Yasmin and depressed person

I am 20 yrs old, very healthy and never had a problem until 6 months after being on Yasmin. I never linked being on this BC and my side effects but I have been off of Yasmin for one month and seeing results. My side effects are subsiding, still have some relapses but nothing compared to what I went through. My side effects were nausea, lethary, weakness, irregular periods, chest pains, irregular breathing, weird heart palpitations, and Panic attacks, and depression. I have never been an anxious or depressed person so those last ones really threw me off. Now being off of it, I am returning to normal, still not completely normal which sucks, cause I was full of energy and a happy person. I really hope that I can be normal again and hope all this gets out of my system.

I have been on Yasmin for about 2-3 years or so... but i remember thinking i was the luckiest girl because i found a pill i thought was great and made my periods only 2 days i loved it.... but lately for the past year i have been very depressed i realized something was different when i laughed i wasn't laughing i was just doing cause i knew i should laugh, i just didn't find myself happy and i should be I'm getting married to a wonderful guy who has put up with my loss of sex drive and being dry which makes it hurt so it makes it that much worse and my loss of exercising i feel fatigue over taking a walk or doing nothing i thought it was laziness or lack of motivation... then i have a bad knee and within the past year and half i have had severe neck issues with my muscles
i talked to my doctor she told me to see a psychologist for my depression, i have yet to do so but now realizing many other people are feeling this way on this site makes me happy I'm not really a depressed person and I'm just really messed up over this pill
I'm calling my doctor now to see if i can get my pill switched i cant last like this for much longer ill go insane and so will my fiance!!!

I was on Yasmin for about 10 days and wound up with severe depression. I was fine to begin with. I woke up one morning and felt a very hopeless, "don't want to do anything, don't want to get out of bed" feeling. All of these effects on vacation, too! I continued to take the pill for about another 3 days and continued to feel depressed and hopeless about 3 hours or so after I'd take the medication. The feeling was very distinct and it was clearly the symptoms of a depressed person (had to force myself to get out of bed, felt there was no reason to live). I felt like I had a black cloud over my head!!! I was also very irritable and angry with my family....for no reason. I also experienced severe nausea. I felt like I was experiencing morning sickness (and I know morning sickness....I have kids). I went off of the Yasmin and am now starting to feel myself again. I don't know the half-life of this med., but thank goodness I went off it sooner than later! I would take this product off the market or put a severe warning about anxiety and depression on the label!

Hi everyone –

I read this entire thread (wow, but good read)! I will start with the positives and end with the negatives (and yes, I’m going OFF Yaz).

Positives I lost weight (flat stomach due to the diuretic) and spontaneous sex (but the tricky thing is, it takes away your libido or at least mine) – lost about 5 LBs and decreased appetite. 120 to 115 lbs and sometimes 112 – flexuates between 112-115.

Negatives
First month I felt VERY nauseous – took the pills at night but didn’t help. I had some stomach cramps which went away. I had severe migraines (one that made me vomit and I could not move & I was in such unbearable pain I thought I was going to die – seriously (stuck in bed all night – and yes the headaches did stop after 4 months). I felt “spacey” all the time (this was early on, went away) – Best way to describe this would be like drinking a glass or two of wine, I felt a bit numb. I would get as one poster described these brain spurts that zapped me with this dizzy thing that lasted seconds and would go away (nice to read that as I know I’m not alone). Another common side effect I still got up until the 6 month was my ears plugging up (usually in the morning) and it happened a lot and it was from the pill. I also had troubles sleeping and anxiety out of nowhere (all of a sudden I felt too nervous to walk in my bosses office, very bizarre). I had to go in the bathroom and breathe then felt ok.

The week before my period I am MOODY and ANGRY inside and it’s made me feel more withdrawn from my boyfriend. I was never a depressed person before or moody minus occasional crabbiness from lack of sleep or stress. I never had severe PMS to start to it did the reverse for me, made my PMS worse. I have only been on this pill for 6 months to by the way! Curious if it is true about the serotonin in this pill – if there is serotonin isn’t it supposed to make you happy, LOL so I don’t know how much that part is true. Guess I do better a la natural!

My libido is gone but only comes back during aunt flow when I’m taking NO PILLS and I feel happy during my period (and sexual) and my old self (go figure?). the thought of sex doesn’t cross my mind and trust me prior I was like a cat on a hot tin roof (in my 30’s afterall)!

