Anemia symptoms and conditions

I just started my 3rd pack of Aviane. One of the reasons I started taking birth control was to lighten up my period due to anemia. Well, so far its only made my periods worse. The first pack i had breakthrough bleeding for almost 2 weeks. It was heavy, the cramps were worse, felt sick, and worse depression/anxiety. I went to the doctor and he said this was "normal" and that I should continue the pill. During the second pack I bled for over a week and it was heavier, bad cramps and a headache for a week. Not to mention my "period" never came during the placebo pills but I know it can take time to regulate. I just started my 3rd pack of pill and I'm not feeling well. Just nauseous, sick and depressed again. Just last week when I was on the placebo pill I felt just fine and now i've started Aviane again and i feel horrible. All I know is that if bleed irregular/heavy this month again, i'm either going to go off this horrible stuff or go to the doctor to find a new birth control that doesn't make me feel sick and depressed all the time!

I just took myself off YAZ because of a calf cramp that was so severe we suspected a blood clot -- through investigation found out I DIDN"T HAVE ENOUGH BLOOD TO CLOT -- was so anemic they were worried in the ER I'd have a HEART ATTACK. I had just shy of 33% of the normal amount of blood -- no ownder I had headaches, was dizzy, had shortness of breath, etc, etc . . . no wonder, eh?

Everyone would APPLAUD my low, low, low blood pressure --- yeah me! Not.

Anyone else have serious, debilitating, blood-transfusion worthy anemia on YAZ? or is it just me?

KR

All this talk of HAIR LOSS, POSSIBLE GALL STONES, ANEMIA etc. is really scaring me as my doctor (gastro-i) has prescribed it for extreme IBS. Am interested to know if anyone else has experienced hair loss. I HAVE been experiencing gas and feeling tired. Don't know if the tiredness is due to the Walchol. Am very uncomfortable about taking this drug after reading all these comments.

Hi all,
I have spent the last 2 days on the Internet reading about Mirena; as a matter of fact, I had mine removed 2 days ago. For the last 10 months, my life has been horrible. I had the Mirena inserted in November of 2007, I was also coming out of a divorce, so I (and my doctor) was attributing my extreme depression, anxiety attacks to it. I started noticing that my hair was falling out and it just kept getting worse and worse. I went to see my doctor again and she said I had anemia (I was having very heavy periods and bleeding through my periods). Doctor said anemia causes hair loss. I went through different tests, saw a dermatologist, I always mentioned I had the Mirena, but no one seem to relate that to anything. I actually went on the Mirena site a couple of times, but the side effects listed there were very mild so I discarded the thought that the Mirena was causing my depression and my hair loss. There is no mention whatsoever about hair loss. Months went by, I kept seeing different doctors since my hair loss was getting worse and worse, my once beautiful, thick hair had become extremely thin, I have two holes on my scalp. I continued to bleed heavy and my ob/gyn said to give it some more time. My life was a complete mess, going to work was a struggle, dealing with my kids was a struggle, some days I would just lay in bed and cried for hours, I started to believe that my life had no purpose or reason. I was truly in agony, I am sure those of you who have gone through this know exactly what I mean. Anyway, I can't believe in all this months it never occurred to me to google mirena and hair loss....or mirena and suicidal thoughts, etc., etc. I thank you all for sharing your stories and I hope we can figure out a way to let all of those mirena users out there suffering that the answer to their agony is simply to have the Mirena removed. I look forward to my new life, new hair. It has been 2 days and I don't know if it is a state of mind, but I feel so much better already.
Thx
Jessica M.

My brother has been on Asacol for about 2 years, since initially being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. He started to bleed again about 1.5 months ago and his physician recommended he go on a Lialda study. He has not stopped bleeding since switching to Lialda from Asacol and soon developed pneumonia. I am not saying that the pneumonia is a side effect of the Lialda, but it is secondary to the reduced immunity from the slow and continuous bleeding. He also has what is called "dumping syndrome" where as soon as you eat a couple mouthfuls, you cannot eat anymore and have to wait a while. He also is extremely tired, mostly due to the anemia, and has very loose bowel movements, up to 3-5 times just in the morning hours. He has skin rashes that won't resolve even with prescription ointment. His ulcerative colitis seems to be exacerbated as well. One thing we are countering a lot of his symptoms with is holistic treatments, namely good diet and acupuncture.

