Mount Pleasant, TXPam's daughter, Jenny, went on Yasmin one month before she was married. "Jenny has never been sick so when the surgeon told me she needed her gallbladder removed I was shocked," says Pam. "Then I found out about Yasmin and Yaz side effects and its link to gallbladder disease—then I was so pissed."
"Jenny, my angel, is mentally challenged but highly functioning," says Pam. "She just turned 30 when she started taking Yasmin birth control; for 30 years she had never been sick. In March she complained of stomach pains, nausea and diarrhea. Unfortunately her regular doctor wasn't available so we had to look for another doctor. In the meantime we saw a nurse practitioner; Jenny continued suffering from these symptoms. But when she discovered blood in her stool, we took her to ER and they detected something abnormal in her blood. We found another doctor right away.
He examined Jenny, ordered a sonogram and did blood work. He told us it was gallbladder trouble. 'What surgeon do you want to see?' he asked. We saw a surgeon who said Jenny didn't yet have a gallstone, 'But we will go ahead and remove the gallbladder—it is diseased'. I didn't question him, I didn't ask how this could have happened. I know that sounds crazy but I did wonder…I thought it was odd. Jenny has never been in hospital, never had surgery—she has always been healthy. So these symptoms came out of the clear blue. Maybe all these bowel problems were related to it?
But when I was at the pharmacy picking up Jenny's medication, one of the assistants said there have been a lot of younger girls who have had their gallbladders removed, mostly girls in their early 20s.
Then I saw something on TV about Yasmin and its association with gallbladder disease. I immediately went online and read about Yaz and Yasmin being linked to gallbladder problems, among other Yasmin side effects, such as blood clots. This Yasmin-gallbladder connection also made sense because Jenny was so healthy. How could her gallbladder be diseased just like that? It was so bizarre.
Jenny does have an understanding of what happened but I was especially pissed because she had diarrhea for a few weeks, felt lousy and missed work. And to think Yasmin can cause blood clots and worse. The more I read, the madder I got.
Jenny stopped taking Yasmin on her own last February. All she said was that she didn't like taking it. (She has a hard time explaining things.) But she was adamant about not going back to the clinic for another prescription.
How dare they put this on the market? I guess if it isn't your kid, you don't care. "