Serious relationship symptoms and conditions

I've been on Yasmin for about a year and a half now... This is my first time really using birth control. I tried BC in my teens but hated the side effects so I got off them right away. Now that I am in a serious relationship and we're both in agreement we don't want to get pregnant until after we're married, I decided to start BC. I've had a few side effects but didn't really think much about them until I went for my annual pap last week. My doctor asked how the Yasmin was going. I told him that I've noticed I have little to no sex drive. He basically said that's not typical for Yasmin. I decided to get online and research side effects, that's when I came across this website. After reading several of the responses, something just clicked... I have many of the same symptoms!

I have never in my life experienced migraines until I started Yasmin. Fortunately I've only had a few since I started but nevertheless, not fun. I do however get frequent headaches. While I'm on the subject of my head, my memory seems to have slightly diminished. I often have a hard time remembering the simplest of words, causing me to misspeak often. I even have a difficult time remembering what I did a few days before! I've always had a very good memory! Has anyone else experienced difficulty with your memory??

About 4 mos after being on Yasmin I had a really weird uncomfortable pain just above my inside ankle. A few days later that pain had traveled up to the inside middle portion of my calf. At this point the spot where the pain resided was now discolored, looked almost like a bruise. Within a few hours the pain had moved up my leg just below my knee, still on the inside of my leg, again discolored. To make a long story short I went to my doctors office and he said I had a blood clot in my leg. He told me to keep my leg elevated and apply heat that it should be okay. I haven't had any bad cases like this again but I do occasionally get a similar pain in my leg but the pain seems to subide after a day or so. Ladies, if you experience similar pains and/or discoloring on the back of your leg(s) make sure you see your Dr. This can be deep vein thrombosis which are dangerous blood clots, they can cause pulmonary embolism's- blood clots in the lungs.

In addition I've had many other side effects including: little to no sex drive, severe dryness down below (kind of causes problems in the bedroom...), slight vision problems (I usually have near perfect vision, now I often feel like my vision is blurry), odd colored periods (brownish colored), sticky mucusy periods, a very sharp yet dull and uncomfortable pain in my right breast (at least once a month), frequent Urinary Tract Infections, mood swings (had a bad one this morning, threw a fit because my hair took forever to dry- so trivial, right?), severe melasma (hyperpigmentation) on my upper forehead and the top of both cheekbones, and last but certainly not least very low energy.

I actually have a follow-up appt this afternoon with my Dr. I am going to ask him about other options for birth control. Thank you to all of you for writing about your symptoms! Your comments have really helped! Good luck to all of you!

I am 25 years old and have been on nuvaring since July of 2007 (so 2 full years now). I didn't really start to notice any symptoms until June of 2008. I didn't have any of the weight gain (I actually lost weight--probably due to a battery of other side effects I'm now noticing-- I was 125 in college and am 114 today).

In June 2008 my periods started to get REALLY BAD! I mean I would put a tampon in and an hour later be leaking like a river. I was at a movie one night and actually had to tie my sweatshirt around my waist and run to the bathroom because I had bleed through my jeans SOOOOOOO bad. For the last year I've had to change my tampon every 2-3 hours and always, always, always use super sized pads to make sure I don't bleed through any more clothes! I've noticed clotting the past few months as well. Before that I had NEVER passed clots during my period.

Since April of 2008 I've been in a serious relationship with a loving man who recently became my fiance. We are deeply in love, but I have ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE to have sex, none. This is worsened by the fact that sex causes me UNIMAGINABLE pain and burning to the point I try to avoid it at all costs (we've tried condoms, water based lubes, silicon lubes, gels, you name it, all to no avail!). I went to the OB/GYN in February of this year (2009) to tell her about my painful sex experience, because this was something completely new to me. She said I had vestibulitis (very similar to vaginitis) and gave me pills and creams to take everyday twice a day for the rest of like forever to try and help me. From reading some of these posts I'm thinking that getting rid of the nuvaring might just help more than those pills and creams (and the nuvaring probably gave me the damn vestibulitis to begin with!). I am also hoping to get any of my sex drive back at all. Please!!

The past two weeks is where the headaches, neck pain, dizziness, fatigue, nausea have really started to become noticeable. I almost couldn't finish making the bed yesterday and I've had a headache and neck pain for the past 8 days straight! I am constantly tired and have realized looking back that I've been constantly tired for pretty much the past two years. I've also realized that I've had some mild depression for the past two years as well. I pretty much haven't wanted to get out of bed or eat anything for the past few months and have no desire or energy to do pretty much anything.

