Low potassium levels symptoms and conditions

Hi guys. I am so glad I found this site. I am 29 and I have been on Yasmin for four years. In the last few months I have toned up and shed a few pounds and all of a sudden last week I got home and felt a tightening in my legs that I had never felt before. Then a tingling in my left arm and I had trouble swallowing and breathing. I am a very healthy person so I freaked out and went to the ER for the first time in my life. After the blood work, EKG, MRI and stress test they told me I was normal, except for low potassium levels and mentioned that I should go to a neurologist. I also thought I must be allergic to something but all the foods I had been eating were the same as before. Well it happened again tonight so I went online because there was no way I was going to spend more money in the ER to have them tell me it was nothing. After reading all the comments on this page I realized it is amazing how many other symptoms that I didn't realize also correlated to the pill. My hair has been falling out at the root like never before and I just recently developed troubles with eating tomato based foods. I haven't been sleeping good lately either and I started crying uncontrollably for no reason. Well I am throwing away my Yasmin and I can't believe that the doctors in the ER aren't mentioning the side effects of this birth control.

Started with a Pred pak for a sinus infection. Made my heart race and had tach and early heartbeat, which kept me from sleeping. Went to Cardiologist. Several doctors denied that the Pred would cause the rapid heartbeat. Then the Cardiologist did an echo and found a pericardial effusion and some weird spots on my lungs. They suspected lung cancer which may cause the effusion, so I had surgery to do a pericardial window and a lung biopsy. Then a pulmonologist decided to put me on Pred again...steady dosage...because she didn't know what else to do. (Didn't have lung cancer) I didn't have any more funny heartbeats, so maybe the pred didn't cause it after all. But I've gained 40 pounds. My hair has grown faster, and I've gotten some facial hair (not supposed to have that, being a female)...which I call fur. Moon face with cheeks that are hard, muscle cramps, can't sleep, but once I do go to sleep, I can't wake up. Tired all the time, headaches, joint pain-sometimes severe, dry skin, generally bad attitude, with very little patience, low potassium levels which add to my muscle cramping problems, difficulty swallowing, indigestion which I've never had, with painful and burning reflux. And occasionally when I eat, I have the rapid heartbeat again. I go in search of food like I'm going to store it in my thighs for winter. Anything you eat will turn to fat, including protein. Can't wait to get off this stuff which will take until June of next year. Then my doctor says it will be 3 months before all these effects wear off. No one told me I would get fur.

I took Yaz for 7 days. In that amount of time, I began experience the most horrific symptoms I have experienced in my life. They included: chest pains, nausea, vomiting, arm pain, and the feeling of imminent death (these caused me to go to the emergency room since they are classic heart attack symptoms for a woman); leg and arm weakness; lethargy; migrane; panic attacks; severe insomnia, diarrhea, and vision problems that caused my contact lens perscription to change and night time vision had profound halos when driving, etc. I was literally unable to stomach any normal food portions I was so nauseous. I normally run 3 miles and could not even make it to the gym for weeks. I was afraid to stay home alone with my 4 year-old and 17 month-old for fear something would happen to me while they were in my care. At the ER they found low potassium levels (which makes no sense given Yaz has a potassium sparring diuretic component). In another blood test, I had elevated iron, which I have never had previously.

I am 35 and have been on bcp's periodically for 12-15 years. I have never had any of these symptoms prior to this experience. I have never had anxiety, depression, or any other underlying health condition. I immediately stopped taking the pills once I made the connection. So far, my recovery has been slow, but at least it is improving. I resent that my ob/gyn and internist both said that the pill would be out of my system in 24 hours. The effects are clearly long lasting (I am approximately 7 weeks off of Yaz).

Finally, my eye doctor, of all people, said that he has seen and heard of people having problems similar to mine and that it was understandable that I would have anxiety when I felt like I was dying from a heart attack. No one perscribing this medication bothered to tell me of the diuretic component or any component that was going to affect depression. I am attorney and have always thrived under pressure, not turned into a panic attack ridden mess like this medication caused.

As for the previous post who stated these are common symptoms described by women, at 35, I know the difference between my normal body function and the hell that began when I started taking Yaz. Unless you have experienced this, then you clearly would not understand. I appreciate that Yaz and Yasmin have worked well for some, but that clearly has not been my personal experience. So, I write this not to discourage someone who has had a positive experience, but to provide support for anyone else who has suffered like I have.

LOW POTASSIUM LEVELS,DIZZINESS,NAUSEA,VOMITING,FEELING FAINT/FAINTING,MUSCLE CRAMPS/SPASMS,FREQUENT URINATION,FLU-LIKE SYMPTOMS,TIREDNESS,WEAK,HEART PALPATATIONS; I AM ONLY 30 AND FEEL LIKE A 70 YEAR OLD WOMAN.I HAVE TO HAVE MY POTASSIUM LEVEL CHECKED ALL THE TIME BECAUSE IT KEEPS BOTTOMING OUT AND I WILL PASS OUT AND MY PRESSURE GETS TO LOW.BUT I NEED A BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION WITH A DIURETIC.WHAT ELSE CAN I USE I ASK YOU?