I actually LOVED the convenience of the NuvaRing. However, I felt that over time, my sex drive had deteriated, I was getting more moody and irritable, and tired all the time. After talking to my Dr., she suggested that I try a low dose pill for a while and see if that helps. Regardless to taking any form of birth control, she told me, the female body will still have hormone changes and other body changes that are not controlled by or a side affect of your form of BC. It could very well have been that my body was changing on it's own, and due to that, I needed a BC change as well. I see some of you blame the Ring for some symptoms that could just be natural to your own specific body type. Talk to your Dr. to see if a switch would be the right thing for you. There may be other factors like stress, depression, anxiety and anemia that make your symptoms worse, not your NuvaRing.

Hello,
Just thought I would add some pro nuvaring commentary to the chorus of horror stories here. I've been on the nuvaring for about two years now and so far I have no babies (yay!) and no side effects I could confidently link to the ring. Like most women I get headaches (about once a week or so), experience pms, and my sex drive is not what it was in the first few weeks of my relationship but I'm unwilling to ascribe any of these 'side effects' soley to the ring. In particular I find it difficult to believe as some of your postings indicate that the side effects of the ring seem to be worse than the pill- depression, weight gain (in one post 40-50 lbs!), headaches, etc. when the dosage or hormones is lower. So I guess simply put, I am satisfied with the ring and although it's not my place to criticize another woman's choice of birth control, I wouldn't let these posts scare you away from what is, in my experience, the best form of hormonal birth control based on its user-friendliness and lower dosage of hormones.

3 weeks exactly since I had mine removed. Still no weight loss or improvement in acne, but at day 11...I noticed that my joint pain was completely gone and just realized today that I have not had any heartburn in a while. (I had been having severe heartburn on a daily basis for months.) I had a period the 2nd day after having it removed which lasted for about a 5 days and was heavy with clotting. Then I had another period which started last Monday, lasted for five days and was heavy with clotting as well. That 2nd period ended last Friday (May 23) and here it is Tuesday and I've noticed some more spotting as if I'm about to start another one! I started taking vitamins with extra iron to prevent any anemia with the 2nd period...but holy cow! I wasn't expecting a 3rd one within a month!

I'm wondering if this might be a reason that my weight is staying on and the acne, too: Maybe I'm staying in a state of PMS with all these periods. I'm hoping this one won't be as heavy as the last 2...but at least I have an appointment scheduled with a new GYN on June 16th.

Thank God I found this site. My doctor thinks I'm mad, she has a Mirena herself and thinks it's wonderful. I had the Mirena put in because of severe blood loss anemia two years ago. I've had a headache on the left side of my head for 18 months. Heart palpitations right before my unpredictable periods, chest pain, serious stomach upsets, numbness and tingling that made me think I had MS or a brain tumor, and countless other frightening symptoms. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma when I was 23 which was successfully treated, this Mirena has had me concerned daily that I had relapsed and that it just wasn't being picked up. I've been so frightened of what's been happening to me, but now I will INSIST that the thing is removed right away. Thank you so much for you honesty about your symptoms, I no longer feel alone.

I am sorry too hear that so many women are having bad side effects from taking Loestrin24Fe. My experience for the last four months has been just the opposite. I was having severe bleeding from fibroids every month during my cycle and it was causing me many problems including severe anemia. Since I began taking these pills I am very pleased. My cycles last two days and are very light compared to before. I have experienced some tenderness in the breast but that is all. Everything else is just great. I give all the glory to God because he gave my new doctor the knowledge to recommend this as an alternate to having surgery. No depression, nausea etc. Thank you Jesus!!!!!

After reading everyones complaints about the Mirena, I am convinced that everything I have been feeling is because of the IUD. I have a new name for it, I like to call it the b---h maker. I had mine taken out on 5-15. Started bleeding 1 hour after removal. The bleeding has gotten heavier as the week progressed, and am passing large clumps. Was all this blood just sitting in there this whole time, could that explain the 15 lbs I put on? Maybe I need a DnC?

I had my Mirena placed in Oct 2006. Since then I have had increasing migraines and incredible mood swings. I can't seem to get control over my anemia due to my crazy menstruation (I had two week long periods for nearly 8 months when I had it placed but my doc convinced me to tough it out a bit longer). AND, severe panic attacks. These started about 1 week ago...but my anxiety has increased greatly over the last year...to the point of keeping my kids home from activities because I was fearful of what may happen. We also have called 911 twice in the last week due to dizziness, tingling/pain down side of body, shortness of breath, hyperventilation etc. I am positive this is due to the Mirena and plan on having it removed as soon as possible.

