Wish you all the best symptoms and conditions

I started with 60 mg per day for polymyalgia rheumatica and now after two years have weaned myself down to 5 mg per day. I have a side effect that I have not read anyone else having. It has effected my taste buds. Many foods that I loved in the past, have a foreign taste to me. I am 66, male and have tried to drop down to 2 1/2 mg but the pain is too intense to remain at that level, so had to return to 5 mg. I have lots of pain in the feet and especially toes. I can tell that I am getting better and am very anxious to get off of Prednisone.

Dear leeleeroz,

the same thing happened to me... After getting off Yasmin I got the normal "breakthrough-bleeding", which is NO normal period!! And after that: NOTHING! I had to wait a very long time but my period came back after 1,5 years, without doing anything (well, my weight went down which perhaps might have helped also...)!!

I didn't want to put other chemicals in my body after my nightmare experience with Yasmin and I felt, that my body needed time to balance everything out by itself so I just waited.

So please try not to worry too much and try to be patient. It's pretty normal, that your body might need some time after stopping bcp to find its own rhythm and balance again, even if you didn't have any problems with Yasmin (I heard and read from many women, who didn't get their period for a few months after stopping a bcp, but for everyone it came back one day!)!!

And if you have the time (I mean, if you don't want to have children immediately), please take it and give your body the time it needs to recover from those chemicals!!

I find it not very helpful, that your doc had given you another hormone to get your period back, without waiting at least about 6 months or so; that's the time your body definitely needs to clear from the bcp hormones (some say 3 months, some say even 12 months.... I think this is different for everyone).

I wish you all the best and that you will make the right decision for you and your health!! And I'm very sure, that one day you'll tell us all here in the forum, that your pregnant!! :)

This is about my sister who was diagnosed with dermatomyositis about 1 month ago. She has been on prednisone ever since and just a few days ago started experiencing really bad stomach pain and back pain/burning on the left side. we took her to the e.r. where they ran a number of tests and didn't find anything wrong. i have been researching all her meds and can only come up with this: prednisone has to be the culprit. God bless all of you who have to take this drug for anything. I wish you all the best. It has been hard seeing her suffer, but without it her condition would not get better.

hi guest 40706.
the bleed you experienced when you stopped taking yasmin was just a withdrawl bleed from stopping taking the pill,it was not a period as you do not ovulate when you are taking the pill,your next proper period may be delayed as your natural hormones need to build back up and take over,hopefully this will not be a long wait! in the mean time make sure you use some form of protection to be safe and if you have any doubts about a possible pregnancy do a test to make sure you are not pregnant. take a good vitamin and mineral supplement and consider some milk thistle to cleanse your liver of the build up of synthetic hormones.
i wish you all the best,hope you fell better soon.
sarah

Hey Hill! So nice to hear from you again! :) And especially to hear, that you're feeling back to normal finally! I feel so happy for every one of us, who can say this after that nightmare...

Well, I'm feeling very down again at the moment. Since my period finally had arrived again in August 2006 (1,5 after stopping Yasmin!!!!...) I've been feeling worse and worse each month again. Two very bad colds in Oct/Nov 2006 also made it worse... It's not as bad as it was whilst taking Yasmin in 2004 and I so much hope, that it won't get that bad again...

I don't know 100% why this is happening again to me but there seems to be much more wrong as I thought and all the docs believed. In my family are already 4 stories of thyroid problems, so it might be, that I've been and still am also suffering from such problems without having known the last years... As I know now I never should have started any bcp, because that makes thyroid problems only much bigger... And Yasmin seems to have totally brought everything out of whack in my body with that diuretic and all that other "new wonderful stuff" in it...

So that's not very good news but I'm working on it and hoping to find a solution in the next few months. I've been given some thyroid hormones but I'm a bit afraid to take them (everybody who took Yasmin knows why...). I'm so done with going through another nighmare as 2 years ago...

