Sufferers symptoms and conditions

I have been experiencing all of the same side affects as everyone else here... Pains in legs inability to walk the usual levaquin poison effects. However, when my Western Doctor said there was nothing they could do and I just had to wait it out I decided to take matters into my own hands and see an alternative medicine Doctor. I prescribed the homeopathic single remedies Sulphur and Phosphorus to clear out the levaquin from my body. After a week of that treatment along with various chinese herbs I was given Ginseng & Astragalus Combination a powder tea. (Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang) and another homeopathic remedy Arsenicum album. It has been 3 days since I have seen the Doctor and I went from a wheel chair to a walker! so there is rapid progress. No miracles here just the human healing process at work. I am not telling anyone this will work for them I'm just saying safe effective alternatives are out there. Consult a Homeopathic Doctor and see if they can help! after all no one else is doing anything for the sufferers of Levaquin!

Hi everyone
I've been on Levothyroxine since August 2006. Eversince being on them I actually feel worse. I've always weighed 7 and 1/2 stones and I've actually put on half a stone since last August. I watch what I eat and I exercise regularly. Recently I had an increase in my thyroxine to 75mcg and my tummy bloated so badly I looked pregnant. GP has dismissed all this and said he didn't know what it was! I spoke to a rude woman on the phone at British Thyroid Foundation who was extremely rude and unhelpful. She said it wasn't the medication and blamed it on my thyroid! How can it be me when my weight has always been the same? I've never had problems like this before and the more sites I've visited on the net, I've actually found that so many people are unhappy on thyroxine and a lot of them experience bloating and weight gain. so something definately is taking place inside us and the Doctors are ignoring it. Its this medication thats making us worse and we are their guinea pigs and in the years to come they will admit they are in the wrong. There are so many thyroid sufferers and it's all about fobbing us off on cheap stuff. Well all those who don't care about us may it happen to them so they realize how and what we have to go through every single day. I am looking into alternative natural medications and am trying to also change my diet to help. We are stuck cos thyroxine is for life. We are all in the same boat and we have to raise this issue. A good website is thyroiduk.com
The good thing is we are all doing our research into this matter and more we are knowledgeable in this matter the better it is for us. I know Armour works for a lot of people but I can't take Armour.
From an unhappy hypothyroid sufferer.

I think symptoms also increase with age and length of time you take it. This is NOT a drug for the 35+ age group IMHO. I wonder just how good the trials were that allowed this evil drug onto the market? I can't believe they administered it to enough women for long enough and didn't get any sufferers of what we've all been through.

Hang in there. I was on it for 3 years and now after over 3 months off I think I'm beginning to see some improvement. The flutters only come on in the evenings now for example, and I've been sleeping better.

Anna

hi ladies,
further to guest 35696 's point about reporting side effects to the fda etc here is the website for the uk's equivelent. www.mhra.gov.uk click on the "yellow card" tab this will send a report about the side effects of medicine. if you also want to look up reported side effects then go to the download side effects page but remember when you do the alphabetical search that yasmin will be listed under it's chemical ingredient (D for drospirenone not under Y for Yasmin.) it makes for quite interesting reading.
It really is very important that we report the bad effects as if no one reports it, it will never be taken off the market or even prescribed with more caution than it is now,it is our responsibility to try to protect other young ladies from this hell that we have all suffered.

silke,maybe i have mis-read the previous post, i find it so hard to figure out meaning when reading a post or text messages,a perfectly harmless comment can sound rude in a message, as i said i did not mean my posting to sound rude,i agree that we should have a "chat room" for all the ladies who want and need contact with other sufferers,this site is getting pretty heavy going now for newcomers that are just looking to see if their specific symptom is here.there are a lot of pages to get through!!!!! if i knew how to start up a chat room i would do it myself but i am a total idiot at anything to do with computers!
hope your gig went well the other night,i love the abba song you were going to sing.

remember ladies please report your side effects.

sarah

hi kim123.
sorry i was not around yesterday,my youngest has just gone off to nursery school so has been a bit manic. as the Guest below seems to think we should not use this forum to chat (even though support is a MAJOR part of why people come to this forum) i will email you personally.

hi,guest 35696.
sorry if the above remark sounds rude,it is not meant that way. i understand what you are saying,that new people come here to find out if their symptoms are linked to yasmin and all they can find is personal chit chat and not a full list of symptoms,but i have no idea how to set up a forum for all the ladies here that find just chatting to other sufferers helps.this site and chatting to people on it literally saved my life. if you know how to do it then please let us know. a lot people seem to post side effects on the other page (yasmin forum) that is where i initially found all my symptoms.
once again sorry if the above sounds rude it really is not meant that way but i am passionate about this site and helping support the newcomers as they did when i was a newcomer and nobody understood me and how i was feeling. i am a computer idiot so have no idea how to start up a forum,if any of you ladies out there know how to do it please post on here.

