Alternative treatment symptoms and conditions

Been on Topamax for almost a year. My dose was 150mg once a day for alternative treatment for chronic depression. I am also on Effexor and Lamictal. The tingling in the toes has lessened but not gone away. I have severe thirst all the time. My body seems to overheat easily. I lost 20 lbs but i was doing weight watchers and had just had a baby so its hard to give all the credit to Topamax. I definitely feel dumb. Words come and simply float away out of sight. My memory is extremely affected. I can fight with my husband and by the end have no idea what I had just said. Feel quite foolish. I am now titrating down and off by 50mg every 4 days. I am down to 50mg and have not had a good night's sleep since reducing my doses. My brain just turns on in the middle of the night. I am also pretty nauseated at this lowest titration. I just gained back 6 lbs but eating chocolate doesn't help either. I seemed to be able to keep my weight at 140 lbs no matter what i would eat. Not so anymore. Always trying to find the faster, easier way toward staying thin but it always comes back to that same bottom line. I have to discipline myself boooo.

My boyfriends kids 8 and 6 have been are on Singulair, Advair, Pediatan and Veramyst. Both daughter and son experience restlessness...trouble sleeping, stomach problems, Headaches, daughter especially experiences anxiety and mood changes. So many symptoms I have seen posted here. They have been on these meds for years and take them all every day....I am printing posts and researching info for him to give to his ex to find alternative treatment for their allergies and asthma....any advice or info will be greatly appreciated.
thank you!

This site makes for very interesting reading, I guess anyone who's got this far will now have an idea that Omeprazole whilst being an effective treatment for some gastric problems can have some quite severe side effects.
I was prescribed this drug after a stomach bleed (caused by use of NSAIDs for back pain) and whilst it seemed to help clear up the condition the side effects have been quite severe.
Around January i was put on this medication and experienced fatigue, muscle cramps,swollen legs and dizziness for the two months i was on it, it wasn't until i had a recurrence of the bleeding in May and started to take Omeprazole again that I noticed that the side effects had returned, feeling pretty crappy i went back to the doctor and was told to double up the dose, this made me feel twice as bad, heart palpitations, dizziness, constant fatigue, muscle cramps and kind of anxious and depressed (although i put these last two symptoms down to my inability to get to grips with my bad physical health)
After reading the comments posted here I haven't take Omeprazole for four days now and already the symptoms have all but disappeared, I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my body and my mind, my energy is starting to return and I am sure that I have spent the last month suffering because of this drug. If i have a recurrence of the original condition i will seek alternative treatment, Omeprazole made my tummy better but at too high a price for me to ever consider taking it again.

I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis at the end of 2007 and have been on prednisone since then. I started on about 105mg a week and am currently trying to reduce it but it is really hard as the moment the dosage goes down I lose all mobility and cannot even get out of bed. I am only 23 years old and really feeling the disease to the extent that I cannot even cope with my life. The prednisone has really taken its toll on me and the side effects are crazy! I just want to go back to my old self as I am finding it sooo hard to get through a single day. My side effects include:

Insomnia, tooth sensitivity, depression, anxiety, mood swings, moon face (my face is so swollen that I cant stand looking in the mirror anymore, dizziness, temper, feelings of uselessness, nightmares, night sweats, water retention, and to top it all off the arthritis is getting worse and I am in constant pain. Is there anything anyone can suggest then please help me!

I have taken Advair 250/50 for approximately 7 years. It was a life saver for me. My asthma was out of control. I slept with my albuterol inhaler in my hand at night. Advair was the wonder drug. It worked when nothing else did. I had bouts of depression and weight gain over the years, but nothing really major. I ran out of Advair a few days ago and just hadn't had the chance to get a refill.I had been experiencing daily headaches, and an inability to sleep at night. I felt lethargic and beginning to feel a little depressed. I contributed it to the lack of sleep, but wasn't really sure why I wasn't sleeping. Today while sitting in class (I am a Nursing Student & will graduate in December 2009), I got a horrible cramp in my left leg, then my left arm went numb. I got a little light-headed and my head was busting! My heart rate felt fast, so I had my instructor take my Blood Pressure. It was 164/105. Now my B/P has NEVER been anywhere near this. I went to the ER, had labs done (all normal) and an EKG (perfect). After about 4 hours my B/P went back to 117/78, normal for me. The Dr. had no explanation for what happened or why. My husband came home, got online and found several forums addressing these same symptoms. I have made a decision to talk with my doctor about alternative treatment.

