Sugar pill symptoms and conditions

I am a few days away from my 19th birthday and i've been taking Yasmin since the age of 11. I was diagnosed with PCOS when i was 11 and Yasmin has been what's keeping my period regular and more or less pain free since then. In May of 2008 i was switched to the generic version of Yasmin called, Ocella and started to notice more and more symptoms and side effects. My stomach pain in the mornings grew greater by the day and when i was on my sugar pill i would gain an unbearable migraine. Thinking it was just part of being a woman i ignored it and went about my life. It wasn't until December of 2008 while out with a group of friends i came into some serious stomach pain. thinking it was just a typical stomach ache that i normally got i ignored it. when i came to be about 4 am and the pain hadn't stopped i started to worry. first thing in the morning i went to the doctor who referred me to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that i had gall stones and that i should have my gall bladder removed before more complications were to occur. Being a college student only a week away from returning to my second semester i opted to wait until spring break to have the surgery. During the 3 month wait i experience extreme diarrhea whenever something was put in my mouth, extreme stomach pain, heartburn, nausea, headaches, sore muscles, the list goes on and on i felt like i had been hit by a truck every day and i still had to go to class. in March of 2009 i had my gall bladder removed thinking that the symptoms would finally stop i returned to school only to find that nothing got better. It's been 7 months since my gall bladder has been removed and i'm still having the same symptoms as before and now i've added depression, stress, lack of energy and interest and many other things to the list. I'm still taking Ocella because i've never been advised otherwise but the symptoms are taking over my life. I am a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering at college and it's just become harder and harder to focus on my work or to enjoy the aspects of college that i should be with the frequent trips to the bathroom or having to opt out of a fun activity because of stomach pain. I was wondering if anyone can help me, maybe point me in a direction where i can get better and get back to enjoying what a 19 should be. Thanks.

i went and got a 3 month supply of Loestrin 24 Fe from my doctor about a year ago and have attempted to take it twice before, but i would quit taking it before it had even been a month the first 2 times because i would get my period a couple weeks early and it would be super heavy and i would get horrible cramps, and my period is usually light and i NEVER get cramps and i just didn't want to deal with it! So I finally sucked it up and took it for the third time. i just completed the pack and today i took my first sugar pill, but no period yet... i'm a little worried, but i'm going to the gyno next week to ask her about it. but yeah, lots and LOTS of nausea for me. also my breasts got bigger. i wear a DD cup as it is, and even that's getting small on me now, and i don't know what to do about it = / but the main thing that has been affecting me is i have been just really lethargic since i have been taking it. i've just been really lazy and i've definitely gained weight. but that may be just from not going to the gym and opting to stay at home and eat instead. i'm not really sure? but yes, two biggest things have been nausea, and a slight depression/laziness. i'm hoping it will go away by 3 months, or maybe i will switch to something else before then. any suggestions of what to take would be great. and also does anyone know if you can have sex while on the brown pills, even if you don't get your period?

I had my Mirena inserted Jan. 2008, and just had it removed a month ago. Prior to the Mirena insertion, I had been off BC for about 2 years, following a terrible episode of severe dry eye (to the point of corneal ulceration) after using Mircette continuously (no sugar pill week) for about 3 years. I was told the Mirena was safe and that my symptoms would most likely not recur because of the low dose of hormones. I told myself that if my eye symptoms came back I would have the Mirena removed immediately.

What I wasn't counting on was the fact that many Mirena symptoms can come on gradually, and didn't have any idea that the almost continuous cycle of UTIs and Yeast Infections, as well as constant thick mucous discharge that I think now must have been mild BV, that I'd been having since the insertion could be related. I am only 28 and have had a few different partners since the insertion, and frankly was ashamed that I was somehow not being safe or clean.

