August 30th
2009
11:55 PM
I am a Registered Nurse and feel foolish that I wasn't able to connect the dots sooner. Yasmin's effects for me were insidious thereby slipping under the radar as the culprit responsible for all of the side effects I was experiencing. On Yasmin for 3 years:
- feelings of shortness of breath
- heart palpitations
- horrible anxiety and feelings of panic (not good when you're a nurse in the
ICU)
- insomnia (never had trouble sleeping before)
- varicose veins on my stomach??!!
- strange weight gain around my abdomen I could not lose despite my best
efforts
- ear popping and a feeling of fullness in my head
- constant runny nose requiring new prescriptions for nasal sprays and
allergy pills that did not work
- new abdominal bloating (ultrasound was negative)
- UTI (never had one of those before)
- strange colored periods
- agoraphobia (previously outgoing)
- depressed--lost interest in things I previously enjoyed, moody & angry,
- horrible fatigue (unable to jog anymore without becoming drained for days
- sharp debilitating headaches (CT negative)
- breast pain
- cellulite I've never had before
- and last but not least, compromised circulation to my right arm causing it
to go numb and change in color (Doppler showed partial arterial
obstruction that has since improved since quitting Yasmin)
Quit Yasmin 2 1/2 months ago and everything is resolving itself slowly. A big price to pay for good skin.
-- By jenny_boroj | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
April 30th
2009
9:17 AM
I am a 44 yr old female. I have been on Zocor for 2 yrs. I have never had high cholesterol. I have a family history of heart disease and after my 44 yr old brother had a heart attack and the transplant, my doctor put me on Zocor as a precaution. I have had problems over the 2 yrs and have been to the doctor many times only to be dismissed as Oh, I need to lose weight, I need to get out of the house more, I need to exercise, It must be my depression....and on and on. I have never had a kidney or liver test in 2 years. I never knew I needed on and my doctor never tested me. I have over 30 symptoms/side effects of Zocor. I only looked into the side effects after my mother-in-law had muscle break down, an intestinal blockage and a ruptured bowel and almost died a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe what I found on this site. I immediately stopped the Zocor. I started to feel better right away but it was short lived. i felt great for 1 week and then it all crept back in on me for a week and then this last week I am back in bed with dibilitating fatigue and muscle weakness. I will now list my symptoms/side effects.
Shortness of breath; heart palpitations; droopy eye lid (left eye); eye lid twitch (right eye); optical migraines; numbness & tingling of my arms (from the elbows down) and my hands; My hands "fall asleep"; Itching all over; severe muscle weakness ( I have dropped things); muscle pain; joint pain (even the little ones in my toes); leg cramps; critically anemic (on 3 iron pills per day); ruptured ankle tendon (left ankle, currently being treated with a brace trying to avoid surgery); hot flashes/flushing; cold hands and feet; dizziness;, loss of balance; headaches; blurred vision; mental fog; confusion; loss of memory; loss of concentration; extreme and debilitating fatigue; insomnia; trouble staying asleep (wake every hour); huge weight gain; swelling of calves, ankles and feet; dark colored urine; gas; upset stomach; diarrhea; stomach pain; depression; anxiety; hair loss; bruises; mouth ulcers; back pain; tingling on top of head; heaviness in my thighs; EXHAUSTION! I feel like I am 100 yrs old. I have had nights that I thought I was dying and had panic attacks that I would not survive the night. I have 3 young children to take care of. I can not even put conditioner on my hair or shave my legs in the shower because I have to get out so quickly due to exhaustion. I have to lean on one elbow at the sink to brush my teeth. When I get out of the shower I can barely breath, I am wheezing, my heart is pounding and I feel like I will collapse so I have to get out and rush to my bed. I home school my 3 children and most days we do school in my bed. Everything is an effort. I can never plan anything because most days I am incapacitated. I may have a good day and can actually go out to dinner or Walmart once or twice a month and then I can't wait to get back home and get in bed because I am so worn out. I don't see how this drug can actually remain on the market. I am so angry and upset that my doctor never told me this could happen. When I asked about side effects I was told "oh no there aren't any really". My doctor never ran tests on me. I just can't believe this. I go tomorrow for blood work and I go to the doctor on Mon to discuss the results and all of my problems. I am so afraid that I have permanent damage to my muscles and possibly my heart. I went tot he doc months ago with shortness of breath and swelling and she did an EKG and said my heart was fine and I was not having congestive heart failure. I fear I was and still am! It is not normal to be out of breath just brushing your teeth and combing your hair. I hope we all get the answers we are looking for and that we all recover from this horrible drug. God bless you all!
