Body tremors symptoms and conditions

Well here goes, I paranoid, cant go to the bathroom a lot of times, sweaty t times, sick at stomach here and there, get cold limbs sometimes. Cant remember short term at all, I honestly forget 1 minute ago , but not all the time, there is long term memory loss, which i really hate, NERVOUSNESS is horrible, stress and anxiety can be very high , unless my life is in an ideal status which is nearly never, I do get flu effects on and off, I must change patches every two days 10 percent of patients must do this, or you get withdrawals, and that is an experience in its own, you get body tremors really bad back aches, all over. nausea, tremors. If you get really hot a sweat because of the enviroment my patch runs out qucker and then you feel like you are about to collpase from to much drugs, its sort of like you get so weak and thirsty you feel like you will drop dead any moment. so avoid hig heated areas for lenghty time. I double cover my patch with clothing if outdoors without a choice.Im aggressive at times and then im often very depressed, a lot of times. Crying spells , stupid stuff i cant control, and Im no wimp so its hard to deal with. Im an ex jarhed so the weakness is character is hard to swallow. However if I didn't wear this patch i couldnt make it through a day without so much pain, that it would be unbearable. I was in the hospital weekly before this patch. I have severe back issues, things that cant be fixed, well thats it in a nutshell, there is more but you can ask me if you want, i have been on the patch for 3.5 years.

