Bad enough symptoms and conditions

I am a 51 year old male who has taken a 10 mg dose of Lipitor for years. I thought it was a miracle drug as I had no side effects. I am a retired police officer and Army Reserve Officer and have maintained good physical shape. I retired a year ago. About the same time, my doctor raised my dosage to 20 mg. During the last year, I have had physical problems pop up. They include not being able to make it through the night without having to get up and go pee. I realized that it is because of reduced flow and I do not fully purge when I do go. I went to my doctor and had my prostrate checked; it's OK. He said it was just getting old. I thought I have been getting arthritis. When ever I sit for very long, I get joint/muscle pain, I have been having pain in my hands and feet and need to stretch when first getting up in the morning. The worst is my knee. It was surgically repaired 9 years ago. The last year it started hurting bad enough that I must sleep with a pillow between my knees and still wake up from pain at night.

Eight months ago I moved. My mail order prescription (90 day supply) was recently running out of the 20mg Lipitor, but I found an old bottle of the 10mg dose and started taking it until I identified a new doctor and got a new prescription. My symptoms began to disipate That lead me to start thinking about whether lipitor had any side effects. I never thought of it until this morning. I googled Lipitor side effects and found this site and started reading about people with similar issues. I had no significant problems with the 10mg dose and may just reduce again to that level. I'm making an appointment today with my new doctor to talk about it.

It made me feel bad. it made me tired and i had some nausea (not too bad). i already felt bad enough so it wasn't worth it. it helped clear up my outbreak. it did this slowly but i'd hate to know what it would have been like without it.

I am 43 years old and I do have one child. I have been on Loestrin 24 Fe for approximately 7 months and I will discontinue after this pack. I took BC pills several years ago and resumed recently to help alleviate my increasingly long periods. I was a personal trainer for sometime and have always worked out, ate sensibly and kept my weight at a normal level...until now. I have gained approximately 10 pounds on this pill. I now have "muffin tops" as my daughter so eloquently told me and I feel like I am in a continuous state of pregnancy! I am bloated, irritable, depressed and I bleed at any given time. Not to mention lethargic! I have NO ENERGY. I would much rather have the lenghy periods and deal with PMS for 7 to 10 days per month versus feeling like this 30/31 days per month. It's bad enough getting older and realizing that my metabolism is not the same as it used to be...I just don't want any help!

I had gotten Mirena a while back.(maybe 2 years ago) Everything seemed fine to me. But then I started getting really sick, and getting headaches. It was the strangest thing. It seemed like every weekend, there was one day where I was so sick that I couldn't get out of bed. I was throwing up at least 5 times a day, and couldn't eat or drink anything without it coming right back up immidately. All while having an awful pain in my lower neck area, and was very sensitive to light. It was horrible and very stressful, being the mother of a young child and sick almost every weekend.
I went to my doctor, after suffering through this for many months, and she told me I was having migraines. I had no idea because I had never had one in my life, prior to getting mirena. She gave me a perscription for migraine medication. My nausea was so bad that I had to get a nasal spray version of the medication, because I would throw up the pills before they got a chance to work.
So... months went by... I was waiting for things to get better. They didn't. And I got the mirena removed, and went back on the depo shot (only to gain 20 lbs in less than a year)
Now here's the strange thing. The nausea stopped (which is fantastic) but I haven't been using mirena for about a year now, and I still am getting the migraines. They aren't nearly as otfen, or as severe, but when I do get them, they are bad enough that I need to take my perscribed medication to make them go away, and take a really long nap in hopes that it will be gone by the time I wake up. I can't go to work, and I have to keep the lights off in the house until it goes away, and my poor son is looking to play with his mom, and all she can do is sleep.
Why is this?
How can I still be having side effects from something that I haven't used in almost a year?
Will this go on for the rest of my life?
Am I the only one that this happened too?
I really need some answers...

It's too bad that I had these side effects, because I would have loved to continue to using it. So if you are looking into this product, keep in mind that it hurts to get put in... but it works great IF you don't get painful migraines and spend a whole day throwing up stomach acid. It's your choice.

