Yasmin and one year later

Hi Silke and all of the ladies struggling with Yasmin,
Well, it is officially, as of now, I AM ONE YEAR YASMIN FREE! I thank God every day that I read these posts and associated my symptoms with the Yasmin I was taking Yasmin for 11 months. I stopped Yasmin in Jan. 2006 after a near death experience with my heart racing, leg pains and very high BP.

After the idiot doctor thought it was "mental" rather than hormonal, I struggled through 10 MORE months of hell on Paxil (which also almost killed me a month later), Xanax, and Effexor. With these psych drugs i gained 35 pounds! So, November 1, 2006 I went prescription free and guess what... I feel so much better!!!! I joined Weight Watchers and am trying to get back to a normal life, one year later. The psych drugs also raised my cholesterol, so I am working on that. My cycles are 29-32 days now, which I can live with. I am in my late thirties with two kids, a wonderful husband and I really needed to get my life back.
I am so upset that the doctor did not listen to me and refused to associate the Yasmin with the symptoms that I had. Why won't anyone believe me? I highly doubt that it is a coincidence that I am so much better without Yasmin and all of the psych drugs. I feel better now than I have in almost 3 years.
I hope and pray for you ladies every day. Thank you for allowing me to post my story. One year ago, I was an absolute mess because of the pill that my OB/GYN thought was so wonderful.

Hi Hill!!

So good to hear, that you're also doing better week by week.

I just wanted to let you know, that I had gained about 40 pounds (20 kg) AFTER I went off Yasmin within 3 months without eating more or doing anything else different than before!! I was totally shocked, because before this Yasmin nightmare I always was a healthy fit and very slim person (I'm 31 years old now).

And my weight is decreasing finally since around february 2006!! It goes down kg by kg (around 1 kg, about 2 pounds, a month) and AGAIN WITHOUT changing anything in my life!!

For me another sign for the case, that Yasmin had messed up my whole metabolism and it's only now, one year later, (got off Yasmin in February 2005!!) finally getting better. I'm still not able to excercise very much, because my body was completely broken down after 5 years on Yasmin. From December 2004 to May 2005 I went through a total hell with 100s of symptoms like muscle weakness, dizzyness, fainting spells and much much more... Well, my muscles are still not back to completely normal. But the weight is decreasing nevertheless, just because everything is slightly going back to normal. So I think you should give your body more time to get its metabolism back in order. As I see now in my case, the weight finally even goes back "by itself", because everything gets back in balance again!!

Best wishes to all of you out there, and all of the Yasmin starters: PLEASE be so careful with this medicine!!! I was totally fine on it for about 2 years, when the first symptoms hit my at once (without realizing, that it was the Yasmin!!). After about 5 years on it I broke down completely and thought my life was about to end!! Listen to your body and stop this pill immediately if something unusual is happening to you!!!

Big hugs to everyone!!

Silke