Sitting here symptoms and conditions

side effect: bleeding at urethra

For a long-term sinus infection that has drained my energy, I took my first pill in the Leva-pak about noon today with a large glass of water. Ate lunch. Planned to vacuum, but it was difficult to get into and around in our garage (we made a space for a car to go in now that mornings bring frost outside.) So I ended up moving things around in the garage. Major moving around, some stuff heavy. I was thrilled to have energy and strength to actually do something at last and to think of how long I had been listlessly surviving and at times even bedridden before this magical pill.

About 8:30 I came in to pee and found my undies bloody. Bravo, I said to myself, 10 years post menopause and I got my period again. This is the drug of youthfulness: energy and menstruation. Fortunately I still have a few sanitary items around for female friends who visit, so I got to be one of my friends.

But it seems that the blood is coming from the urethra, not from the vagina. And I have some discomfort there. So I recalled that the drug pakage said to drink plenty of water and realized that I hadn't had any more drinks since about noon or 1. I drank another glass of water and headed back to the garage.

I finished up the garage (who said I'm obsessive?) about 9:30 and came in to find out more about the new drug. I saw that the pack said right on it that drinking plenty of liquids PREVENTS THE FORMATION OF CRYSTALS IN THE URINE. So I drank 2 more glasses of water, thinking maybe crystals have formed in my urine and are cutting into the tissues of my bladder and urethra making them bleed. Guess these crystals must be softer than kidney stones or maybe much much smaller, because I've seen the pain folks get with kidney stones, and I would not be sitting here reading your experiences and now typing up my own to share with y'all if I had as much pain as kidney stones cause!

Anyway, with those two more glasses of water, I came online to see the deal with urethral bleeding caused by Leva-pak, and what do I see. Well, the first website I went to said about reading the pharmacist's paper that came with the L-pak. (My doc calls it L-pak, and I hope it's not gonna be L for me as it has been for most of y'all.) Now I wondered if the pharmacist had even put one in. Went and looked and sure enough, there it was, and it said to drink plenty of water "to prevent the formation of crystals in the urine." No further info about those crystals or their side effects. Some words about bleeding but totally vague, like does drinking water cure bleeding?? Who knows?

That paper the pharmacist put in my bag also said that one of the side effects can be "excitement". I thought, that's my side effect, and I am very happy about that. Garage is too. Hubby is too. Life is good. Leva-pack is good for me, for us for the world.

Anyway, back at the puter, eventually I found y'all and your many stories of pain and suffering caused by Levaquil. But, lo and behold, NOT A ONE OF YOU HAS MENTIONED MY BLOODY SIDE EFFECT. That goes to show what drinking plenty of liquids can spare you. Save ya a quarter wasted on sanitary pads you coulda given your female guests. Save ya from washing blood out of your undies again. Save ya from worrying about whether to call the doc (pharmacist is home in bed by now and tomorrow is Sunday. It figures.) And whether to take another pill.

Sheesh, it's a slow business trying to type up my story for ya, now 11 and time for more water, I figure. Be right back again...ok. I see the bleeding continues but it's a LIGHT DAY.

Well, now I've read this whole webpage top to bottom, and I feel pretty worried about taking enough of this Levaquil stuff to get exploding tendons and total nerve damage and pain and suffering and crippling and insanity and death by anaphylactic shock if I take another one.

I probably will take another one, just being sure to drink plenty a water too. Excuse me a sec while I go get another, as it is now after 10....okay I'm back now.We'll see as time goes along about taking any more. And if I am a good scout, I should come back and provide the REST OF MY STORY in a few days.

I saw that someone here said that Cipro is a fluoxosomethingorother too. I don't know why the doc didn't pick Cipro for me today instead of the Leva-pak. Maybe the last drug rep in his office gave him some good lines about the advantages of L as opposed to C, who knows? Anyway, if Cip and Lev are in the same family, I must say that as a postal employee, I am ready to take Cipro at the drop of a hat if our new machines spot anthrax in the air where we work. Sounds like those postal employees who died would have survived if the docs had recognized what was wrong with them and given them the Cipro early on. At least, other people who showed up sick afterwards with anthrax exposure got Cipro, and most of them survived, I heard.