About 8 months into Mirena I started having bouts of severe IBS, and after testing it turned out I had developed multiple food allergies, as well as many bacterial infections in my intestines, and a yeast overgrowth. I have been terrified ever since that my body is attacking itself, and none of the dietary and pharmaceutical treatments to treat the IBS has really helped. I also started having intense night sweats many times nightly, a dizzy foggy feeling, recurring sinusitus for the first time in my life, and shooting joint pain into my hands (which scares me to death because I'm a musician). I have also had episodes of intense anxiety, insomnia, and heart palipitations that I marked down as stress. I seem to have a doctor's appointment every other week, and for months asked if I should get the Mirena removed -- every doctor, including my excellent GYN and Naturopath, said the Mirena was not the problem.

But the worst of this is, that after all this time with comfortable, healthy eyes, my eye symptoms returned in full in Nov. 08 and no medication has been able to adequately keep the dryness and inflammation under control. It seems like a no-brainer that Mirena and more hormones brought the eye problems back, but because it had been so many months since the insertion, I couldn't make myself believe it was the problem.

Well, after searching Mirena, IBS, and yeast infections and finding so many women with similar stories, I became certain that Mirena, if not the whole problem, created a hostile environment in my body and had it removed. I immediately felt a release from depression (which I hadn't realized I had been feeling), and my sex drive went through the roof. I know it can take a long time for the body to regularize itself after so many fake hormones have been circulating for so long, and am desperately hoping that in time some of the worst side effects of the Mirena will disappear.

hello everyone,
I am 24 years old and i have been on this pill for almost a month, and let me tell you that i have had good times and bad. I have had really bad headachs and my moods do change, and weight gain. The one thing i did not want, because i just had a baby and it is hard enough to loose the weight. But the side effects come and they go it has not been that bad that i am ready to give up i will stick it out the three months like my gyno has told me too. Though i am a little freaked out right now because i started the sugar pill and no sign of my period yet, so we will see about that. Wish me luck please.

Yasmin has been great in fixing up my acne problems. I have not gained any weight but my mood swings are atrocious! I feel like I am in a dark tunnel at least once a month (around the sugar pill time), I keep spotting brown mucus. This just started in the last fortnight. I will go a day or so with no problems then it starts again. I am going to the doctor on Monday to find out what is going on. I am getting married in one month's time and I dread to think of my honeymoon night! Spotting brown goo! But I don't want my skin to break out. I went on the Yasmin because of the fact it has a mild diuretic in it which helps me because I have fluid retention issues at times. Has anyone else experienced spotting on and off?? I also have a lot of leg cramps and back ache on a regular basis!! Thank you!

This pill was prescribe to me to reduce the bleeding and pain cause by fabriods. This is my 2nd package and I am stopping this pills. I have no sex drive at all. I feel like dead in the sex department. My stomach it gotten so big that I can't wear my pants. I have gain about 6 pounds in the pass 2 months. I work out 5-6 days a week and eat healthy. I will find other alternatives to deal with the fibroid pain, but I won't use this pill any longer.

Well, well, well. I'm glad I stumbled upon this drug in the side effects area. I, too, was sneakily substituted it for Wellbutrin XL! I've been on it for 2 mos now. I couldn't figure out why my moods had gotten worse and I was wanting to cry at stupid stuff on tv. I was thinking bad things were going to happen to my kids. I was having "almost" panic attacks when I was around a lot of people. That doesn't help when you go to church every Sunday. I have to sit in the crying room with the little kids. I just feel "out of sorts". I'm extra tired. I crave sweets and MUST have them. I'm like a drug addict, but with sweets. I thought my side effects were from the other meds I'm on, which I have not changed in many, many months. Now I know It's Budeprion. I am in the process of weaning off anyway because of the sweets addiction thing....I'm trying to lose weight that I gained on other meds over the last 2 yrs and THIS isn't helping. Thank you to all who posted. Good luck!

