Yasmin Side Effects: One Woman's Story

Philadelphia, PAHer name is Helena and she is a self-described Yasmin survivor. In fact, she's even having T-shirts made up for her peeps who have also abandoned Yasmin birth control and have never looked back.

And while Helena does not identify whether or not she has filed a Yasmin lawsuit, the women's health advocate does report that she is in regular communication with a law firm, with the hope she can help others.

Since Helena's doctor switched the young Philadelphia resident to Yasmin three years prior, "I, myself, have been walking a straight path to stroke and heart attack every single day," she says.

"How can I be so stupid?"

On her blog, Helena reported that while taking Yasmin she developed pollen allergy, and "my vision has been drastically decreased the last few years.

"At first I thought all of these vision issues were due to old age (I'm 29) but I am not convinced anymore. I am starting to believe that this is because of the pill…"

The pretty blonde reports that her Yasmin side effects included anxiety and panic attacks. "I can wake up in the middle of the night with it beating like I am running for my life and sometimes the heart beats are so hard that it hurts and it feels like the heart is going to explode out of my body."

Yasmin is a third-generation, hormone-based oral contraceptive containing drospirenone. While manufacturer Bayer maintains that the risk for Yasmin blood clots are no more prevalent than other oral contraceptives, several studies have suggested a higher risk for deep vein thrombosis (Yasmin DVT). In December, an FDA expert panel narrowly voted to keep Yasmin and other oral contraceptives containing drospirenone on the market, while voting overwhelmingly to strengthen warning labels.

On October 7, 2010, Helena celebrated her one-year anniversary free from Yasmin. "Looking back, I am so thankful I figured it out," Helena writes.

"I have no idea of what shape or form I would have been in today if I would have still been taking the pills...I don't want to think about it; the last month I was taking it was bad enough. I honestly though [sic] I was going to die. I was even afraid to fall asleep in case I wouldn't wake up...It is so crazy what a pill can do to you. It truly messes with your body and mind. And, on top of that, the withdrawal effects make you wonder if it may not be just you after all...Thank god I stuck by my words of never going back, never give up…"

Yasmin and DVT is a combination that strikes fear into the hearts of many women. Some users of Yasmin—and some painfully young—have been permanently debilitated, and some have actually died allegedly due to Yasmin blood clots and other adverse reactions.

So far the Yasmin lawsuit count has rolled well past 11,000. Bayer has since settled about 70 of them…