What is Yaz?
Yaz is an oral medication from the company Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and is designed to prevent pregnancy, treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and treat acne in women over the age of 14. In addition to Yaz, other similar medications are yasmin, yasmine and the generic version ocella. This drug comes in either a 21-pill pack or a 28-pill pack. Each pack has 21 pills that contain hormones. With either pack, take one hormone pill every day for 21 days. If your drug contains 28 pills, there are seven pills that do not contain hormones and are just used as reminder pills to be taken after the first 21 pills.
Is Yaz Safe to Take?
Some of the common side effects of this drug are nausea, headaches, breast tenderness, stomach cramps, vaginal bleeding between periods and weight gain. The common side effects are fairly normal for most drugs; however, a number of lawsuits have come to fruition recently as a result of the severe side effects of this drug. Some of these serious side effects are high blood pressure, depression, vomiting, pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks, shortness of breath, severe chest pains, yellowing of the skin, loss of vision and strokes. If either the common side effects worsen or you have experienced the more serious side effects, contact your doctor immediately to get medical assistance.
Another serious issue with this drug is the ingredient drospirenone. It is a controversial ingredient in many birth control pills due to safety concerns. There are 3 mg of drospirenone in this drug which can potentially cause hyperkalemia in high risk patients. Hyperkalemia is a condition which has the potential to cause extremely high levels of potassium. This in-turn can cause abnormal heart rhythms. Smoking while taking this drug increases these risks significantly and is not advised.
If you or someone you know is taking this drug and are experiencing or have experienced any of these fatal symptoms, please fill out the form at the top of this page and you can discuss this matter with a yaz attorney.