To the lady with the sore breast... mine were agony pre menstrually and just plain huge the rest of the time. i agree with you saying that it feels like engorged breast like when you were breastfeeding that is exactly how mine felt. they were solid and shiny most of the time!!!
i have been off yasmin since june 06 and mine are much better now although i still get a little discomfort premenstrually but they no longer feel lumpy and hurt just with a t-shirt touching them.i used to cringe if my kids wanted a hug as they were so sore. apparently evening primrose oil is good for breast tenderness.

sarah

Hello,

I haven't been on lately posting my symptoms because for the first time after 8 months of Post Yasmin Hell, I have started to see real progress.

After taking Yasmin for 7 months, I stopped and have been so so sick, it was unbelievable. Over 50 various Doctor visits and nothing at all could be found. I lost my appetite and 13 pounds, had anxiety and heart palpitations, nauseous all the time and just so so ill. I have never been sick all my life... never...aside from colds of course.

Nothing really helped... vitamins, food... nothing. If you really think about it.. . we ingested a POWERFUL horomone suppressent. How can we think that taking vitamins or herbs will solve the problem? Believe me, it might help a little... a very little but far far from the solution.

I notice that my worst symptoms were cyclic and each month I could be assured that I would get worse and going through this month after month with little improvement was taking a toll and I just wanted to literally give up already. The rate of improvement was ridiculous!! 1 % perhaps... less?

So then I told everybody my absolute last resort was taking an antidepressent because my general Dr. told me that it has been used off label to help PMDD which is a menstrual disorder. My other Dr. also told me it has been PROVEN to help gastrointestinal problems also.

I know most of you are scared and skeptical about taking another drug, just how I was. I kept saying.. I am not depressed, etc etc. I was worried about side effects etc. But after a while it came down to a point of.. I NEED TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE!!!!

So if Prozac has been shown to help with female horomone problems I should give it a shot and see if it will help mine, because believe me, it couldn't really get any worse. How can someone live through or six months of hell??? You long term sufferers know what I am talking about.

So I did a TON of studying on Prozac / Fluoxetine and found that this proven drug is the easiest of all the SSRI's as far as side effects and withdrawal. I also read that taking a low dose is just about as effective as taking a normal dose. For example, would you give the same 20 mg. dose to granny as well as Shaquille O' neal?

To give you the best news already: I have finally turned a corner and am starting to feel so so much better, month by month. Prozac has finally reversed this cyclic monthly hell. I had ABSOLUTELY no side effects because I researched and researched and realized I only needed a small small dose. I started at 10 mg. EVERY OTHER DAY. This dose is very low and yet very effective. The usual dose is 20 mg. daily.. which is too much.

My appetite started to slowly come back, my anxiousness went down. My general sense of well being became better and better. Yes of course, the monthly cycles would sometimes pop up once in a while but this time 75% better than before.

So for all of you who like me made the mistake of taking a powerful horomone altering drug Yasmin and still not getting better, you may need to try Prozac because I am proof that it does work. Don't be afraid of withdrawal or side effects because the low dose you need will cause none of these... ask your Doctor. It is not only used for depression because believe me, I never had any depression issues at all, but Yasmin caused my body CHAOS, and no vitamins can really help that kind of mess. Prozac is helping by pushing my horomone system back to it's normal activity as well as helping my digestive system AND my overall well being.

I was just like all of you, coming back month after month because just when I thought I was getting a little better, the bad cycle hit me again like a truck and I thought I would never get better. I avoided Prozac because I thought it was bad and that how can an antidepressent help me? I was wrong, Prozac has been the ONLY thing that has helped my cycle get back on track. Ladies who are still long term sufferers of Post Yasmin hell, read up on Prozac and it's off label uses of treating Pre menstrual dysphoric symtom, as well as digestive treatment.

Also, although SSRI's are all in the same class, they can have very different effects on individuals. For example just because Zoloft didn't agree with you, that doesn't mean Prozac will do the same thing. The ignorant DR. probably gave you too high of a dose as most Doctors do.

The best way of finding out is starting on a low dose. You should see no side effects at all. Well the one side effect that was welcomed was a sense of calm and sleepiness. So much better than the panic attacks...

