Hi everyone, I took Yasmin for about two years, with increasin...

Hi everyone, I took Yasmin for about two years, with increasing severe side effects that finally caused me switch to another brand. Everything was fine for the first few months or so, then gradually I started experiencing symptoms that I would normally link to PMS, but I was having them all throughout the month. Each month it got worse and worse until I'd finally had enough. My GYN repeatedly told me it was just taking my body a while to adjust to the medication, and to try to wait it out because I'd really like it once I got used to it, but after two years I figured I had waited long enough. It shouldn't take that long for my body to adjust! I've been off Yasmin for about three months now and I have had a dramatic reduction in the symptoms I had been experiencing for about a year and a half. As I've previously said, my symptoms didn't appear all at once, but built up gradually over the course of several months. Specifically, my symptoms were: *Extremely oily skin and really bad acne on my chest, back and face. When I say really bad, I mean it was worse than when I went thru puberty, which was pretty bad. The pimples on my face in particular were very deep and painful cystic acne, which is something I had not experienced before. I also broke out in weird places like my neck, around my ears and eyes and on my head (under my hair). And one time just inside my nostril. Ouch! I tried everything, including a dermatologist who advised Accutane (which I declined), nothing helped. *My hair was also a lot oilier than normal. I didn't notice any thinning of the hair on my head, but I did notice that I was waxing my legs a lot less often, which was just fine with me. I have a lot of hair (genetic, thanks Mom and Dad!) and I usually get my legs waxed every month, but after I'd been on Yasmin for a while I was going almost four months between waxings. I have really thick hair on my head that grows like a weed, so it's possible that it thinned some and I just didn't notice. So that's one side effect that I really didn't mind. *I started having frequent headaches that would linger for days. Not migraines, because I also get those from time to time, but a "milder" headache that felt like constant heavy pressure behind my eyes and all around my head. OTC meds were no help at all. I also had periodic cramps in my calves for no apparent reason (not due to exercising or injury). *My breasts became swollen and incredibly sore. Again, this would occur all through the month. I had to buy a couple of new bras to accomodate the swelling and tenderness. I avoided any activity that would cause my breasts to move or jiggle at all, even walking briskly, because it was so painful. Showering was painful. Even wearing a soft tee shirt was too much sometimes. *My periods gradually became heavier and longer, which is exactly the opposite effect from what I've experienced in the past with other BCP's. I also started having pretty intense menstrual cramps throughout my period and then at random times during the month. I would sometimes get light-headed when I was having these major cramps, to the point where I would lose my balance and fall or have to sit down immediately. Every once in a while, when I was having these cramps, I would experience a brief, stabbing-type pain that would literally take my breath away. My GYN was unconcerned about this, and told me that I was just having some side effects that would go away in time. *I also experienced a fairly drastic increase in my normal vaginal secretions, all throughout the month. I started wearing panty liners all the time (which I'd never done before) and often changed my underwear in the middle of the day because I felt so gross. I sometimes carried an extra pair of panties in a ziplock in my purse. This discharge wasn't itchy or particularly smelly, so it wasn't a yeast infection or anything, just a lot more volume than usual. My GYN tested me for everything under the sun and everything came back normal. She told me it was "just my body adjusting" blah blah blah. At this point, I was really getting sick of hearing that phrase. *The straw that finally broke the camel's back was when I started spotting all the time. With everything else, I felt like I was having my period all month long and I was miserable. I also had some of other symptoms, like anxiety attacks, insomnia, severe mood swings, foggy thinking, feeling tired all the time and feeling depressed but I have a long history of Major Depression, which I take medication for, so I attributed those symptoms to my existing condition. I can't say for sure whether Yasmin caused those symptoms, but I do know that they have pretty much disappeared or are under better control since I stopped taking Yasmin. I've been off Yasmin for about three months now, and all of these symptoms I've listed are gone. My skin looks great, the enduring cramps are gone and my breasts feel normal again. Of course, my hair is growing faster again, but I'm willing to give up that one benefit in exchange for all of those symptoms being gone. I've switched to OrthoCyclen and I have not had any problems with it. I'm sorry this is so long, but I needed to tell all of this to people who would understand what I've been through. I feel so bad for the women here whose stories are much worse than mine. I know everyone responds to medications differently, and Yasmin seems to work just fine for some women, but it seems to me that there are a lot more women all having problems and side effects. It can't be coincidence that we all have such similar horror stories about Yasmin. I guess the bottom line is listen to your body, and don't allow your doctor or anyone else to bully you into taking a medication that you know is causing you more harm than good. Thanks for reading my story and I hope we can all find solutions that will work for each of us. Amy