The upshot is that I hope we don't take away the fluoxisomethingorothers until we find somthing better. Law suit perhaps, but not to deny the life-saving drug from EVERYBODY because some folks have bad side effects. Instead, we should find out how to test each person for having trouble taking it. You know, put a little drug in with some of their hair and a little in some of their blood and a little in some of their pee and see if it curdles or grows sprouts or something to show how each patient will react to it. Then tell each one what to expect from the various drugs available for that person's ailment. Then the patient can decide which side effects he wants to sign up for or if he just wants to stick with his original ailment.

I have not decided whether I will take any more of these pills. I will observe my crochety side effect and watch for any new ones that may pop up before I make my decision each day. I am very very concerned about long lasting muscle and tendon pains. I have not been able to hike now for about 3 months due to loss of energy, strength, and confidence. And I sure don't want to miss 3 more months trying to get over exploded achilles, burning knees, seizures, or nerve damage etc.

As a postal employee, I never do any research into cures for ailments. I am fairly experienced with ailments. I cannot provide you with any good excuses for not seeking to find cures for our health troubles.

I feel lucky to have been born when and where I was. I waited until central heat, air conditioning, cushioned seats in heated, air-conditioned autos(spare me from buckboards on unpaved "roads"), and penicillan. That penicillan brought me through pneumonia in 1947. Had I arrived 5 years sooner, I doubt it would have been available to me. Hmmm, I wouldn't a been available to share my story with you folks this evening either. So I must say a blessing for all those who try to improve my health when I go to them for help with my various complaints. Sure, money may be highly motivating for some of them, but Donald Trump and Bill Gates found ways to make money without going into medicine or research and drug development or doctoring.

So far, that's my story, my red flag today.

May THE FORCE be with each of you as you search for the best solutions for your ever-new mind and body problems. May we seek wisdom widely and recognize that what used to work for us often won't work any more because our bodies keep changing. We are along for the ride and hope to make it as pleasurable as possible as we round each curve and surmount each hill.

God bless us all, each and every one.
Christmas is coming...Tiny Tim's words echo through the years.

I am sitting here is shock as I read the posts here. I have been taking Toprol XL for about 5 years now. It was 50MG and went up to 100MG when I had some heart arrythmias. Except for some dizziness at first no other side effects were noticed. For some reason my cardiologist switched me to me metprolol. I am currently scheduled for colonoscopy, a look into my stomach as well as blood test and stool test and on a strict diet.. why?, because I have been having serious gastro problems for 2 months now. (Diarrea, gas, stomach pain, blood )I told m first gastro guy about my meds and he said Metoprolol would not cause it. Yet I have just read here and on a side affect site, that gastro problems happen to 5 out of 100 people!!! This problem started very soon after I switched meds. Yesterday I skipped m meds accident. I went 48 hours without meds. NO problems! I took m meds last night and this morning my stomach is in turmoil. Tomorrow I cut my meds in half. Then call my cardio guy and change back to Toprol. There is an obvious difference in the drugs.

I had my Mirena inserted at the beginning of June 2007, before working in several different foreign countries with my boyfriend. Originally I thought that the product was great. Then I started bleeding and didn't stop for nearly three weeks. If my boyfriend and i had sex then it would start the bleeding again, and so on and so on. Now four months later and the same thing happens, week or so long periods beginning on varying days (never know when it will strike!) We have lots of problems now and I am an emotional rollercoaster. I get angry, upset, cry, nervous, depressed....you name it. Now we are on the verge of separating because I am of course taking out ANY and ALL frustrations on him and I am sitting here wondering if it could be the Mirena that was responsible for such radical mood changes in me???? I am definitely not the girl he fell in love with. I can barely cope somedays. Additionally, I have recently been referred to a rheumatologist for joint/muscle pain that has gotten increasingly worse. Any advice???? Other than have it removed which is first stop when I return home from Argentina!

I have had Mirena for about 6 months now and I have been going crazy trying to figure out what is wrong with me. To begin with I had an ovarian cyst, which my doctor insisted was not due to the IUD. I later find out it is a possible side effect of the IUD. As I am sitting here typing I am having lower abdominal pain and I feel completely bloated. I cannot wait until Monday I am going to request that my doctor see me immediately to remove this! I have had cramping, bloating, constipation, weight gain, irregular dishcharge, mood swings, and loss of sex drive. This has been hell for the past 4 months. Please don't have this put in and spread the word.