But seeing that finally more and more women, that I had met 1 or 2 years ago here, come back to this forum and tell us, they're back to normal. This gives so much hope to all of us!! So thank you Hill for letting us know these great news!!

I wish you all the best for your future and your "new life"!! :)

hugs,
Silke

@nkgulri:

This is a thing which many women are suffering from within hormonal changes. Some women have those problems after pregnancy or during menopause and so on....

And remember: Stopping the pill is a real big hormonal change your body has to go through, so it seems to be "normal", that you're loosing that much hair at the moment. As soon as your hormones are back in balance, this hair problem should stop!!

I have discovered, that my hair falls out more during special times within a month (ovulation or shortly before period)... Well, it's not that much but it definitely is there!!

So please try not to worry too much and give it some time... I know it sounds hard, but that's the only thing that can heal our bodies besides a good diet, drinking enough water a day and some supplements (B-Vitamines, Minerals (Magnesium, etc.)...). Those things seem to be very helpful as I experienced within the last 2 years...

I wish you all the best and keep us updated on how you're doing!!!

Greetings
Silke

Dear Jen,

wow, this TSH of 0,009 (or 0,09?) sounds very very low.... The normal ranges (well, here in GErmany, I think it's in US the same...?) lie between 0,5 and 2,5...

Didn't they do anything for your thyroid? I think you should get checked this again.

In my case it's the opposite, I'm experiencing a subclinical hypothyreoidism, my TSH was a bit high (4,1). And I read very often, that the pill is also interacting with our thyroids.

So perhaps time will heal that thing but everyone should get checked for thyroid-problems, I think, because this can also cause all those symptoms of anxiety, dizzyness, tiredness, nervousness, muscle weakness and many more...

I wish you all the best, Jen, and keep us updated on how you're doing!!

Greetings
Silke

Hi IPJ!!

Well, thank you so much for your post!! It's another peace of hope for me and I think for many others also. Here in Germany the health system is not very comfortable these days so you sometimes really have to "fight" to get any kind of bloodwork done because everything seems to "expensive" to the docs...

So I didn't get my magnesium levels checked, yet, they always just did the "normal bloodwork" and simply don't know how my magnesium levels are. I always just felt the symptoms of magnesium deficiency (muscle problems, racing heart and palpitations, muscle hurting and so on...) and expected that the Yasmin and its diuretic had caused a magnesium deficiency (as I read from so many sites!!) in my body, too.

I'll have another bloodwork on Friday (had an appt. with my fam.doc yesterday and told him about my again upcoming symptoms), hopefully he'll find something.....

I wish you all the best IPJ and keep us posted!!

Silke

hi guest 36372,
i set up the new forum precicely so that people could chat and carry on personal correspondance and leave this site for posting factual information and personal stories as well as seekng advice as i agree that the site has become very hard to find answers from if you are a newcomer. i have been "advertising" daily to keep the link where regular visitors and newcomers can see it because it was only set up on friday and many people are not aware of it yet,as time goes on it will not be necessary to post the link. we have quite a few members already. i am sorry if this has offended you in any way but a lot of ladies on here just need some support and understanding and maybe just someone else that understands how they are feeling to chat too. i do not make any money from the new site,it is not a business it is just something i wanted to do to help people who want help and understanding. i am glad that the information you have found in the guests long postings have helped you,that is precisely the point of this site,if you want to chat about what you have discovered then please come to the new site. i won't post the link as it is on this page already.
I thought that a new site was needed to share personal experiences instead of clogging up this page,kind of like a yasmin support group...as the TV advert says it's good to talk!
once again,i wish you all the best,if you find out anything that could help all the other ladies please post it here and the new forum,we should all be doing as much as we can to help each other get through this nightmare.
Oh and in answer to your question about the chest pain,i get that too,especially before my period,sometimes it goes into my shoulder too and i feltl i am having a heart attack! my pulse races for a while then calms down but skips a few beats here and there,i had an ecg done and was told everything was fine,it was just anxiety,but my doctor would say that as he does not believe that yasmin caused any of my problems anyway. There are lots of reasons why your heart may feel this way but no definative answers,it is all if's but's and maybe's. it could be to do with dehydration,could be to do with lack of magnesium or it could be a surge or lack of the correct hormone peaking at the correct time. the truth is only time will tell,hopefully it will start to improve soon.
best wishes.
sarah

