Silke- Hi, BitterRN here again (still bitter about yasm...

Silke- Hi, BitterRN here again (still bitter about yasmin too:) But Im feeling better and I want to share with you my findings and thoughts about what I think about your situation. But first please dont ever hesitate to write me, I check in on this site pretty frequently to see how everyone is doing and it always breaks my heart to see another "victim" of science or someone who is still struggling with this nightmare drug. So here is what I think, I think your testosterone is low still. I really believe this is the root of your problems I am almost sure of it. You see I think Yasmin suppresses testosterone. This is a side effect of most birth control pills, but I think Yasmin does it even more so. I am proof of that, I took ortho novum for several years, I had breakouts and oily skin as my body had always been this way even before bcp. Then I took yasmin, and yeah my skin had no more breakouts, no more oil, (and no more life in it.) I know for a fact that my testosterone became severely low. And with low testosterone comes all the symptoms you and all the people on this website have been complaining about, and I think the longer your on it the more symptoms develope, because your body is not getting this incredibly important hormone, the hormone responsible pretty much for anti-aging, muscle repair, sleep, sex drive, overall sense of well being. so I think symptoms start to appear one by one as the testosterone is decreased by the yasmin, and the thing I have noticed is that when testosterone starts to go down, anxiety goes way way up!!! I felt this myself, and friends who have been diagnosed with low testosterone have felt it as well, and everyone has said they felt like they were going crazy! Depression sets in. And then when yasmin is stopped its up to your body to replace all the hormones it was getting synthetically with hormones it now has to make. Again I feel this is harder with yasmin because it so severely depresses the androgens (testosterone) Now your body is trying to balance your estrogen and progesterone and testosterone, and it seems to be unable to do it quickly let me show you my journey.. I stopped yasmin in Jan 06 I started regulating my hormones in april 06 my first testosterone level was 11 and normal is 20-50. God only knows how low it fell in the 3 months between. So april it was 11 may it was 15 july it was 21 (normal range) I was starting to feel much better at the end of july. So the fact is as my testosterone has been going up, my body has been recovering. As well as the estogen and progesterone balancing out which cause a who new set of symptoms of their own when they are not in balance(menopausal symptoms frequently) So this is what I am trying to get at Silke, I think your body has been working hard to get the testosterone up, and judging from your symptoms still ongoing, namely the muscle weakness, tiredness and weakness, and the anxiety, I feel very strongly that your body is having trouble getting this hormone to the level it needs to be for you to feel better (yes just like your old self) I have been supplementing with bioidentical testosterone, though I do not recommend this until you have seen a physician who will test your hormone levels and READ THEM CORRECTLY which is key here. I know you said you had your hormones tested before and that your testosterone was "Low normal"? Is that correct? But even if that is so what most people, and even most doctors do not understand is that a "low normal" reading on a woman in her 30's is NOT NORMAL. Thats normal for a woman in her 80's(and I bet she doesnt feel so hot either!) I know it is hard to find a good doctor. But I happen to have stumbled across a good doctor here in Arizona and he has clinics all over the U.S. and even one overseas in Spain. Now I realize you live in Germany right? So I e-mailed them and asked if they had any other clinics in Europe. I will let you know when they get back to me. Anyway here is what I found. Since I think your body needs a boost in testosterone (I mentioned this before but sometimes when bcp suppress testosterone for so long, the body kind of forgets how to make it again, so it may need some help) and I think this may be what is going on with you.. But the first step for you is getting your hormones tested to be sure what it is you are lacking and then having them read by a bioidentical hormone doctor, and then you may have to supplement with bioidentical testosterone, but do not be afraid Silke, this is not synthetic hormones like bcp it is identical hormones that your body makes and you will be supplementing not replacing. Anyway on to what I found, Im sorry I get sidetracked.... These centers I found have a procedure called Sottopelletherapy. What they do is make a tiny incision in your hip or buttock area and insert a bioidentical hormone smaller than the size of a grain of rice with the hormone you are lacking, this is of course after they have tested your hormones and determined which one you are low in. Your body can then absorb the amount of hormone that it needs from this implant whenever it needs it. But I really think you need a good doctor to test your hormones first and these doctors in these centers really understand hormones. Here is the name and address of the one I found in Spain: Dr.*** If they e-mail me more info. I will let you know. But my friend who had many of the same symptoms as you silke, the feeling down, tired, anxious, muscle weakness, she went to this clinic (she is a nurse too) and had her hormones tested and they found her testosterone was very low (almost nothing) and she just had this procedure done. She has been on anti depressants for 3 years now as 90percent of the women who see this doctor are because they are mis-diagnosed as depressed (as are a lot of women on this website) and put on anti depressants. She is looking forward to getting off of them soon. So the bottom line is I know yasmin drops your testosterone (I have seen it in myself) the thing is i think everyones body on this website is trying to replace this precious hormone, and everyones body, depending on age(because the body slows down in production of hormones and you dont make it as fast.) and just your particular situation (length of time on it, pre existing factors?) is just recovering at its own rate. However, I think the people who are taking a really long time(like a year or more) and experiencing setbacks as in your situation silke, need more help as your body cannot seem to fully restore testosterone levels that are normal for you. And I think only when this is balanced are you going to feel like the old you again. So now I am the one who has written a book again, so write me back and let me know what you think. I hope I did not use too much medical talk. If so let me know and i will try to explain it better. Look forward to hearing from you Silke, BitterRN.