I was prescribed levaquin for for a respiratory infection. Instead of getting better I got worse. I was weak, began to have joint pain as well as the infection problems. I called my doctor after doing research on the internet. He told me to stop levaquin and to take advil. This didn't help. When I went back to him he tested me for lupus, ms, and RA. He eventually sent me to an arthritis specialist that I am still seeing 5 months later. Although she had never heard of these side effects until I explained them she has supported my concern that I have been suffering from an adverse reaction to the medication. I still suffer from joint pain and swelling as well as an acute burning pain in my thigh. The only treatment that I am receiving is steriod shots in my joints which do offer some relief. As I sit here tonight my leg is extremely painful. Will it ever go away or are we all doomed to suffer these ill effects the rest of our lives. I hurt... if anyone knows of a class action lawsuit please share the information.
Gypsy
52 yrs old

hi everybody,
sitting here reading all your posts feeling really crappy.
Off yasmin now for about 8 months and trying to take it one day at a time.

I should be at my works christmas party tonight but am feeling so bad this weekend i pulled out. Cant moan to my husband as he is already annoyed at me for not going tonight.
we were really looking forward to it but i just couldnt face it. I work with such a good bunch of people and i know they will be disappointed i didnt go tonight.

regular posters will know my story. Was on yasmin for 4 very long years. Caused me huge problems, like anxiety, eyesight problems and many more. Eventually saw a very good fertility doctor who tested my hormone levels.

I started my course of hcg injections last sunday for low hormone levels.

For anybody who might know what is normal, mine were estradiol 257 and progesterone 37. Day 3 levels were normal which at least mean that i am not having an early menopause.

My fertility doctor said they are extremely low so prescribed me hcg injections. Have a friend who is a nurse so she showed me how to do the injections myself.

Have 4 injections every second day in the last week of my cycle. Does anybody know if they could make me feel so bad. I felt fine up until yesterday morning. Woke up feeling very anxious and down as well as feeling terribly irritable.

I seem to have lost so much weight in the last few weeks. None of my clothes fit me anymore. went to look for something to wear and even size 8 is too big. Are they making clothes bigger or have i really lost that much weight.

Is there anybody here who knows anything about hcg injections and their side effects. My doctor told me i would have no side effects.

I have so much anxiety again. I was feeling ok but feel like i am back to square one, like i am on yasmin again.
Could this be to do with the hcg.

I am sorry if this post is really depressing but i feel this is the only place i can really talk to people.
I would really appreciate any ideas. Hopefully when i get up in the morning i will feel better as i dont think i can go back to this again.
Thanks everyone
Murph70

Kim:

It seems you didn't read all of the posts, that have been written here during the last days. There is noone who says, you will be like you are now forever!!

You think noone here was as bad as you and dejay Kim???
Ok, I think I didn't tell my whole story for too long. So here it is. And dear, believe me: I and many other ladies were exactly as bad as you and maybe even worse!!!

I also nearly lost my job, because I wasn't able to work for months!!!!! I wasn't able to sing in my band, which I had done until that time for 14 years, which really broke my heart!!

I didn't even leave my house for about 3 months, and after this time I went out to the supermarket only together with my husband, never alone and only for a few minutes because I wasn't able to stand more than a few minutes without getting a fainting spell!!! I simply was no longer "alive"!!!

Tingling arms and legs, hurting muscles, muscle weakness, headaches to the point where I wanted to put my head off! Fainting spells without any reason, just doing a few steps to the toilet nearly made me break down, breathlessness like an 90years old ill person just after doing a few steps around here in my living room, aching joints, numb feeling in my legs, arms, and the list goes on!!

I went through a total hell and worse! I really believed I was goin' to die within the next months and believe me: At some point I couldn't even awate it, because I didn't want to feel all this any longer!!!

Well, I normally don't really want to think back to that time, because it was a living nightmare, which I'm still somehow shocked about!

Some days I even wasn't able to go into another room here in my own house because of the anxious feeling, the dizziness, the faint feeling and the breathlessness and weakness! Most of the time, my husband had to stay with me even on toilet!!!!!!

My head was foggy, I felt as if my life was just a dream and I wasn't really awake. I was sitting here all day in ONE room, trying to read a paper or watch TV, couldn't even work on my computer or do ANYTHING else because I had very bad vision problems and nervousness to the point where I thought, I'd go crazy about that!!

Sometimes a day I got some tiredness which wasn't only tiredness. It felt, as if someone had knocked me down and I was going to faint! I never had such a frightening feeling my entire life before!!!