Well, if it's that way, I think I better don't react to anything again here. I got the feeling that you don't want to read what we all are trying to tell you, Kim. No one can tell you the one miracle thing to do against all that shit you and WE ALL are or were going through. There IS no miracle that can help, the only thing that helps IS TIME and PATIENCE, even if you still don't want to hear that.

I wish you all the best, believe me. But I'm also still not in a constitution where I can take such posts as yours now. I also come around here some days to find some help after two years of hell and still not being the 100% old me. And believe me, even after such a long time I'm still that desperate sometimes that I also still think about ending all that by myself one day, if I should not be getting completely healthy again ever in my life!

AND I just tried to help you also a hundred times you posted here (did you even notice???), but nothing seems to get through to you.

Bye.

happy holidays ladies, and I wish you all the best for 2007.

I have felt better lately but still at certain times of the day I feel sad. I never did before yasmin.

There is good news for everyone though, your body renews itself in 11 months. So I'm a bit over three months without this pill, so I'm looking forward to getting better as time passes by.

My experience has been severe panic attacks that come and go, I have them for a few days and then a few days I'm okay then I don't have them for weeks, then something happens in my life to stress me out then they come back. I hate Yasmin so much and I can't believe the effect its had on me, and I wish I'd never taken it.

I'm working really hard to work out my anxiety, and now of course I'm worried, anxious, scared of having another attack because my family worries so much.

It's just I wish I knew how to stop being so sad overall, nothing in specific, just sad. It comes and goes but it is there.

Sorry to blabber on, but writing this out really helps me.

Good luck to everyone.

Claudia.

Sarah,

I feel so happy for you, that you're finally doin better. And thanks for supporting so many women here (including me). I feel it's so important that even those women, who finally feel better, still come around here to give the others, still feeling bad, some hope! I wish you the very best and just go on like this!!

Weight gain: YES!!! I had gained about 20 kg (I think it's about 40 pounds.....) within only 4 months after stopping Yasmin without changing my eating habits or anything else!!!
I just had to take a look at a piece of chocolate and already I had gained another pound!! It was totally frustrating, because it's not me at all. I always used to be so slim and good looking and I could eat what I wanted...

But even there is hope Sarah: About May/June this year the weight finally started going down and until today I already have lost 10 kg (maybe 20 pounds) again, just by doing a little gardening and such things (wasn't able to extra excercise, yet, because of my still sometimes upcoming muscle problems).

I look more healthy again, my face isn't as puffy as it was, I just start to look "normal" finally (as even everyone around me is telling me!!).

So I think it's another thing which needs time and patience within all that hormonal chaos brought on by Yasmin. But I'm sure, that the weight will go back for you either within a few months!!

@Lisa: Sorry for getting back to you that late... I'm so happy to hear, you're doing better finally!! I always think about you ladies and wonder, how everyone I've met here within the last 2 years might be doing today. You've also asked about that "puffy" look. Well, some days I feel that there is again some water in my body, where it shouldn't be, therefore I can't move my rings on my fingers, or my eyes look a bit swollen, but nothing like it was about 1 year ago!! So I think in your case this is also another thing which will go away with time!!

Ladies, I wish you all the best and keep in touch!!

