Jezebel 
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New York, 5:11 AM
Tue Dec 22
55 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/28/09
Also, the pill was originally developed to be taken for 2-5 years MAX by women who had just gotten married but didn't immediately want children. Just now, the first generation of women who have been on the pill for a very extended period of time are maturing, and the side effects will manifest themselves.
Seriously, watch for a new demand for alternative forms of birth control.
09/28/09
This is anecdotal, I realize, but my mom started on the pill when she got married in 1972, took it for seven years before having us, then took it again until menopause. Many women now in their 50s and 60s took the pill for a very long time, and at higher doses than we use now. There are probably more women now who take the pill for years and years, but the generation before use got some pretty long-term use in as well.
09/28/09
09/28/09
09/28/09
After I read about the side effects of Yaz and my insurance raised the price on me, I haven't refilled the prescription. Since I'm looking to get pregnant in the next year or two, an IUD doesn't seem worth the trouble, but I don't know that I trust FAM. Any suggestions?
09/28/09
09/27/09
09/27/09
I had to start a new type of pill and when that pack ended, instead of getting my period, I OVULATED and I am now pregnant.
Thanks, Aetna!
09/27/09
And, since I'm assuming at least one of the reasons you were on BC was to avoid this scenario, here's a heartfelt **hug**
09/27/09
09/28/09
09/28/09
And thanks :) I was just about to get an IUD.
09/28/09
Best of luck with it all.
09/26/09
Seriously, women: if you're on it, I strongly, strongly encourage you to consider switching, asap.
09/27/09
Nobody believed me until i had lunch with a classmate. When I told her I went off Yaz, she stopped eating and said, "Did your hair fall out too?!"
09/27/09
09/26/09
The second time I took Yaz -- which was stupid of me, but I didn't know anything about BC and thought the problems I'd had with it the first time were from a too high estrogen dosage -- I started feeling kind of weird, emotionally speaking, around the 2nd or 3rd week, and by the 5th week I was suicidal. At the time, I had just gotten together with the love of my life, and I was deliriously happy all the time -- until Yaz hit me. It was like walking off a cliff.
So obviously I stopped taking it. But the depression didn't go away. It got worse. I had anxiety attacks, which had never happened to me before. I gained 40 pounds within 3-4 months. My libido disappeared completely. I felt so weak much of the time that I could barely climb the single flight of stairs to my apartment. I had heart palpitations, and acne worse than I ever had it as a teenager. I had a migraine every day for two months. When the migraines reduced to one every 2nd or 3rd day, it was a huge relief. And the list goes on. Some of my symptoms improved after I went back on another birth control pill that I'd never had any problems with (or, well, one problem, which was why I tried switching to Yaz at the doctor's suggestion). But it's been two years and three months since all of this started, and I still feel depressed constantly. My libido has never returned. I'm working really hard to lose the weight, and it's a huge struggle. My acne is still bad. I've tried other birth control pills in the meantime, because I really hate the side effect I have from the ones I take, and they have led to other problems (bizarre migraines, every single day, for which I had to have two MRIs, for example). And if I try to go without BC at all, everything gets worse. Doctors can't find anything wrong, but clearly Yaz incited some kind of hormonal problem for me.
And I'm not the only one who's had symptoms like this. There's a forum I used to read called Yasmin Survivors, and many other women have experienced every single one of my symptoms after taking Yasmin/Yaz. It's the most complained-about BCP on drugs.com, too. I've also talked to several women I know who have taken Yasmin/Yaz and also been made depressed or really moody by it (though thankfully their symptoms went away once they stopped taking it).
I'd certainly take all of my symptoms over having an embolism or a stroke, but if I'd had the slightest idea that anything even remotely like this could have happened to me after taking a birth control pill for only FIVE FUCKING WEEKS, I would *never* have taken that pill. Obviously not every woman who takes Yaz has this kind of reaction to it, but it sure as fuck seems to me that there are enough women out there who do that there should be some kind of warning. This pill is a menace, and while I know it works great for some people, if there's no way to tell beforehand who it will work great for and who will have their life ruined by it, it fucking goddamn well shouldn't be on the market.