The biggest side of taking Synthroid for me: it did NOTHING for me. ZILCH. ZERO. It was no better than a sugar pill. After 17 years of that nonsense, I switched to Armour and WHAT a difference.******

i started taking Yasmin after i had my 5th child in July 2002. i was about 70 pounds over weight and my gyno said i would lose weight on this new wonder pill. i did, i lost 30 pounds and felt better than i ever had.
My skin was clear, my period light and i just consistently lost weight. i did notice that i was urinating quite a bit but didn't think much about it. About 3 years into taking the pill, my pharmacist mentioned to me that i should be having potassium levels drawn with this pill. I was a bit confused because i had read the literature that came with Yasmin when i started taking it(im a nurse and i just always research new meds i take) and it never once mentioned blood work. i had to harass my gyno because he thought it was useless but to appease me and because i mentioned to him i take a lot of ibuprofen for back pain he humored me and did the test. It was a little high but nothing crazy so i let it go even tho i mentioned that i was getting horrible muscle spasms all the time. he said my calcium was probably low. i accepted that because i had had 5 kids and figured i had depleted my supply. he mentioned that i could take Yasmin continuously without taking a sugar pill to keep me from having a period, said it was completely safe. so for the next 3 years i only had periods about 4 times a year. i raved to everyone how wonderful this pill was. i was still having muscle cramps but it was a small price to pay for no zits, no periods, no water weight, and i could eat whatever i wanted and had lost 30 pounds after one year of being on it though i never lost any after that.i didn't notice my hair was greasier than normal but i never connected it to the pill. i wanted to take the pill forever! that didn't work out thought when i lost my insurance and was forced to go off it because i just couldn't afford 70 a month. within the first couple of weeks i noticed acne appearing all over my face especially my nose and chin. i was 36 years old! far past the acne stage! i also noticed i felt bloated and my first period that came was like someone had released a flood gate. i went through 2 boxes of super tampons and a bag of pads in 3 days. thats about the time i noticed the weight gain. slowly over a period of 3 months i put on 3 or 4 pounds a week to now a whopping total of 30 pounds in 3 months. i was devastated. i knew that there were side effects of any medication and you assume those risks while taking it but not from not being on it anymore! the only good thing to come from getting off of it was those annoying muscle spasms completely stopped. i had been to the point that i couldn't even flex my toes or they would charley horse i had even gotten them in my jaw from yawning! now they were gone and replaced by fatigue, extreme weight gain and horrible acne and periods. i started blowing up and it didn't seem to be mainly weight, it seemed like fluid. i didn't urinate half as much as i used to it was like my body forgot how to make its own diuretic hormone. i could take a water pill and lose 10 pounds in 4 hours of fluid i knew that was not a good thing. i was scared as well as baffled. i went to my internist and he was shocked when he saw me my lungs were full of fluid, i had put on 30 pounds and was short of breath he ordered thyroid function tests and guess what? out of the blue my perfectly functioning thyroid (i had levels drawn the year before in routine tests) had stopped working when i got off Yasmin! so now i have to take diuretics because i don't seem to make enough of my own which i believe is thanks to Yasmin and i also feel it damaged my thyroid since its mechanism of action is inhibiting your adrenal system and thats what controls your thyroid. i am seriously considering filing a class action law suit based on the fact that for 3 years i never had my potassium levels checked because it wasn't advised by the manufacturer and i have experienced damage from this pill that i was not warned about in the package insert or by my doctor. i had the right to be informed and if they didn't know then the fda should have never approved it. i feel like ive been a guinea pig, and if anyone feels the same my number is ****** if we stand together maybe we can make them take this off the market and find out what has happened to those of us hurt already

Hello! I'm 27 and I've been taking Yasmin for probably 7 years and never had a single problem. My weight stayed the same, my periods got VERY regular, to the DAY, and things were ok.

Starting about 3 months ago I was on my honeymoon and decided to skip my period that month which I do a few times a year and Yasmin never let me down! Anyways my period came anyways and not only that, but I spotted an extra week after! It was most noticable in the mornings after having sex. It was just brown and yucky. Then I didn't have a period the next month, only 24 hours of brown and this month I had a regular one. On top of that I've suddenly gained 5 pounds without changing ANYTHING. I wonder, can Yasmin suddenly screw me up so many years after I started taking it? I hear horror stories about Yasmin but I only see it from women taking it for a few months or maybe a year? It was always so good to me. What's going on? The weight gain terrifies me too because I so easily gain weight and I've been trying so hard to eat well and I feel like it's been pointless. It ticks me off more because I have to pay $50 a month for Yasmin even AFTER insurance pays 15, and now I think it's messing my body up too.

