Serious health symptoms and conditions

Hi,

Fist off I'm a fit 38 year old male, not overweight, don't smoke, occasional social drinker.

I've been taking Lisinopril since being diagnosed with high blood pressure in Feb 08, I was started on a dose of 5mg, which was then increased to 10mg and finally 20mg.

The Lisinopril never really got my high blood pressure under control and my Doctor has now switched me to Bendroflumethiazide, only been on those for about a week so have to see how they go.

Lisinopril certainly made me feel terrible:-

Constant Fatigue
Depressed
Foggy
No concentration
Dizzy
Tinnitus
Pounding headaches

if you feel like this then I'd go and see your Doctor and try something else

I have been on Yasmin for 4 years now and I only recently started to question if some of the things that I have been experiencing are related to this pill. After reading your comments here, I'm more convinced then ever! I am a relatively healthy 31 year right now but for over a year now I have had a terrible ongoing ache in the back of my right thigh, just above my knee. I went to a vein specialist who just wanted to inject me to reduce the vein and "hoped" that it would help resolve the pain. He said that I had reticular veins and that they can be painful but as I understand it, you can get pain in your deep veins, which can result in deep vein thrombosis and even pulmonary embolisms (very life threatening). I have also had terrible ongoing headaches that last me 3 days at least once per month. I've always suffered from migraines so I didn't necessarily connect these headaches to the pill. I have absolutely ZERO sex drive. It's like I have to force myself to do it and it fills me with anxiety to even "gear up" for it. I have vaginal dryness, which can be very frustrating during foreplay and painful during sex. I had previously always been pleased that Yasmin resolved my 10 + year battle with painful cystic back acne. I have beautiful, clear skin on my back since I started taking Yasmin. I have also experienced fairly normal periods (for me). I used to have debilitating cramps and periods so heavy that I would wear a tampon and double my pads (with wings) so that I could live through the first part of the day at work without completely breaking through and bleeding through my pants. They would last for 5 - 7 days but with the pill I have more normal periods, manageable cramps, minor bloating, and still a heavy flow but not nearly as bad as before. I have always had good cholesterol levels and low triglycerides until 4 years ago when I started the pill. Since then I have had 2 blood tests where my cholesterol has skyrocketed and my triglycerides are triple the "normal" range. I eat healthier now then ever before and I regularly exercise as well so I cannot explain my cholesterol change, nor can my doctor (after showing a food diary of mostly fruits, veggies, limited whole grains, lean meat and optimal water). He told me to "go on a low carb diet" and "stay away from "sugars". I can't explain it either, I am always thirsty. I drink almost a gallon of water a day. I have this constant craving for a beverage and dryness if I'm not consistently sipping on water. My eyes are always dry, so dry in fact that it makes me feel tired or like I just want to close them to give them a break. I just started using eye drops, which has helped. Also, I'm tired, very very tired. It's summer so my energy is better only because I force myself to go workout, which always makes me feel better. I must say though, all in all, I have some concerning symptoms that seem to be prevalent throughout the blog but I've also had some positive effects from Yasmin. My concerns and your comments however are enough to take myself off the pill (Yasmin and all others) to try and live with my natural hormones instead of the synthetic in the pill. I think the potential risks outweigh the rewards. Thank you all for sharing and helping me in my decision making process.

Wow you are all a bunch of complainers who try and blame XYZ on Yasmin which probably have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the pills. I have bee diagnosed with PCOS and have been on hormone therapy since age 15, first zovia, which worked well enough but did not get rid of a lot of my symptoms, only lessened them somewhat, so now I am on yaz. My depression has completely subsided, I feel GREAT and only had some nausea which almost EVERYONE gets when taking a hormone therapy birth control pill. Trust me, if you are going to have SIDE EFFECTS it is not going to happen 4 YEARS LATER, please.... grow up and take responsibility for yourselves, rather than trying to blame a pill

oh and here is the birth control pill side effect list...

