Birth Control Pill Blood Clot Risks Flagged

Birth Control

First Posted: 10/27/11 10:30 AM ET Updated: 10/27/11 10:30 AM ET

Certain oral contraceptives are more likely to cause serious blood clots than others, a new study confirms.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that women on birth control pills containing the hormone drospirenone have at least double the risk of venous thromboembolism compared with women taking older pills made with the hormone levonorgestrel.

The study was commissioned by the European Medicines Agency and conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen. It supports previous findings that birth control pills containing drospirenone can increase the risk of blood clots. Those risks are still small, but elevated.

Earlier this year, CBC Marketplace investigated Canada's No. 1 selling birth control pill, Yasmin (and its sister pill Yaz), which contains the hormone dropspirenone, to find out how this pill became so popular.

Bayer, the maker of Yasmin, now faces a lawsuit by thousands of women in Canada and the United States, who say they suffered adverse health effects — including some who say they almost died — after going on that pill.

Researchers in this newest study examined what oral contraceptives all Danish women between the ages of 15 and 49 were taking between January 2001 and December 2009, and whether or not they suffered from a blood clot. None of the women had a history of either blood clots or cancer before the study began.

Health Canada recently announced it's taking a closer look at birth control pills containing drospirenone. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has scheduled a meeting Dec. 8 to review the risks of blood clots of drospirenone-containing birth control pills.

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Certain oral contraceptives are more likely to cause serious blood clots than others, a new study confirms. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that women on birth control pi...
Certain oral contraceptives are more likely to cause serious blood clots than others, a new study confirms. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that women on birth control pi...
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Ainsaade
Covered in bees
03:40 PM on 10/28/2011
I took Yaz for less than six months - it sent me to the hospital with multiple blood clots in my lungs, even though I didn't smoke, was under 35, and had no family or personal history of clots, or any biological reason for clotting like a blood disorder. I had to stay in the hospital for a week and was on blood thinners for a year. Now I have to go see a hematologist twice a year for the rest of my life in order to make sure there are no lingering effects. I will have to go back on blood thinners again if I ever get pregnant. I resisted getting on the pill my whole life until then, because I was worried about the risk of breast cancer - a doctor convinced me there was no danger when I needed to take it for a medical problem. I can never take another hormone in my life now, and I would advise any woman not to take any hormonal drug that contains drospirenone.
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trjones87
food. wine. books.
09:33 PM on 10/27/2011
I was taking Yaz. It gave me terrible migraines. I stopped taking it and doctors switched to a couple other bc pills which I ended up not taking either cause those made me sick, in various ways, as well. This was all between the ages of 19 - 23. I'm 24 and now have a lump in my left breast which I had looked at by a radiologist and has been found to be benign (thank God). I'll never ingest another synthetic hormone for the rest of my life.
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wskrs
If it pleases and sparkles... sunshine!
12:32 PM on 10/28/2011
I took Yaz for about 6 months back in 2006-2007. It was wonderful as far as giving me light periods and I really felt happy all the time -like I was on uppers or something. However, it murdered my libido and caused me to have chest pains. I don't know if it's directly related or not, but after I stopped taking Yaz, my libido never completely returned to where it was. I don't think I'll ever take another bc pill again either - I recently started taking lo-estrin but that screwed me up hormonally as well. I guess my husband will have to be happy with condoms :-/
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trjones87
food. wine. books.
01:33 PM on 10/28/2011
I suffered the same drop in libido as well.
Bianca S
You can't go trick-or-treating. Ever. For a week
02:58 PM on 10/28/2011
I took Diane-35 and then Yaz because it has less hormones but they both killed my libido and caused me to have chest pains too, not to mention my skin broke out horribly after I stopped taking it. I know it's supposed to be safe and blah blah blah, but I will never touch another synthetic hormone again-I just don't trust them.
08:33 PM on 10/27/2011
Try drinking a glass of red wine every day to mitigate the clotting. ;)

We've all known this about Yaz (yasmin and gianvi) for quite some time! You should all switch birth controls to Zovia. It comes in quite pretty pink packaging. :) Or Caziant, it's turquoise!