Thread: Yaz problems

I have been taking Yaz for a couple of months now, and I have noticed pains similar to what you've described in my biceps and left shoulder. I've never had pain in these areas before, nor have I been engaging in any activities different from the period before taking the medication.

I was first prescribed Yaz (no generic) in the USA in about May 2006. This specific pill was marketed to me over and over again by a university medical student who I agreed to allow in the room when I met with my doctor. I was not offered any other option of a pill at that time as I was told this was the best new thing on the market, that I would not gain weight on it, etc etc. I had requested to be put on birth control for PMS and period regularity. After 3 months of use, I discontinued because of severe dry eye and the inability to wear my soft lens contacts.

In about May 2009 after I got married and was living in Australia, I went to the doctor to be put on a birth control pill. I requested Yaz because it was the only that I really knew of and could remember that medical student drilling in my head that it was supposedly so great for me. I was on Yaz (no generic) in Australia from May 2009 til June 2010.

By June 2009, the dry eye symptoms came back and I was unable to wear my contacts. Over the course of the year, a huge dry patch developed on my right eye that sometimes fills with fluid. I am constantly having to use drops. I have been off of Yaz for over a year and there has been almost no improvement on my eye, I am forced to wear glasses almost all of the time and deal with significant pain in my eye daily. I was never made known by doctors that Yaz can cause such issues with eyes, I only realized too late when I started to believe my heart problems were being caused by Yaz that I had a good long look at the information pamphlet and realized that my eye problem was a known issue by the manufacturer. It suddenly made sense why when I was prescribed it in 2006, I had such issues with my eyes.

At this same time (June 2010, 1 month after going back on the pill) is when I first started to notice issues with my heart. At first it was just a lot of racing, which I had never experienced, but I didn’t think too much of it. In August 2010, I had flown back to the USA for a few month visit when I had my first huge episode. I woke up one morning with my heart racing and pounding, my chest was so tight I thought it would explode, my tongue felt like saw dust and no amount of water could fix it. It was difficult to breathe and I started losing feeling in my ears, toes, and fingers. I was too terrified to move or call 911, I had no idea what was going on and I was home alone. It took about 4 hours for my heart to slow, I think I fell in and out of consciousness during that time. When my dad came home, he was unable to get any accurate pulse from me (he is a CNA). But I slowly was able to move around, so we all just thought it was some strange one-off episode. My chest felt like I had a bowling ball on it for days afterwards. I was weak and my heart pounded in my hears like nothing I ever experienced.

From that time on, I could always hear my heart pounding harder and beating irregularly. Almost as if it was hiccupping but also drowning in its own blood. It would pound so hard sometimes it would literally cause me to gasp and stop anything I was doing (even if I was just sitting down). It would also race sporadically at odd times, when I would be laying down about to sleep etc. I lived with it like that for a year. This was quite a regular occurrence in my life. Daily my heart would beat strangely, and probably twice a week I would have a situation of being incapacitated by the speed of the beats and chest pains that followed. In May 2010 I was back in the US to visit family and they witnessed how much my problems had developed in just a few months. Finally an auntie who found out I was taking Yaz insisted that I get off it and believed this sudden heart problem was because of being on it. At first I didn’t want to believe it, how could this pill that all my doctors had talked up so much as the best thing on the planet be bad for me? I even believed all that class action lawsuit stuff I would see on the TV when I came back to visit was litigious. But then I started researching and saw that a lot of women had the same issues as I did. Some a lot worse, too many of them dying.

When I came back to Australia, I went to a doctor and finally had my heart tested. I guess I waited because I was too afraid that there really was something wrong. They found out that I had significant extra beats in all 4 quadrants of my heart (which is not normal, it usually is in only 1 or 2 parts of the heart). My heart rate was also not normal as it would race to 200bpm if I was just sitting down. When I worked out it would get to 240bpm (it should be around 180 max). And then when I slept would get dangerously slow. The doctor immediately wanted to start prescribing me with all sorts of cardiac medications. I insisted I get taken off of Yaz and see if that helped. He refused for 2x visits until finally giving me a prescription for another pill that had been around for a long time. I started to see improvements in about 2 weeks. It took over 3 months for me to feel almost normal. I do however, still have an irregular heartbeat (which I never hard before). If I drink caffeine, work out too much, become stressed, am overly tired, I experience episodes like I did while on the pill (irregular beats, harder than normal pounding, racing, and severe chest pain). As it has been over a year now, whilst I am able to maintain somewhat of a normal lifestyle by monitoring what I ingest and what I do, I know that there has been permanent damage.

I am fearful for my future as my heart is weaker now. What will happen as I age? What will happen if I want to have a baby? What if I ever needed to have surgery and needed to go under?

I want this drug taken off the market, and I hope that I can help to make that a reality.