Yasmin and severity

Hi Guys

I am taking Yasmin since May 2006. I have been suffering from chronic daily headaches since March 2006 and wondered if Yasmin could be a factor in this? For my headaches I have tried so many different things and not been successful and hadn't looked at the possibility that Yasmin could be a problem until I started to google it. What do you guys think? Could Yasmin be adding to my problem of chronic daily headaches? Cos I have the headaches all the time.

Any responses would be greatly appreciated!

Regards
Warda

Yasmin is a steroid so when coming off it you can suffer all the same symptoms as someone stopping a steroid drug... and by the way, when people are taken off steroids it's done in a controlled way - they cut down on them very slowly by reducing the dosage. It's a real shock to the body to just stop a steroid. This could explain why a lot of us feel so terrible when we stop taking it. I know I had a real increase in severity of symptoms followed by months and months of exhaustion and fatigue.

I first started taking birth control pills about a year ago, and my doctor started me on Yaz, I continued to have an increase in headaches, nausea, and break-through bleeding, so she eventually switched me to Yasmin. To be honest for the first six months or so that I was on it, I was great, my headaches that I normally got decreased, and I didn't have any real side effects other then the expected break through bleeding the first months after starting it. Now I feel awful, my headaches come back with such increased severity I can't think and any medication I take for it doesn't work, during random times of the day I get waves of depression for no reason, I go through episodes of extreme emotion and the thought of even being close to my boyfriend at times sickens me. I didn't take any other drugs that could have interacted with the pill or increased the side effects as I know some people have implied. But I've never felt so horrible before in my life and I'm only twenty years old, I'm trying to get off the pill and find a different one, has anyone gotten off Yasmin and found a better alternative?

i started taking yaz a couple months ago and developed a blood clot in my lung, a pulmonary embolism. i was hospitalized for a week in may of this year. i have visited many websites to see if other women have developed blood clots due to yaz and i have found a startling number of women that have developed blood clots, and a couple girls who even lost their lives. the side effects of birth control are explained to us before we start taking them, and it is expected that some women will experience the side effects, and this is normal. however, when a disproportionately large number of women start having serious health problems due to yaz, then something is not wrong with us, something is wrong with yaz. i have seen many women express an interest in starting a class action lawsuit and i am trying to do so. i have worked in a personal injury law office for the past 2 years and know an excellent lawyer looking to take on a case of this nature and magnitude. if you or your loved one has developed a blood clot, lost their life, or have developed another serious health problem due to yaz than please email me at ****** with your name and an email address i can reach you at. A class action lawsuit requires a large number of plaintiffs. I have already gotten a few emails but need many more before we can make this happen. please email me... help me and yourself.

My daughter has had a very difficult year, with many of the symptoms described in postings related to Yasmin. Please will everyone who has experienced the negative effects of this drug go to the website: www.FDA.gov and file a report. They do not ask for personal identification, but you can describe your symptoms, tests, hospitalizations, etc in great detail. You can also file a report with the drug manufacturer, but this will carry greater weight if your doctor files it on your behalf. Under certain circumstances, related to the severity of your adverse reaction, I believe the manufacturer is required to follow up with the FDA, and respond to your complaint.

I am one of those women who spent years on Yasmin and more recently on its follow-up Yaz. I heard "low-dose" formulation and just assumed these would be the right pills for me, since I had moderate PCOS. Well it's taken me a long time to figure out that the introduction of these pills coincided with an increasing frequency and severity of mood swings and tension. Over the years the mood swings have included angry outbursts and irritability. I did like the predictable periods and absence of cramping. But that was definitely not worth the psychological and emotional suffering I've been through and put others through. I took my last Yaz pill today. I hope I get my normal life back, without the PCOS.

I am a 32 yo Mother to 4 children. My ONLY purpose for taking Yasmin was to control the severity of my periods. After the fourth child my periods became so heavy, crampy and unbearable that I had to do something. I have been on Yasmin for a little over a year now and all I can say is had I known then what I know now...I wouldn've said to hell with that!!!

Mood Swings, I mean my god ladies, they are awful, my husband of 10 years never once called me a Bitch and now I hear it all the time it seems, the weight gain was off and on. My metabolisim slowed to a stop basicaly, my hair started to fall out of my head and found itself on my face. The sobbing for no reason (at a dog commercial ladies..a dog commercial) constantly being tired, then not being able to sleep when i knew I was exhausted.

My libido was non exsistant which caused termoil in my marriage for a period of time. There was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless. Out of control, sad, sick, and in general just BLAH!

Secondly the medication was supposed to help reduce the severity of my periods and make them shorter..HA HA HA HA HA!! That's the biggest joke. They are still the same now as they ever were. 8-9 days, filling a super pad within and hour and a half, having to wear both tampons and pads just to go out in public. I have had no pills for a week. I quit cold turkey so to speak and I have had spotting lots of spotting, headaches, and bloating associated with nausea. I am glad that I am off of the Yasmin pill and I'll never go on Yasmin again!

I would love to know of a lawsuit pending against them, so that I could be returned all the money I spent in copays, to feel worse than I did before I started taking it.