Silke

hi charity,
murph70 is quite right when she says that out bodies change after we have children. i was on dianette on and off for about 10 years and never had a problem with it, then i had my daughter (my youngest...now 3 ) i breast fead her for a year exclusively so did not have a period for the whole year,when my periods came back they were quite heavy and i also had outbreaks of acne when my period was due. my doctor put me on the new wonder pill yasmin! well he was right about it being a wonder pill,i started taking it and "wondered" what the hell had happened to me,within 6 months i was an agoraphobic nervous suicidal wreck,i had no sex drive at all and actually thought about telling my husband to go out and find another woman because i never wanted to have sex again! i felt constantly tired,i had tingles,aches,pains,blurred vision,constant thirst,raging headaches...the list goes on. my doctor diagnosed me with an anxiety disorder and gave me diazepam (which made me worse) when i asked if it could be my bcp he said no he didn't think so...but i know so because i found this site,found hundreds of wonderful women all with the same problems all taking this same pill, i stopped taking it 7 months ago now and while i am not back to my old self quite yet i am well on the way. Most of my symptoms have gone now so i think that is proof in itself. As murph70 says only you know how you feel,maybe you could try alternative methods of birth control for a while and see if you feel better? whatever you decide to do i wish you all the best.

sarah

hi claire from leeds in england, i am from surrey in england.
if you think you have issues that may have triggered your recent feelings then councelling is a good idea. my doctor sent me for councelling when my symptoms first appeared,like you i felt detached and emotionless to begin with,my life seemed pointless,i just thought "what's the point"? i stopped going to see friends,lost interest in most things and just generally felt deflated. i have 2 children so they both suffered as a result because i didn't want to go the park etc. then when the anxiety and panic attacks started i couldn't go out of the house and i felt to afraid to stay in the house by myself. nothing had changed in my life the only different thing was that i had started taking yasmin in the january (this was 2005,i stopped taking it 6 months ago when i found this site.) i was told i had an anxiety disorder but never quite believed the diagnosis as i had never had this problem before, i have been cautious and shy all my life but never had anxiety issues really. my doctor gave me diazepam but that made me worse and so i refused all medication and started to look into causes and found this site.once i stopped taking yasmin i started to feel better quite quickly but i still have the memories of feeling bad so it is taking a while as i need to change the habit,i suppose in effect i have developed an anxiety disorder now but i never had one before yasmin! there are some great ways of dealing with the anxiety though,i have some books etc,if you are struggling please email and i could maybe send you some that might help you,i genuinely want to help as i know how horrible it is and how it feels to have no-one else that has been through or is going through this nightmare.
i wish you all the best claire and hope that you feel stronger soon.

sarah

Dear Katrin,
Leg cramps and chest pain while on BCPs may be symptoms of DVT and pulmonary emboli which can be fatal. I would suggest going to the ER to rule out the above conditions. If you are having chest pain with shortness of breath, do not delay. A spiral CT scan can diagnose pulmonary emboli. I wish you all the best.

Sorry, me again.

Claudia:

You're telling the same story, that I went through!!! I too didn't leave my house, sometimes neither my bed anymore in my worst times with Yasmin!! And I really didn't think that this could get better again some day.

But believe me: IT WILL get better!!

All you need is time, as I already told in my last post.

1 1/2 months without Yasmin ist really not very long!! In my case it took about 3 months to feel a real change in me and a slight improvement of my symptoms started (got off Yasmin in February 2005!). But from that point on it got better month by month. Every month the symptoms (especially the anxiety and panic attacks) got less and today I'm nearly back to normal!! Well, as I already said, besides the hormonal chaos (don't have a normal regular period, yet) that really takes much longer for me than for many other women...

But you are NOT CRAZY!!!! I remember me so many times thinking the same thing "What, if it's really NOT the Yasmin and everything is just in my head?" But it WAS the Yasmin and today I feel so much better!!! All you need now is time and patience and hopefully some people around you that understand your problems, listen to you or give you a hug, if you're in need!!

