It took me 5 years to recover from Yasmin

I started Yasmin in 2005, after I stopped breast-feeding my second child, and stopped taking yasmin in March of 2007.  I had only taken the pill for about 2 years or so and it took me about 5 years to completely recovered. With that I want to point out that: each individual’s recovery period is different.

The first year, on yasmin, and like everybody else, I had already noticed some strange symptoms but I brushed it off thinking it was probably due to stress as I had 2 toddlers under the age of 5 and was also working full time.  

Those strange symptoms were: 

• loss of libido
• short-tempered
• unusual dryness on my skin throughout my body (skin would break if you scrub or scratch)
• light-headedness
• insensitive to feelings
• feeling stressed all the time

Those symptoms were just the bothering symptoms while I was on the pill until I got a full-blown panic attack one beautiful day in March of 2007.  I was fetching my eldest daughter from kindergarten when an attack swept over me, flooded me with palpitations out of the blue, sweating profusely and out of breath.  I was thinking I was about to faint and the school crowd suddenly became overwhelming for me (I was so fine with the crowd and noises before!)

I still don’t know how I made it out of the school and drove back to our home.  My husband was out-stationed then and I thought perhaps it was an ‘insecurity’ feeling that my husband was away and I was left handling the house with the kids but I was skeptical because I never had those problems before!  I did not understand why I couldn’t handle it this time.  I was a healthy, strong mother – what made me so fearful this time? I kept asking myself... The panic feeling remained with me for a few more days and I began to sense that it could be the pill. 

I stopped mid-pack and had a withdrawal bleeding.  After I stopped all other impending symptoms hit me.  I was bedridden for about 2 weeks with these symptoms:

• unable to get out of bed due to body ache
•  fainting 
•  unable to think, brain-fog
• loss of appetite
• loss of concentration
• heart palpitations
• nausea
• numbness
• suicidal

I was feeling like I was about to die.  I cried endlessly wondering what illness I had, my children watched me helplessly. They were so young then and I was so sorry that they had to see me in that state.  I saw shock and fear in their eyes.  I neglected them and everyone in the family because I was numb, I had no feelings, I felt brain-dead as I couldn’t think properly.  All I wanted to do was to sleep and lay in bed.  Back then I still couldn’t imagine what had gone wrong except for knowing that I had stopped the pill and I was bleeding.  I cried a river of tears.  I had no food on the table for the family, I didn’t send my kids to school.  I just locked myself in the bedroom – I did not even know when it was day and night.

After a few more weeks during the early months off, I watched everyone around me in envy because they could move around so easily while I was feeling handicapped.  I even developed agoraphobia; I couldn’t step out of the house.  I had my mother come over to help me but it was hard as we did not live together, I had my neighbor send my kids to school and she also did grocery shopping for me when my husband was away for work.  I couldn’t leave home without someone by my side.  I had IBS and bouts of vomiting.  I went to the doctor and was diagnosed as gastroenteritis.  Where did that come from? I was eating the same food as cooked for my family – how could they be safe while I was poisoned?  Thousands of questions raced through my mind: am I dying? Do I have stage 3 cancer that I was not aware of?  I imagined my own funeral and even dreamt of one.  I was suicidal when I was awake but couldn’t do anything, even too tired to walk out of my bedroom.  Visits to the doctors were useless.  They sent me to psychiatrists.  At one time, I really believed I was crazy but the gut feeling told me I was not.  I had always been healthy, from a young girl (I traveled across the continent alone a few times) to a strong mother of 2, a runner, and doing martial art.  What happened to me?  - A question that was left unanswered until I found the forum 4 to 6 months after I was ill and going through this.

It was a big relief when I found others who shared the same symptoms as mine.  I cried in relief, this time tears of happiness because I found my answer.  I stopped questioning when I could be better after learning that different people recover differently.  I channeled my time and effort to research and got help instead of venting and ranting ‘why me’?  I got over the stage of being angry with the pill very quickly because I knew I wanted to recover for the sake of myself and everyone in my family.  