At first, I experienced a rapid heart rate and tightness in my chest. Within the last two years, I begin to itch really bad and i experienced very bad leg cramps, blurred vision, low potassium levels and now i'm having serious stomach problems.

I began taking Yasmin 4 years ago, about 7 months after I had my first baby. My ob-gyn suggested Yasmin because of it's ability to prevent water weight gain, and since I had just gained 10 pounds postpartum with Depo-Provera (very scary drugi ndeed!!), I agreed to try Yasmin. I was 30 at the time and had been on BCPs since I was 18, so I didn't think Yasmin would be any different. (Wrong!) Because I was a new mom, I attributed my negative side effects (lethargy, awakening to go pee every night, dark circles under my eyes that prompted people to ask me if I felt ok all the time because I looked worn out, depression, not feeling at all like my normal self, waist/hips/thigh size expanded, hair trigger temper, or crying easily, feeling as though I was in a dazed state or sometimes about to explode, increase in blood pressure, massive hair loss during showering, increased thirst, and problems with severe incapacitating diarrhea along with a resulting weight loss of 10 pounds in less than 2 days, and or vomiting periodically, low potassium levels for which I was prescribed potassium supplements, and anxiety) to motherhood. Unfortunately, I could not find any info on these side effects until recently, so I thought I would just have to live with my problems and hope I would get better. Then, I saw on a website that Yasmin was on a list of drugs that should be banned by the FDA, and I searched for negative side effects, and found this website. That day in March 2006 I threw out my remaining pack of Yasmin, and I'm happy to report 3 months later that I am feeling so much better! I now sleep through the night, my blood pressure has returned to normal. I am anxiety-free. My vomiting /diarrhea has resolved much in part to daily yogurt consumption. But the best part is that I'm no longer angry (bitchy) at everyone and everything and I don't cry like a pregnant woman would. I can concentrate and I don't have spaced out feelings. My hair loss has returned to normal. I recognize the person looking out from a mirror as me now. Last but not least, I have lost 3 inches so far from my waist and 3 pounds of weight. Yay! What is truly scary about this drug is how it effects the kidneys and adrenal glands in a negative manner. I do hope I haven't done any irreversible damage to my organs. Yasmin is toxic and should be banned by the FDA. As someone who works in a medical laboratory setting, I wonder how the drug was approved in the first place. I guess as usual, women don't get the repect of the pharma industry. We have to fight for our rights for safe birth control methods. I am currently using the PG/53 fertility tester as my birth control and so far have been pleased with it. Thanks for allowing me to share my story!

@ Guest, #12837 (water retention):

I've got the same problems with water retention after Yasmin and I'm feeling horrible. Looking into the mirror shows a completely other figure and person as I was before this horror trip!!

I had been thinking about a water pill, too, but at last I figured out, that perhaps it would be better to wait on and let my body recover by itself. And in my family doctor's opinion all the water will go away when my body is back in balance after this Yasmin horror. Surely it may take months to get there, but after I had been putting so much Yasmin poison into my body for over 5 years I don't want to go on taking chemicals and perhaps making it worse and worse...

Yasmin has got a diuretic in it. So during taking Yasmin your body got diswatered every day and every day. So I suppose that after getting off Yasmin all the cells of your body, which had gotten used to being diswatered all the time, are now absorbing the more water they ever did before just like a dried out sponge!! Perhaps that's the reason for this horrible bloating of our whole bodies.

Another way would be to get your potassium levels checked. Low potassium levels also can be causing water retention and many other symptoms most of the women here are suffering from after Yasmin. I read, that Yasmin interferes your electrolytes, minerals and vitamines and in some women in a very heavy way. So after getting off Yasmin there may be an imbalance in all that too!!

Other things that should be checked out (or by yourself taken as a supplement) is your blood levels of magnesium, zinc, b-vitamines and potassium (as already mentioned above), cause Yasmin can cause a total lack of all that and that can cause many of the withdrawal effects of Yasmin as anxiety, lack of energy, muscle fatigue, nervouseness, depression, and so on!!

If you're not sure, if the mentioned happens to you, too, you should search the internet for symptoms of that mineral- and vitamine lack. Perhaps you may find a solution for your problems there!!

For that reasons at the moment I am taking agnus castus to get my hormones back in balance (didn't have a period since easter this year!!), magnesium, zinc (which can help to get your normal cycle back, too!!), potassium and a complex of b-vitamines in hope to help the after Yasmin symptoms to go away (still got muscle fatigue sometimes, nervousness, anxiety and a little dizziness, but all in a very low way, not at all as heavy as during taking Yasmin!!).

I hope my little researches can help some of you getting better again soon!!

We'll get our lives back, believe it!!! It just takes very much patience from each of us and big support and understanding from our family and friends!!

All the best and a big hug to every Yasmin victim out there!!