And flowerbabies ist totally right with the supplements! It's really helpful to take some vitamine b, magnesium and other things!! And perhaps some valerian just to calm down a bit, when the anxiety seems to be unbearable!! That always helped me too during the last 2 very hard years!!

I wish you all the best and believe me, you've got the power to get through this, even if you don't really believe it now, YOU HAVE IT!!

Best wishes and god's bless!

Silke

hi claudia (hope)
i know exactly what you are going through,i have been there myself (as have many many women on this site) i suffered extreme anxiety/panic attacks,they were by far some of the worst symptoms i had while taking this pill as i felt i was going mad or had some kind of mental illness,i really thought my life as i knew it was over,i am 32 years old with 2 young children but i felt that bad i didn't think i wanted to carry on...then i found this site and came across so many women in this same situation and it saved me. i have been off yasmin for 4 months now and my anxiety levels are way way way down,it is now mainly in the background and is a memory rather than a constant feeling of fear. the practical things you can do are...take a B vitamin complex, vitamin B6, a magnesium supplement and maybe a little zinc too. take really good care of yourself with regards to what you eat and how much excercise you do.drink plenty of water and i mean plenty as it is great for anxiety and great for cleansing the body of these hormones. on a mental level try to remember that these feelings are not REAL fear as there is nothing to be afraid of it is just a chemically induced mood,panic attacks although scary will never actually hurt you even though they feel like you are going to die or go crazy. stay positive ( i know,easier said than done!) and face your fear head on,i know it sounds crazy but by taking control you will begin to feel stronger and more able to cope. it WILL get better but it will take some time for your body to get back into it's natural harmony,have faith that it will get better and please please listen when i say you are NOT crazy it is this horrible pill. i started to feel better after the first couple of months with regards to the anxiety and i hope you will too.i still have hormone problems and symptoms but the panic feelings are virtually nil. try the supplements i mentioned and try to reduce your stress levels too. i wish you all the best and hope that this has been of some help to you

hi all,i have been off yasmin for 3 days now,i am not expecting any miracles yet! i stopped taking it with 5 pills still in the pack so expect to get a withdrawl bleed any day now, it may be all in my head but my anxiety seems less although i still get palpitations at night,the only down side is i seem to have had a pressure headache for the last 2 days and also a sore throat,could be a coicidence, that is the trouble as we do not know exactly what yasmin does and does not do it's hard to say "oh it's definately this that or the other"! My philosophy at the moment is ..... it may make a difference it may not but either way i know i am still going to have to cope with the aftermath and the memories of the anxiety but by stopping pumping my body full of artificial hormones i can rule it out as a cause of my weird and not so wonderful symptoms! Thanks to all have posted your stories on here,i felt so alone and felt that maybe i was going crazy,my doctors just wanted to send me to the shrink and put me on pills. but now i have taken control of my situation i feel much improved mentally even if not physically yet, hopefully that will come once this crap is out of my system! you're all stars and i wish you all the best with your recovery! i will be sending my sceptical pill pushing dr to this site so maybe he will think twice next time someone comes in feeling like we have and is taking yasmin!

I've been taking Neurontin for about 2 months (300mg 3x/day) to lessen the pain of occipital neuralgia.....the pain is still present, but not disabling. This is the only medication I am taking.

Side effects I've experienced are extreme fatigue the first couple weeks....then, tired often if I don't get enough sleep. Another thing I've experienced is weight gain and increased appetite - Big time!! All I want to do is eat.

I'm forgetful and miss doses often. If I skip two doses, the pain comes back full force and I'm in bed for a day.

wish you all the best.

Someone here mentioned one pupil was "unequal", which I found interesting: I had an eye exam a couple weeks ago for eye pain; it was noted that my left pupil was more dialated....this is a first for me. However, overall, my eyes are good...