In September of 2007 my then 13 year old daughter was put on Singular for mild asthma. At the time she was a straight A student, vice president of our school and a popular girl who's guidance counselor described as "the glue of her grade" because she was so well liked. In November she told me that she was struggling with advanced Latin and Science. She asked to drop down to on grade Latin so we did. In December her science teacher notified us that she had a C average. She told me that she thought she had ADD/ADHD and she couldn't keep up. At the same time she was having a lot of problems with friends at school and we just attributed it to being 14. 3 weeks ago we discovered that she is significantly behind in English and it was then that she told me that she is been having horrific night mares. She said that they usually involve someone killing her or her killing herself. She said that they were so graphic that she couldn't repeat it out loud. She also said that she would feel waves of anxiety that would come over her at school and she would act "witchy" to the kids in her class for no real reason. She said that sometimes when she is trying to do her homework she will read the same passage for 2 hours and still have no idea what it's about. She also said that the suicidal thoughts from her sleep happened during they day and that she had thoughts of her harming herself. Fortunately her pulminologist told us that this may be caused by singular and we immediately took her off of it which was 2 weeks ago. She has only had 1 "bad dream" not even a nightmare since. She had one anxiety attack 3 days after she was off it and she describes her moods as the "cloud lifting....slowly". Now, we have to pick up the pieces. Her grades have suffered, her friendships have suffered and most of all her self esteem is very low. I'm grateful that we found out the cause but I feel as if my daughter lost a year of her life and I worry that because Merck won't admit there are side effects we can't find out how long it remains in their system. Is anyone else concerned about the long term affect and has anyone pursued a class action suit to try to get this drug tested properly?

Has anyone experienced hair loss while on Femcon? I have longer hair and in the past two weeks I have had so much hair faling out I am really worried about it.

I took Zyrtec for some time, as a prescription med. 14 months ago, my blood pressure spiked, for no apparent reason and after 8 different anti-hypertensive drugs, I had no improvement. I was extremely lethargic, I gained 20 pounds, I had severe dizziness, couldn't sleep through the night the last 5 months, my heart would race, constant back ache, and I felt like a snail - no energy to even walk for 10 minutes. Last week, after 3 nights without sleep, and a blood pressure that was so high, I feared a stroke, I went to the emergency room. After a blood test, I was told I was severely anemic! The doctor immediately administered oxygen and ordered a blood transfusion. I continued taking the Zyrtec while in the hospital, and the nursing staff, and my doctor were baffled that my blood pressure would not drop, it continued to rise! All the cardiac tests they performed came back normal, so there's no problem with my heart. The chest X-ray came back clean, no problem with my lungs, I was just anemic, but that didn't explain why my blood pressure would not drop. I came home and forgot to take a dose one night. I slept through the night, but thought "that's because I'm so tired," and the next morning when I checked my blood pressure, it dropped significantly. I couldn't figure out what was going on, I was going CRAZY! That night, I took the Zyrtec, and ALL the horrible symptoms returned. Well, I was pretty sure what the problem was and began researching the next morning. I some information that stated some severe side effects were found after it went to market. The side effects included: aggressive reaction, anaphylaxis, cholestasis, convulsions, glomerulonephritis, hallucinations, hemolytic anemia, hepatitis, orofacial dyskinesia, severe hypotension, stillbirth, suicidal ideation, suicide and thrombocytopenia. That was the LAST dose I took, my blood pressure began to drop the next day and I began to improve overall. I'm scheduled for a kidney function test because that was my backache, the glomerulonephritis; which is an inflammation of the blood vessels in the kidneys. It may be temporary, but can lead to scarring and damage to the point of failure, requiring dialysis and transplant.

I was prescribes Levaquin 500mg for 10 days for sinusitis. On the second day, I woke up with a migraine and took Aleve. The headache accompanied by dizziness lasted 10 days or so. As time has passed, I have pain in my right shoulder and bicep and stiff/swollen joints in the back of my neck. It has been 4 months since I took Levaquin and my symptoms have only gotten worse. I have been on bed rest for a week just after a simple 5 minutes on an elliptical machine. Additional problems along the way have been anemia, my vision got extremely worse with retinal degeneration, anxiety, diarrhea, fatigue, irritability, and numbness in my hands and feet. My doctor says he believes me but mentioned fibromyalgia. My symptoms don't even fit that disease. Friends don't believe me either. I am a pharmaceutical rep. The FDA needs to pull this drug off the market. Why won't they do it? Someone has a connection someone. I am almost 31 years old and I don't know how much more my body can take. I miss my friends, tennis, and even normal daily tasks like opening a car door and sitting for an extended period of time. DO NOT TAKE LEZAQUIN EVER.

