This week, Bayer has been under fire with the Food and Drug Administration for its birth control pills Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella. The pills in this family contain a synthetic hormone called drospirenone, which is being linked to the seventy-five percent increased chance of blood clots. Bayer went in front of the FDA and unfortunately, the FDA ended up voting 15-11 to keep the pills on the market. They did however vote “21-5 on Thursday that labeling on Bayer’s popular Yaz and similar birth control pills is inadequate and should be revised to better reflect the higher risk of blood clots associated with these drugs.” Some of the members of the panel voted yes because they feel there are women that do benefit from the drugs. Well, yeah I and many of the other women affected had benefits. And then we almost died.

After going through such a harrowing experience and reading about so many other women who’ve gone through the same thing, it’s tough to know they will stay on the market for now. The lawsuits are still ongoing, and I hope the women affected get some peace of mind and justice. If you don’t think it’s that common, check out some of the responses I got…

I remember when the Gardasil phenomenon first started.  Commercials for the vaccine were played on MTV approximately every three seconds, and within weeks, everyone I knew was rushing to the gynecologist for their three doses.  And why wouldn’t they? The commercials and doctors promised that the vaccine would prevent cervical cancer and who wouldn’t deal with the momentary pain of a shot when it comes with a promise like that?

For the few of you who haven’t had your doctor insist you get it (if there are even any of you out there), Gardasil is the vaccine that promises to help prevent certain kinds of HPV, including the two types of the virus that are often the cause of cervical cancer.  Because there are no real symptoms of HPV, it has become an epidemic and doctors have urged patients to protect themselves with this revolutionary injection.

But while the vaccine can do amazing things, it has also devastated thousands of lives. Read More »

It’s been almost six months since I wrote to you all about my blood clot experience, and, let me tell you, has it been rough. I’ve gone through a lot of snags that I didn’t expect, but then again I didn’t expect to get a clot either.

I’ve spent the first half of 2009 looking like a heroin addict from all the blood tests I’ve gotten and a pill-poppin’ animal (thanks, Lil Wayne) from all the medications I’m taking. I can’t even count how many times I’ve told the story of what happened and answered countless questions. I particularly love the, “Aren’t you young?” question.

Yes, I’m young.
Does it mean I’m invincible? No.

The first few months were very difficult for me because I was still adjusting to the medication and trying to process the fact that I almost died. Coumadin, or Warfarin, is a blood thinner. I quickly found out that being on blood thinners makes you cold. Almost all the time. So walking to class was hard because I was freezing my little butt off. And don’t even try me on going to parties at night. Since my clot was bigger, it took a long time for it to disappear, which made it hard for me to breathe a lot of the time. Long walks across campus got me winded, and I couldn’t exercise. Pretty much, my whole love for being fit and athletic went out the window.

Along with my lack of exercise, my love for healthy foods like salad, broccoli, asparagus, basically anything green (yeah, kiwi too), was gone. Since foods that are green are rich in vitamin K, a blood thickening agent, I couldn’t eat them unless I did it consistently. I decided it was better not to eat them at all because my blood level was so hard to regulate in the first place. Read More »