Yaz and arrhythmia
Women who take Yaz or Yasmin should be aware that these birth control pills present an increased risk of arrhythmia, which is an irregular heartbeat.
Under normal circumstances, your heart beats at a rate that is relative to your current level of activity and comfort. An arrhythmia occurs when your heart rate becomes abnormal for some reason.
Arrhythmias can be placed into one of two main categories:
Tachycardia: Tachycardia occurs when the heart is beating too fast, specifically, at a rate of over 100 beats per minute.
Bradycardia: Bradycardia occurs when a person’s heart rate is too slow, specifically, at rate of less than 60 beats per minute for an adult who is awake.
If your heart rate drops below 50 beats per minute, enough blood may not be pumping to your organs. As a result, you can begin to experience serious side effects, including:
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Chest pains
- Fainting
- Confusion
- Heart palpitations
- Weakness
- Shortness of breath
In the worst cases, complications from arrhythmia can include:
- Stroke
- Cardiac arrest
- Blood clots
- Death
Sadly, there is no cure for arrhythmia. Instead, patients must undergo long-term treatments and rehabilitation as well as attend regular checkups.
If you believe you have experienced arrhythmia as a result of taking Yasmin or Yaz, you should immediately contact your physician. Additionally, you can also contact the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit attorneys of Fears | Nachawati for free legal advice.
Women who have been injured, including by arrhythmias, as a result of taking Yaz or Yasmin birth control may be able to bring a lawsuit against the maker of these drugs.
I originally started taking Yaz about three years ago. About two months after starting it, I began to experience premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). I ended up stopping the Yaz about two months after and the PVCs went away. Back in August 2009, I started taking Yaz again. A month ago, the PVCs started up again. This past week, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings the PVCs were so bad and so frequent they were keeping me up at night. I work in a doctors office and discussed this with our PA. On Tuesday, I had an EKG done to confirm it was PVCs and not another arrhythmia. It was frequent, multifocal PVCs. We discussed all the things in my life that could potentially be causing the PVCs and the only thing that had changed was the initiation of Yaz. I only had two pills left in my pack before the placebo pills, so I decided to discontinue them and not finish the pack. The PVCs have started to significantly lessen as the days pass. Our PA and myself are most certain it is the Yaz that was causing the PVCs.