Yaz Blood Clots Cause Multitude of Problems

Women who take Yaz, Yasmin, and other drospirenone birth control pills experience blood clots at a rate six times higher than that of women who take other forms of oral contraceptive without the synthetic hormone. Yaz blood clots are linked to several problems, including deep vein thrombosis, thromboembolism, and pulmonary embolism.

Although all methods of birth control that contain estrogen increase the risk of blood clots, drospirenone-based birth control pills like Yaz, Yasmin, Zarah, Gianvi, Safyral, Beyaz, and Ocella may contribute to hyperkalemia, which is an elevated level of potassium in the bloodstream. This in turn could cause the blood to pool and clot in the bloodstream, increasing the risk of blood clots significantly.

Some blood clots dissolve on their own and don’t put a patient’s life at risk or require medical attention. However, there are some forms of blood clot that are extremely serious – and even, in some cases, can be fatal. Deep vein thrombosis is a painful condition in which a blood clot forms in a major vein. This usually occurs in the leg and may require medical treatment in the form of a blood thinner or anticoagulant.

Any Yaz blood clot has the potential to travel to the lungs, causing perhaps the most serious Yaz blood clot related side effect – pulmonary embolism. 60,000 Americans die of pulmonary embolism a year. While it is unclear how many of these deaths are related to Yaz or other forms of birth control, there is significant risk to a patient taking Yaz of developing the potentially fatal condition.

There are currently more than 7,000 plaintiffs who have filed suit against Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the company responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Yaz and Yasmin. These plaintiffs have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation case that deals with many different Yaz side effects – blood clotting problems, heart attack, stroke, and gallbladder disease. Despite the legal and public backlash against side effects associated with the product, Yaz continues to be an extremely popular birth control product.