I've been taking Yasmin for a year and a half now and have been suffering so many side effects I thought I might be imagining them. But now I know I'm NOT! 2 months after taking Yasmin my hair started to fall out in clumps, and has been falling out for over a year now. As if that wasn't bad enough, I've been moody, weepy, anxious, feeling ringing in my ears and vertigo, tiredness and so many other side effects described by other women on this forum.

I felt not myself for so long now and put it all down to the stress of a moving to a new country. But I know better now and only wish I made the connection sooner. I am going to stop taking Yamin immediately, but am worried about losing even more hair. Have any of you had similar experience, and most importantly - will it grow back?

My doctor started me on Mevacor a few months ago at 40 mg - I could hardly stand up to walk - my back was killing me! Then she put meon 5 mg of Zocor - okay for the first few weeks, and my cholestorol went down so she told me to double it to 10 mg - then the leg cramps started. I stopped taking if for a few weeks and restarted at 5 mgs (again) last week - now my legs are aching and my ankles are swollen big time. Also noticing fatique and some blues/depression. I told my doctor today that I am not taking it anymore! Not asking her, TELLING her.

I had a grand-mal in October of '06, so I was first prescribed on Dilating. And then in December of '06 they also had me on Lamictal, but 50mg daily along with 300mg Dilantin. I was totally off Dilantin as of March '07 and was taking 200mg Lamictal daily. I had no side effects from Lamictal until I started noticing in May that I had staring spells. I didnt pay attention to it at first, and then I noticed that my staring spells were happening way more frequently. And if that wasnt bad enough, as time progressed, I started feeling spacey, had shortness of breath every once in a while, and a bit of anxiety. Now it is up to the point where Ive just about had it, since I've been spacing out wayyyy too much, and I sometimes feel SO fatigued for no reason...like the lifes been drained out of me. My vision has also been getting blurry which is another big annoyance. What Im wondering is that why would they give you medicine if it wasnt out for too long or even officially approved? Im hoping I can get off this medicine! I wanna drive and actually be able to pay attention to normal things instead of spacing out.

Hi, I have been on Yasmin for 2 years now. I have ALWAYS been a very confident and outgoing person. For the past year i have had panic attacks regularly. I am very hot at night, I have trouble sleeping, yet my period pains are at a minimun and I have few symptons of PMT. (Mind you it is still bad enough to take codeine and paracetamol on the first day of bleeding).

Other side effects that I thought would clear up but which haven't are:- dark patches on my forehead and above my lip (doc said they would go, but seem to 'come' and go) and a very sore throat accompanied by swollen glands, sometimes on the right, sometimes on the left side of my neck. My fingers are tingly and my joints are swollen. The Chest pains could be related to anxiety. I get a migraine 24-72 hours before I bleed, regular as clockwork now.

The worst is the mood swings and the depression, I just really don't recognise myself, tired and teezy all the time.

I was very happy for the first 3-6 months that I took Yasmin, but after that I have known I haven't been 'right', but my anxiety and depression have made me unable to make a decision or be focused why.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed on the site, it's great to know I'm not the only one.

Besides needing a birth control, I was put on Femcon to also regulate my cycle and try to schedule it around my wedding day. Well, it completely backfired! My family is calling this the pill from hell. It ruined my wedding night. I tried delaying my cylce by continuing the active pills (as instructed by my doctor) and instead I got breakthrough bleeding which lasted over a week along with the worst cramps I have ever felt in my life. I was on codine on the wedding day just to make it through the day. I've also been getting migraines around the clock. I've tried sticking it out. I'm now finishing my third month and again I'm having the worst cramps ever along with frequent migraines. I've been doubled over in pain for the past two days now. On top of that I've had terrible mood swings. All of my friends and family are afraid to talk to me, I'm not myself. My doctor wasn't much help either telling me that maybe I should find another form of birth control which unfortunately is not really an option for me. She claimed I'd probably have the same reaction to any pill. Is she right? Before I was on the pill I'd get pretty bad cramps and migraines (bad enough to be put on perscription pain killers back then) and was told that these symptoms would be lighter and might even disappear with the pill. Instead there much worse, almost unbearable. Does anyone have any suggestions/comments? I'm working on finding another doctor. Is there a chance these symptoms might sort themselves out if I continue considering I wasn't taking them properly at the beginning?

