November 5th
2008
11:35 PM
My daughter started taking YAZ birth control August 2007 and was starting her second year of college. Everything in her life was going well, she loved her choice of college, had a wonderful boyfriend, was excited to live in her sororiety house, had wonderful friends, and was always one of the most focused individuals I knew. She was home for the Thanksgiving holiday and the night before I was to drive her back to school, she broke down at the kitchen table and said she can't pretend anymore, that she is not happy and doesn't know what is wrong with her. I took her to the doctor and she was treated with Effexor for depression. After 4 weeks there was no change, she fell into a deeper depression and they doubled her dose of Effexor. Still no change. I started looking on the internet and found that one of the side effects of Yaz was depression. I told her to immediately stop taking it. Two days after she stopped the pill we had an appointment with a psychiatrist. I told him that this was the first day I saw some improvement and that I thought it was related to her stopping YAZ. He disregarded my statement and didn't feel that was the case. He didn't like Effexor because he said that it was "a bear to get off of". He titrated her dose down by half and introduced Wellbutrin into her system. Two days later she overdosed on pills. She couldn't bear how bad she felt. I remember it like it was yesterday, she stood in the corner of the hosital and cried, "How did I get to this point, how did this happen to me?" I knew then that it was the pills. After her release from the hosital they handed her a prescription for Lexipro. I was advised by ALL of the PROFESSIONALS that she needed to take this antidepressent because she will definitely have a relapse.
My daughter chose NOT to take any more medications. We both KNOW that it was the YAZ that started the depression and the other antidepressents just put her over the edge. It took several months to get her life back together. We pursued counselling to make sure she was equipped with good coping skills for stress before attempting to go back to school. She missed 5 weeks of school and we knew that she had alot of catching up to do and the counselling helped her get through.
It has now been almost 1 year since that incident and she is back to her old self again. NO MORE BIRTH CONTROL AND NO MORE ANTIDEPRESSANTS. I'm not against any of these medications, however, I don't feel that health care professionals equip these young girls with enough information about side effects. Depression is listed way down on the list of side effects. If her gyn would have warned her that depression was a side effect, we may have never gone down that dark frightening road and if the psychiatrist would have taken into consideration that it could have been the birth control pill things could have been different. I also work for 4 pediatricians and none of them were aware that birth control can cause depression. I am now noticing that there are mother's calling our office because their daughters are depressed and as I am looking at their charts, I see they are on birth control. I have to wonder how widespread is this epidemic and how many young woman may have been diagnosed with clinical depression when the cause could be birth control. I know that at my daughters last well visit she was asked if she was taking any medication and she said no, she didn't realize that the pill was medication. Professionals need to be more specific when asking teenagers and yound adults questions.
I hope that this helps someone else out there to understand what could be causing their depression.
-- By roman51 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
October 29th
2008
6:42 PM
I am 16 years old, and I am on my second week of YAZ. I do not recommend this product to ANYONE. I am aware of the fact peoples bodies react differently to different doses of hormone, I am also aware you should give it some time for your body to acclimate to new drugs, but what i have been experiencing is close to unbearable. I went on the pill to end my terrible periods. They would be extremely irregular, i would have cramps so bad i would have to miss school, and i would have severe clotting (most likely due to laying down during my menstrual cycle.), and to clear up my acne. As promised, my skin is clearing up nicely. Although on the worse end,I have never had a migraine in my life and i have had one for almost 3 days now! Since i have started YAZ i have been on my period for the past two weeks, and it shows no signs of stopping soon. Also, I have had zero sexual drive since i have began YAZ, and as a sixteen year old girl I know for a fact that it is NOT normal by any means. I have always been a naturally thin girl, now i cant eat enough, and i am gaining weight on my stomach and thighs, which is making me extremely self conscious. Anyone who has taken the time to read this, thank you.I am just trying to warn girls my age about what might be in store for them if they begin this pill, and seriously consider if it is worth these side effects.
-- By alysha007 | Reply | Private Message me
September 3th
2008
12:32 AM
I have just recently began taking Yaz and am starting to experience side effects. I am in my third week, and am having a lot of anxiety, heart palpitations, mild headaches and shortness of breath. Sometimes I feel dizzy and I take them at night so that I do not experience the nausea that I know comes along with bc pills. I am on them because of my hormones being out of whack but I think I would almost rather deal with that than all of these symptoms. I think it's time to contact my OB/GYN and get off of these things...
-- By maddiemom | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
April 21th
2008
6:03 PM
This is by far the worst pill I have ever taken. Before Yaz I was on Nordette, Ortho Tri cyclen and Alesse. I saw the commercials and got sucked into trying this pill. All I can say is proceed with caution. I ended up taking this pill for the unhappiness 8 months of my entire life. I had problems with other pills causing weight gain (Nordette, Ortho Tri cyclen) or acne (Alesse). However, those symptoms are mild compared to what Yaz inflicted on me.
I have always been described as happy go lucky and Yaz gave me extreme moodiness, panic attacks about my future and life, and major depression. I did have the best skin of my life and lost about 5 lbs but I was an emotional MESS! I would cry at the drop of a hat and find fault in everyone and everything. This symptom didn't start right away but each month I was on Yaz got worse. My friends coined my "alter ego" "she devil." I almost felt possessed at times on this pill. I finally realized it was the pill and not life causing these problems when 3 of my girlfriends had the same problems and got off and the problems went away.
Prior to having this experience I thought people tried to blame too much on the pill but my experience showed me just how much these can mess with your body. I switched back to Alesse 5 days ago and it's like I am a different person--even my skeptical boyfriend noticed the change. As for the acne, I am going to go to a dermatologist to address that. I will be happy to have a few zits as opposed to being a crazy woman.
Proceed with caution on this pill and watch your moods carefully. Just because you've been on it for a few months doesn't mean you're safe. The majority of my emotional disorder started about 5 months in. I do have some girlfriends that like this but most have found it to bring out "she devil".
-- By trt00008 | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
March 20th
2008
2:47 AM
I am 19 I started taking the Yaz pill over a year ago. At first all was well . I was very happy with the pill. But I then saw my eyes were going I for some reason started having problems seeing. Which was new to me because Ihave 20/20 vision. And I had head aches . Chest pains . and worse bleeding. I started bleeding uncontrollably . My boyfriend took me to the hospital and they found nothing. So I waited and I got worse . the bleeding was heavier and the mood swings got worse. I then went to a hemo. doctor he ran about 40 tests and nothing. I was told should take 2 a day pills for 4 months then I could start back on my YAZ! My doctor NEVER told me that pill was the reason for my bleeding or any side effects I was having. Hospital Visits.. Money waisted ... Meds bought ... and blood taken ... and it was all the Yaz pill. I AM STILL UNDER FURTHER TESTING ...SEE MORE PROBLEMS DUE TO THE PILL. DON'T TAKE IT!
-- By sickofyaz19 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
November 7th
2008
1:17 PM
I too have had a very bad experience with Yaz. I've actually started a website several months ago to help other women and girls with side effects from this very dangerous drug. I've been off of Yaz for eight months now and I am still suffering from the awful side effects. I pray that one day I will feel normal again. Thank you for all of your stories and very good luck with all of you.
Yaz Forum
-- By yaz_forum | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me