I have a OBGYN appointment in a few weeks and I'm going to talk to her about it and see about getting on a new pill anyways for price reasons, but do you think all these weird sudden symptoms are from Yasmin? Can you recommend a pill? I can't afford to gain anymore weight. I just can't...

I'm 29, have been on birth control pills for 10 years, and switched to Yasmin about 2 years ago. I a small varicose vein in my right within 2 months of switching, but didn't think a relationship between my vasculature and the pill existed. I can now trace the entire vein from my right hip to my ankle. In the 2 years since starting Yasmin, my ankles and lower legs swelled heavily...but at very random times. It often began at the start of the 7-day sugar pill regime and finished by the time I started a new pack. I assumed that the estrogen withdrawal going into the sugar pills was too much for my body to handle and that the diuretic effects of Yasmin were obviously absent during that time. I also noticed leg cramping, heart palpitations, and I started waking up in the occasional hot sweat in a drenched bed.

So, after making sure that my heart and kidneys were healthy, my gynecologist prescribed continuous hormone Yasmin and claimed it as the "ultimate solution". For 4 months, I have skipped the sugar pills for each pack and started new packages immediately. I have not had a period since, and the edema has continued (still at random) and has become exponentially worse. In the last few weeks alone, the vein in my right leg has become massive, my legs are so distended by the end of the days on which they swellI that I can't fit into pants which are otherwise loose, I am noticing other large veins "surfacing", little veins are breaking everywhere, and I can now see most of the blood vessels beneath the skin in both legs. My primary care physician told me I have chronic venous insufficiency...a diagnosis I'm not okay with. I'm very worried...the changes and ensuing damage have happened way too quickly to be venous insufficiency. I am going to ween myself off of the pill, but don't know what the next step should be. Endocrinologist? Another OB/GYN? Anyone have ideas or similar experiences to share....

I was prescribed this medication for mild depression. (it was thought to be post pardum depression) and it did NOTHING!! I might as well been taking a sugar pill. I was very disappointed as this was a newer product at the time and had thought to be pretty good. The good side was that I didnt have any side effects! It did nothing, good or bad!

I posted a question to anyone who used Tri-Sprintec before, but now it's been several months & I'd like to let everyone else know how it's worked for me! Tri-Sprintec has been the best birth control I've ever taken. I have been on other birth controls over the years, and up to this point Yasmin was good but I still had some side effects. I've just started my fourth month on Tri-Sprintec, and I feel more like myself again. I don't have any crazy mood swings, my skin has cleared up, my periods are regular again & my appetite has gone back to normal. I recommend Tri-Sprintec to anyone who is looking for an affordable & reliable birth control (it's offered at the Wal-Mart pharmacy for $9 a month if you don't have insurance.)

I wouldn't try the patch because of skin sensitivity, shots just seem really wrong to me, but I have been taking different oral contraceptives for nearly fifteen years. Fortunately I haven't had a pulmonary embolism which was definitely a risk because I was a smoker the whole time. Every time I switched pill brands, it was because of insurance copays, it would be non-preferred. However, I was still diagnosed with endometriosis and had one ovarian cyst removed laparoscopically and one ruptured on its' own. Endometriosis is less common in women on the pill because of the ovulation regulation...so I imagine things could have been so much worse. I was able to ask to take the pill continuously, meaning I'd skip the sugar pill week. Oh heaven! Without the pill I have severe cramps, PMS, heavy bleeding, pain and numbness in the crotch area, diarrhea, and was emotionally unstable. Although I suffer from depression, I don't feel that the pill has affected that much at all. I've recently quit smoking, and now am on the Nuvaring because of drug interactions. I've been spotting for 10 days now at least, and been on the ring for a month. I know there is a transition period, but this is not acceptable. My request to my doctor is to get back on some sort of pill on my insurance's preferred list. I'm starting to break out too. I want my pill back!