Common side effects of oral contraceptives include loss of sex drive (libido), headaches, acne, weight gain, vaginal infections, and depression. Current research indicates that oral contraceptives increase your risk of acquiring HIV if your partner is infected. Oral contraceptives also have some uncommon but serious health risks associated with their use, especially among smokers; these include abnormal blood clotting and heart attacks, breast cancer, and gallbladder disease.

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.

I love it. I've had it for a week now. Very little spotting, minimal cramps, and no discharge. I was told of the side effects, and knew all of this before I got it. Hormones act differently to some people. I did not react well with the patch or pill. So far, so good with Mirena. I don't think a lawsuit or complaint is exactly the way to go. You should start with talking to your doctor more and seeing if they give out pamphlets or just did not tell you everything you were supposed to know. I also believe not everyone's symptoms should be blamed on Mirean. People usually "feel" things they don't really have, esp. after coming on here and reading things. You can make your body feel that stuff. The insertion was not comfortable by any means, but it also wasn't a pain that I would ever cry or scream over. I'm 21, relatively healthy, and never had children. I work in healthcare and see people react like this all the time-no tolerance to pain, and just wanting an excuse as to where some of their "pains" come from.

Do NOT take Quasense. I was on Seasonale for a full cycle (3 months) and had no side effects. Then Quasense came out and my insurance refused to cover Seasonale. Now I have had terrible spotting (not even spotting, it is a period without the cramps). I had bleeding for 3 weeks straight, it stopped for a week, and now it's been going again for another 3 weeks. The entire pill pack is a waste because even when I get to the end of the pack all I have is yet ANOTHER period. Quasense also caused stomach irritation and made me sick after eating anything dairy- and I have never been lactose intolerant. I am getting off of this pill ASAP.

Was on Vytorin for 3 mos before I started developing serious health issues. First it was pneumonia. While trying to recover from that, I started experiencing pain in my thigh muscle which caused me to have difficulty walking and sitting. Each day the intensity of pain was increasing, so much so that by day 5 my husband took me to the emergency room at 4 in the morning because the pain wouldn't stop. I was put on bed rest for a week and had to take a narcotic for the pain, anti-inflammation and muscle relaxer meds. I missed 2 weeks from my job in 2 months. After paying attention to the commercials (something I never do) I realized that Vytorin could have caused my problems.

I've been off the drug for 30 days now. It has also caused damage to my liver. I have to have blood drawn bi-weekly to see if my liver is healing properly. The pain in my thigh has gone away to the point where I can walk normally but I'm still stiff when trying to stand up after sitting for a while. I tried to go back to exercising but the damage to my muscle isn't allowing that to happen. I'm praying that this won't be permanent.

I stopped taking Synthroid after 4 days due to extreme joint pain (9-10 on a scale of 1-10), confusion and emotional roller coaster that's very unusual for me. Like most others, my doctor and a specialist were of no help. I looked online and found that joint pain can be a symptom of hypersensitivity to inactive ingredients.

I discovered that Levoxyl doesn't have the side effects for me that Synthroid does -- in fact, so far I feel great! I suspect I had a hypersensitivity reaction to an inactive ingredient because those ingredients vary greatly from brand to brand. In fact, I wonder if folks who get better with Armor are simply getting better by getting off Synthroid? Maybe others who may be having trouble with Levoxyl could have better luck with a different brand?

It's such a small thing to try, just changing brands, before going through extremes of changing doctors, taking handfuls of other medicines, or suffering through unreasonable side effects. Has anyone else had that experience that switching brands cleared up their side effect problems?

Guest 37371-

A decrease/change in vaginal lubrication is a change with oral-contraceptives. See a couple of entries below your entry on side effects of Yasmin. Many women have complained of loss of libido on Yasmin. Given how many other problems women here and on the new site in the UK have experienced, I cannot reccommend Yasmin or its sister pill Yaz at all as they have created very serious problems for many women including myself. I personally would recommend getting off it and finding a more traditional pill, or off the hormones altogether if you can and practice a more natural/non-hormonal method.

Yasmin generally helps women with acne which it did with me so you are experiencing sounds unusual. Another reason on top of many others to get off of it.

