According to an online health forum at eHealthMe, in a study that took place over a couple of years and consisted of 6,454 women who had suffered from the more serious side effects of Yaz, more than 3 percent said that they experienced a higher rate of anxiety, and nearly 4 percent claimed that they suffered from depression. Of those women, 24 actually attempted suicide. The question is whether or not Yaz/Yasmin is to blame.
There are a variety of online forums in which women complain of experiencing depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide due to taking Yaz. If you add these complaints to the ones that already exist, including pulmonary embolism, blood clots, heart attacks and strokes, the warning on the label almost seems vague. While the label on Yaz does warn of mood swings including depression, the effect of the warning seems moot because the focus of Yaz’s side effect discussions generally relate to the more physical problems that are associated with the drug.
What causes the depression is the drospirenone, which is a type of progestine that is used in Yaz/Yasmin. It is the combination of drospirenone and ethinyl estradio that protects women against pregnancy. Thousands of lawsuits have come up because of the physical side effects that patients are suffering from while taking Yaz, but most discussions about the drug focus on the blood clots, heart and strokes when they are talking about patient deaths.
Some patients or their families are coming out and filing wrongful death suits against Bayer, the maker of Yaz, because someone in their family has committed suicide while on the drug. One such patient was a girl from Ohio, Autumn Plevniak, who committed suicide while taking Yaz. Her parents are now suing Bayer for the loss and will likely claim that their daughter wasn’t properly warned about taking the drug beforehand. If that case wins at trial, more lawsuits will likely follow.
