Spiral symptoms and conditions

I am a 35 y.o mom of two and I had my Mirena put in Jan. 2008. I was patient for the first several months with some of the longer periods, cramping, etc. I was loving it initially since it was such low maintenance. But, let me tell you that since the Fall of 2008 I have had unbelievable emotional issues which have been far more severe than I have ever experienced. My two boys that are 5 and 6 and postpartum blues were nothing in comparison to this! I was recently married to my second husband in September and my emotional spiral got even worse during this time. By Feb. 2009, I was hospitalized a week for depression and attempted suicide. For a month after my discharge, I also attended daily outpatient treatment for which I was off work for the entire time. It has been a long road for me and my family and I'm still in therapy at least once a week and attend several support groups. Recently, I just started putting it all together because I have never experienced such emotional turmoil. I'm convinced it is related to the Mirena and I've got an appointment today to have it removed. I'm on so many medications now for my mood disorder that one more (birth control) won't be a big deal. I'm hoping that I will have relief of my symptoms once it is out. I empathize with everyone who has posted and it just confirms my suspicions.

I stumbled onto this website just today looking for information on another drug. Little did I know what I was going to find and so happy I did. I have been taking Zocor for nearly 5 yrs. now. My health has taken a spiral downhill. I too, have been experiencing almost every symptom that has been mentioned. Rt. shoulder pain, hand pain, pain and tingling in hands and feet, leg cramps, muscle weakness, numbness, memory loss, itching, fuzzy headed at time, can't concentrate, and trouble breathing. My doctor has told me my cholesterol is just fine the last two times I've had my checkup, but has never suggested I come off it. I guess I will be calling him tomorrow.

I have been on Yasmin for about four and a half years now. I just stopped taking it because my husband and I want to start having children. I have noticed some horrible side effects. I am SEVERELY bloated, irritated at everything, and even more depressed. I also have headaches all the time. My mind races and I can't control my thoughts. Has anyone else experienced this? I am so glad I found this site. I was really getting down on myself over the past few years because of my depression and anxiety. I even had to go on medication. I have never been like this before so I was so confused as to what was going on. Now I see that it may have been linked to Yasmin. My doctor always asked me how I was doing on it and I never made the correlation between Yasmin and my downward spiral of health. About four months ago I started to get migraines about everyday. I went to the doctor and they did an MRI on my brain. They found lumps in my brain. Not cancer but just lumps. They just come and go. And when they come I can tell because of the debilitating migraines. I wonder if someone else has had this? I don't know if there is a connection but I am not ever going to take Yasmin again in fear of the cause. My doctor said that BC can be linked to migraines. Thank you for making me feel that I am not alone. I should make my husband read the comments on this site so he can see it isn't all my fault that I get moody!!!

Help!! I need some advice. I'm 47 and have been diagnosed with HBP. I'm 6'2", 250 lbs. My Dr. has prescribed Lisinopril, which I'm suppose to pick up today. I've never been on any prescription medicine before. Don't have any known allergies. My BP averages 138/90 in the am and 170/117 in the evening. My fear is once I start taking this medication, am I on it forever? The side-effect described on this board are frightening. Any advice??

I'm so happy I found this site. I've been thinking I'm crazy or just getting old for the last 3 years while on Yasmin. I started taking it at age 29 and almost immediately after started having mood swings, extreme irritability and depression. I had previously been on Ortho Tri Cyclen and the Ortho Cyclen before Yasmin and was on them for MANY years and never had one side effect. I only switched in the first place because I like to have very very few periods and I run all my active pills together to forgo periods very often and I was having breakthrough on the Cyclen. Hence, the Yasmin trial.

I'm actually a doctor (which is why I CANNOT have frequent periods with all the accompanying issues), but I didn't even realize the possible connection between IBS and Yasmin. This needs to be studied and taken seriously. I never once had IBS symptoms until a few months after starting Yasmin. Now, 3 years later I have almost constatnt trouble, to the point everytime I eat I run for the bathroom, yet my weight has never been higher. I asked a GYN friend at work if they could be related and she said definitely no, but reading all of these "real life" examples, coupled with my own experience has made me think otherwise. Often, the symptoms will occur shortly after taking the pill, even when I haven't yet eaten breakfast. It's crazy!!

I'm going to switch either back to Ortho Cyclen or to something new ASAP and will report back. I'm both excited at the thought that my "IBS" might really be Yasmin related but also scared that it might not go away and therefore might really be IBS. I'll report back... It honestly never entered my mind that all of it could be the Yasmin. I had just moved, started a new job in a town I hate and I thought it was all stress related.

I've also had an interesting side effect no one has mentioned yet- my hair texture has dramatically changed. It isn't falling out, but has gone from VERY curly with a nice soft spiral curl pattern to very dry, straight and hard to manage. Nothing else has changed and now I'm wondering if it's not the DRSP. If pergnant women can have hair changes, why not women on the pill?? It's all hormones.

