Middle ear symptoms and conditions

I am so relieved to find this site and others like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I started Yasmin (by a mistake at the pharmacy! i had been taking Yaz) on Jan. 3, 2007. Within a month, I had an AWFUL COLD and thought, Oh, it's cold season. But the cold didn't go away, and I developed a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION which led to a PERFORATED EARDRUM! It was incredibly painful, and I was in tears. I had NEVER HAD AN EAR INFECTION BEFORE, but at that point, it didn't even occur to me that it could possibly have anything to do with Yasmin. Then, in mid-March, I started feeling SHORT-OF-BREATH in the evenings especially, but I wasn't exercising or anything. This worried me, but I chalked it up to stress. After a week, tho, I decided to google "Yasmin side effects" and found so many women with similar issues, and an explanation of how the pill effects ALL fluid levels in your body, including your middle ear.
I just wrote a letter to the USFDA asking them to take it off the market. This pill has serious side effects, and because of it, I missed work, classes, and had to pay doctor bills out-of-pocket.
I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT YASMIN CAUSED MY EAR INFECTIONS. How could it possibly be coincidence that I'd never had an ear infection before, and after one month, I had not one, but 2?!?
Also - I've felt ANXIETY and have been MOODY - but who wouldn't when they have a double ear infection and perforated eardrum? ;)
I threw the pills away immediately and will see my gynie soon. If anyone's thinking about getting off of it, DO!!! I'm so glad I did!

oh thank Goddess!

i have been reading through all of your comments and finally i know what has been going on with me these last few months. i am on my third month of taking yasmin, and in this time i am told that my personality has taken a complete about-face. i have become extremely mean, irritable, uncontrollable crying and rage, sensitivity to absolutely everything. i got on the pill to help with my period as i tend to have crazy PMS that begins a week before my period starts. but since i began yasmin, i feel sick to my stomach every day that i am on it. the nausea is horrible and in fact worse than my PMS from before.

i have been getting these splitting headaches that only began when i started yasmin, as well as horrible ENT problems that have taken me back and forth to doctors since i began the pill. although i didn't make the connection until now. in fact, my sore throat and sinus infection caused the chrystals in my middle ear to come loose and have been contributing to the dizziness, vertigo and constant nausea these last months. on top of all that, i have been having this horrible itching in my groin area that normally i would equate to a yeast infection, save for the fact that i have no mucus to speak of! another woman reported this very same thing!

something i did not read about is a recurrance of vaginismus (a disorder where one's PC muscles involuntarily contract at the first sign of vaginal penetration) since i have been on this pill. i used to have primary vaginismus after several traumas but have been over that for years. just a month after beginning the pill, sex with my husband has been extremely painful to the point we have not been able to do it at all. at first i thought it was because of a vaginal infection, i am prone to candidiasis, but i have no other symptoms than the pain and the external itching which both seem to have come from nowhere and are not related to a bacterial infection.

wow. i thought i was going crazy and i think my husband was being driven crazy by my erratic behaviour in turn. as i was reading through the comments so much of what has been said is exactly what i am going through! i feel so much better just knowing what has been going on and what i have to do to stop it.

thank you so much for this site! really, thank you so much. i am going to discontinue use at once and just deal with the things my body throws me in a natural way.

good luck to you all in the healing process. i will be thinking of you.

all the best,

sezin

I've been on Lipitor @ 20 grams for several years. Because of arterio diseases, my doctor upped me to 40 grams. Within a week I began to have a series of near seizure like episodes wherein my right leg collapsed. This lasted only seconds then within a minute a second such seizure. I had four such incidents then it stopped for 10 days, then the same thing again. Additionally, I have had the right hand go rather spastic on two occasions.There was no paralysis involved. Because I had cardioangioplasty and a stent inserted at the beginning of August, I thought it might be an after effect. This was discounted by my cardiologist. In early July, my left carotid artery totally occluded. My vascular surgeon was puzzled as to why this happened because a year ago testing showed only 25% stenosis, but doesn't see any relationship to what may be neuro problems. Today I took an EEG prior to seeing my neuro doctor tomorrow. Only because I overheard a man and his wife talking at the hospital yesterday, did the magic words come out about his having the exact same symptoms as I have encountered. I'd never said a word about my experiences until I heard him. His cardiologist had taken him off Lipitor. Additionally, he noted a reddening of my skin low on my forehead and recently I've had difficulty with pustules breakout on my head. This gentleman had the same trouble. All interesting. I've been at the Internet all day.
My son in law went on Lipitor a few months ago. Like me, he's a big guy. My daughter told me he is encountering difficulty with his middle ear. Anyone know anything about this potential side effect. Lejacle

I was prescribed guaifen to drain fluid from my eustachion canal or middle ear. It has made me feel like I am jumping out of my skin. I will not take another pill of this stuff.

I began taking Levaquin, 500 mg @ 1-per-day as an substitute dosage over Amoxicillin after a follow-up visit to my personal physician. I was given the Amoxicillin as part of a regime after a visit to the emergency room the Sunday before with a swollen face due to an outer ear infection--the attending called it: "Swimmer's Ear gone Wild."

He prescribed Levaquin, to knock out one ear infection I had contracted the week before (which wasn't healing fast enough) as well as a new infection (middle ear) which began to bother me on Thursday.

I am an avid cyclist and felt good and fit enough to participate in a 100 mile bike ride on Sunday. 62 miles into that ride I had to retire due to extreme leg cramps (both legs) of which I had not experienced in my 25+ years of cycling.

In fact, it's Tuesday, I'm back at work and the legs are still sore.

I know some of you will say I should not have gone riding, but I am physically fit and always ride with a heart monitor to keep my pulse in the proper range.

Other side-effects include bouts of anxiety, followed by depression, insommnia, and diarrhea.

I will continue to take the meds, but will refrain from riding (except for shorter distances.) until the infection subsides.

Thanks

Pain in the middle ear