I started my period when I was 13. With the national average in the U.S. being 12-years-old, I had been anticipating the day for quite some time. During 6th period math, my time to make the awkward stroll into the nurse’s office to obtain the infamous cardboard tampon had finally come.
First, I wish to clarify. Like many girls at this blooming age, my interests and priorities did not involve sex. I was far too busy basking in the joys that are “the pre-teen years” (yes, I’m being slightly sarcastic). When I wasn’t trying out for the cheerleading team, playing tennis, deciding whether to put black or pink bands on my braces, or dyeing my hair at the displeasure of my mother, I was dealing with heavy and irregular periods – the fancy medical term being “Menorrhagia”.
I saw a doctor when I was 14 with my mother by my side, in the hopes of obtaining birth control to regulate the hectic schedule I’d come to have with Aunt Flow. To put this in perspective, a study conducted in 2011 found that one in five American girls between the ages of 13 and 18, two-and-a-half million teens in all, are on birth control. Additionally, doctors say the age at which teens start on the pill is getting younger and younger.
Long story short, I came out of the appointment with a prescription to Yaz, a popular oral contraceptive made by pharmaceutical giant Bayer HealthCare. I was fed all the benefits of the large brand, and told that potential harm was a one in a million chance because my family’s medical history was clean. No single person, no single doctor, not the box nor any bit of the fine print had informed me that taking Yaz increases your risk of blood clot and other fatalities by 77 percent. Claims have been made that both Yaz and Yasmin (a generic brand of Yaz) give women a six-fold increase of suffering from blood clots. Their unique use of an ‘ingredient’ called synthetic progestogen drospirenone is appealing to women in it’s claim to reduce symptoms of PMS and acne. This mixed with high amounts of estrogen, is a recipe for disaster.
To date, over 12,000 women have filed lawsuits for Yaz blood clot injuries such as DVT, stroke and pulmonary embolism, and I never thought I would become one of those women.
Springtime 2013, I started to feel a headache coming on – nothing like I had ever felt before. A sneeze or a yawn would send me into blinding pain, and even just lying down was unbearable. After about a week of waiting for it to wear off, I took a visit to the Health Center, where I was told I was having migraines and sent home with some Percocet. Only did I become very worried when the strongest of the strong pills wore off in just a few minutes. A few more days went by before I made the decision to go to the emergency room – a decision that ultimately saved my life.
After a few hours in the E.R. I finally received a cat scan that revealed a blood clot, or thrombosis. There was no blood flowing in nearly half of my brain, and even just a few more hours of brushing off the pain could have resulted in a stroke.
Following an ambulance ride to a larger hospital, more blood tests were taken and my neurologist informed me that the birth control was to blame.
I was 19-years-old, at the time, so suddenly being treated for something prominent in the elderly. I was immediately placed on Coumadin (a blood-thinner). I had blood drawn every few hours while hospitalized, received Heparin shots in my stomach for weeks, and was given a whole new way of living life. I was told I couldn’t fly on a plane without walking the aisle every few hours, and if I ever wanted to have a baby I would be considered a high-risk pregnancy. I had to monitor everything I ate and drank due to its effect on the Coumadin I would be taking for roughly six months – about how long it took the clot to dissolve.
In response to the many, many lawsuits, and deaths among young women – the company owning Yaz did what any money-hungry corporation would do. Keep the pills as they are, and set aside $1.5 billion dollars to settle the claims for those injured, and the families of the deceased. The amount of profit had become greater than the amount of money to be spent on paying people off, and even greater than justice. After an obvious correlation of the ingredients and injury, Yaz also altered the labeling on their boxes to indicate a greater risk.
I was inclined to share this story, not to put an end to evil corporations, and most definitely not to tell you to stop taking birth control (I’m even currently on an alternate form of contraception.) I’m sharing this with my fellow collegiettes because I wouldn’t wish what I went through upon anyone. Your health is more important than anything. When choosing contraception, or even if you’ve been on birth control for years – ask more than too many questions, do your own research, and follow your female intuition (yeah it’s real and it’s always right). There are so many options out there, so why wouldn’t you choose the safest one? Don’t be fooled. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself just that.
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/safe-medicine-younger-girls-starting-birth-control/story?id=14116032)
http://www.drugnews.net/yaz/blood-clots#sthash.M12vz9jU.dpuf