Oral Contraceptives
Are Some Birth Control Pills Too Risky?
Some birth control pills have been shown to lead to an increased risk for adverse events. Some, like Yaz, Yasmin, and Beyaz, were required to add labels. Read more to find out what else you need to know.
Oral Contraceptives
Are Some Birth Control Pills Too Risky?
Some birth control pills have been shown to lead to an increased risk for adverse events. Some, like Yaz, Yasmin, and Beyaz, were required to add labels. Read more to find out what else you need to know.
Oral Contraceptives
Are Some Birth Control Pills Too Risky?
Some birth control pills have been shown to lead to an increased risk for adverse events. Some, like Yaz, Yasmin, and Beyaz, were required to add labels. Read more to find out what else you need to know.
Are Some Birth Control Pills Too Risky?
Some birth control pills have been shown to lead to an increased risk for adverse events. Some, like Yaz, Yasmin, and Beyaz, were required to add labels. Read more to find out what else you need to know.
Are Some Birth Control Pills Too Risky?
Some birth control pills have been shown to lead to an increased risk for adverse events. Some, like Yaz, Yasmin, and Beyaz, were required to add labels. Read more to find out what else you need to know.
be your own reproductive health advocate
Letter 5: Going in Circles
Dear Annie,
Searching for answers and for your important legal papers, on the Friday after your
death, your sister Maryellen, your brother Glenn, and I went all through your room.
We even looked through every single pocket in all of your clothes. We found most
of your important papers, many of my clothes that you had “inadvertently”
borrowed, and some medications including the pretty little turquoise Yaz birth
control packet, depleted of pills right to the day before your death. We even made
a box called “So Annie”; it included many of your cherished clothes and sundries.
Your sister began researching your medicines.
It was not until that Sunday - eight days after your death - that your brother-in-law Chris discovered an article written by an LA Times investigative reporter. Her article reported that the FDA had received approximately 1800 complaints of blood clots related to Yaz or Yasmin birth control pills.
We dug deeper. When we looked up the label on the FDA website, we were shocked to read the same litany of medical complaints for which you had been visiting doctors’ offices for months; HAIR LOSS, INSOMNIA, YEAST INFECTIONS, EXTREME FATIGUE, DEPRESSION, HEADACHES. And at the end of the list, SUDDEN DEATH. Your whole family sighed and thought “This is it.” We expected inquiries from medical investigators. None of that happened. No medical authority contacted us.
Love,
Mom