FYI. I have realized that Yasmin has hit me XTRA hard because Yasmin has a high dose of ESTROGEN, and my body before Yasmin was the opposite... testosterone high! I am ultra fit, love working out and don't possess the typical estrogenic female body, meaning I don't have big breasts or typical softer female features. So being on Yasmin really changed the dynamics of my body.

Again, if any of you have similar symptoms of me and is a classified long term sufferer (6 mos. or more), my sincere advice is to talk to your Doctor about Prozac and give it a shot at a low dose. There should not, I repeat should not be any side effects and you should start to get better month by month.. and this time at a much faster pace.

DEAR TWO GIRL MOM,

COngrats you have made it through period 1, just remember thats the beginning of the end, it was hard I KNOW, its was STRESSY i know and the palps were horrible , been there eah month also but you are 1 period closer to being rid of all the bad things yasmin has done.
I too stopped the pill and restarted it i was on it for 2yrs went off and had mirena inserted for 1 month ( pure hell) and then restarted the pill for 3 months before i found this haven of yasmin sufferers.
remember the anxiety and everything is always worse when youre period is due , just after and ovulation so maybe take that into account and you made not need the paxil as high in the inbetween of your cycle ( just a thought) .
My BP is that also if that makes you feel any better and the lighthead i had also for first 3months really bad with the blurred vision.
YOU WILL GET THERE. STAY STRONG

Lisa

Dear Chrissy,

thanks for always being there.......
i read back to some old posts last night and noticed thats lots of sufferers said the first 2 mths after yasmin were the worst and then started to get easier, did u find this....been feeling great for the last 2 days after a horrible 7 days so hoping on the way up........
been off yasmin nearly 3mths now so heres hoping.....
Lisa

i would not be assured that the muscle pain is not due to the statin i was taking if it does not disappear within 30 days of stopping it--from reading many forums devoted to statin sufferers, some individuals do experience relief--others (most of the ones who post on these forums) do not. if you wish to read about statins and muscle damage, google articles by Baker and Tarnopolsky.

I posted here in early Sept. about my problems with lisinopril. After reading other posts I started doing some google searches. Because a previous HBP medicine caused my thyroid function go down I was switched to Lisinopril. Two years later, my throid levels which had recovered are now going down again. Several posters mentioned suppelmenting with zinc to deal with the cough so many people develop. A "lisinopril zinc" search had several sites that all stated in practically the same words that no research showed a link to zinc and lisinopril but supplementation might be a good idea. (Don't dose yourself with zinc because that can cause things to go out of whack.) I also found an article by Dr. Ron Hoffman about "Drugs That Steal." He reported that ACE-inhibitors caused zinc to be depleted from the body.
Then, I googled "zinc TSH". TSH is the indicator of how your thyroid is working. There I found several articles about how low zinc levels may cause low thyroid symptoms. Ask low-thyroid sufferers how hard it is to get doctors to diagnose and deal with this wide range of symptoms that are often vague.
Now I'm stuck. Is it lisionpril or is it my thyroid? My doctor sees the HBP first and wants to add medications to deal with the first medication's side effects. But then suppose there are more side effects from the next medication. This is a real quality of life issue.

Hello all,

I'm one joining the many sufferers out there, but alas, I'm only a newbie at Yasmin. I just started about two weeks ago, on the first day of my period, and yet, I'm still bleeding. This is a record for me. I have been feeling quite nauseated lately, basically like shit. Always exhausted, lackadaisical, and paranoid whenever it's time to actually fall asleep. I've been waking up a lot lately during the night, thinking someone else is in the room. My nightmares have been getting worse, and keeping down food is iffy. Now I'm worrying if I may be gaining weight, though, because of the fullness I feel. Also, there's been a lot of tenderness in the chest, too much for comfort.

But that's just for now. I'll see if it gets better, or I'm quitting. This was only to get rid of my building "acne", which by the way is getting worse, ironically.

Hello All,

Another post from a veteran of this horrendous pill. It is now 7 months off and I am now feeling my real self. Anxiety has been the main symptom that has taken this entire time to decrease (I never suffered before taking Yasmin).

Just a warning, I have read some posts that suggest your body can 'get used to' Yasmin and as such the terrible symptoms can decrease if you give it time. THIS IS NOT TRUE. From my research and contact with many sufferers and survivours of Yasmin it has the opposite effect. I had no sympoms on Yasmin for 12 months before I was struck down in the matter of a week with severe panic attacks/anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. I lost about 7kg in 2 weeks cause I was too nauseated to eat, and felt like I had developed a mental illness.

DO NOT FOOL YOURSELVES. THE ONLY SAFE CHOICE IS TO STOP TAKING THIS PILL. The time it takes to get better tells you how long it takes for our brains to re-balance our hormone levels.