Have been on Levoxyl for the past two years and have been having EXTREME hair loss. Would like to hear from anyone having this side effect who has had success with an alternative treatment....either a different drug or an alternate treatment such as Armour, etc. Is coming off Levoxyl cold turkey as dangerous as everyone says it is?

I am 15 and have only been on Singulair for a week. But I have already had sever leg cramps and my foot locked into place for a few minutes with extreme pain. I had a nose bleed today too, which is not normal for me. I have also had really bad cramping which I didn't think anything of but now I don't know what to do because I have sever allergies to almost everything outside and this seems to be the only thing that helps. After reading all this I am freaked about everything. And I have been really moody this week, but I thought it was just because I am a teenager but now I don't know.

My eight year old son, who has asthma and has been taking Singulair since he was three, has been off Singulair for four days and is becoming a completely different little boy! He has always been a "difficult child" with intense emotional reactions to things, anxiety, oppositional behavior, a short fuse and bad temper. He has also displayed obsessive/compulsive behavior. His father and I never thought that his behaviors and symptoms were caused by Singulair. His pediatrician never suggested it. With a family history of anxiety, we just assumed it was the way he was. At four, his preschool requested he be tested for ADHD. The testing revealed a short attention span but not a diagnosis of ADHD. As he got older his symptoms grew more intense. Last year we considered taking him to a psychiatrist but decided to "wait it out" one more year to see if maturity would bring an end to some of the behaviors. It didn't and in fact they grew worse. He became aggressive, explosive and depressed.

I recently began taking Singulair for another medical condition and had noticed that it made me a little moody. Last week, on the verge of making an appointment for my son with a psychiatrist, I started to wonder if maybe he was reacting in a similar, yet more intense way to the Singulair. I reviewed the patient information on line (I had read the patient info for Singulair when my son started taking it, but had not done so in years. I learned a tough lesson: check the information that accompanies prescriptions each and every time I get a refill.) When I read what the "less common side effects" were I was convinced that my son was reacting to his medicine. Then I found this website. We stopped his Singulair immediately and within two days began seeing a dramatic change in our son. He was less high strung, defiant, and explosive. Yesterday we had a cookout with some friends and he played with other kids all day without fighting for the first time in his life! He even cooperated when we asked him to help us get ready for company.

I strongly believe that this medicine should not be given to children and teens. I am so upset that when I asked my son's pediatricians about his behavior TWICE last year, they never mentioned that Singulair could be the problem. I called today to tell them he wasn't taking it anymore and the nurse said that she would note that he is "allergic" to it in his chart!

We are exploring alternate and natural ways to treat our son's asthma. I will NEVER give him Singulair again!

FYI: the labeling for his albuterol inhaler states that "safety and efficacy have not been established in patients under 12 years old". His pediatrician has been prescribing albuterol inhalers since he was three!

Does anyone have information about herbal inhalers and naturopathic treatment of asthma? If so I would like to hear.

I have been on Zoloft for about 8 months. I began taking it for anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and eating issues. Since I have been on it, my eating issues have gotten a lot worse. I began binging, something I've never done before. I have racing thoughts and feel like I am just floating through life. My weight has gone from about 120 to 155. I am not happy, and am considering coming off of the medication. Has anyone else noticed they have not been able to control their eating while on Zoloft? However, my anxiety did subside.

My daughter is a chronic asthmatic and has been on Prednisone for over one year. Since then she has experienced headaches, nausea, sleeplessness, depression, extreme anxiety, mood swings, blurred vision, aching... just about all of the side effects listed. Of particular concern to me are the mood swings, which at this time we are considering having her evaluated. I didn't realize that this drug could do soo much in terms of her behavior. Please help me to understand what is going on with her. She is 12 years old.

Hi,My biggest side effects are the hair loss,limb swelling,insomnia,halucinations(unless my dead dog really is a ghost),memory loss,numbness in legs and arms,tingling in arms and hands expecially when I cough or sneeze,sinus stuffiness and infections and cronic bronchitis.Allthough I have these side effects I personally think that I am better off taking the singulair for my asthma(does not help my allergy symptoms at all) than when I was on all the allergy meds and streoids.I used to have a bag load of those and I was allways having attacks,was depressed and thought of suicide but then I did the study for singulair about 15 years ago and thought it was a miracle cure so I waited for it to come out on the market.I know it is not a miracle cure but I don't have to take those other meds anymore and I only use my fast acting inhailer mabee once a month now.I am now 6 months pregnant and will be looking for an alternative treatment from a hollistic/natural Dr. after I have the baby.There has got to be a better way to control this disease,I hope,naturally through diet and other remadies with less or no side effects to treat my allergies and asthma.If anyone knows of such tratments,please post it.Thanks.LR