09/26/09
Anyway, I have never had anything remotely close to a problem in this department and reading all these stories....yikes!! My heart goes out to you ladies
Maybe all the hyper Christian pro-life nutters are right and contraception really is of the devil! Heaven help us all.
09/26/09
My honest opinion? Drug commercials should NOT be on TV. ANY of them. It just seems so irresponsible. And especially in these cases, with such serious side effects... Doctors should be going over this in more detail when BC is prescribed.
Just so you all know... if you ever have any combination of the following symptoms suddenly and without explanation, go to an ER. Skip your doctor, because you're just gonna get sent to the ER anyway.
- Chest pain that hurts when you breathe
- Swelling/pain in your lower legs
- Dry cough, with or without blood
- Severe anxiety, feeling like something really bad is about to happen
- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
- Blurred vision
If you read no post that I ever make (hey, fine, lol), PLEASE read this one and... hell, tack it to your fridge.
(Sorry, just a wee bit passionate on this one.)
09/26/09
09/26/09
?
09/26/09
09/26/09
It gave me the absolute worst, scariest headaches. at first I was like, "well, I guess migraines are a side effect" and then it got to the point where I felt like I was going to stroke out, with all the pain and the throbbing it felt like i was having a brain aneurysm or something. scary, scary shit.
A few weeks ago I saw an ad on TV looking for people to join in a class action suit for users of Yaz who had blood clots and stroke, and I, for one, am not at all surprised. Actually, my reaction was something like "ha! I knew it! I knew it!"
09/26/09
09/26/09
I say go talk to your provider and get a new brand. Birth control should NOT be making your life worse. Some women love Loestrin, but some women feel like it makes them crazy and break out. There isn't one in particular that is better or worse.
Birth control pills are not all the same, there are many different brands. Often it takes a few tries to find out what works best. I tell patients to try it out for about three months and if it makes you crazy, bleed all the time in between periods, or anything else you don't like- come back and try a new one. Most pills take some time to adjust to, but by 3 months out you should be used to it. If you hate it by then, you'll have figured it out.
09/26/09
09/26/09
09/27/09
09/28/09
09/26/09
The first birth control I took was Femcon FE 35 mg. It's considered "low-dose" and highly effective for larger women. I wanted birth control so I could try to regulate my period I used it for about two months, but I didn't have many side effects. It made my periods regular, there were improvements in my acne, but it caused me to have some pretty crazy mood swings (like crying at the drop of a hat) and a RAVENOUS appetite.
The appetite was the worst side effect. I would eat a sandwich and about an hour later, I'd be starving again. I gained about 20 lbs in two months because of it, but my gyno told me to hold out for another month and then it will even out. I couldn't handle gaining after that point, so I went off of it.
I'm scared to try other birth control methods because I do not want to gain the weight again. I could not control my hunger. It felt like I was starving myself.
09/26/09
While I totally respect those who've had major issues with Yaz, I know women who've had major issues with pretty much every type of hormonal birth control on the market. It's not just limited to Yaz. Every woman's body is different, so that means that choosing a birth control shouldn't be taken lightly.
09/26/09
Shilling that shit like its Cloudmir!
09/26/09
09/27/09
She prescribed 'Yasmin' back when it first hit the market, before it had become popular. It was the silver bullet for me...absolutely NO side effects, except for the intended one of reducing my cramps, which used to be completely debilitating because my body produces way too much progesterone.
I dropped down to the lower dose 'Yaz' when it came on the market, because I don't like the idea of ingesting this stuff, but the bottom line is that I have to take birth control pills to control the cramping. It's either that or narcotics, which I consider to be more dangerous.
This is not to diminish the complaints of any of the other commenters...I personally know what it's like to have a bad reaction to birth control pills, too. But Yaz really does help some people.
09/27/09
09/26/09