[aconcernedperson]

I think a lot of women out there have taken Yaz or Yasmin then months or even years later have symptoms which get diagnosed as IBS or Habba syndrome. I believe in some cases these symptoms are entirely created by Yaz or Yasmin.My girlfriend has been very ill. She has IBS like symptoms but nothing will help her. The entire time shes been taking Yaz. At first it was a miracle drug but lately i consider Yaz nothing but a poison.Did anyone find they had IBS after theyve been taking Yaz or Yasmin for awhile?http://www.createforum.com/yasminsideeffec...yasminsideeffecThat forum is dedicated to Yaz / Yasmin side effects. If you are taking either look around and see if anyone has your symptoms. Many supplements can help.Im curious how many people take or have taken Yaz / Yasmin and report back such serious side effects. I'll give more details when i have time to spare. Its a long painful story.

 

[TareBear]

Hm. Well, I take Yasmin/Ocella (generic), and have for probably 5 or more years. But my IBS existed before I started taking it. I am thinking of stopping it however.

 

[TanaG]

I agree about Yaz. I started to have IBS symptoms just one month later after starting the Yaz! I stopped taking them 2 months ago and things got better but not back to normal...hopefully not YET...I started to have normal BM's most of the days, however each litte stomach bug or overload (for ex. if I go to a party and drink/eat too much) sets me off track for a week! (which was not the case before this all started). What were your gf's symptoms? Mine were mild IBS (or that's what they call them, though they didn't feel mild to me): cramps in different parts of my tummy at least in the evening (accompanied by gas/farts rumbling through my belly in their way out to the exit) and in the morning before my first BM, which was normally loose or close to this. The gas and problems sometimes came during the day too but that was rather rare. The BM's never went over one or two a day but it was mosty the discomfort that ruined everything and the gas/farts.Thank you for that link!

 

[clareuk]

Hi, I have suffered with severe diarrhea everyday for years and only very recently linked it to Yasmin. I had years of eliminating food groups and trying so many things and nothing helped. I tried so many things as a last resort I tried my medications and yasmin was the first one I stopped. Within a week of not taking yasmin the daily attacks of diarrhea began to get better. I do still have a few light problems but on the whole things have been 100% better since stopping yasmin. I certainly do know that the daily dairrhea was definitely caused by the pill Yasmin. I have since been back through my diaries and the problems began about a year after starting yasmin but because it got gradually worse I didn't link the 2 things. I lost most of my 20's because I had never heard that it could cause diarrhea - actually even the doctors and specialists had never heard of this before either. So not a good experience at all and I won't take another contraceptive pill again as long as I live.

 

[TanaG]

I cannot remember the name right now, but I also took a different brand with quite the same result. I think it is a genetical thing....some people have bad side effects from contraceptives. I also think it might take a long time to recover. Even if I am so much better since stopping the pill...I still have a few days every now and then when the symptoms come back, not as bad as they used to be but still annoying. I am wondering if there is a treatment of sorts that helps with the side effects of hormone based pills.

 

[claire_louise]

I've never heard of Yaz but I've been taking Microgynon 30 for six years. Do you think this could be the cause (at least partially) of my IBS-C? My consultant did once ask me if I'd ever had any problems with it but it never crossed my mind that the two might be related.

 

[TanaG]

I think it is a possibility. I don't think it even matters after how long since starting the pill the problems started...your body can just stop tolerating them at some point.

 

[claire_louise]

I think it is a possibility. I don't think it even matters after how long since starting the pill the problems started...your body can just stop tolerating them at some point.

Thanks for your reply Tana. I have had bowel problems all my life but things stabilised from the ages of 7/8 to 17, which now I think about it is about six months after I started taking the pill. I never thought of this before because the symptoms came on so gradually - I had several bad bouts over the space of around 3 years, then things got quickly worse when I was 20. I'm seriously considering stopping the pill just to see what happens - I went on it originally because of horrendous period pains, but they'd be a piece of cake to deal with in comparison to how I feel now.

 

[TanaG]

That's true.... I was also enjoying the absence of menstrual pain and of heavy bleeding, which was my biggest problem before...but I prefered to quit rather than having IBS symptoms all the time. Now at least I have clean periods of time when IBS is just gone. Things get bad once a month or so. I think it take time to recover after the pill. I read somewhere it took somebody around 2 years

...what a ####!

 

[claire_louise]

That's true.... I was also enjoying the absence of menstrual pain and of heavy bleeding, which was my biggest problem before...but I prefered to quit rather than having IBS symptoms all the time. Now at least I have clean periods of time when IBS is just gone. Things get bad once a month or so. I think it take time to recover after the pill. I read somewhere it took somebody around 2 years

...what a ####!