I am sooo relieved that I found this site. OMG. I was on the NR before for about a year and 3 months. I didn't have any side effects whatsoever. I went of the NR because my boyfriend and I broke-up and I wasn't having sex. About 4 months later, I developed 2 ovarian cysts that ended up rupturing in my right ovary. BTW, I turned 30 in the same month. I was in so much abdominal pain, hot flashes, painful menstrual cycle, passing huge blood clots, depression, crying all the time, thoughts of suicide, anxiety attacks, very irritable, easily frustrated, inability to concentrate, and nausea. I had NEVER had any bouts of depression, crying all the time, thoughts of suicide, anxiety attacks in my life before. NEVER! My OB/GYN told me my hormones were all out of wack and that I should go back on the NR to regulate my hormones. So, I went back on the NR, my cysts went away and I felt 100% better immediately. Now it's 2 months later and I'm having all the same symptoms I had before the NR, although, it’s not as bad as it was before. Apparently, I'm still ovulating while on the NR although the NR STOPS ovulation. I have developed more cyst(s), haven't gone for the ultrasound yet, in my right ovary, even though my last ultrasound showed that the last 2 cysts went away. Right now, I am emotionally drained and physically in a lot of pain. I think that if I get off the NR my symptoms would be a lot worst. I’m allergic to the patch because of the adhesive, coming off of depo caused too much pain, and I forget to take the pill. So I don't know what to do.

I was perscribed Allese about a year ago, but my insurance only covers generic medicine. So i was put on Lutera for about 8 months. Just recently the pharmacist said that my new pill would be Sronyx and honestly, i dont trust it as much. My headaches are becoming very severe and almost a daily occurance now plus i've heard that its not as effective.
my period doesn't come on the sugar-pill days... it always comes about a week before. my doctor reccomended this: continuously taking Sronyx and skipping the sugar-pill days. I move from the end of the white pills on week three right to the beginning of a new pack. lately its helped a lot. the continuousy of it is really helping i think. so thats my suggesting to anyone whos having trouble.

I have been reading all the comments and I can't help wondering if I am atypical, but I have not had any of these side effects. In fact the only thing that Lisinopril has done for me is to lower my bp. I was 130 over 90 and now 116 over 78, so it sure works for me!

Hi Ladies.. I am so happy to see so many postings on this pill. I have been on this pill over 2 1/2 years and didn't think anything was wrong with it until 6 months ago. I stopped getting my periods and at first I thought it was because I was working out 6 days a week but when the next month came around and I didn't get it again I thought it was strange. Now 6 months later I have only had my period once. I talked to my midwife about it and she said it was perfectly normal. I have been on the pill for about 12 years and I always got my period. I also have noticed that after 6 months of working out and eating right I am not losing any weight. The only time I lose a couple pounds is when I am suppose to be having my period and I am taking the sugar pill. I also have been experiencing headaches but chalked it up to my life of working, with two kids and maintaining family, house etc. Recently blood clots have come up with a few of my friends and it just makes me think that this pill has something to do with it. I am not ready to have another child, so I would really like to find another pill to try out. Any suggestions??

Thanks to everyone who has posted their experiences with Yasmin!

I am now on my 4th Yasmin free day. So far, I've not had any withdrawal issues aside from a bad migraine yesterday (but I've typically had Migraines during my sugar pill week anyway, so this wasn't surprising.)

I was on Yasmin for almost a year. The side effects creeped up on me slowly. They included:

~ Irrational thoughts (sometimes)
~ Depression and crying
~ Migraines (2 or more a month)
~ Social withdrawal (used to be much more social, but on Yasmin, I didn't want to be around my friends for very long)
~ Fatigue (I sometimes have to close my office door and lay on the floor to rest)
~ Bloating, IBS-like symptoms and pain on the left side of my belly (This is the symptom that made me start researching Yasmin.)

I'm convinced that the Yasmin caused all these problems. I'd much rather try treating my PCOS with diet and exercise.

I will try to post again in a week or so to update progress. (I just want to give others some hope, you know?)

Best of luck to all!