My recovery was bumpy and I was constantly going through so many unexpected moments.  For me, it was not just depression alone.  It was depression along with many other symptoms – physically, emotionally, and mentally at the same time.  Examples are:

• headaches that would not go away
• no concentration no matter how much sleep I got
• night sweating, shivering, and trembling
• feeling faint under the sun like my body was losing control of how to regulate its own temperature
• random pain from waist down to thigh, leg and calf – I was limping at one time
• eye, skin and muscle twitches
• strong sunlight made me dizzy
• couldn’t form words in a sentence properly
• bad eyesight
• toothache, sensitive gum
• hair loss
• joint pain
• anxious and couldn’t concentrate while driving
• couldn’t  stand loud noises and big crowds
• couldn’t function in the mornings
• insecurity of being alone
• allergies
• cold and flu-like symptoms onset of menstruation

Today I sometimes lose count of what else I have been through.  I wouldn’t have recovered if I didn’t read and research enough.  I also discovered I was so naive when I was younger – feeding my body with synthetic hormones.  As no doctors could help me, I diagnosed myself with adrenal fatigue after my thorough research.  Yasmin had ruined and robbed me of my life, even as I recovered physically I still couldn’t get back my confidence completely, not until I got help from inspirational and motivational guide books – they helped me through steps-by-step in discovering myself, my strength, and my future. 

The following has helped me:

• get enough rest, sleep at least 8 hours even after you are fully recovered because there is always relapses if you ‘overdo’ yourself.  Do not wait for the relapse to treat your body well – treat your body well at ALL times
• avoid alcohol and other caffeinated drinks
• accept help whenever you can, wherever you are
• find a hobby that suits you, distract yourself from negative thoughts
• read self-help books
• do light exercises e.g. tai chi or yoga
• laugh – even though you may not feel like it, watch funny videos to bring out laughter – it makes a difference
• acupuncture
• body massage – it may not be possible for some and may be costly, I suggest to google ‘how to massage yourself’, it does make a difference on stiff muscles
• to ease allergies or cold/flu symptoms, drink up turmeric + water
• have herbal soup once a week if possible
• stick with home-made meals and juice from fruit rather than fruit concentrate and sugar
• avoid processed food
• Above all, patience is the key point to getting well.  I hope you all have a speedy recovery.

Because of what I have been through, I have learn a great deal about natural health – I have started to take courses and schedule my time for study on homeopathy and herbalism. 

~ Leni

Yasmin user 2005 - 2007 

Just How Safe is Yaz? Women Need to Know!

FULL CREDIT FOR THIS ARTICLE TO MS. MAGAZINE BLOG

The oral contraceptive Yasmin was released in 2001 by the pharmaceutical company Bayer, followed by Yaz in 2006. They differ from other birth control pills in the synthetic progesterone they utilize, drospirenone, which is marketed as less likely to cause weight gain and bloating than other birth control pills. Yaz soon became the most popular birth control pill in the U.S., due in part to a widespread advertising campaign promoting the drug as what the New York Times dubbed “a quality of life treatment,” claiming it could also clear up acne, prevent bloating and ease the depression and anxiety associated with both PMS and the controversial condition of PMDD. It prevents pregnancy at the same rate of effectiveness as all other oral contraceptives.

In 2009, the FDA requested that Bayer distribute a corrective advertisement to counter its aggressively screened commercials that were said to be making misleading assertions about the capabilities of the drug, promoting it for unapproved uses and making light of the more serious health risks (such as blood clots). However, in 2010 the drug remained the second-best-selling Bayer product, bringing in $1.5 billion in sales.

As of January 2012, there are approximately 10,000 lawsuits against Bayer by women who have suffered blood clots and by the families of those women who have died whilst taking Yaz or Yasmin. It is considered the most complained-about drug on the Internet, with thousands of women voicing concerns in online forums and support groups over health issues both physical and emotional. Jane Bennett and Alexandra Pope, authors of The Pill: Are You Sure It’s for You?, characterize many of these problems as “quality-of-life-threatening.” I have written extensively on my own experience with Yasmin in my blog, Sweetening the Pill, and for the UK Independent and have been quoted in Fabulous magazine the Washington Post.


Two studies conducted with funding from Bayer revealed that Yaz and Yasmin held no higher risk of blood clots than other birth control pills. However, last month it was revealed that five other studies undertaken independent of Bayer suggested a 50-to-75 percent increased risk of clots for those taking these birth control pills in comparison to others. A former FDA commissioner, David Kessler, charged that Bayer deliberately withheld data about this early on in order to push through the drugs’ approvals. In response, the FDA called an advisory committee to evaluate the safety of birth control pills containing drospirenone. The decision had the potential to cause the drugs to be pulled off the market, but the panel voted by a four-person margin that the drugs’ benefit outweighed the risks.