As always with a drug, there are always possible side effects. No one drug is perfect, and humans are so complex in their make up and they way they process drugs. Therefore, please don't judge your family docs or GYNs too harshly as not even the best doctor in the world can predict every side effect.

Update to my June 20th post.
I have mild asthma but got prescribed the evil Advair by my doc a couple of years back. Recently my asthma felt like it was the worst it's ever been. Like other people have mentioned I felt tired, rundown and anxious. If I didn't take the advair every few hours my chest became tight and I'd start the usual asthmatic downwards spiral of panic.
I stopped the advair 8 days ago, my chest was tight at first but is easing up. I've had the rescue inhaler at hand but have not had to use it yet. I bought 'Reversing Asthma' by Richard Firshein and a Microlife Peak Flow meter to monitor my progress. My peak flow dips a little at night and first thing in the morning but I'm still well above average. Interestingly the tighteness doesn't affect the peak flow that much, which is great ammunition for calming yourself down when it feels uncomfortable.
Like Spunky said below, it's hard to trust some Docs, and the pharmaceutical companies are going to be as crooked as oil and other big business. They're eager to treat the symptoms for a quick fix rather than find the underlying causes, And a good diet, vitamins supplements, a clean environment and an exercise program isn't going to keep them in the lifestyle they're accustomed to.

Hi Ladies,

I am stunned by everything I have read on this site. I am crying as I read each posting. I felt like I have been completely alone and adrift with some of the same symptoms.

I have been on Yaz for approximately 6 months and I am not sure what to do. I am irrational, at times scared and inconsolable and overly emotional. I cry and take offense at the smallest thing my boyfriend or anyone says. My personality has done a 180 since I started Yaz. I have always been a happy, loving, outgoing person.

Last night was the last straw. I had a panic attack during a disagreement with my boyfriend - which I escalated. My outrageous behavior has isolated me from my boyfriend and my family. Everyone around me is confused and not sure how to help me. At this point, I don't think I can salvage my relationship with my boyfriend. My Mom is begging me to stop taking Yaz. Is it safe to just stop taking it, or will I continue to spiral?

Any advice you can provide would be helpful.

KCK

Hello ladies
I have been off the pill for three and a half months, and have been getting slowly better. My question is, why do I feel worse this month than I did last month? I keep thinking that I am getting better, but I feel like this month I have taken a bit of a step back. Has anyone else experienced this? When I was so sick in August (due to Yasmin) I thought I would for sure be back to 100% by December. Sadly, I do not feel like I am there yet, which scares me. For some reason I had the three month mark in my head, because a doctor told me that it takes about 3 months to have your hormones back to normal. Now I worry all the time about not getting better fast enough, which makes my anxiety spiral out of control. I am sure that my hormones were pretty messed up, like many of you have experienced, so I know that it takes time. However, I just cringe at having to wait a whole year to feel back to normal!

I know that many of you have heightened anxiety right around ovulation and menstruation. I am ovulating right now and have actually been experiencing anxiety since my last period. In my past two cycles, I only had it around menstruation and ovulation. Is there any explanation for this, or have any of you experienced taking a step back when you really thought you were nearly 100%? Please let me know! I am driving myself crazy with the anxiety of feeling abnormal.

I hope you all are doing well! I think of all of you often.
Best,
Erykah

Post your symptoms since stopping Yasmin!!!

Hey everyone it's Kay21 here and I just wanted to post my 3 month off Yasmin update. Because stopping the pill is a hard decision, I figured we should all post are updates here to help/support those who are planning to stop or who have recently stopped Yasmin.

I have been off of Yasmin since April 17. As some of you already know, I was experiencing horrible side effects while on Yasmin for 3 years (particularly stomach problems, vaginal dryness, muscle cramps, increased blood pressure and heart rate and anxiety).

The first 1 month off of Yasmin was okay. In fact, I felt the best I had ever felt in a while. My blood pressure and heart rate decreased and the migraines and muscle cramps went away. But when I hit the 2 month (8 week) mark, I felt HORRIBLE. I was severely depressed and anxious. I was crying all the time and felt a severe sense of DOOM! The physical symptoms also started to become problematic. The acne increased and I started growing more facial hair. The worse symptom, however, was that I started losing a ton of hair. I would lose stray hairs all day (probably about 200 a day). Since I have hit the three month mark, the hair loss has gotten MUCH WORSE! Now I am losing CLUMPS of hair all day. I have seen several doctors about this. Some say it's because of stress and a few (a derm, GYN and endo) say that hiar loss is common after stopping bcp. I have already loss about 1/3 of my hair.

I am also really concerned, because I have not had a period since April 22. So my doctor has put me on provera for 10 days to induce a period.

For those who have stopped Yasmin, what have your symptoms been (i.e. increased acne, weight gain, anxiety, etc.). Has anyone experienced hair loss? How long did it take to get a period???

Thanks...

I have been on 20mg of Zocor for 18 months and have had a steady downhill spiral with reflux disease, depression, numbness, stiffness and tingling in toes, muscle cramps and shooting pains and trouble sleeping. After much research, I am begining to suspect the Zocor although my doctors don't want to hear it.