Yasmin and alll

I am 21 and have been on YAZ for 6 months, I am soo happy I came across this website. I only went on it (my first BC pill) because my periods are like 8 days long and on the first day I become so sick I can most often barley even function w/o the help of pain killers (in addition to pregnancy prevention). I am about to throw this last pack out I cannot take it anymore. My boobs were naturally a large B small C ...they have exploded into a large D..it does not fit on my frame...no clothes fix me and my stomach is never flat always bloated!!!
I did not change any of my diet or exercise patterns. My boobs are so painful alll the time, I sleep w/ a bra on sometimes. I was always a moody person but recently I have been having crying spells for no reason or overreacting and at times embarassing myself. I was about to call a shrink to go on anti-derpressants! My boyfriend has been verbally attacked for the msot ridiculous things. I do not feel like myself. I called my doc and he said this one should not me doing this to me. My periods last for 6 days and sometimes I still have debilitationg craps. I have also been suffering from IBS!
He gave me a sample of LOESTRIN24? I read the side effects and they sound just as bad!! At this point I'm willing to deal w/ the cramps and use another form of pregnancy prevention! Does anyone have any advice? I want the cramps to go away and I want no weight gain unless it is from eating too much!! not the hormones! Thanks and good luck to everyone

This is an interesting and informative forum. I'm sorry to hear of all the anguish many people have expressed here while on Yasmin. Here's my story:

I have been on b/c pills for about 8 years - and I am just about to STOP them to get my body back to normal and give it break. But - that aside.....

My OBgyn prescribed me on Yasmin in mid-2003 - citing it as a new b/c pill and therefore she seemed to figure it would be the best thing for me. They didn't tell me it was $36 a month - niiiiice.

When I began Yasmin in summer of 2003 - I noticed a strange pattern in my scalp hair. The right-front quadrant of my hair thinned to where one could see the skin beneath if my hair was tightly tied back, and a small area of hair on my right temple began sticking out - like it would not grow past 2" long (my hair is longish - down to the middle of my back). This made me look a bit weird, to say the least - but I didn't attribute it to Yasmin- yet. Only when I began doing research on lists like this did I find out that hair thinning and shedding appears to be an all-too-common side effect of YASMIN. Lovely. Hindsight is 20/20 - but if I had known that before going on it - I wouldn't have bothered.

I cannot tell which complaints of mine are due to Yasmin and which are just woman-stuff - but I have several very dabillitating side effects which I am hoping are caused by YASMIN. Alll through the month - at all times of my cycle - I have a CONSTANT vaginal discharge ALL THE TIME. Every time I go to the bathroom I dread it because I know I'm going to have to spend half an hour (OK time overestimated but you get my drift) sitting there wiping and wiping and wiping and wiping - frequently having to flush more than once and/or get more bathroom tissue. WHAT A HASSLE!!!!! The discharge varies from green to yellow to brown to clear.

My face complexion is a DISASTER. My pores on my nose are enlarged so much that when I put foundation on I look like a golfball, and I have to use facewipes every 3 or 4 hours to scrape the grease off my forehead, nose and chin. I literally SHINE with the stuff. It's really horrid. When I go and look in the mirror, if I look close enough - I can see my pores dischrging immense amounts of sebum that sits in their small indentations like water. I have begun using toner in hopes that it would help. It doesn't appear to.

Also - YASMIN does NOT alter or alleviate my PMS. I still get cramps (although I never have had TERRIBLE ones) - but by far the worst is the mood swings and anger-management issues I have in the run-up week to my period. I snap at the slightest thing (husband puts a dish in the wrong place) and I am overly-emotional.

HOWEVER - by far the most DEGRADING, EXASPERATING, DEPRESSING AND WORRYING problem I have right now which seems to be attributable to being on the Yasmin birth control pill - is the COMPLETE lack of LIBIDO. Now, after doing research, I find out that Yasmin contains antiandrogen and antitestosterone agents in it. That means that it lowers or suppresses the male hormones inside of you like testosterone - which is what gives you sexual excitement and desire. YASMIN appears to be the single worst pill to take if you do not want libido problems.

The only time I have any sexual desire is DIRECTLY AFTER my period after I have been taking the inactive (or placebo) pills for 7 days. Does that ring alarm bells??

I'll stop now unless somebody writes back wanting to know any more specific advice on what I have been going through - but I can tell you that for $36 a month and considering we're usually too tired to "do it" at nights anyhow - I'd be as well stopping YASMIN and buying our family Life Insurance.

KEL

Hey!
To all you yasmin takers, i was on it for a year with alll the bad awful side effects everything you all talk about SOOOO
i decided to go off it***** it has been about 3 weeks and FINALLY i am ME again YEA!!! the first week off was terrible i was so sick and very very tired the second week not too bad but boy oh boy this week has been GREAT!! i feel so much better all the way around and i am sleeping like a baby at night Yea a good nights sleep finally after a year of HELL!
I am going to the Drs. next week for another form of BCP any ideas anyone?? I heard the pill LO OVAL is pretty good....OH yea by the way. the best part of this is that i actually want to have sex again ALOT!!!! my husband is in his glory!! we have alot of makin up to do :)