Yasmin and ortho tricyclene

Both my 19 year old daughter and my 30 year old step daughter were put on Yasmin. Both began having heart problems. The eldest had heart palpitations, a racing heart and dizziness. The doctor discovered that her potassium level had shot up and her magnesium was down. They put her on magnesium to help control the racing heart. It helped, but then she became pregnant and had to lower the dose. The 19 year old has had the worst side effects. She was fine on ortho tricyclene, but when her doctor switched her to Yasmin her blood pressure shot up to 170/118. She began having chest pain. We pulled her off the Yasmin, but she has continued to have uncontrollably high blood pressure. The doctor ran several tests and has found no underlying cause as of this writing. She began taking 5 mg. of Norvasc, but was increased to 10 mg. to manage the high blood pressure.

I was on Alesse for four years and felt I had reached maximum bloat, so decided to discontinue the pill altogther this fall. Unfortunately, my acne problems surfaced again (after a year and a half after a six-month course of accutane). My skin got really bad and was getting oilier and oilier. I thought I'd better get back on the pill again to get my skin at least somewhat under control. I also considered going to my derm and ask for spironolactone to help with my skin's over production of oil. While doing research on BCPs that were purported to be good for acne, I landed upon Yasmin, and asked my OBGYN for it and she prescribed it to me. Yeah! It's been a godsend.

I started around the holidays this past December and it addressed my oily problem within the first week of taking it. And it doesn't make me bloat! I swear I've lost 10 pounds of water weight that I was carrying before. I still have to keep a lot of attention to my skin to control breakouts, but not being so oily helps out a lot.

My only complaints are with the diuretic effect, I'm up in the night having to go to the bathroom, sometimes as much as three times. And if it's rather early in the morning I can't get back to sleep. I'm a little moody, but it seems to be the case with birth control pills. The moodiness is nothing excessive. I'd be a lot moodier if I had my old icky oily skin back and had to go back on Accutane.

I have not experienced the fatigue or other negative side effects that people have mentioned here. In fact, it seems that all the possitive side effects that Yasmin was purported to have have worked for me.

I'd be very upset if Yasmin was taken off the market. If you find that a birth control pill is not working for you, go back to your doctor and try another kind. I remember a friend in college who had started taking the pill and she had terrible side effects, like bad headaches, terrible moodiness, felt like her heart was palpitating, and I told her to go and get it switched. Evidently the one that she switched to was perfect because she's been on it ever since. Works out perfectly for her, no bloating, etc. Maybe a little crabbiness, but seems hard to avoid that one.

At any rate, I've been very happy with Yasmin. As birth control pills go, it's practically perfect for me.

My effect may seem trivial in comparison to others, but since I have started Yasmin in July, my skin has darkened above my upper lip. I look like I have a permanent mustache. I am also more tired than I used to be. I told my gyno about the effect, he said he refused to change my pills based a vanity issue (seeing me, I am far from obsessed with my looks). I am calling him tomorrow and absolutely insisting on changing back to ortho-tricyclene . I am just concerned with whether the discoloration will go away. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have been on about 5 different formulations of BCP's in my lifetime - the last being Ortho Tricyclene and Loestrin. Whenever I tried the BCP's, I dealt with horrible acne (I had acne normally but it really went out of control while on the BCP), massive weight gain (like 10 to 20 pounds) and depression (crying mainly).

After the birth of my son in 1997, my midwife inserted a copper type IUD due to the fact that I wasn't interested in more children. After 2 years, I suffered an ectopic pregnancy where the baby and my left ovary and fallopian tube were removed. I created a web page on my experience for others who want more information about the IUD and I frequently get asked about what type of birth control I use currently.

Sadly, for many years my husband and I either used condoms (which just leave me worring every month as to whether it worked or not) or abstenence (which is no fun). I decided to finally try Yasmin. I heard it was different from the other pill formulations out there so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was made available to the U.S. market in May of 2001 and I have just started taking it in January of 2003. I will be entering onto my 3rd month and pack in one more week.

I have experienced breast tenderness and a definite increase in size to my breasts (not sure how much, but I've heard of some women increasing by 1 to 2 sizes) and there was an initial small acne break out in the 3rd week of my first pack, but since then my face is completely clear. I have not experienced ANY bloating (and I normally experienced this even when I wasn't on any birth control) nor have I gained any weight. (normally in the past I usually gained quite a bit of weight within the first few months of taking a BCP) I did have a slight headache before my period arrived, but I normally get that every month anyway even when I'm pill free.

I guess my opinion is that I am very happy so far with this pill. If any women out there have had weight problems or acne problems on other pill formulations in the past, I would suggest you give Yasmin a try because it just might work for you.

Been taking Yasmin for 5 months. Switched from Ortho-tricyclene because of bloating. Had crippling headaches for first 2 months. Seems to have gone away. Sex drive has absolutely disappeared. Had weight loss after first 2 months, about 2 pounds. Now gaining it back and then some. Skin broke out during first 2 months. Now is clear like never before. Have break-through bleeding...more like brown discharge. Have 'thirst attacks' and have night sweats. Actually not limited to sleeping hours. Last night I was sitting on a leather couch and when I got up my fiancee sat down and commented that the location felt like it was on fire. But the worse thing about Yasmin is the severe irrationality/anger/anxiety swings. It got worse month by month and a couple weeks ago, I took 2 days off of work...a little time-off...in an effort to calm myself. I was feeling like I was spinning out of control...snapping off the heads of everybody, friend or foe alike...no discretion, no control, even though I was well aware how awful I was behaving. Why don't I quit the Yasmin? Because I like the clear skin, and in the last few days I have suddenly started feeling like my old self again. I want to give an adequate chance for the negative side effects to go away, so I will continue with Yasmin for another 3 months. After that, I will switch if the negative effects are still there.