Look 2-3 entries below your entry and read the insert that comes with Yasmin-if you are experiencing chills and fever like symptoms-you should contact your Doctor immediately. This is not normal. Many women have had this happen actually-Yasmin and Yaz have some terrible life threatening and very serious health effects.

So, I'd say get off of it. Check the U.K site Flowerbabies set up. you'll see what kinds of problems Yasmin is creating.

I have been on Yasmin for a little less then a month. Since I have been on it my husband and I haven't not had sex, not once!! Before Yasmin we had a great sex life and now it's like, what's sex?? I have pimples the size of dimes that are nasty and I break out all the time. I gained probably about five pounds in less then a month. I get cold chills and fever-like symptoms and I really hate it so far. My husband just hates that we never have sex anymore. Is loss of sex drive one of the symptoms? I was reading about it and I guess my other ones are normal, but I read nothing about loss of sex drive. I'm 20 and a newly wed...I should want i should want to do it every day!!

I have been taking 100mg of Topamax daily for 9 months now. At first I noticed being confused, and slight memory problems, but now I am having serious health issues. I have extreme pain in my legs, most joints, middle and upper respitory pain(mostly at night), and just don't feel well. 6 months ago I was running half marathons, now I can barely exercise for 30 minutes a day. My Dr.'s have no idea whats going on, but tell me that Topamax is not the problem. I don't think they know what their talking about.

Keith

Hi everyone -

I'm brand new to this site and I can't tell you how glad I am to have found it!

I'm 41 years old with no history of any serious health problems. In February of last year, I started feeling run-down, depressed, etc. (first time ever). By April, I went to my gynecologist and was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst and put on Yasmin to help it resolve. After the cyst cleared up, I stayed on the Yasmin because I liked how it worked for birth control (never used BCP's before this). At the same time, I was diagnosed hypothyroid. A few months into treatment for both, I started having tachycardia/palpitations/pounding heart, severe depression, anxiety attacks. These were all written off by my docs as related to the hypothyroidism. My doctors and I kept thinking once we had that under control, the symptoms would resolve.

Well, the hypo has been under control for about three months, but the heart and anxiety symptoms continued to get worse.

I decided to dump the Yasmin about 7 weeks ago, because I couldn't figure out what else could be causing all the symptoms. My heart started feeling better in about 3-4 weeks, although the depression and anxiety lingers on (but are both improved).

I am not a very patient person and the idea of "waiting this out" is awful - but your postings have given me a lot of hope that all of this will eventually go away.

I would like to suggest that everyone spend a few minutes reporting their side effects to the FDA. If you go to www.FDA.GOV, there is a section where you can report adverse reactions yourself - without having to convince your doctor to do it for you. Under the section "Let Us Hear From You", there's an option to "Report a Problem with a Product". It takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. If enough people file complaints, they'll have to do SOMETHING, won't they? ;-) And just the act of "ratting out the makers of Yasmin" is very satisfying....

Good luck to everyone!

Julie

I am a 23 yr old female and it all started for me after my 3rd month on yasmin. I was just finishing my period when I awoke one night with shooting stomach pains on my right side. I went to the bathroom, came back to bed and must have passed out b/c the next thing I knew, my husband was shouting at me to wake up and on the phone to 911. I went to the hospital right away and after a ct scan on my brain and stomach and lots of blood tests nothing was found....however, we knew there had to be a reason that I passed out and experienced such severe stomach pains. I went off the pill immediately after that night. Then 4 nights later, the panic attacks started in-I went to the emergency room again that night to find out I just had my first panic attack --which I never had before in my life-
It has been a month since I have been taking it-and after numerous doctor visits they now think I am suffering from gallbladder attacks. I read on here once that a girl had to have her gallbladder removed after being on yasmin. I am a healthy person and have never had any serious health problems or anxiety/panic attacks before taking these pills. These last 4 months have been the worst of my life. I am off to the hospital tomorrow for more testing on my gallbladder and liver and I am still having occcasional anxiety/panic attacks. I wish all of us could have one big meeting so we could knock this pill out for good. E-mail me with any concerns you might have-I would love to talk about it!

