ns's Profile

My Side Effect Posts

Yasmin Please watch yourselves girls. I too had 'brain zaps'. Then I had the grand mal seizure as reported on this site last week. Not sure if they are at all correlated, maybe just coincidental, but upon reading more on seizures I see petit mal seizures are like 'brain zaps'. You look awake but you tune out for a minute or two.
Synthroid I would strongly recommend anyone with hypothyroidism or on thyroid medication read a book called The Thyroid Solution. I believe the author was Dr. Arem. He seems to be an open-minded physician fully aware of the catastrophic effect low thyroid hormone and also quite aware of the inadequate care most patients are receiving. There are so many misconceptions about thyroid health-- and many general practitioners do not have nearly enough information to be helping patients. He fully covers the problem of relying on your doctor to provide the adequate dosage. As well, many people with so-called 'normal' TSH levels still show symptoms of hypothyroidism. In fact, the 'normal' range was simply found by measuring the TSH of a cross-section of people to determine what level makes most people feel healthy. The problem with this is that some people may naturally have an extremely low TSH, but if it raises to a 4 (which is considered fine) that person may feel quite ill. There body knows something has changed but to a doctor who only looks at blood tests, they can't see why there is a problem. In the past doctors used symptomology to determine the health of a patient, not ridiculous blood tests! Best of all, Dr. Arem confirms that your symptoms are NOT IN YOUR HEAD like doctors try to convince you. This is also a great book for people dealing with family members who are hypothyroid to understand what their loved one is dealing with emotionally.
Yasmin Dear Silke, That must have been very frightening for you! I do not know much about seizures. There appears to be many different kinds-- from "petit mal seizures" where the person 'tunes out in a daze' for a few minutes, to falling on the floor, to "grand mal" or "tonic clonic seizures" like I had where you fall unconscious, convulse, eyes roll into head, muscles contract, jaw clamps down on tongue. I was unsconscious for 15 minutes after the seizure and even after I reached the hospital I was groggy, confused, uncertain what was happening to me, etc. I didn't know who I was. In my confusion I assumed I was dying. Yasmin is REALLY not worth all that! Silke is right-- there is no point 'adjusting' to this drug. Good luck to every one of you! I'd get off of it while you have some semblance of health. If you later discover that your side effects were caused by something else you can always go back on it. I truly regret I ever tried it. The upside: just look how Yasmin is uniting the world in side-effects and ill health. :)
Yasmin My other messages didn't post so I'll try again--- Depending on where you look, oral contraceptives are contra-indicated for use with thyroid medications. Estrogens bind with thyroid hormones so your body can't use them-- then you sufer the effects of low thyroid hormones, like fatigue and weight gain. My doctors have freely given me BCP even though I suffer from hypothyroidism. If you do alot of research you'll see that not only do bcp cause thyroid imbalances, but so do some foods (such as eating alot of soy.) Family doctors get next to no training in endocrinology and aren't aware of the side-effects of bcp. And on to negative side effects--- after 2 months on Yasmin I suffered an enormous grand mal seizure and had to be taken to the ER. I have never had a seizure prior to taking Yasmin. When I looked, seizures are a barely mentioned side effect and considered rare. I"d love to know how many women have had seizures and just didn't report it or didn't realize it was the Yasmin. My neurologist can find nothing that might have caused my seizure (like a tumour, etc). Although my family doctor won't say Yasmin was the cause, I have been ordered off of it. (gladly!) Coincidence? I think women need to be aware that taking Yasmin has huge consequences. I had taken another tri-phasic bcp for a decade just fine. I went on Yasmin because of the low dose and thought it would be better for me. Now it has cost me weeks of work, truama to my family, and a very long, difficult recovery from the seizure. (I pulled every muscles, I couldn't think clearly, and I bit my tongue so badly I couldn't eat for days.) Yasmin is not candy like doctors make it out to be. I recently heard and expert call bcp the biggest human trial in history. There is every chance enormous numbers of women will suffer awful consequences (like breat cancer) after years and years of use! As well, Yasmin is so new on the market none of us can be certain it is safe. It wouldn't surprise me if this drug is pulled from the market somewhere down the line. Everyone on this sight seems to be suffering terribly because of it.
Yasmin Shari, Your daughters TSH numbers were high because hypothyroidism is made worse by oral contraceptives. I am hypothyroid as well, and through research found that oral contraceptives are actually contraindicated with thyroid medication. Estrogen binds with the thyroid hormones your daughter is taking and doesn't allow it to be used. Family doctors know little about endocrinology and didn't know I should not be on Yasmin. I had to do the research myself. It also sounds like your daughter hasn't stabilized on her meds and may need further advice from an endocrinologist. Ideally her TSH should be between 0-2 although the so-called normal ranges can go as high as 4. I doubt she will ever feel healthy if she continues taking Yasmin, or if she consumes large amounts of other thyroid-binding foods like soy or walnuts. For some reason this didn't post when i first reported it, but I'd also like Yasmin users to be aware of serious side effects. I had a very severe grand mal seizure this month and was taken to hospital. I have never had a seizure before. My doctor was totally unaware seizures are a reported side effect of Yasmin, even though they are not common. My life has been completely turned upside down because of this. I had only started taking Yasmin 2 weeks prior to the seizure and there is enough evidence that Yasmin is to blame that my doctor ordered me off of it! I no longer take Yasmin but it's effects linger. I feel ill, I'm recovering from all the problems associate with a seizure (pulled muscles, bit tongue), and am not allowed to drive etc. Yasmin is not candy even thought doctors hand it out like it is!