really like to hear is "Well, I'm doing completely fine, thanks...". And everything that is different from that they simply can't understand!! I've experienced that so many times...

Kim, also keep in touch with dejay and keep posting here, I think to have contact to other victims of that nightmare pill is really the only thing that really can help not to loose our mind totally!!

I'll think of you and pray for you both and all of the other women, especially for those, who are feeling as bad as we did or do and STILL don't know WHAT is going on!! I fear there are thousands of them out there, sitting in psychical clinics, taking thousands of pills that don't help and the only thing that really COULD help, would be getting off that Yasmin, but they simply don't know and their doctor's don't WANT to know!!!

Best wishes and big hugs to all of you!!
Silke (... eyes filled with tears)

sophie,
I too experienced bad headaches when I went off yasmin. They would hurt in my shoulders up my neck into the top of my head and pain in the back of my eyes. It was sharp stabbing pains and a feeling of someone hitting the top of my head with a big rubber mallet. I would get so upset and cry and this seemed to make them even worse where I felt like my head was going to explode, I could even feel pulsing up around my temples. I remember getting one bad headache when I was on the yasmin (I was on it for three months and this was around about the second month) but they really got worse when I quit taking the yasmin. They would come and go every so often and this continued for about 2or 3 months, usually they would be worse around the week before my period was due to start. I do not get them anymore. I have been off yasmin for 5 months now. But I think they quit aroung the 2nd or 3rd month off. I know they were due to
the yasmin because I never ever have had such bad
headaches like that in my whole life!! I know what you mean about feeling like your going crazy, and depression!! Oh I felt so terrible. Please believe me when I tell you it will get better, but its going to take time. There are going to be days when you feel better and think ok eveything will improve from here on, but then the next day or in a few days you feel just as crappy as you did before, sometimes even worse. Just to know though that this is part of the process is helpful. I can even pinpoint a day that I felt the heavy "cloud" lift from my brain. I quit yasmin at the end of Nov. and I felt that cloud lift on about Jan. 20th. Now I tried going back on my regular birth control I had been on previous to yasmin for the month of december, and the first part of Jan. (I took the first 4 pills) and things still seemed bad and not to be getting better, so I quit all birth control all together, and then I started feeling better emotionally at the end of Jan. so what I am saying is, if you are not taking any birth control pills now you may start to feel better sooner than I did because you are not still putting the hormones into your body. I also felt a lot of the same symptoms you wrote, I was ALWAYS soooo cold, especially my hands, feet, nose, even when other people were hot, I would be bundled up in a blanket. I was severely panicked, and anxious mostly I think about whats going to happen next. I also had alternating diarrhea and constipation and my stomach would make these horrendously loud churning sounds! I also experienced mood swings and I didnt want to do anything or go anywhere anymore. I felt very self conscious about my looks because my face seemed to be changing before my eyes, my skin was sallow and I dont know how else to describe it but depressed. It has gotten somewhat better but not completely. In addition to cold skin my skin felt dry everywhere. And yes of course no sex drive. Also do not be alarmed if you start to lose more hair than normal. That happened to me as well when I quit the yasmin. my scalp also became sensitive especially in certain spots sometimes and then I would get little bumps on my head like an oil gland breaking through. Just know that you are not going bald you are still growing hair, you just losing a lot for a while. I took a prenatal vitamin everyday because I feel the folic acid and vitamins helped my hair grow faster. If It does happen try not to let it alarm you because thats the last thing your poor body needs now is more stress!!! Believe me, it has enough. Another thing I have been doing that I wish I had done sooner is acupuncture. The doctor I see says my body needs to get back in balance and that my liver needs to heal. It also seems to help with the depression. Dont get me wrong I feel better than dec and jan but Im still trying to get through some of the other side effects and Im in month 5. One other thing, Dr Lee has a book out called what your doctor may not tell you about menopause, dont let the title scare you, but a lot of the symptoms we are experiencing are signs of estrogen dominance. I am having my saliva tested to see what my estrogen and progesterone levels are, even though the doctors have tested them twice now and say they are in normal ranges, the saliva tests are supposed to be more accurate than blood draws. If you want to know how to get these tests write me back and Ill give you the website address I got mine from. I hope this helps. Write back and let me know how your doing.
Bitter RN.

Hi Sleepless...
I know what you mean about not being able to sleep while on Yasmin. I never correlated my insomnia with the BCP (Yasmin) until I went off of it and finally found that I can rest comfortably with the help of a little medication. I am now on Effexor XR 37.5 (lowest dosage). I will not be increasing the dosage. I actually have anxiety (caused by Yasmin, I had a major attack on 12-21-05 and none since) and NOT depression, although Effexor treats depression as well. The doc tried putting me on Paxil and it did not agree with me. After the attack, I took .125 of Xanax as needed, but I no longer take Xanax.
They feel that I will not be on Effexor long, just long enough for my hormones to rebalance after stopping Yasmin on 1-21-06.
I had some major side effects from Yasmin. Some were worse than others. I needed to get off of it so that I could return to being myself and take care of my 2 kids and be a wife to my husband. Yasmin took that all away from me...

Hang in there. Make sure that you see a doc that you are comfortable with and is above all a good listener. Keep us posted.

I have very high blood pressure. I was on a beta blocker for years (my heart runs extremely fast) to slow the heart down. Too many side effects - asked the doctor to change. First of all NEVER go off of a beta blocker cold turkey (yuk). Anyway, my heart is really fast (I am on 240 mg). It seems that my heart still is running extremely fast and I have developed the most horrible pain in both of my arms. It is from my elbows down to my fingertips. It feels like someone is squeezing my arm really tight. My fingers are tingly. Is this a possible side effect or has anybody ever experienced this before?????

My son has been on this at high doses with no tapering off. He doesn't sleep, and is very moody. He has been on it once a month for the last 3 months with little to no improvement in his asthma. He has other meds as well but they seem to think this is the answer.

Wanting to know what you mean when you refer to moon face.