Yaz - depression, anxiety, loss of libido

I started Yaz 5 months ago. My dermatologist put me on this to prevent acne. I had my first panic attack 4 weeks after being on Yaz. I have never in my life suffered from anxiety/depression/mood swings....nothing! My second month on Yaz I had about 2 weeks of anxiety. In my third month on Yaz I was riddled with anxiety and have consistently been anxious ever since. I've been to the Emergency Room for panic attacks, I have been to Urgent Care for panic attacks. The only medication I am on is Yaz. This is the only thing in my life I changed. At this point, I have to attribute these mental breakdowns to Yaz. My Mom actually researched anxiety and Yaz because she assumed it was hormornal. Every doctor has checked me out from blood tests, xrays, ultrasounds ect. I do not have any physical problem that could create an onset of anxiety. I am immediatly stopping this birth control pill and hope that other women suffering from the same symptoms will read this post.

Omg! I seriously thought I was going crazy until I read all these responses. I'm on the 2nd packet of my 2nd YEAR. Ladies, you are lucky if you caught on before getting to this point. I was just talking to my husband about my depression and anxiety. I notice that literally the 3rd week in the packet, my mood shifts into the darkest mind frame. My husband says he knows it's coming by the sound of my voice on the phone. We had began to realize it a couple of months ago, but really haven't payed it much mind. I have completely lost almost all libido. Even when I am the one who initiates intimacy I feel awkward, like it isn't natural or something. I'm abslutely positive I need to get off this medication NOW. Scheduling an appt with my gyno tomorrow! Someone posted that it gives you suicidal thoughts... It has given me suicidal thoughts. This birth control is dangerous! I'm so afraid of even after being taken off of it, that I won't return to my normal self. I don't know what other BC pill to turn to. I seriously almost lost my relationship because of this BC. I'm considering having my tubes tied at 21 because I know I don't want to go through this c**p anymore. I feel so sorry for anyone that has had any of these side effects as well!

Well ill give you a boyfriends perspective of Yaz. I have been with my girlfriend for a while now and starting out we had the best relationship i have ever experienced. We couldnt spend 10 minutes away from each other. And then she went and switched over to Yax. and it has been down hill every since then. She went from being the most amazing, fun and loving person i had ever met to being the most hateful, emotional basket-case ive ever been around. She has panic attacks and her mood swings are un-bearable. All she ever tells me is that she is stressed and needs space from everyone. She has no sexual desire AT ALL!!! My mind has been going crazy for the past 4 months. She goes to her Gyno at the beginning of next month... I hope and pray that this is the problem and when she changes birth controls she will go back to being her normal self.

yeah i started taking YAZ 1 year ago, and i just barely got off it. I got horrible symptoms due to this c**p! >:(
i got really ugly migrains, i felt sick, and i got really bad emotional swings.
And it messed up my skin on my face.


sTAYYY AWAY FROM THIS JUNK!
o.O

I am so happy to have found this. Yaz has messed my life up completely, it caused extreme mood embalances and has affected my sex life too. I couldn't stand to have my (now) Ex boyfriend touch me. I felt disgusted and sick every time he did. Now my new boyfriend is started to want to become physical and now I know why I cant seem to mester up any lust for him. YAY. I am making an appointment with my doctor to get my bc changed. wish me luck.

Don't take YAZ anymore!! I did about 3 years ago and had libido loss, depression and anxiety. On top of that it caused me to develop gallstones and then I had to have gallbladder surgery last year!! There are class action lawsuits against this company now!!!

