Clarissa: from illness to coma "Heaven exists I have seen my deceased cousin"

The successful birth control pill with benefits, Yaz was chosen as the choice for women desperate for relief from severe premenstrual syndrome and acne. But now, new independent studies have found that Yaz carries higher blood clotting risks than other major birth control pills. ABC News has investigated whether tens of millions of women have switched to a more potentially risky pill that has apparently never been shown to treat premenstrual syndrome.

In 2007, 24-year-old Clarissa Ubersox had just left college and started her dream job as a pediatric nurse in Madison, Wis. On Christmas day, while working during the holiday shift, her boyfriend surprised her at the hospital with a marriage proposal.

Wanting to look and feel her best for her wedding day, Carissa said she switched to Yaz after seeing one of her commercials that suggested that this pill could help with swelling and acne. "Yaz is the only birth control shown to treat premenstrual physical and emotional symptoms that are serious enough to impact your life," said the announcement. "It looks like a miracle drug," said Carissa, remembering that she thought. But only three months later, in February 2008, Carissa's legs started to hurt. He didn't pay much attention to it, assuming, he said, that it was just a pain to be standing for a 12 hour shift.

The next evening, he was panting in the air. The blood clots in her legs had passed through her veins to her lungs, causing a huge double pulmonary embolism. Her boyfriend called 911, but on the way to the hospital Carissa's heart stopped. The doctors resurrected her, but she slipped into a coma for nearly two weeks. Carissa's only memory of that time is something she calls an extraordinary dream experience. He said he remembered a large decorated gate and saw a recently passed cousin. That cousin, Carissa said, said to her, "You can stay here with me or you can go back." But, he said, he told her that if she returns in the end she will be blind. "I just remember waking up in the hospital and thought" Oh, I guess I chose to stay, "Carissa told ABC News. As her cousin in her predicted dream experience, she actually woke up blind and remains blind to the present day.

Nobody can say for sure if Yaz caused Carissa's blindness, but Yaz contains a unique hormone called drospirenone that some experts say could trigger more blood clots than other birth control pills. Clots can cause serious breathing problems, a stroke or even death. All birth control pills present some risks. Two to four out of 10.000 women on the pill will suffer from blood clots and some will die as a result. But with Yaz, several new independent studies have increased the risk two to three times. "It's a disappointing discovery," says Dr. Susan Jick, author of one of those independent studies involving nearly a million women. "As far as public safety is concerned, it's not what you want to find."

Manufactured by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Yaz's sales rose to nearly $ 2 billion a year after its release in 2006, making it once the market-leading birth control pill and Bayer's best selling drug. And there was a lot of buzz around Yaz, from popular women's magazines that propagandized it as "the pill for premenstrual syndrome" and the "super pill" to TV news segments, like one in Dallas who called Yaz ", a miracle pill that gets rid of most of the unpleasant symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. "

Apparently some company executives have encouraged these exaggerated claims, ABC News learned. The internal documents obtained by ABC News show their reactions: “This is exceptional !!! we can have a good morning in america to do the same segment !!! ??? !! (tee hee), ”an executive wrote in the Dallas segment that called Yaz a miracle pill for premenstrual syndrome. But the Food and Drug Administration was not amused. In 2008, the FDA claimed that Yaz has not been shown to be effective for common premenstrual syndrome, only a rare and severe form of menstrual symptoms and that Yaz's success with acne has been "overly misleading (d)".

State authorities have also accused Bayer of misleading advertising.

Bayer denied any wrongdoing, but in an unusual legal agreement he agreed to spend $ 20 million on corrective television advertisements, which said: "Yaz is for the treatment of premenstrual dysphonic disorder, or PMDD and moderate acne, not for treatment. of premenstrual syndrome or mild acne. “But by now, millions of women had already opted for Yaz.

Some experts say there is cause for concern about recent medical results. Jick found that Bayer-funded studies found no difference in risk, while all four of the most recent independent studies found an increased risk. Jick added that when she sent her studies to Bayer, she was surprised that they never answered or asked to work with her. "Studies that have found an increased risk are not in the best interest of the company," said Jick. Columbia University medical ethics David Rothman added that, in general, “We need to look at the drug studies published by the company that produce the products with much suspicion. They have too much skin in the game. "

Bayer's internal documents obtained from ABC News raise questions about some of the company's research. According to a report, Bayer apparently kept the name of one of the two employees out of a company-sponsored study because, according to an internal email, "there is a negative value in having a corporate author in the newspaper." "It's really nefarious, a fundamental violation of scientific integrity, when the person who carried out the research doesn't even appear in the newspaper," said Rothman. Thousands of women are suing Bayer, including Carissa Ubersox, but the company continues to deny any wrongdoing. Citing these lawsuits, Bayer declined to be interviewed for this story and instead sent ABC News a statement stating that Yaz is as safe as any other birth control pill if used correctly.

There are no answers yet for Carissa, whose life has changed forever. She is no longer a pediatric nurse, she is no longer engaged and, she said, "everything I thought I had worked so hard for has disappeared."

Yaz, he said, is to blame.

The FDA reopened the case on Yaz, conducting its new drug safety review. If you are considering your birth control options, experts say that you should, as always, consult your doctor.