Okay, tried the Nuvaring for 7 days at first I was super happy because it didn't make me throw up like other birth control, but day 5 I started getting mild cramping and spotting, a headache and a twitch in my bottom lip!!!! Today is day 7 and I just took it out because I cried all day, the bleeding is now bad enough to use a tampon, the twitch hasn't gone away, I still have a headache and I told my ex-boyfriend that I f--king hate him and I don't even cuss usually!

I'm a 36 year old triathlete. I started taking Advair 3-4 years ago. I noticed immedialty that my wheezing stopped. For this reason, I thought the medicane worked well. I also noticed that heavy excersion activities became a little harder. Initially I thought it was allergies. I had less wind. I kept taking Advair because it stolpped the wheezing. 3 months ago I changed my dose from 100 to 250. My lungs started feeling heavier and it was harder for me to breath. I decided to stop taking Advair 3 days ago. I'd have headaches once in a while with Advair but I never noticed any other problems. I've stopped taking Advair for 3 days now. I feel like I can take deep breaths again. I also feel like I'm going through a withdrawal. I've had an intense headache. I'm sure it will go away. The big test will be over the next week. I'll see how I feel when I'm training. I'm not sure if my Asthma is bad enough to take medicane but I'll see. I'll keep Albueteral close by just in case. I'll post again in 1-2 weeks.

I'm 15 years old, and I've been taking Singulair since late February of this year, so about 4 months. My asthma and allergy symptoms seemed to have almost disappeared, but just recently, I've had headaches, and I've been irritable and moody according to my mom. After reading these posts, I've discovered that some weird things I've been experiencing may be linked to taking this medication. I've had weird hallucinations, in which I've been seeing and hearing things that aren't there. At first I thought it was just because I was tired and/or dreaming, but reading these other experiences, I'm starting to think otherwise. I don't think these symptoms are bad enough to quit taking it, but its starting to worry me a bit. I've told my mom about all the posts I've read on here, and that I've been experiencing many of them, but she think I'm just a hypochondriac. Any suggestions or anyone with similar symptoms?

Im 17 and Yasmin is the first pill ive been on.

for the first month/two months, i had mood swings and I felt down. I have depression anyway, but not bad enough to take medication.
I carried it on and all the side effects have gone away.

I went to a festival a couple of weekends ago and I was due a period and my doctor said I could just carry onto the next pack of pills. So i did.

during the festival i was emotional, VERY tired and just ill.
i blamed the sun and the beer haha.

however after returning, i have slept constantly, not getting any more awake, im moody, touchy and I have been getting light sensitive headaches, and symptoms of migrains but never the full migrain at once. I have had a couple of rashes.

I have never had a migrain before and also i have good skin so rashes are rare for me too.
Im not sure if i get anxiety or panic attacks because i have always been an unconfident person so possibly its been worse.

Im going to the doctors next week to check it out, but my guess is that it is yasmin which causes it.

Its annoying because before it worked just fine for me.

oh well... I guess ill have another one now haha.

My doctor prescribed me Prednisone on May 3. I'm on 10 mg. I start out on 3 tabs 2x a day for 4 days, then 2 tabs 2x a day for 3 days, then 1 tab 1x a day for 2 days. I was put on this for a sudden attack of joint pain/stiffness/swelling of my elbows, wrists, hands, knees, ankles and feet. I was in extreme pain. So far this drug has given me no side effects other than needing to urinate a little more often than usual. My pain is gone, as is the swelling. I'm almost scared to go off this b/c of the fear of the pain coming back. My blood tests came back on Friday and my doctor told me that I had Rheumitic (sorry, I know that's spelled wrong) inflammation and if the pain did come back after I stopped the Prednisone that I'd have to do more blood tests. I just turned 30 and I'm scared to death what else might be wrong with me.

Both my daughter and I have taken Singulair.

We kept my daughter on Singulair for about six months. Like many others have noted, she became violent, agressive, sassy, etc. (She was 5 at the time) After consulting a pulmanary doctor, she was taken off the Singulair and put on Advair, Orapred (for a short term) and Albuterol. The behavioral symptoms stopped almost immediately. As a side note, the brand name Orapred does not cause over-excitedness as does the generic version and Xopenex is a newer form of Albuterol that does not cause the weight gain, hperness and sleeplessness. Her asthma is well under control at this time. Trial and error is the best with all medicines, they have so many different drugs out there.