I have never taken Prednisone, but when my daughter was 18, she was stricken with ulcerative colitis and was on prednisone and then 6-mp for quite some time. She nearly died from the 6-mp and even after 8 years, she has horrible "growing" pains in her shin bones from the prednisone. She had psychotic reactions to the prednisone almost a year after she was weaned from it - such a severe reaction that she spent a week in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Of course, the doctors said there was no connection btwn the episode and the steriods, but I know better.
She eventually had her colon surgically removed, and was fortunate enough to have a j-pouch created at the end of her small intestine so she does not have a "bag"! I am afraid that she will always suffer some residual side effects from all of the drugs she was on, and may, in fact, be sterile.
She has not yet attempted to get pregnant, so we will see.
anyone on these meds for more than a couple of weeks needs to research their condition and find some alternative treatment! These drugs should only be a last resort!

I found this sight after a search for "Singulair" and "Nightmare."
My 26 month old daughter was started on Singulair (4mg once daily) 3 weeks ago to combat a persistant sinusitus condition - now attributed to allergies.
She has been waking up more frequently at night, often crying and or kicking her legs. Tonight she yelled "No-No" at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs, scaring my wife and I - as we've never heard the sounds of absolute fright from her. She's having nightmares consistently - we're going to the Dr. for an alternative treatment.

I started taking Yasmin 2 and a half weeks ago as treatment for PCOS. I tried to find an obgyn who would offer alternative treatment besides birthcontrol, but one does not seem to exist. Ive been om Metformin since July to help with the insulin resistence, but who knows if that even works too. My first week on Yasmin i was nausous all time time, now on the second weel, the nausous seemed to fade away, but my breasts are so sore. Ive always been on the small side, and in a matter of days they have seemed to grow. Other than the bigger breasts and occasional nausea, i havent seen any other effects, but perhaps this is due to the fact that im only 2 1/2 weeks into treatment. Does anyone else have severe PCOS who is taking a different birth control, or has anyone else found a different treatment option? I tried just taking Provera to bring on my periods 10 days prior, but the mood swings were too much to handle and interfered with my life.
Also, has anyone found any alternative treatments, such as minerals or herbs? I'm only 20 and its kindda hard to have doctors take you seriously, even if you have done the research. thanks

I HAVE BEEN ON PREDNISONE FOR OVER A YEAR TO TREAT MG. I STARTED ON A MASSIVE DOSE (120MG), BUT NOW, THANKFULLY, I AM DOWN TO 15MG EVERY OTHER DAY. I GAINED THIRTY-FIVE POUNDS, AND HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO TAKE IT OFF YET. MY FACE IS NEARLY TWICE THE SIZE IT USED TO BE. IT SUCKS BECAUSE I AM ONLY TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD AND NO ONE RECOGNIZES ME ANYMORE. I'M SICK OF IGNORANT PEOPLE AND THEIR STUPID COMMENTS-I'M TIRED OF HAVING TO EXPLAIN MY SITUATION TO EVERYONE. PEOPLE SUCK...I SHOULD BE DOWN TO 5MG EVERY OTHER DAY, SOON. MY DOC SAYS THE SIDE EFFECTS SHOULD START TO GO AWAY SOON-BUT I DON'T BELIEVE HIM. HE NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT THE RIDICULOUS SIDE EFFECTS OF THIS DRUG, SO I DON'T TRUST ANYTHING HE SAYS. IF HE HAD JUST TOLD ME ABOUT THE SEVERITY OF THE DRUG, MAYBE I WOULD HAVE CHOSEN THE ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT, BECAUSE, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THIS DRUG FAR OUTWAY THE BENEFITS. NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HOW I FEEL BECAUSE NO ONE HAS HAD TO GO THROUGH WHAT I HAVE HAD TO GO THROUGH. IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTACT ME, FEEL FREE... I'M NOT AS CRAZY AS I SOUND.

I was recently given a KENALOG40 injection for simple poison ivy... I did not know what the shot was exactly until after the fact. BAD NEWS - it has left a LARGE indention at the site of the injection(left buttock)and I have read that this seems to be more of a problem with KENALOG than other similar drugs-I would advise to stay far away from KENALOG and opt for alternative treatment.