My mum and dad had to come around here every day to cook for us and do our household because I wasn't even able to wash the dishes or something else because of my severe symptoms. I had turned into a total "baby", just awaiting the day that they would even have to wash me and put my clothes on!!

And for about 5 months NOONE could find out anything, thousands of doctor's visits and NOTHING!!!!! And no one was aware, my bcp could make me feel like this until I found an endocrinologist who really admitted, that all this could be brought on by my holy Yasmin!!!!! That was day 1 of my new life!!!

The next 3 - 4 months after getting off still were pure hell. But Kim and dejay, one thing you should know: I HAD BEEN ON THAT NIGHTMARE PILL FOR OVER 5 YEARS!!!!!!! And not only a few weeks or months!!

What should I tell you more?? I think this should be enough for you to see, that you're not the only ones who are doing that bad!

And comparing how long I had been taking that sh... and knowing how long you only had been on it should give you so much hope! Think about it!

I went through the hell I mentioned above for about 8 months!! And what do you see: I'm still here and look at me now:

I'm working again, singing again (have 3 new bands!), living again. Even though not everything is back to where it should be I started to live again and have still hope, that I'll be back to normal one day and completely can forget, what I've been going through!! What do you think how anxious should I be about a permanent damage, after being 5 years on this poison??????

So please kim and dejay, listen to what the ladies here are telling you and try to keep your chins up and keep in head what you've been told here so many times. IT WILL GET BETTER!!! I think you NOW know that I'm aware how hard that is and that I don't tell you just some "stories" without knowing what I'm saying.

I'm working as a lawyer's assistant and believe me: Even my boss isn't willing to start a lawsuit against a pharmazeutic group! It's sad but true: We can't really prove that we got those problems because of Yasmin and that's the problem!! There IS no doc who will attest us that fact!!! The only thing we can do is help each other, listen to each other and try not to loose hope and stay strong. This is what brought me back to life again, and nothing else!!!

And to your pacification: I finally found TWO doctor's who admitted, that the cause of all this COULD definitely be Yasmin!!

Hope that helps somehow, but please READ it, especially kim and dejay!!

Ant the others: Sorry for that long post, but I think it was really necessary!!!

Best wishes !!

Silke

Dear Sophie,

I'm very sorry to hear, that you're feeling so bad at the moment (and I say AND MEAN at the MOMENT!!). I totally feel your pain, as I was sitting within the same sh...t around after 2 months off Yasmin.

And I remember that I also was thinking, that this nightmare surely will NEVER end and that this is the way my life will stay until I'm gone...

Another thing I remember very well is, that I also was sitting here and posting and searching for help, and look at me now: Today it's ME who is able to help others through this!! A thing I never would have believed one year and a half ago!!

The symptoms we all are going through are very weird. For one are the headaches the most frightening thing, for another one it's the dizzyness or nausea the worst and so on.

And everyone should know, that hormones are interacting every cell of your body and nothing works without them!! So I think it's pretty obvious, that an imbalance of hormones can cause 100s of symptoms and everyone has to deal with different symptoms.

What I want to say is, that your symptoms sound very familiar to me, after going through the same and reading 1000s of postings during the last year.

I still sometimes got bad aches in the upper of my spine, which I never had before this Yasmin nightmare, sometimes my joints are aching, as if I was an 80 year old woman... Another day I feel a bit dizzy again and so on.... But remember: Everything not at all as intensive as it was around after a few weeks off Yasmin!!!! And everything is getting lighter as months go on.

I had days, where I nearly couldn't breathe because of that pain in my upper spine. Another day it was completely gone again. One day I feel like a little genius, I'm able to talk and tell stories and concentrating seems to be so easy, the other day I walk into another room to do something, and the other second I don't know what it was, that I wanted to do...

So I just can give you one advice: Try to calm down (I know how hard that sounds....!!!) and give your body the time it needs to recover and get those hormonal chaos in balance again!! In some cases it's done in about 3 - 4 months in other cases (including me...) it's taking longer to get back to normal which seems to depend on how long you had been taking a bcp (I did it for about 10 years, 5 years of that I took Yasmin).

And if you don't do that already you really should think about taking any supplements. Magnesium and B-Vitamines seem to be the most important here because they are really important for your nervous system and muscles. And another thing you should know is, that all bcp and espacially Yasmin (because of the diswatering effect it has) are causing a lack of vitamines and minerals, especially magnesium and b-vitamines. And especially magnesium is able to help you to calm down a bit, because it's also called the "antistress mineral". In my case it helped very much with the muscle weakness and aching and the sometimes very severy tiredness. So perhaps it might help you with your back pain, too!!