I used to do Ortho for years with headaches but no loss of sex drive or anything then stopped cold turkey for a year. Prior to that I did seasonal and had some hair loss and a brown spot on my face due to the BC.

It’s really hard to find a specialist who really gets in the ins and outs of birth control pills. They should have a dr that works only on BC’s (sorry but most gyno’s don’t really know as they say “everyone is different which is true but c’mon, you guys are way more educated of the pro’s and con’s then they are). I went to see an OBGYN that said “that’s what happens in relationships, you’re libido drops” when I told her, I thought “huh” what kind of DR are you? My regular DR was way better informed but not a specialist (waste of my time and money)! She told me to stop having a period and to take Yaz continuously and gave me more free samples. Wonder how much the manufacturer is paying her? Makes me wonder. I prefer to have a period, that’s when I felt like myself again, ha!

I want lists and stats of all pills same with side effects and percentages of women who experience the same. I wish Oprah would do a show on this – anyone have any connections??? It should be called “Birth Control, what he manufacturers don’t want to tell you” basically you can have condomless sex but the catch is “ you don’t want sex” LOL

Thanks.
Peanut

PS The straw was last Saturday – I was so moody (5 days before aunt flow) and my BF thought I wasn’t into him anymore and I couldn’t shake the withdrawn feeling and today I miss him so much and can’t wait to see him Saturday and I will not be starting my new pack of pills on Sunday –we’re putting Latex back into business  until I research other methods, possibly nuva ring but who knows? Next 2-3 months I don’t want anything in my body besides food and weekend drinks, ha!

I've been on Yasmin for nearly 5 months now and as of last month, all the major side effects started really kicking in: leg cramps, fatigue, moodiness, weight gain, irritability, depression, foggy thinking, breast enlargement, vaginal infections, etc. So my question is this: If a woman experiences side-effects with one pill, won't she experience them with any and all other pills? I would almost rather just go off of them altogether because I feel like even though the drugs vary from one to another, ultimately they have the same effect: to fill you with hormones to "trick" your body into thinking it's pregnant all the time (no ovulation) so that you won't get pregnant.

Any thoughts?

Depression/anxiety

This was my secound attempy on Yasmin - I tried it in 2004 for about 6 month - I was experience a lot of sadness when I was on it but I had lost both of my grandparents during that period so I assumed it must have been their deaths. This year when I met with my new doctor I told her about my attempt with Yasmin two years ago - she encouraged me to try it again. This year... same thing - I get so blue. I am not a depressed person - I have never have been! The days I am taking the reminder pill are my happiest - 2 weeks into my next packet are the worst!!
My doctor has put me on Microgestine 1/20 starting my next cycle - Please let me know if you have any knowledge of this. I am seriously to the point of going off all pills - and using condoms with my husband.

I felt the need to add these postings with my experience. I'm 23 and have only been on Yasmin for two months (i just took my last yellow pill yesterday). The first month I was fine, my acne has gotten better the cramps lessened (no longer debilitating like they were) and my period got lighter. The second month everything changed. I have been severly nauseas and vomiting for going on two weeks now. Because of the nausea I haven't been able to eat very much and have lost 10lbs in less than 2 weeks, which sounds good but when you are only 100lbs loosing anymore weight is a little dangerous. I can't stand to be nauseas. Vomiting is my only fear in the world and up until recently I hadn't vomiting in 15years (i liked it that way). I have also had a very difficult time breathing. I'm very weak probably because I can't eat anything and something as simple as brushing my hair wears me out completely and leaves me panting. I'm a normally depressed person and am taking wellbutrin for it so I can't say it has made me any more depressed than usual. I also get dizzy very often so again this doesn't seem to make it any worse. I have had lots of cramps, stomach and otherwise as well as lower back pain. I don't know if that is just my upcoming period or the BC. I feel like i'm pregnant although I have taken tests saying i'm not. I hate this...I'm glad i'm not working right now otherwise i would have had to taken off these past two weeks. However I just got a job and can not continue to feel like this. I am afraid to leave my house for fear of vomiting in some remote place therefore I haven't really gone anywhere in the last two weeks. I'm not sure if these are just side effects of the pill or if it is hyerkalemia but either way I can't live like this. I wish I could continue and see if my symptoms subside but yeah I can't take the risk they won't with my new job and everything. More power to anyone who is taking it without severe side effects, i just wish i was one of you. This has been my first attempt at a BCP and i'm not sure what to do from this point on...I can't deal with side effects this severe again. If anyone has any suggestions on what pill might but best please let me know....