Good luck to all.

Hi Voice-bloated and fellow yasmin sufferers,

Just doing an update post on how i'm coming along these days. I'm 3 1/2 months off yasmin and the weight gain/bloating is still there. Remember this is only after being 4 months on the pill. Only got 1 period after taking provera to induce menses and i'm waiting to see when I'll get the next one. Like BLOATED- I also used to be a size 0-2 and now i'm bursting out of a 6. you can well imagine how i feel. (sigh) Yasmin has kept me from the beach all summer long. I haven't even gone swimming once. I've started to think that maybe i just have to come to terms with the fact that I have turned into a blob from this once upon thin, fit figure i used to posess.
Everyone keep posting here and let us know how you come along. your progress only inspires us and helps us stay strong.
Love U all,
Sherry

The Nuvaring is the most horrible thing I've ever taken! I've had severe depression, I can't stop crying, I've had headaches and nausea. For the past month I've just felt like I've been going crazy. I've had suicidal thoughts and bursts of anger and I am horrified because it's so not like me. It took me a month and conversations with two other nuvaring sufferers to figure out what was going on. I've tried various other birth control pills and never had problems like this. The worst part is when I called my doctor's office and was told that all of this was not possible because the ring has such a low dose of estrogen. I think the doctors need to be more educated and informative about what they prescribe.

I would like to sympathize with everyone who is taking this pill! I have now been on it for over a year and I have had severe mood swings, crying for no reason and last month I had to have my gallbladder removed!

I went to my OB/GYN 6 weeks after my first baby and was prescibed Yasmin as I have PCOS. Supposedly this pill balances out the hormones and is one of the better ones for PCOS sufferers. I would disagree!

The only reason I looked at this website was that my husband had heard something on tv about loss of some nutrients, especially potassium. He was concerned as I have been very lethargic, moody, have problems going to the bathroom and to top it off my libido has gone out the window!

After reading some of the guests responses on this website, I am now convinced that Yasmin is not right for me, and by the sounds of it, not for a lot of women! I will be making an appointment with my OB/GYN asap to find something else!

Before being pregnant I was on the pill (not yasmin) for 12 years and had no side effects of any kind.

Go take care of yourself and throw Yasmin out the window.

PS If anyone knows of a class action against Yasmin let me know!!!! ;-)

I noticed nervousness upon first starting, which I was worried about since I also have anxiety with depression, but this nervousness dissapated after a week or two into the drug.

However, one almost indefinately needs to take ritalin with another drug, such as Wellbutrin or Prozac or etc., in order to derive maximum benefits from. Also because I think Ritalin tends to make one too much of something; such as too nervous, stimulated, or angry depending on the individual, and needs to be offset by another drug, especially so or maybe this is only true if there is a disorder in the brain in the first place. I find this is true in myself and need to supplement it with several other meds in order to harness the benefits from Ritalin.

It would be nice if Ritalin came packaged with a med that offsets its negative effects, kind of like how shampoo and conditioner all in one is sometimes packaged in one bottle.

However, the medication is a good one, and has enabled me to function in life. It's wonderful when I'm at work on time or 10 minutes early every day. I love ironing my clothes in the morning for a change and not feeling "lazy", which never was even the case.

I'm no longer described as "spacey" or "stupid" or ditsy like I'd been by many other peers in the past. Now I feel at times intelligent and at least capable and competent or on par with others.

What price can you pay to achieve this?

Highly recommended for sufferers of ADD with or without hyperactivity.

YES YES AND YES, I HAVE A BUNCH OF THESE SYMPTOMS. RATHER THAN ADDING YET ANOTHER SAGA AND PILLIORING THE DRUG AND ITS EFFECTS ON ME
HEREIN ARE A FEW THOUGHTS

1. There seem to be several groups of "Lipitor Sufferers" (LS) People who have taken it for Short Term versus and Long Term Takers.

2. One group of people appear to have reversals of symptoms or similar following ceasation of the drug taking, whilst another group seem to appear stuck with the symptoms.

3. NO-ONE SEEMS TO BE OFFERING A TREATMENT FOR ACHIEVING A REVERSAL OF THE EFFECTS OF THE LIPITOR.
Several People Are Asking.

4. this space is vacant because there seems far too many questions to add in to this debate.

I ask if I am to stop taking this drug, what is the best way in which to cease? And what is the manner or modality of action of this drug in order to take the optimum supplemennt or the like to try to achieve the best I can NOW.

So in a nutshell... WHat can I/we do to help ourselves Now?