I also think I have the mood swing issue. I cry, and I mean to the point I can't speak, over the stupidest things. And the crying comes on with no warning. I can be talking and fine one minute and a sobbing mess the next. I get really angry with my fiance for what seems like trivial things a lot lately. I get very irritable really easily and it seems. This is strange for me because in the past I have normally been able to stay pretty stable and even keel emotionally.

I took my ring out today, even though I really have like 10 days left for this month. Back when I was 19 and started on the Pill I did so because my cramps and periods were so bad I missed class or work. I am hoping that the next couple months aren't quite that bad, but I'm hoping to detox my system of this ring and start over. AND GET MY LIFE BACK!

I started the ring because of it's easy "put it in and forget about it for three weeks" convenience. When I was younger I was always forgetting to take the pill. I am not sure what kind of birth control I'll go back to when in a couple months, but I know it isn't going to be this EVIL RING!!!

I've been on the Nuvaring for about a year now. At first there were no symptoms and I actually felt a lot better since it made my periods shorter and lighter with less cramps. Recently, my skin has been acting up with rashes on my forearms and between my thighs and even sometimes on my face and lower abdomen! I've always had issues with my skin because I have eczema but it's never acted up this way before and the last time i had it anywhere but where my arm bends was when I was 12!
My attitude has also taken a turn for the worse, I used to be very active and play sports all the time, but since using the Nuvaring my body has changed so much! My flat stomach is gone. :( I feel like I'm always bloated and my weight went from 120 to 135. I attributed all these changes to maybe being disinterested in playing sports or maybe because I'm in a serious relationship, but after reading all these posts I'm sure I'm getting off of the Nuvaring. I haven't had a lessend sex-drive, but I don't orgasm as much as I think is normal. I also had really curly hair before, I thought it straightening out was maybe because I was straightening it too much, so I stopped using the straightener and started using a curl boosting shampoo and conditioner, its been 2 months and I still have not even one curl.

Hi I am 21 years old and have been on the Nuvaring for about a year now. I have experienced many of the symptoms you have all spoken about. Hair loss, decreased sex drive( which scares me because i am so young and i am in a serious relationship in which my boyfriend has a high sex drive ( he 22) and he noticed my sex drive dwindling and wanted to know what changed. It has been a huge problem in our relationship.) I have not experienced weight gain that i have noticed. But i experience extreme pain/burning during and after sex. One of the side effects of the nuvaring is vaginitis which has pain n burning as its side effects. I have been to several doctors for the pain as it is disrupting my sex life and making sex unbearable at times. However they all dismissed the nuvaring as the cause and suggested that it may just be a mindset and i need to get into sex more. Which i think is bull im 21 and very much in love with my boyfriend and have a healthy sexual relationship so having a negative mental state word that seems ludacris to me. I have had std sti blood tests and been tested for yeast and blatter infections. Nothing seems to be wrong with me but i know i have never experienced this before and the nuvaring has been a constant through the pain. If anyone has experienced anything like this please let me know.

I have been on NR for 3 weeks now. I'm 23 and haven't taken any form of BC in a few years but now that I am in a serious relationship I wanted to protect myself. I was so excited about NR because I didn't have to remember to take a pill everyday and my GYN told me that there are virtually no side effects. YEAH RIGHT!!!!! I thought I was crazy for the way I have been feeling lately but after reading all of these posts I am soooo relieved to learn that i'm not!

The first side effect I noticed that came on immediately and has not stopped since I started NR is a cramping feeling in my lower abdomen. It feels like period cramps only not quite as bad. It doesn't really hurt it's just annoying. The second side effect I noticed which started about a week after I began NR was that I lost my sex drive almost entirely! My boyfriend and I just spent a week on a cruise together alone and we didn't even have sex once!! The other side effect I have is migraine headaches. I got my first one the 2nd week after starting NR and they are horrible!!! I'm also constantly hungry! I have gained 10 lbs in the last 3 weeks! And every time after I eat I get really nauseous for about an hour or two. The last thing is that I have been super moody lately. Things that normally don't bother me I am getting really irritated and annoyed about. I'm already on medication for anxiety and mild depression which I started way before the NR so I know that the NR is what is causing it.

I was recently tested for a hormone imbalance which came back negative a few months ago so all of these problems HAVE to be coming from the NR. They all started within the last 3 weeks which is when I started using the NR.