I started taking Yaz about a month and a half ago. Prior to that I was on nothing for 2-3 months. I am a 29 yr old woman, who started taking birth control pills since she was 18 yrs old. This is the only medication. For about 8 years I was taking Othro Novum 7/7/7 (tri-phasic bc pill) and never realized how my birth control pills made me so emotional and sensitive the 3rd week of my pills (probably b/c in the third week the estrogen level of the pill is the highest). I just thought it was me and my mom would always tell me that I'll grow out of it and that I was just being immature. Well, about 2 years ago I was diagnosed with have Endometriosis and changed birth control pills to Desogen, but after the 2nd week of taking it I got dark brown age spot-like spots on my extremities (foot, and my hands). I went online and looked up to see if this was a side effect and it didn't say it did, but other birth control pills said that they caused it. I stopped taking it and it went away. Then I was switched to Levlite, a monophase birth control pill that has a very low dose of estrogen and progesterone. I stopped being so emotional and still did not realize that it was my pill that was affecting that. My mom thought I finally was growing out of the emotional rollercoaster. Anyway, it chilled me out so much that I eventually went into a depressive state. I am a morning person and I couldn't get up in the morning, I dreaded going to work, and I couldn't loose weight. I worked out about 3-4 times per week like normal, and ate pretty well, but nothing I did helped me to get back to my normal weight, which was about 10-15 lbs lighter. After about 10 months, I ended up getting a full panel thyroid test done because I knew something was off. The test came back better than normal. Everything was as it should be, so the doctors put me on an anti-depressant, but that did nothing for me and it totally made me loose my sex drive. I was constantly tired and my boyfriend would complain that I was always tired and never felt like having sex. I told him I didn't like being this way and this wasn't normal for me. We broke up and I ended up going back on my Othro Novum 7/7/7 and stopped the anti-depressant, and started to feel great again! I felt back to normal, then about a month after taking it, my emotional rollercoaster, my analytical thoughts started back up on the third week, and I gained 7 lbs in 2 months. That is when I realized that all this time it was my birth control pills making me crazy and an emotional wreck. I got off of everything and felt amazing! I was off of everything for 2 months and then my boyfriend and I got back together and I needed to get back on something, so I started looking around and searching for side effects of birth control pills on the internet. It seemed that Yaz helped people to loose weight and this pill was helpful in lowering typical side effects...........whatever! It did help me to loose weight; probably because I felt nauseous for the first couple of weeks. I started to feel a little jittery and nervous the first couple of weeks on it, but I knew my body was probably adjusting to it. I was enjoying the weight loss and it didn't really mess with my sex drive, so I was thinking this was going to be good, but come pack 2........I started becoming paranoid and having anxious thoughts about work and my personal life with my boyfriend. I started accusing him of lying and distrusting him and crying at the drop of a hat. I was having obsessive thoughts about his friendships with other women and started looking at his cell phone and doing a couple things that I would never ever do in my right mind. I have never done crazy, psycho things like this before and it didn't dawn on me until he told me he couldn't stand it anymore that I was acting crazy. I then realized how not like me this past 3 week behavior had been for me. I told him it was my pill because that can be the only reason and I told him I would get off of it and just to be patient for a month, so I can get back to my normal happy independent self. Hopefully he will hang in there and hopefully I'll get back to normal rather quickly. I have been off of it for two days now and feel like I am not as emotional, but a still slightly sensitive and taking things to heart, but not nearly as bad as I was a couple of days ago. I am feeling very anxious and nervous right now (like I did when I first starting taking it). I feel like I am on the verge of a panic attack, but keep telling my brain there is nothing to worry about and focus on something else. It will take at least 2 weeks for my body to readjust.....at least I think that is what happened to me the last time I got off birth control pills.

I just can't take this anymore. I am not sure if I want kids or not, so I am considering getting the IUD, Paraguard because it is the only birth control device that does not contain any hormones. My body definitely is sensitive to hormone contraceptives and it causes me to have an imbalance makes me behave in ways I would never if I hadn't been on anything.

I am so tired of taking birth control pills, but what does a girl do if she is single and doesn't want to get pregnant? The Mirana is like the Paraguard except it does contain hormones like the pill and from my research it has the same side effects as taking the pill. I have no problem taking my pill every morning, so to me that device would be better for someone who forgets to take the pill. The downside to the Paraguard is many people report heavy bleeding and cramps, but you know what I would rather have that then be turned into this crazy psycho person do things to the guy that I am dating that is not me. Some doctors will not put in an IUD if you have never been pregnant, but there are some that will and I have found one that will. They have to dilate you if you have never been pregnant and that can be really painful, but that is temporary. I am scheduling a consult this Friday and going to do some research on the web.

It's hard being a woman and having so many internal parts to take care of and being suceptible to more things then men, but those are the cards that we have been dealt. There are so many pills out there and everyone, but I am so tired of this and I am done with hormones. I am so grateful for the internet and that we are able to share our stories with each other because if I didn't have this resource I would think I was seriously crazy and it comforts me to know that I am not alone in this. I just hope my boyfriend can hang on and forgive me for my crazy behavior lately.

Good luck to you women. Remember if you are feeling depressed more than normal or anxiety or paranoia look at your birth control pill and try something different and know that you are not alone in this discover for the right hormone balance for your body. There are monophasic, biphasic, and triphasic drugs out there, not to mention progesterone only pills. I have not tried the progesterone only pills, but I know that the higher the estrogen level in my body the more I get emotional and the reaction I had to Yaz's progesterone is what made me feel paranoid and anxious/nervous.

I am 18, and started taking yaz 6 months ago to help regulate my cycle and ease the pain from ovarian cysts I would get every few cycles. The first three months on the pill went fine, I noticed I was a bit more anxious than usual, but that was the only side effect I noticed. I recently started college and within a month of being here I started feeling worthless. I could not stop crying for no real reason. I blamed it on a bad break up over the summer, but I knew it really couldn't be caused by that. My mom said the reason I became so upset was because I was away from home, but I knew it wasn't that either. It october and november got so bad that a lot of my new friends stopped wanting to go out with me because by the end of the night, I would turn into a train wreck. I stopped the pill about a week ago, and already noticed a change. I'm more positive, confident, and can handle myself better. I haven't cried in a week. Though I am scared that this next cycle is going to be very painful, I can at least handle that.
My question is- has anyone else been through this where yaz worked well the first few months, but then drastically changed my emotional well being? What other pill could I go on that won't have these side effects but still will help me with my painful period?

