OT: Yaz

cdrierson

Recently, a friend of mine was diagnosed with blood clots in her brain. The initial symptom was a headache.  The first diagnosis was a sinus infection.  The second diagnosis was migraines that she should treat with Topamax.  She became worst and wouldn't even get out of her bed.  She started vomitting, and her parents took her to the ER.  There, the doctor performed CT scans and MRI.  That's when they found the blood clots.  The doctor blamed birth control pill specifically Yaz as the cause.  This is soooo scary to me that a personal friend of mine could have died from a simple bc pill.

Yes, all birth control pills can cause blood clots (this risk increases with smoking), but recently, several people have been affected by Yaz and Yasmin (has some of the same drug components as Yaz).  Lawsuits are being filed against both drugs.

I found this out today, and I am a personal user of Yaz.  I'm switching today.  I thought I would share this story for those who are users of Yaz and Yasmin and thinking about switching. 

CJ4578

Thanks for sharing this story, it's a good reminder that we all definitely need to stay in the know about what we're putting into our bodies. I hope your friend recovered and is doing better!

katherineUTC

Yeah it scares me to know that this stuff can cause these problems, I've even heard that there's a link between birth control and breast cancer. I've been on Nuvaring now for 6 months, but taking something that could possibly kill you concerns me, so Im kind of tossing around the idea of going off of it.

CJ4578

The good news is bc pills reduce your risk of ovarian and endometrial (sp?) cancers though. Medicine totally confuses and freaks me out- which is, subconciously, probably why I'm marrying a doctor. I really like the idea of a copper IUD, since it doesn't have progesterone in it and you don't have to fuss with it. But apparently they can be too big for women who haven't been pregnant so... darn.

ktyd8

Thanks for sharing this! I'm on the generic for Yaz and I hate it. I've been having lots of headaches, mood swings, etc. You name the side effect and I've pretty much had it. I guess I need to make an appt with my dr. ASAP!!!

katherineUTC

CJ, I thought about doing the IUD thing, and I heard so many horror stories from ppl who had it put in and then bled and bled like they were dying. Then again, I heard horror stories regarding just about every kind of BC out there, so go figure. Pick your poison

CJ4578

Katherine- I've heard that too and it scares the cr*p out of me. I was talking with my OB, and she said "well we never can tell, some women are fine with it and if they aren't we just take it out." I was like "you know what, with all this wedding/family stress, if it didn't work out I would probably just break down. So... maybe we'll give it a 'try' after the wedding."

Seriously, with all the money floating around out there for Viagra-esque research, you'd think they could come up with a birth control that won't kill us, will be easy to use, and will be 100% affective.

I did hear they started trials on the male contraceptive pill though...

katherineUTC

I know, it's funny cuzz some women LOVE the IUD and have absolutely no issues with it, and some just think it's the device from h-e-l-l. Knowing my luck, it'd give me all the bad side effects, lol. I havent had any issues with the nuvaring, the first month was real bad in terms of some side effects (first period on it was horrrrrrribly painful, I thought I was going to die), had severe stomach issues, but then after that everything was fine. I have noticed a few symptoms (I'll only share this if anyone else really wants to know, otherwise it's really TMI, hahaha), but other than that it's pretty good.

cdrierson

My sister has a Mirena IUD, but she had it put in after she had a child.  From what I've heard as well, IUDs are best after children.  For the first few months, she bled, but she didn't give up on it right away and give it a chance.  Now, she is period free and loves it.  She has had it now for close to 2 years.

IUD is probably something I would consider after children.

I've got to figure something else out as far as the pill is concerned.  I was on Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo for a while and thinking of going back, but $35 per month is a bummer.  I like the low hormone dose.  I've heard a lot of people love the Nuvaring, but I've been hearing about the ring toss.  haha!  Not sure if my FI would be willing to play that game.  Any suggestions for a new pill to try?