I wanted to reply to Samp--did you go to an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist regarding your chronic sore throat? I, too, had a terrible non-stop sore throat that began within 2 months of starting Yasmin--I was finally diagnosed by the ear/nose doc as having acid reflux disease--which believe me I had NEVER had any trouble with prior to taking this rotten drug. I began medication and the condition cleared up (the sore throat part went away fairly rapidly but the damage from the reflux took longer to heal completely). I am not on meds now for it and have not had a recurrence.

I took Yasmin for 3 months--was chronically ill (got every cold that came to town), depressed, anxious, racing heart, palpitations, unbelievably high blood pressre, and convinced I was having serious heart trouble (even ended up in the ER once!)---I FIRMLY BELIEVE ALL OF THESE SYMPTOMS WERE A DIRECT RESULT OF TAKING YASMIN. I have been off of it a year now and am mostly back to normal with the exception of blood pressure which is still slowly coming back down to my normal of 120/70. I'm currently in the 130's for the top number, down from the 160's while on that damn pill. The blood pressure jumped from 120's before Yasmin to the 160's in the first month!!!!! This pill is dangerous.

My ear/nose guy believes the reflux was indeed related to the Yasmin--please get checked for reflux as if it is left untreated you can end up with scarring in your esophagus. I wish you all the best and would be very interested in anyone's experiences regarding changes in blood pressure.
justme

Well, I'm from Germany and I don't know if I can get such a test here to. But I'll search google tomorrow (it's already very late here and I'm a bit tired to go and search for it now)!! But it really sounds very interesting!!

Did you have problems with your muscles, too?? That was one of my biggest problems (muscle fasciculations and weakness) and it is still not gone completely. Somedays some of my muscles like arms or legs feel very weak...

I blamed these symptoms mostly on the loss of vitamines and minerals that Yasmin definitely has caused in my body (I had been taking that stuff for over 5 years...... with sometimes feeling better and sometimes feeling really miserable without knowing why.....!!).

And it seems to be very difficult to get back in balance for my whole system as I'm still suffering from some of the symptoms after being off Yasmin for so long (February 2005)!!

I'll post again if I find someting similar to that saliva test you told about, here in Germany!!

Thanks again for your always very helpful and delighting posts, Bitter RN!!

I wish you all the best and am looking forward to hearing (reading) from you again!!

Silke

Hi Denise, Mamawannawin, Karla & everyone,
Today I "celebrate" two months off of Yasmin. I am still plagued with panic and anxiety, but to a lesser degree. I am now taking Effexor XR 37.5 (EFFEXOR XR is a once-daily SNRI (serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) approved for the treatment of depression & generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), to keep the anxiety under control. Unfortunately it is an anti-depressant but it is supposed to also be for anxiety (I DO NOT have depression). I was on Paxil CR for 2 months but discontinued it due to side effects.
I also have hypertension which the doctor said is secondary to my anxiety and I am not taking BP medication. I took off 12 pounds so far, which helps. My face was so bloated when I was on Yasmin that it looked like I was on steroids.
I NEVER EVER had anxiety until I was on Yasmin. This pill has wreaked havoc on my whole system!!!! Never again.

I wish you all the best for renewed good health!

Laura- It is great that you are off of the pills before you start more symptoms.
The nurse at my gyn suggested that I stay off of all b/c (pills, mirena, everything) for a few months, minimum.
I am keeping away from caffeine and unfortunately I am now on Paxil and Xanax due to anxiety which I correlate to being on Yasmin. I really attribute my anxiety to the imbalance that Yasmin caused in my body.

this board is very helpful. keep posting and checking back. let us know how you are doing. the ladies here are wonderful and let you know that you are not alone.

I wish you all the best.

Hey Sherry!!!

Congratulations!! Great news!! I feel so happy for you! :)

I wish you all the best during your pregnancy and please keep us updated. I think there's no better way to start a new life and show, that there IS a new life after Yasmin than with a little baby in your arms!! This should give so much hope to every woman here, feeling very bad today. Your story is the proof for that!!

Big hugs and god bless you!

Silke