My personal experience with Singulair is mixed. Sometimes I take it with no or little side effects, and other times I have bad enough side effects that I stop taking it.

Any medication can cause bad side effects, you just have to weigh the pros and cons.

I normally do not have any problems at all using the nuvaring. I started using it a few months ago and the only thing that has really changed negatively is the discharge, but thats easy to deal with. I also have noticed, which may be a positioning problem with the ring, that when I have it in, I have this constant feeling that I have to pee, like its pressing on something it shouldnt be! The week without the ring tho, theres no feeling of that. Its not bad enough to want to get off the ring by any means, but its sure annoying.

I hve only taken it for 2 days and I have insomnia and shakiness. It's not bad enough for me to stop the medication. I was prescribed this medicatin for Tietze's disease, sinus infection and bronchitis. blood testes revealed it's a bacterial infection.

Really hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toe's here, but... the big thing that everyone here is worried about is the effect that topamax is slowing down their sex life, along with train of thought.
Not everyone must have migraines as bad as mine, or as often! Mine are everyday , and bad enough that well it's hard to say how bad they are. Anyway mine bother me enough that they effect my thought's, what I can remember (or not), And I feel like a somby with the migraines! Oh and well let's see, sex? hmmm I wake up in pain and go to bed in pain, do I feel like sex? NO ! Thank God my husband is worried about me felling better more than sex.
We own a small business, I try to do the phone and running part of the work. With the migraines as bad as they get, I have a hard time remembering who I was talking to on the phone when I got off. I have to take note's (bad one's at that) just to remember what went on in the blurr of the day. And I have had these for many year's off and on, till the last 4 to 5 months then it's become a everyday non-stop thing. I can NOT live with the migraines. My girl's help me as much as they can and my husband also, but it's hard. Each day we all just pray for help and that I can reclame my life again.
All being said, I have only started the topamax for 9 day's now and am startting to see a tiny little help. But would like to ask those here that are upset about the lack of sex and train of thought, was it better with the pain of migraines? And if so then my thought's are that maybe the topamax is too strong for you, and you should see another doctor for a 2nd outlook on your type of migraines. Beacuse there are so many types, and mild to strong.
Like I said in the start, I'm sorry if I did step on your toe's, but just not undrestanding. Don't mean to hurt feeling's at all, just my feeling's.

I started taking Yasmin about three years ago. I was so excited when my periods became shorter, more regular and less intense in pain as well as being able to see my skin clear. Then at about the end of year one beginning of year two the side effects began. Since taking Yasmin I have gained a whopping 30 lbs! It has also taken me almost a year to try and loose 16 lbs of that total weight gain. I have suffered from anxiety, severe depression, extreme anger and paranoia. It was bad enough that my regular physician prescribed Wellbutrin and Xanax. My sex drive has also plummetted to the point of non-existence making me feel horrible not being able to feel close to my fiance. There have also been problems with my vision meaning it takes me a good two minutes with lots of blinking to get a grip on my sight. Migraines have also been severe and frequent. I had a week of nothing but migraines one for every single day. I have to say since taking Yasmin I have been far from my normal self, up to the point of calling off my upcoming wedding! Thankfully I had a brief moment of normal thought and realized that it was a huge mistake. It has been agreed by all parties involved that as soon as I get a doctors appointment I will switch to some other form of BC and destroy my Yasmin pills. Those who are considering taking Yasmin STAY AWAY!!!

