Balance problems symptoms and conditions

Doctors in denial: Numbness in hands and loss of dexterity due to Carpel Tunnel, not damage to Ulner Nerve, diminished vision - need cataract surgery, loss of balance- need brain scan. Urinary problems- need Flowmax, or whatever it is. Do they fail to link Levaquin to these and many other symptoms? My father has been in hospital for over two weeks due to this drug. Has been given one drug after another. Who knows what side effects they will have. Found faxes my father sent to his doc. Symptoms seemed to appear within two weeks of taking 7 day course, 500 mg. Vision diminished , balance problems, loss of appetite , swollen feet and ankles, dry mouth. urination problems, pain in calfs, hardly able to walk, numbness in hands........ On and on. Becoming human cash register for docs. Tell everyone at hospital the underlying problem was created by Levaquin. Now wears wrist tag saying allergic to Levaquin. This is becoming a fiasco. How do you get this out of your system?

I have been taking Lamictal for 8 years for the clinical diagnosis 'double depression.' I now have no depression so for me this medication as been a miracle.

I take 100 mg at bedtime. I have very vivid dreams every night which I do remember upon waking. Whatever I am thinking about or watching on TV seems to be the theme of my dreams so I have stopped watching frightening movies or television.

I also experience balance problems, I have difficulty reading out loud, and thinking of words when I am having a conversation. My cognitive problems are not with thinking but rather verbal expression. I have a lot of problems with three dimensional thinking, as in reading blueprints.

I suppose as my doctor suggested you have to decide if the quality of life is improved weighed against the side effects. As my doctor said "you'll have to decide whether you want to be depressed or clumsy." This is a no brainer for me after many years of depression.

I started using lipitor from my doctor, it lowered my cholesterol all around but I started to have lower back pains. At first I thought it might be prostate cancer, but after having to MRI's done they found no cancer, thank god. But I went to an orthopedic surgeon to see what the problem was. He looked at the mri's and saw lower dics hitting my nerve endings. He also thought that it might be muscle problems so he gave me 3 epidurals and that helped for a while took away about 50% of my pain, but I still have the pain, It is hard for me to get comfortable when I sit or even when I am sleeping. I don't want to think that it is the lipitor that is doing it to me but after talking with others I feel it is time to talk to my doctor about it. My doctor said that lipitor is the safest one that will do very little harm to my liver. I am not a doctor so I would not know.. My cholesterol level was 246 at one time now it is 175. I am now facing possible spine fusion to help correct my disc problem. But will also ask doctor to prescribe something else.

Alan

After by-pass heart surgery in 2002, my cardilogist put me on 40mg of zocor.
I was in good health with no physical limitations. I had no heart damage. The restriction of heart arteries were found due to my stress test that was performed each year as a part of my annual Physical. After surgery I was on zocor for three years, during that time I experienced a little tiredness, little weakness, a little muscle aches. some tingling in my right arm and shoulder. I went to my heart doctor Jan. 2006 and he changed me to vytorin (10mg zetia and 40mg zocor). about 6 months all of the about symptoms got worse.
By Jan. 2007, my muscles became so stiff, I could not walk, had balance problems, severe muscle aches and cramps, numbness and tingling in both arms and hands, also stifness and pain in my hands, stiffness and pain in both feet, stifness and pain in my back and weird nerve sensations over my entire body. During Jan. and Feb 2007, I was seen by my family doctor, a neurologist, and a muscle doctor. Thanks to the internet, I found info on zocor and zetia, which is the drug vytorin. Warnings described the same symptoms I am experiencing. I stopped vytorin, I am not taking any statins drugs now. My doctor order a blood test to check for muscle damage, It indicated severe damage, a Creatine level of 770. This level should not be over 200. After being off the drugs for 30 days the creatine level dropped to 645. My condition has improved by 25%. I am walking a little better, but I still having muscle problems, there is improvement. I think there will be a very long recovery. There seems to be some evidence that these Statins affect people of age much more than the young. I am 70 years old. PLEASE PEOPLE, IF YOU ARE TAKING STATINS DRUGS, STOPPED NOW! SLOVE YOUR CHOLESTROL PROBLEMS BY OTHER MEANS. Since I stopped my cholestrol has gone from 157 to 280, but I am not going back taking these drugs. I am trying the natural way now. I have read post after post on many web-sites of people with the same symptoms that were using these drugs. The drug companies and the FDA are responsible for the the degradation of people's health taking these statin drugs.