For any woman out there who is considering taking NR PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE seriously think about. I have heard more bad than good about this product!!!

I have been using the Nuvaring for almost three years and I am thinking of taking it out in a few days and leaving it out for good. I never thought I had any real side effects until I started reading other people's reviews. I thought everything I was feeling was just me being me, but now I know better. Here is the long list of my side effects: weight gain, depression, severe anxiety, painful intercourse, discharge, itching, migraines, pimples, and zero sex drive. I have been with my boyfriend for almost three years. In fact, I got on birth control because we were beginning a serious relationship and I did not want to use condoms. Our sex life is nonexistent at this point. When we had sex is was good, but it was painful too. I am 27 years old and I have started having the attitude of "I could go the rest of my life without sex". I don't want my boyfriend to even touch me at this point and this is definitely putting strain on our relationship. Last night we were discussing the situation and he said to go off of birth control and we would use condoms. Like I said in the beginning I am taking it out. I am a bit anxious about going off birth control because I do not want any kids right now, but being on this birth control I am practicing another type of birth control abstinence. Doesn't make sense does it? The other side effects I mentioned are also affecting our relationship. This is a serious relationship, I am going to marry this man; we have picked out rings and that is why it is so important that I remedy this problem. The discharge side effect was putting a damper on our sex life in the beginning before I lost all interest. I never had a migraine in my life and rarely had even a headache, but I have had two migraines in the last few years and get headaches more often. I had a random pimple every once in a while, but now I have them everyday. I have gained weight and can’t seem to lose any. I wake up in the mornings with my mind racing due to the anxiety and I have not felt genuinely happy in a long time. The depression has made me even think of suicide several times and my life is fine. I am looking forward to being myself again. I hope this helps someone.

I have been in a serious relationship for 5 years I was on the pill for at 7 years when we got married in June we decided it was time for me to stop taking the pill.. I had my first Gardasil shot and everything was fine just really sore injection site and sore arm. When i went to get my 2nd shot they made me sign all the paper work again to get the shot.. I asked it it was standard procedure to resign these papers and she said no why.. I said because i have done this once and this is my 2nd shot.. She insisted that it was my first. When i got done i asked the lady at the desk and she said she had no record of it and i was like well something is wrong here you may have no proof but i know because remember my arm hurting.. She finally had to call my ins co. to see if they billed me once before.. Lo and behold i was right! I just go t my 3rd shot right about the time my period was going to be here and it has been 2 weeks and I still haven't gotten my period which is really unusual because I am always on time.. I have taken 3 pregnancy all which are negative. However last month my husband and I were really active during that "Window" to get pregnant. I was talking with my mother about it and she said that she had to get a blood test to show that she was pregnant with me.. So i don't know if i need to get blood taken or just think my missing period is because of this damn drug.

I had started the nuvaring 4 years ago and had loved it! I had no side effects except tender, larger breasts. I am a natural 36 D so it is a pain for me to go up to a 36 DD. I stopped taking the nuvaring a year ago since I was not in a serious relationship anymore and I wanted to give my body a break from hormones. I just started nuvaring again almost 2 weeks ago. I find myself crying for no reason. I am moodier than I usually am. I find myself crying then laughing then being frustrated. I find myself not motivated to do anything but watch tv. As I do so, I find my thoughts wandering to pulling a trigger to my head. I have no stress or worries in my life, why would I feel this way? I just don't understand why nuvaring used to be the best birth control and now it is a nightmare.

BAD.... I hate it, and you should too.
I was on other BC pills in the past and they also cause the same side effects on me, I took them for 4 years and I quitted, four month later a got pregnant, two month after giving birth I had to get my gall bladder removed ( also a side effect of birth control). I started back on birth control because I in a serious relationship now and we don’t want to have kids at this time.
This pill is giving me lots of problems. I love to have sex with my boyfriend to the point I though I was a nympho and now my sex drive is BAD.....We start very good, and after a few minutes.....I get very dry and that’s the end of it. I hate it. My BF is the hottest men in the world (to me), and we had very good sex, we were like rabbits lol, I always had one or two orgasms, always natural lubricated. Now I get dry and we have to stop, I started the pill a month ago, I take it everyday at the same time, my breast is itching (I guess its growing) as the rest of body too, back pain and very irritable. I'm ready to quite, I’m going to try the IUD or the ring, Today I have the worst migraine and yesterday I had very bad mood swings all day, for not reason, I was seating in a meeting and all the sudden I want it to scream and run and just go off at everybody but a seat there and talk my self out of doing it, by telling my self it was the BC and I need it to come down cuz its nobody’s fault but the stupid hormones, I cry this morning also for no reason. IM DONE WITH THIS PILL. I won’t even recommend to my enemy.(migraines, mood swings, vaginal dryness, low sex drive, back pain, nausea, hungry all the time, breast tenderness, and I guess with all that depression its just natural)

