Yaz User: "I Thought I Was Having a Stroke"

Youngstown, OHIf not for Bayer's aggressive and misleading advertising for Yaz, Felicia probably wouldn't have taken that particular birth control pill. Felicia was led to believe that it was the perfect drug to regulate her period, and now she suffers a number of Yaz side effects.

Advertisements that aired in 2006 depicted Yaz, made by Berlex, helping women deal with premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, a severe form of premenstrual syndrome. In October 2008 the FDA issued a warning letter to Bayer after the drugmaker tried to broaden the indication for Yaz to include PMS (premenstrual syndrome).

The agency reiterated that Bayer's marketing was misleading because it promoted Yaz for unapproved medical conditions and failed to disclose that "Yaz has additional risks because it contains the progestin, drospirenone . . . which can lead to hyperkalemia in high risk patients, which may result in potentially serious heart and health problems." The advertisement "fails to communicate that the potential to increase potassium is a risk" or that "increased serum potassium can be dangerous."

Some of the side effects Felicia experienced could very well be caused by Yaz. "Soon after I started taking Yaz, my vision was blurry, I had stomach pains and back problems," says Felicia. "Then, right out of the blue I wound up in hospital with a diagnosis of hypertenstion.

''I was getting dressed and zipping up my boots when my arms just locked up. I couldn't move my arms and my thumbs got stuck. I thought I was having a stroke. I had to pry my fingers open but my thumbs were still locked. Luckily my friend drove me to the hospital and my blood pressure was really high so they kept me in overnight. I was diagnosed with hypertension the next day.

"I'm only 37 and I told my doctor I'm too young to take heart medications. I asked him about whether Yaz could have caused all these problems but nobody knew of any Yaz and Yasmin side effects at that time. I finally took myself off Yaz and got another birth control pill prescribed.

"The biggest problem I have is the veins in my legs—I can't even wear a short skirt. They look like a big road map on the back of my legs. It's gross. I noticed these veins bulging out of my legs about a year after I started taking Yaz and I'm worried.

"We have a lawyer here in Youngstown who is taking Yaz claims so I am sending him my medical records, whatever they need. I am hopeful that I can join the class action and some compensation will pay my medical bills; maybe I can get my veins fixed."