It's no cold or flu we all have gone or are going through and it definitely takes more than only a few weeks to feel better again. Some women here said, that around 3 months they suddenly felt a lot better (so it was in my case). So keep looking forward to better days, you're almost there!!

Stay strong and hang in and please post here if you need any help or advice. I hope I can help somehow, although I know, that it's not easy to help someone whithin that situation...

Big hugs to you and I send you all the strenght I have!!!

Silke

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

i started taking adderall almost 2 years ago. i didn't have any medical problems, for some stupid reason, out of curiosity i guess, i decided to take one of my daughters pills to see what they do. i know how i was before that night. 225 pounds, slept all day, never wanted to do anything, not even my hair, depressed, and never any energy.

that night, with only half of her dose, i think i got more done than i have in 5 years, but not just that, i was happy!! the feeling of crying for no reason magically dissappeared. after years and years of trying every single anti-depressants out there, it was sitting here in my medicine cabinet all along. i talked to our family doctor and asked him to prescribe me too, that it helped me get things done and i feel happy for once. so he did.

that was august of 2004, it is now feb 2006, not even 2 years later and i have a lot to be thankful for, but i have paid alot of prices

by the end of the first year of my prescription, i have lost 95 pounds. woohoo, but not in a good way, i think i lost the majority of it within the first 6 months, people and my family thought i was on crack, by august of last year i became vitamin A deficiant, i have acne so bad, and they don't heal because of the vitamin deficancy, and the ones that did, left the worst huge red scars and lumps. but the major side effect was this january i had to have my gall bladder out because of gall stones which is related to the medication side effects

i have been to court 3 times this year for not paying bills, because i get so into other things that i can't tear myself away from them

i sleep about 3-5 hours a day, by friday i am exhausted that i just don't want to do anything with my family

but the truth is that after all of this, i do't think i would change a thing. just for the fact i'm not a big fat slob anymore, i don't lay in bed all day and eat box after box of twinkies

i don't think i will ever give it up unless i definatly have to just for the fact, on the days that i run out and don't have the money to get my script refilled, i see how i really am, and i never want to feel like that again

in certain ways this was my miracle drug, it was a cure for alot of my problems, i guess my suggestion to anyone out there, is to make yourself aware of what is changing within yourself

sitting here staring at my xanax pill. I am anxious enough to 'need' it right now but I really don't 'want' to have to do this. Odd as this may sound; I am afraid to take it because it may make me feel better and thus it will become a crutch for me to take it. My doc has already said no refills and only gave me enough for 2 weeks @ one per day.

I know I probably sound crazier than I already feel but I don't want to become relient on a pill to get me through the day but I know if I don't take it I will feel like hell until this goes away. WHY OH WHY did I ever agree to take Yasmin? Oh yeah, that's right because my husband won't even talk about a vasectomy. Forgive my rant today; I just wondered if I was alone in wanting/yet not wanting to have to take meds.

Denise

Dear Lisa,

a few posts ago I had already told about the blurred vision and thought you had found that.

Well, the blurry vision was so bad around January/February 2005, that I couldn't read anything, watch tv or work at my computer. It felt as if I looked through a milky window or such. Everything was like behind a "fog".

That has improved a lot, but it took time!! About 3 - 4 months AFTER Yasmin it slowly got better and I finally was able to work on my computer a few minutes a day, then a few hours and today I'm sitting here, working again the whole day long if I have to, read books and watch tv without big problems!!

But remember: IT DEFINITELY TAKES TIME!! And no one of us here can say, how long it will take for your symptoms to decrease cause every woman is different. I'd been taking this poison pill for 5 long years, so I think that I will have to be patient much longer than only one year... (Today I'm nearly 1 year off Yasmin and still not feeling 100% fit and healthy again!!).

The blurry vision comes back sometimes when I'm really nervous or under stress, but not as bad as it was last year at all. And remember: Every symptom brought on by Yasmin and the hormone chaos after getting off seems to get worse around ovulation and the time your period starts or SHOULD start (I still didn't have one since easter 2005 but in spite of that I realize more symptoms around 2 weeks a month.....).