I have read these sites and boy wait till you hear what i have to say. I had a very very severe reaction from levaquin one year ago. I had heart palpitations, nervous system was stimulated, joint pains. severe muscle twitching, firing in my neck and arms, my shoulder became locked. also I had anxiety sort of symptoms. I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I was not anxiety befor the levaquin. And balance problems I couldn't walk without tipping over. I still have this problem today but it come and goes. I have vasculitis (vascular spasms) all over my body. It effects my breathing, heart, and bowels. My blood pressure went up sky high and my blood pressure was not like this before. I am also sensitive to other medications. My body was destroyed from this drug! It belongs in HELL. Yes people need to know about this drug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started to have balance-problems, problems with depth perception, falling, walking with a cane, experiencing muscle weakness, pain and spasms, walking with a walker. Finally had to stop working because I could not get around by myself. I'm a 61 year old female on Zocor for three years. I'm seeing my third (via referral chain) neurologist. No-one has ever made an association with my progressive debilitation and Zocor.
I am going to STOP taking Zocor. I feel deeply that it is the cause of my neurological problems. Very limited discussions on neurological side effects.

Took Levaquin for 5 days as a prophylactic measure to prevent infection from a prostate biopsy. Experienced severe Achilles tendon pain and itching and swelling in both feet after the 1st 2 days but did not originally attribute it to the Levaquin. The pain has finally subsided after 12 weeks but some swelling remains. Could barely walk in the beginning and still have some balance problems.
I take no other medications and do not jog or exercise strenuously. I had a heart catherization 1 week ago and all is OK (no blockages). I have been to 4 doctors and only one would say that it might have been the Levaquin. Meanwhile I have been left to my own devices. Found some exercises on the internet to strengthen my Achilles tendons which have helped and found that lotion and massage have helped my feet.

I have been on Toprol XL (25 mg/daily) for 6 months (F/41). I was really glad to come across this message board in a frantic search of "weight gain with Toprol XL". Have gained 10 pounds in these 6 months and for the life of me I cannot get any weight off, my body is just stuck where it is at. My problem is I have to lose weight since I am overweight about 40 pounds right now so this is so frustrating to me. At least I am not alone, thanks for posting your problems also with weight gain. I take Toprol for my fast beating heart, was having bad palps last January. Toprol does work well in keeping my B/P down (tends to be just a bit high) and the palps are non existent for me on this drug. I do have swollen ankles (at night) ok in the mornings. But the weight gain is really making me go crazy especially when I need to lose weight. This just isn't going to work so this morning I am cutting that pill in half and getting the heck off of it. I do find that if I stay away from sugar/caffeine my palps really don't bother me nearly as much. I went on it because the job I had was very stressful and brought back my palps again after not having them (as bad) for several years. I just hate those "fluttering" heart beats, they are hard to deal with and Toprol takes them away and keeps me "calmer" so I will miss Toprol for those effects, but not the weight gain! Thank you for this message board, it's been so helpful.

I just found this site when I was looking up side effects from Lipitor. I've been on 40mg for about 8 years or so - Zocor and Mevacor before that. Had by-pass surgery 18 months ago (I'm a 53 year old male). Lately my shoulders and sometimes my elbow ache although it's more annoying than anything. I work out every other day and have no problems with that and actually I'm in better shape then I've been in 25 years. In addition to the joint pain, I do seem to be more tired than I should be. My wife's on 20mg and has been experiencing slight balance problems, a writer's cramp sort of thing, as well as being tired. Since this is all relatively new to me it'll be a topic when I visit my doctor in a few weeks. Thank you all for your posts. I've learned alot today.