I've been on various BCP for almost 10 years now (was diagnosed with dysmenorrhea and menoragia). The last year and a half have been on Yaz. I've had extreme fatigue (to the point where I was thinking I had fibromyalgia or CFS) for almost that entire 10 years. My blood tests always came back perfectly fine (no anemia, no thyroid problems; which at that point doctors did not want to deal with me any more and would try to through it off as depression). I've also almost constantly had stomach pain, not severe, but nagging and am nausiated most of the time.

My doctor switched me to Yaz in order to help stop the hormonal migraines, terrible mood swings, and increasingly bad periods (bleeding and cramp wise), and dizziness (that had come on within the past 2 months) that the Mircette was giving me. At first I felt relief (mostly in the dizziness, mood swings and migraines, but not from the fatigue or stomach aches). Increasingly though the migraines have progressed to where I now get them for 2-3 days before my period and 2-3 days after my period. Skipping the period does nothing because 2 days after starting a new pack I get a migraine (my doctor tells me that all the pills are the same except the last few, but it has happened multiple times now, so something must be different).

After a conversation I had with a friend who noticed that her fatigue would lift while she was menstruating and said that her doctor had said that this was because of the break in hormones (and not having put two in two together that those were the only times I wasn't fatigued either), I've decided that I have had it with birth control pills and am going to see if my older body will now work without them. I recommend to anyone who does not need birth control pills for a severe medical condition to NOT use them. They mess up your body.

I posted not too long ago as my symptoms first began creeping up on me, high chloesterol, depsite a lot of exercise and eating healthy and having a normal body fat percentage. (AND I MEAN SO HIGH THAT I SHOULD WEIGH 500+ pounds)! I also have vitiligo, this causes skin discoloration and began having muscle aches and trouble sleeping at night. I had been on Yasmin for a little over a year and taken a break for 3 months before getting back on and symptoms started creeping up 2-3 months after coming back on Yasmin. I have aslo began to have hair loss in the past few months, gained 17 pounds in 4 months despite excerising and eating healthy. I began having hert palpitations and my late night writing can be attributed to trouble sleeping and overwhelming anxiety. I also have a lower sex drive now and am very depressed. I have been off Yasmin despite my doctor not believing a low dose pill could be causing all this, for one month. I have had withdrawals without a doubt, I am having severe breakouts, my breasts are so tender air caused by a fan hurts them and I want to cry all the time. The worst thing of all is my doctor won;t believe me, but how else can all this be happening. Blood tests ruled out thyroid and anemia as culprits as well as pregnancy (apparently I wouldn't notice that the 17 pounds was really a baby-what are these doctors thinking I know my body!). I hear all your symptoms and I wish I could say that they go away as soon as you get off the pill, but I can say if you just got on and things seem to be great realize I was on it for over a year and swore by it becasue it was the first pill that seemd to help with my emotions and cramps...but that all changed and my life feels like it is crashing down. I may never convince my doctor that yasmin is doing this to my body...they don't blieve me that I'm not eating fast food and siiting on my butt eating fatty foods all day and that is why I'm gaining weight and have dangerously high chloesterol, but I hope I can convince you all. I have had bad luck with all pills, I am allergic to spermicide and can't use diaphrams, I had my period for a month solid on the shot, but what Yasmin is doing to me makes me worry that my life is truly at risk...I would rather deal with cramps that are crippling than be ridiculed by doctors and hate myself the way yasmin makes me fo.

I am very skeptical of all of the claims I have read here. I am no advocate of GSK or any other drug company for that matter, but I think people are getting carried away with attributing their symptoms to Advair. The known side-effects are readily available, anything else is purely based on assumption. I agree that Advair may in fact have many more possible adverse effects than they let the public know, but let us be careful about making ourselves little scientific researchers and concluding a causal relationship based upon a single case study (and an informal one at that). Talk to your doctor about trying something with less risk, such as Singulair, Azmacort, Intall, Fluticasone Propionate, etc. Please though, be careful not to be so quick to claim generalizable findings based on your specific case. I myself am going to work with my physician to attempt a gluten-free diet and a less invasive medication therapy. Advair is not habit-forming or addictive, so withdrawals are doubtful at best. Read up on the pharmacology of Advair (salmeterol in particular), and you can come to your own conclusions. Best wishes to all of you fellow asthmatics!