Yet a government watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), conducted an independent investigation that revealed three of the advisors on the FDA panel had research or other financial ties to Bayer. A fourth advisor was connected to manufacturing the generic version of these pills. All four voted for Yaz and Yasmin to continue to be prescribed by doctors. POGO asked the FDA that a new advisory committee be brought together to make another assessment.

Should these developments impact women’s perspective on the birth control pill? Should we consider that use of the Pill for pregnancy prevention, let alone acne or PMS, is still today, as women’s health activist Barbara Seaman wrote in her 1969 book The Doctors’ Case Against the Pill, “like tinkering with nuclear bombs to fight off the common cold”?


Says Ms. blogger Elizabeth Kissling, professor of communication and women’s and gender studies at Eastern Washington University and past president of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research:

I’m surprised there has not been a broader call for more research, or wider public discussions of the risks of this pill. When a drug company is withholding data and 10,000 lawsuits are pending, more than research is needed. I can’t help but wonder why we’re not seeing Congressional hearings–akin to the 1970 Nelson Pill Hearings–again, and more of an outcry from both physicians and patients.

Much of the media coverage of these recent developments and research was quick to assert the unimportance of women’s concerns. It was repeatedly reported that, when compared to the risk of blood clot development associated with pregnancy, the risk produced by taking any oral contraceptive–including Yasmin or Yaz–is of little concern. This is misleading in that it suggests there are only two states in which young women can choose to live: on birth control pills or pregnant. The fear has been voiced that any discussion of the negative impact of the Pill will prompt women to come off of it and fall unintentionally pregnant. No coverage that this writer has read discussed a comparison with non-hormonal contraceptive alternatives–which, of course, hold no increased risk of blood clots. Some of these alternatives are just as effective in preventing pregnancy as oral contraceptives, and others are more so.

According to Laura Wershler, veteran pro-choice sexual and reproductive health advocate and board director of the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health,

We need to reframe the idea that hormonal birth control is the gold standard of contraception. If women are quitting the Pill, and they have every right to do so, and they are not using alternative methods of birth control effectively, that’s proof positive that what we are teaching about contraception is incomplete and ineffective. If we make the Pill the ‘right’ choice, then why should we be upset when women stop taking it and get pregnant?

It is often claimed within news stories that the Pill “regulates” a woman’s menstrual cycle, when it, in fact, stops and replaces the cycle. All of this propaganda for the Pill is extremely misleading, and it further breeds a lack of confidence to know that Bayer paid women’s magazines to advocate for Yaz. Such actions blind women to their choices and to understanding how their bodies work. There is much research that supports the health benefits of consistent (typically monthly) ovulation, which can be found through the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research.

The absence of education in body literacy is a major factor in unwanted pregnancies. However, this lack of education is beneficial to some: It helps sustain the billion-dollar profits of pharmaceutical companies.

I thought it was just me...

She told me I was making a very adult decision by sticking with birth control pills after she had pointed out that it was 99% safe. She wasn’t concerned about any side effects – as the worst thing that could happen to me was that 1% chance of getting pregnant. I trusted her, I trusted my OBYGYN. 

I had been taking different types of birth control pills for four years up until that point. But since nothing had really worked for me as I was having heavy bleedings in-between periods on every pill I had tried I was told that Yasmin was the new and great pill. I was told it was so good and safe that I had to go with it. There were really no other options left for me in the way my gynecologist was speaking to me. You would have thought that she could have recommended me to use any of the non-hormonal options that are available but that was not even discussed. At that point however, I did feel hopeful; a new and improved pill... 

That new and improved pill, Yasmin, soon became the one and only reason I visited doctors with all sort of specialties, only I didn’t realize it. I did not understand that it was all linked to the pill, how could I when it had nothing to do with my cycles or uterus?!  My bleedings had become a little bit better so in my mind this new and wonderful pill was truly much better than the rest! And no doctor even raised an eye brow when I told them I was on Yasmin either so it never even occurred to me. 

Unfortunately the real truth was that I had started to have heart palpitations, insomnia, my hair was falling out, I developed allergies, was having headaches more often than not, and became extremely depressed and sensitive. But at the same time I was also very busy with college and I blamed it all on school. I used to lay awake all night listening to my heart beat and was so afraid of falling asleep in case I would not wake up. When the morning came I used to open my dorm room door wide open and fall asleep so that in case I didn’t wake up, someone would find me.  