hello all, i've been reading your stories and feel i need to write mine too. i started taking Yasmin about 4 months ago. and i really do not know what to think. i haven't put any weigh on or got acne (which were my worries) and my periods got very light and completely pain-free. i did have constant but mild headaches (which i never have) and my sex drive has gone down (never had any problem before). more importantly, emotionally i am feeling terrible. i cry non-stop and i feel totally unstable. I am going through a lot of changes in my life (change career, country, new relationship, etc) so i thought i could be just that i am feeling stressed. but i think this is more than that. my anxiety has rocketed, I never felt like this before, I have racing thoughts almost constantly, panic attacks, and something that i think it's called 'depersonalization' - has anyone got anything like this? it feels like you're looking from outside yourself, if that makes any sense...not nice at all.
as I have a tendency to feel anxious anyway I really don't know whether the pill is causing this or not, but i feel i am going mad. as i read the postings i became more worried that it might be Yasmin
i went to the doctor who suggested to carry on for a few more months to see if the symptoms go away. i followed his advice (as those days i was feeling surprisingly well, and was optimistic about it) but i am still very concerned.
also, has anyone had a really bad depression/anxiety attack when taking antibiotics + yasmin? i could have killed myself that day. felt better when i stopped taking the antibiotics.
again, is it my mind...? or is it Yasmin...?
any comments would be really great

I just want to say that all the nuvaring is good for is regulating periods. I would not recommend using it if you are in a relationship. I have been using birth control since I was 16. I've been on ortho tri-cyclen and the low dose version before I switched to the ring only because I started to forget doses. I refused the patch because that is not cute on a black girl when she wants to wear a bikini. It's kinda hard coordinating a BC patch into your sexiest outfit. I've been using the ring on and off for five years. It's not until I got into a serious relationship that I noticed that I had no sex drive WHATSOEVER. I've been off the BC for a week after being on it for a year and have noticed that I'm horny as hell. My GYN and I have a lot to talk about. I haven't had any weight gain at all while on any BC, nor have I had to start anti-depressants. I should have though because I was having suicidal thoughts and moody as all hell and could sleep the entire day away and will be up all night wishing I could sleep. I know I have depression, just never found someone I trust enough to get help. Everything got worse these past few months. I'll say this though, I never had a day of nausea on the ring the whole time. I pray the depression and other things get better. No more hormones for me though. I'm DONE!

I just want to say that all the nuvaring is good for is regulating periods. I would not recommend using it if you are in a relationship. I have been using birth control since I was 16. I've been on ortho tri-cyclen and the low dose version before I switched to the ring only because I started to forget doses. I refused the patch because that is not cute on a black girl when she wants to wear a bikini. It's kinda hard coordinating a BC patch into your sexiest outfit. I've been using the ring on and off for five years. It's not until I got into a serious relationship that I noticed that I had no sex drive WHATSOEVER. I've been off the BC for a week after being on it for a year and have noticed that I'm horny as hell. My GYN and I have a lot to talk about. I haven't had any weight gain at all while on any BC, nor have I had to start anti-depressants. I should have though because I was having suicidal thoughts and moody as all hell and could sleep the entire day away and will be up all night wishing I could sleep. I know I have depression, just never found someone I trust enough to get help. Everything got worse these past few months. I'll say this though, I never had a day of nausea on the ring the whole time. I pray the depression and other things get better. No more hormones for me though. I'm DONE!