And so it is with the libido thing. In my case my husband had to "ask" me, if we just could TRY it again, very slowly and careful (well, this time he had already been waiting for about 8 months, cause I wasn't fit enough at all to even just TRY...). I said yes (though I didn't really have the feeling, that I was ready for that thing again!!), and a few days ago I started this "thing" by myself, because I recognized, that my feelings came back and believe me, those were feelings I didn't have for many many years (you could say 5 years not really feeling alive under Yasmin......).

And I'm afraid, but 10 weeks off Yasmin is not really much... Sounds hard but that's a fact. At 10 weeks after Yasmin I still didn't feel, as if I would live any longer... But always remember: Every woman is different. No one can give you a time plan that is working 100% correctly in that case!!

So please give your body the time that it needs (and it can, I don't say MUST, but CAN last months!!) and everything will come back if you're just patient enough and believe in better times that are ahead!!

All the best to every Yasmin victim out there and stay strong and patient, there's light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Silke

PS: Sorry, that my posts always get that long...

to the last poster:

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Well, your post couldn't have come at a better time... I'm sitting here after taking a shower and crying because of my still very bloated "After-Yasmin-Body" which I never had before in my life!! I always was very healthy and slim (I'm a singer and so a good figure ist very important for me; it's not nice look like a water ton if you are on stage...). And now there's only bloating and feelings like I'm going to explode the next few days...... It feels like even my skin was too tight for all that body mass, or should I better say water mass??!! I feel so desperate!!!

My hormones are not back in balance again at all, I had only one regular period since coming off this horrible stuff and that one was on easter this year!!! I don't know what else I could do. I'm careful about what I'm eating, I'm drinking lots of water and tea (without any sugar!) and so on. Well, I'm not able to workout so far, because I'M still suffering on muscle fatigue and breathlessness (although it has gotten VERY MUCH better than during taking Yasmin!!!) which both was brought on by the wonder drug Yasmin... So I'm sitting here, getting bigger and bigger without anything I could do against that!!!! I'M so afraid. When will that stop???

I'm so scared if I look into a mirror, I don't want even my husband to see me naked because I'm so ashamed about what he would see.... It has been 20 kg (maybe you say 40 pounds in America??) of weight gain after stopping Yasmin within 3 MONTHS (!!) WITHOUT eating more than before or doing anything else different than before!!!! It was just like I was pumped full with water by someone, every hour, every day a little bit more. I don't know if you can imagine how horrible that feels...

If there is anybody out there, who had been suffering from weight gain after getting of Yasmin or any other bcp and is doing better now, PLEASE answer and give some pep talk to me and many other women out there, suffering the same way... It would be so important to hear from women who perhaps lost all that "After-Yasmin-weight" after a couple of weeks, months or even years, not to loose hope completely!!!

Please help!!

Greetings
Silke

hi everyone,

just wanted to report in on my experience with yasmin and getting off of it...

i was on it for over a year with no problems. i went off for a little bit, and then back on and a couple months later (last january) i had my first panic attack. luckily i found this website within a week and figured out that yasmin was to blame. and luckily i ignored my doctor who disagreed with me. i had always been an upbeat, positive person, with not many fears. then suddenly out of nowhere i was panicing about everything. i couldn't really drive, being on elevators freaked me out, being in large crowds freaked me out- it was horrible. before taking yasmin i felt pretty fearless- i had no problem traveling by myself and taking all sorts of risks. i quit taking yasmin right away but it was many months before i felt completely better. it's a very slow road, but to those who are just getting off of it, or who have been off for a few months and still don't feel back to normal- please be patient...you will feel better with time. and like many of you have described, the anxiety was worse around my period and when i was ovulating. knowing that made it a little better because i knew to expect it and not freak out as much. i also cut out caffeine and cut way back on sugar and i felt that made me slightly less anxious.

my doctor gave me xanax, which i kept with me because it made me feel better to know i had something i could take if things got really bad. i would occasionally take 1/2 a pill. i never felt addicted to it, and experienced no side effects from it, other than some general grogginess. it did make the panicy feelings go away. so, i found it helped me to be able to keep up most of my daily routine while waiting for my hormones to readjust. but i am skeptical of taking drugs and was very resistant at first.