Can Statins Cause Chronic Low-Grade Myopathy?
Statins (hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase
inhibitors) are highly effective drugs for reducing serum
cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.
Clinical trials have shown that they also reduce risk for
coronary heart disease events, coronary procedures, and
stroke by about one third (1). Millions of people in the
United States and worldwide are being treated with statins.
In clinical trials and in clinical practice, statins have proved
to be remarkably safe.
The one notable side effect of statin therapy is myopathy.
A small fraction of patients who are treated with
statins will develop severe myopathy (2). In the worst cases,
severe myoglobinuria, acute renal failure, and even death
can occur. The incidence of severe myopathy is low, perhaps
1 in 1000 patients (2). Predisposing factors for severe
myopathy appear to include advanced age, relatively low
body weight, female sex, certain medications, use of multiple
medications, multisystem disease, and acute illnesses
or major surgery (3). If statins were avoided or used in low
doses in these circumstances, it is likely that the incidence
of severe myopathy could be greatly reduced.
Less severe forms of myopathy undoubtedly occur. In
some patients, fatigue and muscle pain and weakness develop
with moderately high serum creatine kinase levels
but not acute renal failure. In these cases, the myopathy
resolves when statin therapy is discontinued.
Still more patients report various muscle symptoms—
fatigue, pain, and muscle weakness—but have normal creatine
kinase levels. These symptoms probably are unrelated
to statin therapy in many patients. In middle-aged and
older people, muscle, joint, and tendon symptoms are very
common. Naturally, if a patient takes a medication that is
believed to produce muscle problems, symptoms are often
attributed to the medication. On the other hand, the major
controlled clinical trials have not detected a higher prevalence
of muscle symptoms during statin therapy versus placebo
(1). This failure of detection has generally led clinical
trialists to conclude that statin-associated myopathy with
normal creatine kinase levels essentially does not exist or
that, if it does exist, it cannot be detected above the “background
noise” of muscle symptoms in the general clinicaltrial
population.
Many physicians in clinical practice nonetheless believe
that they can identify a subset of statin-treated patients
who have a unique set of statin-related muscle symptoms.
Some patients clearly relate the onset of muscle
symptoms to initiation of statin therapy. These symptoms
may abate after discontinuation of therapy, only to reappear
when statin therapy is restarted. The number of such
patients is not large, and thus it may have been impossible
to identify them in large clinical trials.
In this issue, Phillips and colleagues (4) report on a set
of studies in four patients who had muscle symptoms during
statin therapy that resolved during placebo use. Quantitatively
measured muscle weakness also resolved during
placebo use. Muscle biopsies were performed in three patients
during statin therapy and then during placebo use.
Several pathologic changes were seen on biopsy specimens
obtained during statin therapy: increased lipid content of
mitochondria, fibers that did not stain for cytochrome oxidase
activity, and ragged red fibers. The authors suggest
that these patients had statin-associated myopathy with
normal serum creatine kinase levels.
Despite the study’s small size, we cannot dismiss these
observations as random variation in muscle structure.
However, these highly suggestive results are clearly preliminary.
The number of patients was small, and all appropriate
controls were not used. Nonetheless, this study is novel
because it used quantitative measures of muscle strength
and muscle biopsy to address the question of myopathy
with normal creatine kinase levels during statin therapy.
To be confirmed, the current data would have to be
extended to many more patients in whom muscle symptoms
are closely correlated with statin use. Reproducibility
of symptoms during therapy and symptom resolution after
discontinuation of statin therapy would be necessary. A
definitive study would have to be carefully designed and
executed. It would need to be double-blinded and placebocontrolled
and include sufficient numbers of patients to
provide a valid statistical comparison. In addition, investigators
would have to carefully consider the appropriate
selection of patients. The development of a registry of candidate
patients at multiple sites could facilitate a multicenter
study.
Is a carefully controlled, sizable study of this type
worth the investment of time and effort? To date, no evidence
indicates that prolonged statin therapy leads to permanent
muscle damage or progressive myopathy in patients
with normal creatine kinase levels. Controlled
clinical trials attest to the general safety of statins, and
symptomatic side effects appear to be limited to a relatively
small proportion of treated patients. In addition, no therapy
prevents or treats statin-induced myopathy, short of
withholding the drug. On the other hand, statins are being
prescribed to millions of people, and are usually continued
throughout the patient’s lifetime. It is certain that statins
cause myopathy in some patients. For these reasons, a valid
argument can be made for a more extensive study of lowgrade
myopathy in patients treated with statins.
In the meantime, physicians should recognize the great
benefit of statin therapy in high-risk patients and their
documented safety for most patients. For high-risk persons,
the proven efficacy for preventing cardiovascular disease
outweighs the unlikely possibility of permanent muscle
damage. Phillips and colleagues’ preliminary results
certainly do not provide adequate information on the spec-
Editorial
www.annals.org 1 October 2002 Annals of Internal Medicine Volume 137 • Number 7 617
trum, scope, or prognosis of myopathy with normal creatine
kinase levels during statin therapy. For these reasons,
prescription of statins for eligible patients should continue
despite the current results. Moreover, before discontinuing
therapy, physicians should carefully evaluate any patient
receiving statins who reports muscle symptoms. In most
cases, the symptoms will be found not to be consistent
with chronic myopathy, and often they will not be related
temporally to statin treatment. High-risk patients in particular
should not be deprived of major cardiovascular risk
reduction just because they display symptoms not clearly
documented to be closely related to statin therapy.
Despite these comments, the actions of statin on muscle
metabolism and structure deserve further investigation
to clarify the confusing area of low-grade myopathy apparently
associated with statin use in a few patients.
Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Dallas, TX 75390-9052
Current Author Address: Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD, Center for
Human Nutrition and the Departments of Clinical Nutrition and Internal
Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas,
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Y3.206, Dallas, TX 75390-9052.
Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: Honoraria (from Merck &
Co.; Pfizer, Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb; and Bayer); Grants (from Merck
& Co. and Pfizer, Inc.)
Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:617-618.
References
1. Executive Summary of The Third Report of The National Cholesterol Education
Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, And Treatment
of High Blood Cholesterol In Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). JAMA. 2001;
285:2486-97.
2. Staffa JA, Chang J, Green L. Cerivastatin and reports of fatal rhabdomyolysis
. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:539-40.
3. Pasternak RC, Smith SC, Bairey-Merz CN, Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Lenfant
C. ACC/AHA/NHLBI clinical advisory on the use and safety of statins (1)
(2). J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002;40:567-72.
4. Phillips PS, Haas RH, Bannykh S, Hathaway S, Gray NL, Kimura BJ, et al.
Statin-associated myopathy with normal creatine kinase levels. The Scripps Mercy
Clinical Research Center. Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:581-5.
© 2002 American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal
Medicine
Editorial Statins and Low-Grade Myopathy
618 1 October 2002 Annals of Internal Medicine Volume 137 • Number 7 www.annals.org

I have a 8 year old daughter that has been on Singulair since she was 2 years old. When she first started Singulair, she was also put on Flovent (an inhaled steroid), along with Albuterol for what the doctors call reactive airway disease (similar to asthma). Her triggers were allergies and having a cold. Her first flare up of mood swings alerted me to take my daughter off the Flovent. She seemed to improve a little, but still had behavior/moody issues. I had chalked them up to the "terrible twos", and not really thought much of it. As time went on, I became accustomed to the behavior that my daughter was showing. When the few complaints of stomach pains, headaches, and leg pain came along, I managed to explain them away with reasonable explanations (example: growing pains, eating too much, not enough sleep, etc.). As my daughter went off to school, I heard numerous complaints from her teachers that she lacks focus, cannot complete a task in a timely manner, easily gets distracted, and at times (more than not) is a disruption to the class. At home, I noticed a strange "tick" going on with her blinking, the constant need to repeat herself, and the battles with bursts of crying to get her to do ANYTHING. SOMETHING IS REALLY WRONG!!! I was on the edge of having a full work-up of mental tests. I have her see the school social worker weekly and I keep a constant communication with her teacher regarding her behavior. I decided to look up side effects regarding this medication. I first looked at the website for the manufacturer and saw nothing alarming, nothing about behavior affected side effects. I looked into mental disabilities (autism, aspergers, ADD, ADHD, etc.) and saw no common link to her behavior. Then I came to this site and MY JAW DROPPED!! Everything that my daughter has experienced, TO THE LETTER, has been experienced by other children. The weight gain, the occasional pains, the strange behavior. I decided that NOW is the time to act. I have seen my daughter's doctor and discussed my concerns. We are going to wean her off this stuff starting TODAY! Fear of a serious relapse of breathing problems is making us very cautious. I am kicking myself for not making the connection sooner. Wish us luck that this drug has not destroyed her chances of getting better and that this "asthma" can be controlled another way without such serious side effects.