CJ4578

I'm on the generic version of Seasonale (yay only 4 periods!) It took me about six-months to get my body on the right schedule but I didn't have any weird spotting or side-effects. I'm not sure how much it is w/out insurance, but the cool thing is you only pay for it 4x a year which makes it slightly less of a headache. I love it but I am not a fan of the whole pill-every-day thing. It's not that it's hard for me, it's just I'm OCD and always checking the pack to make SURE I took it. Plus I always forget it when we go on vacation. Without fail.

midnite007x

several people have been affected by Yaz and Yasmin (has some of the same drug components as Yaz). 

are you sure about this statement? i am on yasmin and have had no issues. a while back i started hearing alot of negative things about Yaz and silly me thought that Yaz was short for Yasmin. i inquired to my dr. about this and she explained they are two totally different drugs and have completely different amounts of hormone levels in them.  i am just wondering where you got your information from so that i can look into it? 

cdrierson

(All information came from the Bayer website for Yaz and Yasmin). Yaz and Yasmin are both made by Bayer. Yaz and Yasmin both contain drospirenone & ethinyl estradiol to prevent pregnancy.  YAZ and YASMIN each contain drsp^®, a different kind of hormone that for some may increase potassium too much (from the website).  High levels of potassium can be very serious and kill you btw.  The differences between the drugs that I see Yasmin contains an extra 0.01 mg of ethinyl estradiol, and with Yaz, you take the drug for an extra 3 days, and some inactive ingredients. 

YASMIN provides an oral contraceptive regimen consisting of 21 active film coated tablets each containing 3 mg of drospirenone and 0.03 mg of ethinyl estradiol and 7 inert film coated tablets.

YAZ® provides an oral contraceptive regimen consisting of 24 active film coated tablets each containing 3 mg of drospirenone and 0.02 mg of ethinyl estradiol stabilized by betadex as a clathrate (molecular inclusion complex) and 4 inert film coated tablets. http://www.yasmin-us.com/ (Bayer's website)

There are lawsuits going on for both drugs. 

My own disclosure: I'm not saying everyone is going to have a bad experience on these drugs.  They have been FDA approved.  I've been on Yaz a year and haven't had any bad side effects.  However, it is alarming that people are having issues.   I just wish to inform people, and let them make decisions for themselves. 

midnite007x

thanks! i am going to pass this on to my sister as she is on one of thema s well but can't remember. i will be coming of birthcontrol completely in a few months anyways

midnite007x

side note about IUD: a friend on mine had one put in a few weeks ago, with in HOURS, she was cramping so bad she could hardly stand up...on into the night the cramps spread through out her lower body and by the next morning her legs were numb and she couldn't stand up.
she was rushed back into the dr the next day were they removed it and luckily her symptoms all went away and she was feeling fine later that day.

sad thing is now she is on Yaz, i just forwarded this post to her. she has been having terrible headaches, i am begging her to go to her dr.!

katebh

I hate all BC.....they all have scary/uncomfortable side effects. Sorry about your friend....will send her get well soon vibes. I hope she has a quick and full recovery.

I've recently been switching my pills alot (was considering Yaz next...thanks for the warnings!) because I have chronic migraines. I met with my ob-gyn to discuss my options...her suggestion? Get pregnant! Ummm....NO! That is why I'm asking you for BIRTH CONTROL...I'm not interested in getting pregnant.

I had also asked about the IUD...sounds liek a lot of people have had bad experiences with those. Guess I'll keep trying my luck with the pill.

Jemmessica

I'm terribly late on this post....

I just switched from Microgestin (a pill) to the Ring. I really loved that pill, no horrible side effects! But, bc I travel a lot for work, I wasn't the best with taking it at the same time, daily. So I switched to the ring on Monday. It's (so far!) the best thing I have done regarding BC! I've had no side effects and not having to keep up with pills is awesome!!!

On another note, my sister has an IUD. She's had 2 kids and is done. She LOVES it, and has had no issues.... so like Katherine said, pick your poison!

goheels05

That's really scary.  I'm glad your friend finally got a proper diagnosis.

I grew up terrified of medicine and it's related side effects, but in college I got on the pill after 5 years of horrible periods.  After years of switching around, I got on Yaz about 3 years ago and loved it.  I'm also on 2 other prescription drugs and a few months ago, I decided 3 prescriptions was just too much. 

I got off the pill and now I'm using the Fertility Awareness Method based on the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  I'm also hoping to get off my other two prescriptions in favor of some herbal remedies (ok, now you all probably think I'm some crazy hippy!).  If you had told me 3 years ago that I would be using a "natural" form of birth control, I would have told you that you are crazy, but here I am, and with the recent drug recalls, it just sounds better and better.  According to the book, it's just as effective as BCP if used correctly, and it's very easy once you've read the pertinent chapters.