That is a long time, but I'm willing to be patient if that's what it takes. I've already lost the past three and a half years of my life to IBS, I can wait a while longer if it means a dramatic improvement in the long run. I'm seeing my consultant on Wednesday and will definitely mention this. Imagine if my pill has been the cause of the problem all along and I was quite happily taking it every day, completely oblivious!

 

[clareuk]

Yep like me, better part of 8 years of diarrhea every single day because of something I took myself every morning. I also took it for period pains as well. I think that was probably me that said it took me up to 2 years to settle down and everything to get back to normal. They say a couple of months is all it takes to work out of your system but it was definitely more than that. I'm still getting spots and to be honest I never suffered with them and ever since stopping Yasmin they have been quite bad. I would rather deal with spots anyday so that's fine by me. Good luck. I am so thankful that I tried stopping the pill so it really is worth a try - if it dosen't work you haven't lost anything but you might gain a whole lot more. Let us know what happens.Claire

 

[claire_louise]

The only thing that doesn't fit is that my IBS is constipation predominant and I never get diarrhea (quite frankly it would be a small miracle). But if it can affect people one way I don't see why it can't swing the opposite way too? If it messes with your digestive system then surely different people will react differently, and I always had constipation problems anyway. I'm trying to convince myself I suppose, as if I could put my IBS down to this one cause it would literally be the best thing that's ever happened to me.

 

[TanaG]

I've had a sensitive colon all my life too, normally with D during the period or at least right before it started and so on. But after I started the pill my body started to react weirder and weirder. Comparing to many other I can say I have mild IBS. Normally this was one stool a day ...and it sounds perfect if the stool wasn't loose and came with too much gas, pain and discomfort. These days I don't have D at all, the bad days are those I get a half normal half loose stool or two to three stools, one of which could be loose. Am not totally free of gas, I still have evenings when I fart like a 90 year old man

You know Claire I think it WAS you who said about the 2 years period. I think I also read this on that website at the link posted in the message at the beginning of the thread. It makes sense to me...maybe the hormones do wash out in 2 months...but whatever they caused might take longer to go away and the body to find its balance.One thing that I know for sure is that when I was taking the pill the colour and smell of my stools was damn weird. Some of them were really light coloured and smelled funny...I don't know how to describe it. This is for sure gone now. My poo never smelled much and I was happy about going back to my unstinky state The fact that we were taking the pill each day willingly is not our fault...they never warn you about the possible consequences...and mostly because the doctors are not told themselves by the pharmaceutical companies what the risks are (am saying this because it was my mum who put me on this pill and I doubt she wants to harm me or she wouldn't pay attention). Plus it seems that only a small percentage of women actually end up having this kind of problems ... and I think most of them take it as a given fact...and never report it.

 

[claire_louise]

Well I spoke to my consultant (who is actually a world expert in IBS) about this today. He said that the progesterone (sp?) in contraceptive pills does have a constipating effect, and in fact the reason why so many pregnant women experience bad constipation is because of the increased levels of the hormone in the body. So in short it is worth me giving it up for a while, if only to see what happens. You have no idea how badly I want this to be the cause!! I will stop taking it after my current pack is finished (next week) and cross my fingers, toes, arms, legs, everything that it helps.

 

[TanaG]

Fingers crossed for you I agree with your consultant...they could be the cause! ... I will check my galbladder soon...it seems that BC pills can mess that up too! For God sakes ...who would have imagined we'd go through so much trouble because of this?

 

[TanaG]

P.S. : look what info I found online....women taking BC pills are at risk of developing galstones...great isn't it?

 

[blondeoverblue24]

Yeah, birth control can increase the risk of gallstones - It's similar to pregnancy increasing the risk of gallstones. It's related to hormone levels. But I think the absolute risk is still pretty small.

 

[TanaG]

It's a pretty small risk to get all these problems we have right now...and yet it still happened to us ....

 

[Deadxdream]

I was actually just about to ask this question! Only I'm not taking Yaz I'm taking organon BC. I think BC might be causing my symptoms too. But due to the fact that I dont want to get pregnant I dont know if I want to stop taking it or not... I just got back on it last month and my stomach and nausea has been through the roof. Dont know if its because im under more stress are the combination of it all?

 

[claire_louise]

I was actually just about to ask this question! Only I'm not taking Yaz I'm taking organon BC. I think BC might be causing my symptoms too. But due to the fact that I dont want to get pregnant I dont know if I want to stop taking it or not... I just got back on it last month and my stomach and nausea has been through the roof. Dont know if its because im under more stress are the combination of it all?

Maybe you could discuss your symptoms with your doctor and see if you could try a different type of pill?