I've been on Effexor XR 75mg for 8 months with multiple side effects; headache (feels like the top of my head will blow), stomach pains, constant nausea, excessive sweating, body tremors & a skin rash that started on my chest and has moved to my back, arms & on my scalp. The rash has to be an allergic reaction to this medication. I have went through 3 rounds of antibiotics with absolutely no response. After reading the side effects of Effexor, I am going off this drug - cold turkey. I am on day 6. You name the withdrawal symptom I have experienced them!! eg:Excessive swings in body temps- I am either sweating or chilling to the point I have to get in hot tub to stop shaking, Brain zaps, severe nausea. unending diarrhea - still hitting on day 6, nightmares, heart racing, extreme rage but I feel things are a little better today. I am sticking with this until the end. If you are contemplating getting off this drug you should talk to your doctor and keep in mind days 3 thru 6 will be the worst of the withdrawal so be ready to lock yourself in your home for about a week with hot & cold drinks(tea & 7up) blankets and pray for help to see you through.

I am on my 13th day of a 14 day course of Levaquin. I have had severe restlessness due to body tremors, and anxiety. On the 7th day I threw up and had severe stomach pain, and today I have muscle aches which have been getting progressivly worse over the course. Considering the side effects, I called my Dr. who told me to complete my course of medication, and not to worry about the side effects; this has made me seriously consider continuing seeing him. I will NOT take the last pill as I simply cannot continue to attempt to function with little to no sleep, muscle pain and panic attacks. I'm glad to have found this web site, thank you all for sharing, at least now I am sure my symptoms are from the terrible medication.

I have been on prednisone for just over a week at 40 mg for Crohn's Disease. I have been experiencing constant body tremors, exhaustion, restlessness, the inability to focus, depression to the point of being suidical, mood swings, muscle aches and pains, extra stomach pain (not from the Crohn's), as well as the usual side effects, like enlarged appetite. I am only 16, and when I was 10 or so, I was on Prednisone at 60 mg a day for about 6 months with out these side effects. When I was younger, I only experienced the "moon-face", "buffalo-hump" (a small lump that often forms on the back of the neck), extreme weight gain (50 pounds in a month or two), and extreme stretch marks.

I'm a 46 year old male. I started 10 years ago with Lipitor 5mg, after one year increased to 10mg, insurance company made me switch to Zocor 10mg. After switching with another ins company had to go back to Lipitor 10mg, had to switch again to Zocor 20mg, then my doctor took it to 40mg along with 1,000mg of niacin. Switch again to Lipitor and back to Zocor, all this transpired within a 10 year period. I have always been extremely active and very muscular. One day I noticed twitching in the upper part of both arms. When I visited my doctor, his first words where stop the Lipitor now. Within the next three months I had extreme body tremors, full body muscle cramping, extreme night sweating (would soak the sheets) and had a vibrating (it was like a humming sensation) sensation in my whole body 24/7. It's been two years now since I stopped taking this poison and I now suffer with a great deal of muscle loss in my hands, forearm, upper shoulders, butt area and feet. I have difficulties with balance, holding my bladder when I feel the urge to urinate, severe pain, difficulty lifting my arms to my head and difficulty with my speech. The sweating and vibrating feeling has gone now however my quality of life is not anything to talk about. If I new then what I know now about this statin drug I would have never takin it. If any one knows of any ways too reverse these side effects, please e-mail me at ******

I was on Geodon 80mg in the AM and 100mg in the PM (I weigh 300pounds and always have) Stopped taking it over about 3 days and am having lots and lots of sweating, whole body tremors, and nausea. My muscles are sore from all the shaking but so far my mind is clear. No doubt this is not fun but it will be worth it to be off. Should have never started this in the first place.