I am a 53 year old RN, who is pretty much up to date on medications. I have been given Levaquin IV for Crohn's flare ups, but since my surgery 4 years ago, I have been fine. I have taken it orally once before, no problems. Last week after being on Macrobid for a few days and it not working, my pcp Rx this. I almost immediately started having a gerneralized adverse reaction, shortness of breath, elevated pulse and dizziness, felt as if I would faint. It passed, and as I wasn't expecting a reaction, I was certain I was not imagining it. I went to this site and was pretty concerned, but continued taking it as I know the power of suggestion and usually dismiss "drug paranoia". Big mistake! I now have pain all over my body. All the major muscle groups are hurting. Bruising all over my legs, and insomnia. Since I already take an RX for sleep, I'm sure it is the Levaquin. I pray I do not get worse, as this is bad enough. I'm sure my PCP will tell me I'm nuts, Docs are the absolute worse. I should probably go see the nurse practitioner, might have a better chance with a nurse. Just adding my 2 cents, and if I keep one other person from taking it this is worth the time, though I work on line all the time, with no problems, my wrists are hurting as well! In the past I had a reaction to Cipro, but nothing ever this bad. The new bugs out there are all becoming immune to regular antibiotics, and if you have a UTI like I have you can get pretty desperate. DON"T EVER take this for a simple sinus infection! I would rather have headaches all day. Sinus infections eventually clear up.

My Endo priscribed this to me for high BP, and I am also assuming for the left adrenal gland mass I now have. So far the side effects I've had after he raised my dosage were painful tender breasts and lack of sex drive. After complaining to him he lowered my dosage back down to 50 mg. Anyway, the problem I've encountered since being put on Spiro is irregular periods. I've had 4 within the last month and a half! My doctor tells me the periods will balance itself out after a few months - a few months?! I don't know how much longer I can handle having periods every 10 - 14 days! It's bad enough having them, but having double what I'm used to is insane! Also, Spiro has not lowered my high BP - it seems to have raised it - it's just a nightmare, but I have to take Spiro because my Endo says it takes time - ahhh well, we'll see....

I have been taking doxy 100 once a day for about 6 months. It did bother my stomach, and still does if I don't eat before taking it. But my skin is as clear as it has ever been. Just recently though, I have had bladder problems, my stomach cramping, my lower back aching, and just two days ago, my legs started aching. Really bad. Enough to make me aggrivated all day. They feel like they've fallen asleep and are waking up, that tinggly feeling, only it doesn't go away. I am also taking 4 other meds, plus two topical for my face. Going to dr on tuesday

I think many of the side effects mentioned here are a result of yeast overgrowth- which is a side effect of most antbiotics since they kill the natural flora in your intestines. I had to deal with this for years with all kinds of bad symptoms until I hit the right web site -- started taking probiotics and yeast killers -- my health improved almost overnight.
Am on Dox. now because a dermitologist got me infected with some kind of bad bacteria. Have had some of the head symptoms described but not all the other stuff because I have been taking probiotics and yeast killers the same time. there is plenty of info on the web re this. IF YOU REALLLY WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH YOU SHOULD TRY INTESTINAL CLEANSING-- MADE ME FEEL 20 YEARS YOUNGER. NOT FOR THE WEAK- WILLED PERSON -- YOU MUST WANT TO FEEL BETTER BAD ENOUGH TO GO THRU IT BUT I KNOW IT WORKS LOOK UP ARISEANDSHINE.COM

I was prescribed this medication for an ear infection. For the first five days, I had severe headaches, dry mouth, and trouble sleeping. On the sixth day, I developed a fever of 101 and had chills bad enough to cause my teeth to chatter. I was also extremely tired and my whole body ached. I though I was coming down with the flu. I went to bed that night, but continued to suffer from chills and was unable to rest comfortably. I awoke at 4am on the seventh day and noticed I had hives all over my face and neck. By 9am, I had red blotches on my chest, stomach, back, and arms. I called the doctor and was told it was probably an allergic reaction and I should come in for a check-up. After seeing the doctor, he said this medication often has a "delayed allergic reaction" that usually shows up around 7 days after beginning the dosage. He told me stop taking the meds and that the rash would probably get worse before it gets better. That's true. It is now day 8 (late) and I have red blotches everywhere on my body and they itch a lot. I will make sure I remember to never take this medicine again. It didn't help with the ear infection either, but nothing has so far. This was the 4th different antibiotic tried.

My friend was on this for a severe infection (cellulitis) and if his infection wasn't bad enough as soon as he started the augmentin he had stomach cramps and diarrhea and constant vomiting. Finally we discovered the side effects could be that and he went off it. It almost landed him BACK in the hospital. After one day off that med the stomach issues stopped. Careful if your Dr prescribes this medicine.