I'm absolutely miserable. I figured my TOTAL lack of sexual desire was due to starting Yasmin, but I had no idea the rest of my recent crappy existance was also because of it. I'm 35, married, and this is my first time really on the pill. I was on it once about 15 years ago for about 2 months, but that was it. I started to help with bad periods, awful bloating, clotting and cramps. My feeling down used to come as PMDD-- for about 2 weeks before my period. Now I'm just plain down all the time. It's not a swing like that, like I'm all of a sudden very emotional and sad, this is a general lack of anything. I've been on this for 7 weeks. I feel alone and unhappy. No joy. I wouldn't say I'm terribly sad, but I've been crying a lot, and I never do that. My head ached horribly during my period. My breasts kill. I've gained at least 10 lbs. Now I'm really mad about all this. I've kind of kept my emotional state to myself. Now the doctor wants me to stay on it until I finish the three months. I don't want to. She said then I'll probably have to deal with the bleeding problems. My other option is to finish out this pack and start on Allese. Right now I think I'd rather have the hell of my period and the PMDD. I hate to go back to all that, though. I'm nervous and sad and angry. I'm thankful for finding this board, though. I wish there had been something in the package insert that hinted at the severity of changes you can experience. I feel like I've messed myself up good. I don't knwo what to do.

The first month, I had severe nausea for the last two weeks. This month, the situation is reversed; I have been ravenously hungry and trying not to gain a ton of weight. My limbs feel crampy and creaky, and I feel very foggy and tired all the time. I'm already clinically depressed and the depression and panic attacks become UNBEARABLE during the third week of the cycle.

On the positive side, the pill is lessening the severity of my periods and clearing up my skin.

Hi
I started taking Yamin 3 weeks ago because I have terrible cramps due to having endometriosis. My doctor said to take Yasmin continuously (without taking the placebo) so I don't have a period. I thought I was being a hypercondriac but I am suffering from headaches, nausea, I gag once in awhile and now I have calf pain. After reading these notes from all of you I am wondering is this going to get better once my body gets used to it or will I be feeling worse. Plus I am extremely tired and I was wondering if anybody feels that too. I am at a loss because without something I can't function with all my severe cramps. I am not sure to switch pills or keep going to see if things get better. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Lynn

dear chrissy,

thanks for you kind words. i know when im good im sooo positive but when i fell like this again its hard and i know only women here understand. did you find that the first three months were the hardest, and then it begin to get better cause i do not know if i could continue each month with this severity
lisa

Dear Chrissy,

i felt great whilst away and did not have any bad symptoms but home now and just finishing my period and i feel bad I MEAN BAD again, reading ur post i see this is normal, yes i finished nov 9 on pill so guess it makes it my 3mth mark, IS IT GONNA GET BETTER EACH MONTH...I just took my daughter to docs as she was unwell and i have been feeling so tired and jumpy last two days and had blood pressure read and it is 150/11 still which is high but i guess it has not risen so which makes me think its a yasmin side effect. did not see my normal doc and the one i saw said there is no way yasmin is still in my system and i need to concentrate on losing weight ( i have kost 2kilos this month) and to exercise and not put blame onto something other than my self i just want to cry. If it is out of my system,then why the heck are all these women on this forum. He told me that the yasmin takes 1 month, i know i am not crazy.
so to answer ur question i was feeling great jan 7th to 25th and now i feel flat, tired , edgy again, each month do the severity of these symptoms get easier because i am feeling really low.

thanks for your support
Lisa

While it is true that any BCP will have side effects within the first few months while your body adjusts (in response to a few posts down), you need to take the severity of them into account. If I was only experiencing a bit of bloating or minimal weight fluctuation, etc, I would be unconcerned. However, I wake up in the middle of anxiety attacks, panicky and almost out of my mind with edginess. I have gone up two dress sizes, have constant light discharge, am moody beyond belief and to the point where it is damaging my life...and I have only been on this pill for three weeks. If you are experiencing side effects which interfere severely with your regular lifestyle or have a large impact on your physical and mental well being, discontinue use and seek help from your medical professional IMMEDIATELY. There is a better way for you.

I hope I do not have the effects that some of you reported after quitting Yasmine. My life is messed up enough already. I will keep you posted. God be with you.

I'm 27, and have never taken BCP's before.
I've been on Yasmin nearly 4 weeks with few side effects (one unacceptable).

Bad: After 2 weeks on Yasmin, I developed unbelievable scalp itchiness (never before) to the point of wanting to scratch holes in my head. Often. Random spots of amazing itchiness (arms, ears, chest, legs, back, hands) arrived a few days later that rival contact dermatitis in severity. There is nothing else I can attribute this to besides Yasmin (I hope it is not allergy based, as I basically have no allergies).
I've tolerated the itching for nearly 2 weeks, and will give it another 6 to see how it goes. It's not an acceptable side-effect.
Otherwise, I've just gotten slight spotting (skipping placebo pills) and a decrease in sex-drive. Not impressed. I had no sex-drive for 2 years because of a prolactin secreting pituitary tumour. Once that was treated, my sex-drive was amazing. Everyone should be able to feel like that! I'm attuned to that now, and it is diminished. Will give Yasmin a trial though. Sadly a catch-22, since I'm taking it because I've found someone special.

Good (?) side-effect: Oh my god, I've lost my chocolate-drive. I enjoy one chocolate, not most of a packet like I used to. Could not believe this. Hormones are amazing.

Sorry to hear all the serious side-effects posted here. I hope you all find what is right for you. Without quality of life, what is left? Best wishes.