i'm now sitting here drinking a cup of coffee with no anxious feelings at all. it took about 9 months for me to feel completely better. i know that seems like an eternity but it will get better. the progress is very slow (at least it was for me) but it is there. the anxiety i experienced from yasmin was definitely the worst experience of my life. there was one night in particular where i felt so out of control, depressed and confused that i was nervous i might do something really stupid. i felt like i was going crazy. but now that i feel back to normal again, in some ways i'm glad i had that experience, because it makes me so empathetic to people who experience that sort of anxiety all the time. i feel lucky that it was temporary, because it truly felt like a living hell.

well, i'm rambling. just wanted to share my experience in hopes that it can give someone a bit of hope. hang in there. it sucks but it will get better.

mary

Hello,My name's Kat,Just took my first dose of levaquin.Didn't know my aches and pains could get any worse,was I in for an awaking.I am sitting here so neauseated that water makes me want to vomit.Just to think I have six more days of meds to choke down is unthinkable. I'm taking the meds for an inflamed intestine.

TOPROL XL 25mg (43yr old white male)

I went to the dentist where they took my blood pressure (180/95). they suggested seeing my medical doctor. my doctor started me on 50mg to get the pressure down. the first three or four days I felt like I had run 1000 miles everyday, I was so fatigued. I called the doctor and told him and asked if I could cut them in half (they have a cut line on them). I have now been taking 25mg for about year maybe a year and half (time flys). I am still fatigued but not as badly, I am over-weight by 30-40lbs and I also smoke. additonally, my knees "ACHE", my calves ache and most recently my right hip and my wrists and forearms are aching (like carple tunnel of something). Finally, my indigestion is back (after starting toprol that kind of subsided for several months). I have just been passing it off as getting older and having to chase two small children around.

after reading some of your posts, I wonder if it's not the toprol causing the fatigue, joint pain and the return of my acid-reflux.

I am sitting here typing and my knees are screaming, right now!

has anyone else experienced all these symptoms?

I'm sitting here praying daily that it's the darn Yasmin causing me my grief (putting it mildly). I was on it for almost 2 years. In that time I went through a divorce and then some time later, a nasty long term relationship. I went on and off antidepressants and nothing seemed to help. My side effects? Which ones DIDN'T I have? Depression, severe anxiety, incredible mood swings, break-outs, IBS, headaches... But the only thing that really caused any problems for me was the anxiety and depression. No matter what I did, who I was with, my life (on the insde) was a living hell. I worried about EVERYTHING. My heart races constantly. I shake and tremble with fear when I really hit my low points. I was beginning to think that I was really going crazy. Then it dawned on me (one day recently) that a girlfriend mentioned she couldn't take Yasmin cuz it "made her crazy" and I thought, "Could it be that this pill has been making me feel this way for the past couple years?" sure did. Why do I know this? Cuz there was a period of time when I went off it for 2 months and I felt better than I had felt in years. I was happy. Nothing bothered me. I could concentrate. I had energy and motivation. I wanted to exercise. I was simply my good ol' self! But, then I got into a new relationship and thought I better go back on the pill. Well, we've been together for a month now. I've been on the pill for a little over a month and guess what? In my mind, my life is back to being a living hell. And it just didn't make sense cuz everything was going so wonderfully with me and my new beaux. I lay awake one night, ALL night long while I was with him, just feeling so ANGRY at everything and anything.. and at him. So, has my thoughts wondered, they wondered onto the possibility that my pill was making me feel this way AGAIN. So, the next morning, I woke up and immediately got online and typed in "Yasmin side effects" and this is the first site that pops up. THANK GOD!! I am NOT CRAZY!! Now, I've been off the terrible pill for a week now. I am still suffering from most of the side effects but I am trying everything and anything to get through these next couple of weeks before I do something stupid and ruin this wonderful relationship I am in. I want to be my ol' self again so I can ENJOY my new beaux... cuz he really is good to me!

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you ladies that are experiencing these same "wonderful" side effects of Yasmin. No one, not even your worst enemy, deserves to feel this way! Best of luck!

I am a 56 year old female given this drug after gall bladder surgery I left the hospitaL feeling almost decent I woke up in the hospital with sweats after they gave me my dose. When I took it at home my first dose I took a nap woke up with no strength in my legs in the middle of the night I had two episodes of sweating profusely. My thinking has slowed I fell like my life was zapped from me. Now I know why my potassium was so low in the hospital. I am sitting here wanting to cry. I have to support a family this is awful that no one knows anything about these drugs. I am mad get this stuff off the market. It is taking me so long to just think of what to write. Wow what if I wasn't smart enough to figure out what it is.