HEY. TO ALL YOU taking yaz=
this is such a relief to see that so many other girls share my problem, i am so relieved. i was seriously thinking something was wrong wtih me for being so depressed and having such horrible anxiety. I quit yaz about a month ago, after being on it for three months. I am still having a little bit of anxiey, but i am praying that it will go away within the next month. I had the same anxiety problems on the ring, and after a few months after quitting that, i was back to normal. all you girls, QUIT. And another solution, GET AN IUD. i am getting the copper iud insertion from planned parenthood soon. NO hormones, which is godsent. it wont mess up your body and your mood like all the other stuff. Also, it lasts for up to 12 years! i would seriously consider looking into it, i am getting the copper IUD, which is called Paraguard. Good luck to all of you girls, and don't worry, you will go back to normal, I promise! :-)

Thank you for saying all of this. I am also getting the IUD, I have horrible, horrible anxiety, and I just had a panic attack today. I have never had one in my life until I started taking birth control. My body can NOT handle hormones, I feel so bad for my poor boyfriend, I have been so mean to him because of this pill :( I am getting an IUD through planned parenthood. I must say I will take heavier bleeding, and heavier cramps ten million times over panic attacks, anxiety, depression, and bitchiness to my boyfriend. I am so thankful for this website, because I know that I am not alone, and I also feel very relieved that I am not alone, and that I am not crazy, because I was beginning to think i was!

Wow, thank you all so much! I've been taking YAZ for almost 2 years. I have completely lost myself. I have NO sex drive. My poor boyfriend...I don't want to be touched. My mood is just flat and I just want to be left alone. I initially started taking it because other birth control pills gave me horrible mood swings. YAZ helped with that, but now I see I have no moods at all...and if I do, they are negative. My mom died last year, and because of my mood changes, we didn't end on a good note. I have been impatient, intolerant, and apathetic. I will not take this pill again today, or any day. I think I will go for the no-hormone IUD as well. I am just so sad that I've wasted two years in this YAZ haze that I will never get back.Thank you everyone for clarifying what I just started to suspect!

I've been on Yaz ever since I started taking BC almost 2 years ago. I went through 2 months of straight spotting and for the past few months i'm never in th mood for sex and if I am it's gone almost as quickly as it came. It's starting to drive a wedge between my boyfriend and I. I started Yaz for my cramps and it even doesn't help much with that anymore. Reading all your comments I have decided to go to my doctor and get switched to see if ortho would help fix the problem. I'm too moody, lazy, and just downright annoyed all the time. I think it's time to find something els and see if that fixes this. Anything is better than this!!

Alright...

I started taking Yasmine (Canadian Yaz) over two years ago. It worked wonderfully when I was on the pill, as it helped to treat my PMDD, etc. I went off of all birth control seven months later for personal reasons and the nightmare began. I did not have a period for eight months. When I did have one it lasted 9 days and was extremely heavy. I have had crippling mood swings, from happy to angry to sad and back again in less than five minutes. The intensity of these emotions is scary. I am extremely depressed, will cry at the least provocation, have numbness and chills on one side of my body... it's horrid. It's now been 14 months off this pill. These mood swings haven't even stabilized, they're only getting worse. My periods have NOT regulated either, and I've only had three total in the 14 months. I feel ugly all the time and just... it's horrible.

I'm sorry to hear about all of you having problems on the pill, but be very careful when you go off it too!

my gf had been on a generic form of yaz for about 8 months...about 2 months ago her doctor switched her to the regular yaz. still not entirely sure why. the doctor didn't say anything about it but when she brought her new perscription to the pharmacy that's what the doctor had put on there. i was worried at first because of all the bad things that i'd heard about yaz but figured that everyone is different and side effects others had may not effect her. things were great between us. lots of laughs, love, and good times over 14 months. not 1 single fight/argument. i did notice that she seemed a little tired...always wanting to sleep...on our days off together we'd get up and have breakfast and then she'd want to take a nap. i chaulked it up to just being tired...maybe stressed about work. for christmas she gave me a card saying how much she loved me and that i was "the best thing that ever happened to her". a week after new years she dumped me...saying she feels lost and needs to find herself. she says she still loves me but doesn't know if she was ever in love with me or if we ever had a "spark". after reading all these posts i'm really beginning to wonder if this drug had some effect on things.

I have been taking Yaz for about 2 and a half years now and am just now noticing that Yaz is probably the cause of all my emotional problems. Since I'm only 18 I figured I was just experiencing anxiety from growing up, but now I know I'm not being myself at all. I feel very depressed all the time and have lost interest in almost everything. I also have a non existent libido, which isn't normal for a girl my age at all. As well as not being normal it has almost ruined my relationship with my boyfriend of 2 years. For the first year I loved Yaz and didn't really notice any symptoms, but now it is ruining my life. This thread has opened my eyes about my libido being affected by the Yaz, thank you all for sharing your stories because it sounds just like my life and now I'm able to pinpoint the cause and get off the Yaz ASAP!