Yaz and medications

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.

I'm also glad I found this site. I have been on Yaz for nine months for PMDD. I totally thought I was losing my mind. I can't seem to keep focused on one thought at a time, I have had diarrhea since probably about three months into it. Gained weight, sleep problems, anxiety but worst of all my HAIR IS FALLING OUT in clumps. I have super thick hair and now it is so thin that you can see through it and it is getting worse with time. My hairdresser said I have lost 40 percent of my hair. I finally put two and two together and figured out it is the Yaz. I am on no other medications and am going to the doctor tomorrow. I was so scared about my hair. I just hope it grows back soon. I would rather be crazy than bald. I have been on other BC before without any problems. This stuff is too much to handle. Thank you for opening my eyes

My sister at 39 years old recently died from the condition called pulmonary thromboembolism caused by the use of Yaz. Please if you are taking this pill and are experiencing anything negative from it, get off of it immediately. I am currently seeking legal counsel for my sisters death, I believe it is unfair that a product like this can take a human life, and no-one will be held liable. I have been told that it will be virtually impossible to bring a lawsuit against a product that has been FDA approved. My sister left behind three children who love, miss and still needed her. If anyone can give me some type of direction on how to bring a lawsuit against the manufacturer of this product please contact me asap.

Yaz increases your potassium levels, SO DO NOT eat anything with Potassium or take any medications that will increase your potassium. You will over load your system and make it even worse on you. You really need to read the enclosed brochure that came with Yaz from front to back to ensure you are fully aware of what you are taking and all the risks and side effects you will get. I had the same issues with my calves and it was not normal at all. Since I have stopped taking Yaz all my symptoms are gone and physically I feel normal again. I have not gotten my period yet, which I thought would come when I stopped taking Yaz, but nothing yet. I experienced anxiety attacks whenever I tried to climax so I understand what you are talking about. Yaz lowers your testosterone levels which drives your sex lfe, so there may be no hope for it to be normal again as long as you are on Yaz.

I have been taking Yaz for a month and a half. The only medication I have been on in several years.
At work yesterday, my head started getting foggy. And my perception, was all messed up. After about 15 minutes of this not getting better, I started to lose my speech communication. I couldn't finish sentences or words. Stuff was jumbling together. In my right hand, two fingers went numb, then the whole hand. A client ended up driving me to the ER. I tried to call my receptionist, but I couldn't get the words out, my client took the phone and told her I was going to the ER. By the time I got to the ER, feeling started coming back, and I could communicate, in full sentences, if I paused between. By the time I was checked in and saw the doctor, I was able to tell him all that happened. With no problem, then a huge headache came on.
He wanted to rule out stroke, so did the CT scan and MRI. The nurse had some trouble getting blood from me. She kept mentioning that the blood kept clotting. The doctor sent me home saying my brain was perfectly healthy, and to go see my regular doctor.
A friend told me it was the birth control, because she could not take it, as she has lupus, and could have a stroke. She said it causes clotting. All of this was making sense to me. I looked up the side effects I had and found the "stroke symptoms", listed as rare, on Yaz.
My opinion of what happened, I had a blood clot that ended up passing through, and it could have become a stroke.
Another thing I read, besides the clotting. Was that oral contraceptives increase the potassium in your blood. I had been eating a banana for breakfast, 3 mornings in a row (the third on the day of this episode). The added potassium, could have been related to this episode.
How is anyone to know they can't eat something like "bananas" with birth control? I certainly didn't.
I am afraid to try any form of birth control at this point.

After having a semi-break down yesterday which included 3 separate occasions of rage, suicidal thoughts, and crying jags, I have decided that one of my medications is at fault. I thought at first that it was the Klonopin that I started taking April 1st. This confused me because, after initially taking the Klonopin, I had a follow up with doc after two weeks and it was working great. I then got on Yaz around April 20th. In the last month, I have had increasing mood swings, horrible depression, complete exhaustion, inability to focus on anything, stomach aches, heart palpitations, soar throat, coughing, and my back has been killing me. The worst is the depression and bouts of rage. I was all set to blame it on the Klonopin until I read this site. Well, I'm going to axe the Yaz first and see if things improve. It makes sense though, I been feeling like I did in the worst time of pregnancy.

I have just spent the last hour reading some of the post about Yaz. I have yet to read one that states she is diagnosed with PMDD and that is the reason for her dr. putting her on Yaz. Yaz is not only a birthcontrol pill but also effective tool in treading PMDD. PMDD is the more life effecting sever side effects of your menstral cycle. Some of the side effects people are experiencing on Yaz are those that I suffer with on a regular basis. You see I have been diagnosed with PMDD. I suffer every month for at least 7 - 10 days before my period starts. I literally hate human contact during this period. The slighest thing makes me uncontrollably irrate with things from fuzz on my carpet to the site of my husband. I experience svere road rage. Have absolutley no desire to do anything but eat and sleep. These side effects make life for everyone around me pure hell. Once my cycle starts they subside. I literally turn into cruella deville every month. I have been put on other antideppresants for the treatment of PMDD with no good results. I gladly welcome nasuea, headaches and break thru bleeding versus no sleep for days on end, halluctinations, memory loss, and flat affect all symptons I experienced on Prozac the most common treatment of PMDD. Not only do I suffer from PMDD but I have horrible horrible monthly periods consisting of major bledding with excessive clotting. I go thru 2 40ct. boxed of tampons each month and a box of maxi pads too. So if a headache is the price i have to pay for a few months I say bring it on. Any dr will tell you and the pamplet that comes with Yaz state that you may suffer some side effects until your body becomes adjusted to the new medication. You can't just pop one pill and say whalla my life is perfect now. I just started Yaz this week and so far no symptoms listed on this site have i experienced. Maybe some people need to be more patient. Medications are like diets, they don't all work and they were not intended to be overnight miracle workers. I will keep and eye on this site and further update with any success and or non success I have with this med. Remember talking a med used to treat an ailment that you don't have can make you suffer from worse side effects.

Very Bad Experience.
I didn't want to take a BCP since I try to not put any medications in my body if I don't have to...now I remember why. This medication has had a very negative impact on my quality of life. I have extreme tenderness of my breasts, I am exhausted all the time, my periods are longer and fairly irregular, the cramping is very painful and more regular than before I took Yaz...but the worst thing is my moods. I'm irritable and anxious and crabby. I am critical of everything my boyfriend does even though he's a great guy. I am impatient and seem to find fault and negativity in everything around me where before it was 'glass half full'. The headaches and blurred vision doesn't help either. I'm going back to my old ways and would not recommend taking this bcp to anyone.