I have had stomach upset, extreme fatigue, horrible dreams when i can sleep, sit up most of night cant sleep, also have balance problems, almost fell 4 or 5 times. I thought i had reflux disease, took anti acid pills didnt help, also have a lot of swelling in my legs, despite after taking water pills, and i notice after i take the medication i start getting to feel bad, i was given this medication for a sinus infection, i was given a 14 day supply i have one left lavaquin 500 mil

,

I have terrible balance problems when sitting and walking. It feels like I am standing on a raft in the ocean when I walk.

Sincerely,
John

memory loss, horrible back pain, joints pain, muscular pain, neck pain. I have had surgeries to no avail, I just had 2 Epidurals to my Lumbar and Cervical region, numerous MRI's, x-rays, and it all came down to Lipitor...I went to a spinal surgeon 8 days ago, begging him to do spinal surgery as I have some collapsed discs, he could not figure out why I had so much pain in my right side when the pain should have been on my left side. He stated that he wouldn't do surgery as it could make the pain worse. He could not understand what was going on..as I was leaving in tears because the pain was so bad, and I couldn't find help, his nurse caught me at the elevator and told me the doctor wanted me to try going off Lipitor for 3 weeks to see if the pain got better. I have been off of Lipitor for 8 days and the pain has already subside so much that it is unbelievable. for the first time last night, I slept without my Vicodin and muscle spasm relaxers. I have gone through memory losses, balance problems. I have been to nuerosurgeons, Orthopedic specialists, Neurologists, I have had 8 surgeries for joint pain. I really believe that Pfizer ought to reimburse us for all of our pain and suffering, our testings done, our Epidurals, our medicines that we have been living on. for the last 8 months the pain was pure hell. I hope the food and drug administration and Pfizer is happy with themselves for not releasing the true story and the symptoms of Lipitor that can and are happening to people all over our country.

I'm a 44 year old male. I was on Lipitor for four years and recently started having severe cramps in my thighs and calf muscles, severe dirrhea, severe fatigue and bloody urine. I asked my doctor if it was the Lipitor, and he said it wasn't. Probably a virus he said because the Liver tests came back okay even though had some jaundice.

Like a fool, I continued with the prescription and the cramps got worse in my legs and feet. I ended up stopping the Lipitor on my own in February 2005, nearly a year later, as the symptoms had not gone away, and I developed muscle twitches and tremors. My doctor then sent me for more blood work that showed my muscle enzyme levels were over 350% above my normal range, and a subsequent EMG/NC&VT showed the muscles had been weakend on my left side! He then had me discontinue the Lipitor and all statins indefinitely.

As it turns out I am not the only one in my family with adverse reactions to statin drugs. My cousin and his father, both on my dad's side both have the same total cholesteral level I have at 268, and both are statin sensitve. My grandmother (same side) and her sister had very high cholesteral and both died from congestive heart failure at 87 and 92 respectively.

I went from a fairly active person to someone who became really old fast. I now have to push myself out of a chair like my 93 year old uncle did.

I am no longer taking any statin drugs and will control my cholesteral through diet and exercise. If I live to 92 like my great aunt did with no problems until she became that age, I should be so lucky.

John

Irritability, Lightheadedness/Balance problems, Muscle Aches
(But only antibiotic my digestive system can tolerate! One has to weigh the cost/benefit. It's a great drug for tough sinus infections)

I was taking Lipitor for 1Year. I began to fall and I couldn't get up. I was hospitalized and a neurological workup indicated that I had fibromyolysis caused by Lipitor. I stopped taking Lipitor. I was given a walker and sent for physical therapy. After many sessions of being treated as if I was a stroke victim I was released because I wasn't making any progress. I spent 3-4 months in the walker and 6 months with a cane. I was ver active prior to this, but it took a year to be able to walk without assistance. 3 years later I am about 85% recovered. I lift weights and walk about 3 miles a day. I am thrilled, since I could not even lift my legs initially. I still have weakness in my left leg and balance problems. I want to get the word out. I have been interviewed on local television twice. I woul like to go national . Len ***