I had Mirena inserted on the September 2007. Friday I had it removed. I am 35 and a mother of 5 children and suffer from heavy periods and severe anemia so Mirena was supposes to be the cure. My husband kept complaining that he could feel it while we were having sex so I had it clipped shorter. He still complained about it. I felt more tired and my periods there were only a slight improvement(bleeding more days but not as heavy after the first two days). The cramping the week prior and during the first couple of days of my period was unbearable. I have gained 10pounds and had a mid section belly roll that I have never had before. I always felt bloated and woke up with swollen fingers(the only other times I can recall feeling this way was during pregnancy).
After a few days of having it removed, my mid section feels less bloated but I have had Flu like symptoms. Nausea, a little vomiting, constant headache and diarrhea.
I will keep you all posted. Best wishes everyone.

Has anyone here ever heard of anemia being associated with Toprol? Since they increased the dosage of my husband's Toprol, he has developed anemia and they cannot find a cause but every time I ask about the possibility that it could be the meds causing it (he is on coumadin, too), no one will firmly say no - always a "could be" - so just wondering if anyone else has had this experience. Thanks!

I have read all of the symptoms on this page and have many of them. I too was on all of the statins but had to stop due to terrible muscle aches, pain and fatigue. This is my second attempt at Welchol and the same as before lower back and hip pain, foot pain, lethargy and trouble sleeping. Dr said not absorbed by the body so no side effects, B.S. I also had a strange bout of anemia before, I'll bet it was the Wechol then too. I'll take my chances with the Cholesterol I can't live like this. There must be something else we can take?

Have been taking Lipitor for about 11 years. Fairly recently increased dosage from 10mg to 20mg. For about the past week have begun to experience tingling, numbness and general ache in legs, arms, sometimes cheeks and fingers. Spoke to doctor who seems stumped by these symptoms. Will be doing blood tests to test thyroid, anemia, B-12 levels etc.etc.etc. Given what I have read here I can't help but think I know what the problem is. I should mention I had quadruple bypass 12 years ago so the doctor doesn't want any spike in cholesterol levels.

Very few side effects. My father was put on 30 mg of Prednisone to control an inflammation that he was having in his body. It seemed to work well. He had also lost considerable weight, had anemia and was admitted to the hospital prior. So I wasn't worried about the common side effect of Prednisone of weight gain, as post-hospital we were glad he was gaining weight. I don't know if it was a side effect, as he only slowly gained a pound or two each week and then eventually plateaued about about his old weight.

We've now started tapering it, at my recommendation, not the doctor's!, and we are not seeing any return of side effects yet. He did have a bit of the puffy face, and is a bit compulsive, but we don't know if that's because of his Alzheimer's or the Prednisone.

I wanted to let some other know, as I've done a lot of reading/research, looking at the prescribing and pharmakinetics of the drug, it seems important that the taper is most critical when you are nearing 5 mg. This is because 5 mg is about the amount that your body naturally makes, so if your adrenal glands have stopped making it, it would take some time for them to 're-awaken'.

Therefore, the typical recommended tapering schedule is something like 10 mg per week, then slowing it down at 10 mg, and then real slow at 5 mg, eventually going to like 1 mg pills, as you try to continue down to no pills.

While I think Prednisone did put an end to a life-threatening inflammation for my father, I like many others would have liked much more upfront info and options from the docs. We are now on a slow 3 month taper schedule, that nobody realized we'd have to do when we started.

BTW, my dad has mild/moderate swelling in his ankles and toes, but nothing in his hands or abdomen. We don't know if it's because of his loss of weight, muscle and weakening of his heart, and/or some interference with his adrenal-regulation from an ACE inhibitor, Lisinopril, that he is on for his hypertension, or the Prednisone.

Any advice on the swollen ankles would be appreciated.

I took Levaquin as a treatment for pneumonia. After 3 days on the drug, all my joints were stiff and I had difficulty breathing. I called my doctor and I was told to continue the medicine. After a week, the reaction continued to get worse, I could hardly move, my breathing got worse and I had to be put on oxygen. My hands were like clubs and I couldn't open anything. I sat in a chair all day. It took me a half hour to get out of the chair to go to the bathroom. My hands were so swollen that I could not flush the toilet with my hands. I had to use my elbow to flush it. I saw doctors thinking I had rheumatoid arthritis. I saw pulmonary specialist and my lung capacity was at 48%. They sent me for many blood tests, cat scans, and I even had an MRI to try to find the cause. Finally, my heart doctor found out that some people were having adverse reactions to Levaquin. She found out that it caused severe anemia, breathing problems, and joint pain. She dosed me iron and within a week I was finally beginning to see the swelling in my hands start to decrease. I was out of work for 3 months.