Every time I went for an EKG my heart beat was ok, go figure, so instead of being a patient that needed help I soon became a hypochondriac in the eyes of the doctors and my complaints were ignored. I never knew what to do about my insomnia besides for let myself fall asleep whenever I could, which wasn’t long or often but it was the best I could do. The depression and sensitiveness grew on me and I didn’t realize it – I thought it was just the new, more adult, and mature me. 

Then the bleeding came back full force. I was bleeding more than I wasn’t in every cycle. Having a relationship was hard and embarrassing for me as I felt extremely dirty all the time. I went back to my gynecologist who sent me to a specialist and after doing the examination he found nothing wrong with me but prescribed me two different antibiotics just in case and before leaving the room the specialist looked at me and said: “your bleeding are probably caused by you being depressed, go and do something fun”. 

I felt so worthless after that point and was embarrassed of being me. I started to shut down. I would not tell anyone how I was feeling even though more and more symptoms grew on me. But still I had no idea that it was related to Yasmin, in my mind it was all just me; something that was pretty much verified by the doctors I had been seeing… So I kept taking Yasmin for another five years and became a person that was more or less a shell of the old me... 

~ Helena, Sweden
Used Synthetic hormones for 11 years, 6 years on Yasmin

Hormone free since October 2009 :)

To contribute to this blog send an email to Yasmin and Yaz Blog - MyStory 

Why this Blog?

When you are sick, no matter what it is, the only thing you want is someone to take you by your hand and say: “I know how you feel, I went through the exact same thing”. Finding people that are in the same situation who nod their heads in understanding when you tell your story instead of looking at you like you are crazy is more important than anyone can describe. 

I am a Yasmin survivor.

Because of what I went through during my seven years on this drug and the struggles coming off it I am now passionately involved in spreading the word on the dangers of Yaz, Yasmin & Ocella. Most of my time is spent speaking with women and their families through a group called the Yasmin Survivor Forum. It is an online forum where women from all around the world who were prescribed Yasmin, Yaz, and Ocella can come together and share their experiences, talk about their side effects, and most importantly hold each other’s hands while weaning themselves off these drugs. As a further action I am now starting this blog so people can share their stories in a different way; a way that hopefully will find more readers and other sufferers out there. And also help people that are searching for answers in a more controlled way as a forum is harder to control by spammers and people trying to sell you things. 

Common side effects from Yaz, Yasmin & Ocella discussed on the forum include, but are not limited to: depression, vision changes, anxiety, panic attacks, illogical thinking, headaches, migraine, low libido, weight changes, spotting, allergies, heart palpitations, hair loss, hypothyroidism, and many more.  The first time I found the Yasmin Survivor Forum I couldn’t stop crying. It was the first time in over seven years that I had found people going through the same things I was. It was for real; it wasn’t just in my head… There were hundreds of other women out there who felt exactly as I did; in fact it was as though they were writing and talking about me in their posts.

For so many years I walked around thinking that the changes I was noticing with my body and mind were due to stress from different life situations, older age, and just a more mature and new me. Today I know that it was due to Yasmin. 

I had three pills left in my pack when I found the forum and I was unable to finish it after realizing what kind of damage it was doing to me every day. In fact, I stopped taking Yasmin that day, October 7^th, 2009 and have been active on the forum ever since. . 

Today I am the administrator of the forum and this Blog and try to help support every member on their journey back to becoming their real selves again. Many women, including myself, find this struggle very hard. The body must first get rid of the synthetic hormones and then the natural hormone production must start up again – a process that is mentally and physically exhausting! Without the help from the forum and this blog many women would probably go back on the pill, or maybe try another brand, because they would never gain the support and maybe also knowledge needed to handle this. 

The knowledge of why your symptoms are happening and the support of others who will not let you fail form the basis and soul of why I am doing this!

My dream is that we can close the forum and blog down simply because there are no more women suffering from birth control pills, but until then it is open for everyone that needs our support. Women and their loved ones are welcome to come and read, ask questions, and write about whatever they are going through – whatever they need in order to feel comfort…

To contribute to this blog send an email to Yasmin and Yaz Blog - MyStory 

Xoxox