As a Registered Nurse who works in Women's Health, I am empathetic toward the many of you who have had such negative side effects from Yasmin. I, too, just started Yasmin a couple of weeks ago, but fortunately, I am not seeing the same effects as many of you. All I have really noticed so far is a pretty constant headache, which is a very common side effect from any type of oral contraceptive.

It is our right and responsibility as women to ask questions when we are prescribed a medication - irregardless of the type of medication being prescribed. Your health care provider must provide you with that information when you request it. Ask specific questions, demand answers. Be very proactive!

Pharmacists are also a great resource of information. Get the info on your meds in writing - manufacturers are required to provide this information for patients. If your health care provider won't give it to you, your pharmacist will. When I got my Yasmin prescription filled the first time, I read the whole information packet because I wanted to know all the risks and possible side effects. We should all pay attention to what our bodies are telling us. If you don't feel right, don't let anyone (including a physician) convince you that you are OK or dismiss your concerns. Get a 2nd or 3rd opinion. Listen to your body and do what you feel is right, like stopping a medication like Yasmin.

I know of several women who have taken this OC without difficulty. I know others who have problems with other types of OC's. Everyone is different and everyone's body reacts differently to the exact same medication. While most of the posts here refer only to the negative side effects, I am confident that many women out there are taking Yasmin without difficulty.

Unfortunately, some women are being prescribed OC's when they shouldn't, including those who smoke and any woman over 35. Many studies prove the increases in serious health risks for these groups in particular where OC's are concerned. Again, it is our responsibility to request information and ask questions of our health care provider before taking any type of medication.

To all of you having such a negative experience with Yasmin - good luck to you. Please seek another opinion if you are dismissed by your doctor. Request a change in OC's if that's what you want. If you can't get it changed, make an appointment with someone who cares what you have to say and will listen to your concerns. That is your right as a patient. Best of luck to you all.

I NO LONGER FEEL INSANE! Reading what a lot of you wrote made me feel so much better. I want to start by thanking you for taking the time out to post your comments because it's important to know that you aren't alone in feeling this way due to a medication.
I started on Yasmin when I was 21 and for about two years I never even realized what this pill was doing to my body and my life. Initially, it worked out well. After the first six months I was on it, all I wanted to do was sleep. I would avoid my friends and family almost all the time because I was so irritable and would cry often for no reason. I got yeast infections every few months and horrendous stomach pains which led me to believe I had a serious health problem. I was at the doctor every week for almost two months not knowing what was wrong with me. This was not me at all. I had always been an energetic, out-going person that rarely got sick. The week before my period, I would become extremely emotional. Once even to the point where I felt suicidal. I was freaking out, seeing different therapists and taking various anti-depressants. It was quite frightening, and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. My relationship with my boyfriend of six years was constantly on edge during this time. I would get angry or depressed for no apparent reason and he would never know what was causing it. I would constantly doubt him and the relationship. I was paranoid about situations in my life to the point where I could no longer focus on the important things or the big picture. The dramatic mood swings eventually took a serious toll on the relationship as well as some of my friendships. I finally switched gynecologists because I was beginning to question the one I was going to at the time. I am so glad I did! My new GYN immediately took me off of Yasmin. I have been off of Yasmin for three months and I feel so much more stable and energetic. I absolutely DO NOT recommend this pill unless you enjoy feeling like a lunatic.

I have just been on these for 3 months, and the reason i got on them was because my old pills i wasn't having a period at all. I dont feel right with out a period each month. anyway, i started these and every thing was normal, a short period that lasted 2 to 3 days and not bad cramps at all. Then during the 3rd month i started a period or so i thought, its not the same color and it lasted a weekend and half...i'm not sure if this is just me getting used to it or what. But i've been really stressed out over up coming events. and a few weeks ok i had an anxiety attack...i thought it was stress, but after reading that someone had one and thought it was from these pills i'm worried and the break through bleeding that lasted a long time worries me too. I'm only 18 and i don't want to be in serious health danger... i'm calling to switch these right away and see what is going on.