Conflicting reports are out about the safety of Bayer’s popular lines of birth control: Yaz and Yasmine. While a Bayer sponsored study shows the pills are no less safe than other birth control pills in their incidences of stroke or blood clots, some women, their attorneys and other researches argue just the opposite.
While I am not a Yaz or Yasmine user myself, I am all too familiar with the cheezy, overplayed TV Yaz ad in which a female doctor is shooting the breeze with some girlfriends at a rooftop bar. When the topic of birth control comes up in the crowded hot spot (as it always does, right ladies?), the female version of McDreamy spouts off seemingly every potential health risk of using Yaz, short of an erection lasting longer than four hours OR a higher risk for strokes or blood clots. She does not fail to mention, however, that Yaz MAY lessen PMS symptoms and acne, to which the group gives a collective cheer.
You may recall that Yaz was reprimanded by the FDA last October, and forced to pull or revise ads that promoted the drug for the acne and PMS fighting properties and minimizing potential health risks. Bayer spent $20 million dollars to correct that situation, and may end up spending more money this time around. Bayer may have to pay for further research to disprove claims that the combination of estrogen and drospirenone, the hormones used in their contraceptives, is more likely to cause blood clots and/or may have to shell out big dollars in settling lawsuits from over seventy women who have brought suits against Bayer blaming Yaz or Yasmin for their health conditions.
The lesson I think all women should take from all of this is not to inherently trust the drug companies, their advertisements, or even the FDA, for that matter. When I picked up a package of Kraft Singles to contemplate purchasing for my toddler this weekend, I learned that the cheese was made from cows not treated with the rBST hormone, but that the FDA found that there is no difference in the milk from cows treated with the rBST hormone and those that aren’t. Maybe the FDA doesn’t know the difference, but I do.
Thanks FDA, but I’ll make my own choices when it comes to what my kids eat, and to what birth control choices I make. Even if something has the FDA’s stamp of approval, be it birth control or cheese, it’s up to each consumer to do her homework and to decide what is right for her.
Thanks for posting this. I use Yaz and have been contemplating a switch for awhile, but this just sealed the deal.
I was on Yaz for about six months. I lost weight, and my face was great. I was also a depressed, moody woman. I suppose that’s true with all BC pills for some women. I think that what it comes down to is realising that you’re putting stuff into your body that alters it’s chemical make-up consistently. I don’t know if there’s a particularly good answers, as taking the right or choice of BC away from people is not what I am advocating. However, i get worried when girls..are being put on it and maybe subjecting themselves to hormone altering medication for the tens years of the late teens early twenties. I think that BC has done wonders in liberating women and enabling them to have more control over the family planning, sexual choices etc. However, it’s a drug..things like what is happening with Yaz should be expected.
THANK YOU for this post lovIN. I lost my period for over a year and the gyno gave me yasmin to take for a month to get my period back. Let me tell you that the side effects were horrible (I would be so tired at night but my body would not turn off, crampage, bowels all of a sudden did not work, eating carbs like it was my job, etc) and I immediately stopped taking it did ITS job. Even though I know different things work for different bodies, this was not my friend and it was supposed to be a very “low dosage” of estrogen (since it wasn’t used for BIRTH control, but just to get my body working again). This was a ramble and a half, but a great post my friend!!
true dat! I’ll do what my docter recommends and what my mama (m.d.) has hurd in her piles of med magazines.
I just wrote a post about this recently — lots of interesting comments with different women’s stories/ experiences with birth control.
http://mrslc.blogspot.com/2009/09/candid-discussion-bcp.html
I think it’s really scary, some of the stuff BCP can do to us. Every woman needs to take her health into her own hands, research what she’s putting into her body, and figure out what works best for her. I personally feel like if many women realized all the potential side effects with BCP, they’d be a lot less likely to jump on it so quickly.
I like Yaz. I’m not crazy about the moods (neither is hubby) but this stuff clears up my face and keeps me regular and baby-free
so it’ll do for now.
Ditto FDA – my mother works for it. I once asked her and her friend (who was like her boss), what EXACTLY the FDA does if products containing parabens and crap were allowed on the market. I can’t find their answer but it was basically that the FDA only has so much money blah blah blah but that I was doing a GOOD thing by EDUCATING myself and not blindly listening to them
I used Yasmine several years ago and for a few months earlier this year before giving up on it completely. I had terrible side effects and it actually made my periods worse, when I went on the stuff to make them regular and lighter/less painful.
Thanks for the info on rBST too, I’m off to read that now! Going vegan on October 1
I was on Yaz until i ended up in the hospital for a week with a blood clot in my right lung, It hurt real bad so they kept me drugged up to the point i cant remember my stay. Now i cant use a lot of the birth controls.
This is really valuable information for women out there to make informed decisions about their birth control choices. Yaz and Yasmin are two of the most popular birth controls in the United States and many women have reported suffering serious health problems after taking Yaz or Yasmin. Some of those women developed blood clots and suffered strokes and pulmonary embolisms after taking Yaz or Yasmin and many have filed lawsuits to hold the makers of Yaz and Yasmin accountable. For more information, check out http://www.yazontrial.com.
my dr. just prescribed me YAZ today, after reading this.. should i stop taking it>?
I dont know what to beleive anymore, i was on depo provera for about 1 1/2 years. Let me tell you, you dnt know bad birth control side effects til your on depo. I then switched to orthro tri cyclen, first 3 months were great besides that cramps being worse. Then all of a sudden i started getting migrains terrible acne and cramps that would send me into fits of crying. Im ready for another change, and im looking into yaz being that change. I also question the number of complaints on yaz. maybe theres more complaints because more people are taking it…oh well only one way to find out!