Thank you Ladies! I was up in the middle of the night last night researching YAZ because I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I woke up shaky, heart racing, sweating. It just wouldn't go away. Almost got my daughter and husband up to take me to ER. Then I read all the entries in this blog and was convinced it was the BCP. I got into see a doc in the am. She wasn't my normal doctor, so all I wanted was an overall check. She did EKG, blood and just an overall check -Normal. However, I did have a high pulse. That fluctuates throughout the day anyway, but again it was fast even at rest into the next day. I asked her if YAZ was the cause for this and she said probably not because I was only on it for 1 week. I had switched from being on OrthoTriCyclen. I switched because of depression, long periods, bloating, cramping... I might as well had been on no BCP than OTC. The strange thing was I had been on OTC for 5 years prior to having my first child (3 years ago) and loved it! Which makes me think your body chemistry is always changing. Anyway, my first week on Yaz was MISERABLE! I had constipation, dry mouth, exessive urnation, deydrated eventhough drinking 8 glasses of H2O a day, shaky muscles, muscle fatigue, muscle cramping, low libido, sweating, hot at night, loss of appetite, feeling cloudy in the head- like I hadn't slept for a couple of days, but not tired and then finally the heart issue. I went off of it and I slept like a champ last night. I think I still must have some residual hormones in my body but am convinced it will go away in the next week or so. I wanted to mention at the doc's office when I asked her about the potassium increase that could happen with YAZ, she had no idea that was a side effect. So, she wanted to find out more and had a little book, like a mini phone book, full of all the drugs and their side effects. She got to the page and was astounded by the number of side effects for a BCP. It took up a whole page of the book. She told me she had not seen so many side effects for a BCP ever! I got my potassium checked and it turned out fine. But, if you do have muscle issues go get that checked, b/c potassium is a big component to muscle health. What is odd is sister is on YASMIN and loves it! as well as many of her friends. She told me I would have really sore breasts the first couple of months, but that was about it.

I hadn't been on birth control in a while, but getting into a new serious relationship, we both agreed that we should have some extra protection. I have only been on Yasmin for about 3 months. The first month was OK and I felt fine. But the past two months I have been experiencing extreme anxiety, nervousness (grinding my teeth), depression, stomach problems, and I just didn't feel like myself. I felt so low and didn't want to do things. My boyfriend noticed the changes in me too and I was taking a lot of things out on him just because he was there. I also haven't felt very sexual, like my libido totally dropped.

I know you are suppose to wait until you get your period to discontinue taking any type of birth control pill, because you can throw your whole body off. But I stopped taking them today and I can tell you I feel so much better already. No more pills for me! Back to good old condoms!!

I am so happy that I found this website and read that others have been feeling the same way. Now I feel like I am NOT going crazy. I know that not everyone feels these things and it could be good for some people, but it wasn't for me.

I've only seen one other comment regarding this, but I'm hoping it's worth a try. I've been on the nuva ring for maybe two years now, and I have non stop yeast infections. But the worst part is that ever since I've started it, I've had a serious relationship and have sex more, and almost ever single time I end up getting a urinary infection right afterward. This never used to happen, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with the irritation and the yeast infections that it does cause anyway. If anyone can help me with any information I would appreciate it, they're the most painful things in the world.

I've been taking Yasmin for almost a month. Although I am sad and depressed all the time, I just connected it with that my serious relationship with my boyfriend is gradually, painstakingly coming to an end. I will be leaving for college in a couple of weeks and am sad to leave family and friends. These are all things I would naturally be upset about, but my mother tells me that there's a constant cloud over my head. I've read other postings and can relate to others' symptoms. I am just sad all the time. I leave my tv on at nights so I can have some other kind of "noise". I can usually fall asleep in 10-15 mintutes, but lately when I'm lying down in complete silence, I analyze everything I'm depressed about (namely my boyfriend) to where I can't go to sleep for hours. I had nausea for the first week or so. I found that if I ate breakfest before hand, it was better. Speaking of food, I have no appetite. I actually become nauseated from not eating, but when I go to eat, I feel like I'll throw up if I take a second bite. Clothes are fitting better, but I have no energy from not eating.

The same life routine irregularities (sp?) are what happens when I become depressed about certain issues, so it's difficult for me to differentiate what's natural for me and what is caused by the pill. Insight anyone???

I've been on the pill for the past 6 months and this past month, my breasts have suddenly become unusually large and sensitive. Also, I came on twice in my last cycle - which has never happened before. I'm not sure if this is a side-effect (breast tenderness & size) or if I'm pregnant. I've also experienced a number of the other signs of pregnancy, but I'm not sure if this is my mind playing tricks on me. I've been in a serious relationship for about two years and I'm currently studying... so I'm really hoping I dont have anything to worry about - no babies on the way. This site is really a great help and my thanks goes out to everyone that has posted comments -- they have really reassured me about all the other side-effects I've experienced these past few months. As for the other side effects over the past few months on Yasmin - sore breasts, weight fluctuation, very painful periods at times, lack of libido, vaginal dryness, severe constipation (only once), head-aches, dizziness, nausea, extreme mood swings, excessive hunger at times, and many others.