April 21th
2009
12:30 PM
I am a 56 year old female & have been on toprol for 7 or 8 years. I was a small business owner & under a lot of stress. I had couple of times where my heart would race & pound & I felt really strange. I went to the ER where they of course checked my blood pressure. It was a little high, but I was stressed out! After the second time this happened they put me on 50mg of toprol. I have since weaned myself down to 25 mg. I think I was having a panic attack, which I had never had before. I regret the day I ever started taking this poison. I have had such shortness of breath that I can hardly walk to my mailbox & back. I feel like I can never get enough air in my lungs. I feel a tightness in my chest all the time, sometimes my heart feels like it is beating abnormally. I am always aware of my heart beat which I never was before this med. I have gained about 20 to 30 lbs, which is very hard to lose when you feel like you are dying if you exercise. I have pain in my left shoulder, which I don't know if it is from the med or not. I do not sleep well at night & am so tired all the time it is hard to get through the day. I just overall feel like crap! It seems doctors are no help they just want to try you on other meds, I have tried that too. They are all poison I felt even worse on some of the others. I don't want to go through the rest of my life like this. Has anyone successfully gotten off this stuff? I would love to hear from you. Thanks, K. L.
-- By lipsey52 | Reply | (6) replies | Private Message me
January 21th
2009
3:00 PM
I started using Yasmin 2 weeks ago & am having serious problems like heaviness in my chest, short breath, nausea, headache, acidity. At one point I felt as if I got an heart attack! My physician sent me for an ECG yesterday & I am worried about the results! I hope to recover from all these side effects soon because my work is getting affected due to discomfort.
-- By mona123 | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
July 31th
2008
12:35 PM
I am actually crying as I had no idea what was wrong with me. I have been on Lisionopril now for about 5 years at 40 mg/day.
During those five years I have been fatigued, suffered with GERD, dry cough. Of course my doc said to lose weight.
Last month I went on a diet and all hell broke loose. I lost 25 lbs and I don't know if the weight loss released all of those Lisionopril toxins or what but here goes:
Fatique, weakness, arm and leg muscle pain, absolutely no sex drive, rib cage pain, back pain, perceived shortness of breath. Heart palpitations, dry cough with mucus. I have a lump in my throat. It got so bad I went to the ER , they drew labs and my BP was elevated. They added labetalol to the lisinopril. I came across this site and I called my doctor and I told him that I wasn't taking lisinopril anymore. I feel as if I am having a slow death. I cant function, I cant work, I am panicky and nervous.
He said to monitor my pressure with 2x/day with the Labetalol.
I was on the maximum dose and I wonder how long will it take for this poison to leave my body. I can't believe what this medicine is made from. I am more than willing to lose weight and do anything to stop taking these poisons. I would love to hear your experiences. I need all the support that I can get.
I just don't understand the sudden exacerbation of all of the symptoms unless it is the weight loss. But my BP never went down even with the weight loss.
-- By phylisrn | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
April 28th
2008
1:09 AM
I had a Kenalog injection in two trigger points (one on the right side of my spine in the shoulder blade area and one on the right side of my spine in the lower neck) on March 27, 2008. Prior to the shot, I was suffering from numbness in my right arm and leg, shooting pains and loss of motor skills in my right arm, severe muscle spasms in my back and neck, tightening in my chest and back, severe migraines, night sweats and hot flashes, vertigo/dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and chest pains to name a few. Since the injection, I have noticed an increase of heart palpitations, dizziness, severe migraines, blurry vision, excessive weight gain, severe hot flashes, tiredness, and have had trouble sleeping. In the last two weeks, I have noticed a quarter sized indentation where I received the shot in my shoulder blade area and a baseball sized indentation where I received the shot in my lower neck area. I was not made aware of ANY side effects to this shot and will DEFINITELY not get another one. It is only a month later and I have not felt any improvement in my symptoms that I had before or after the shot. I received the shot, as my doctor felt it would help with what they think is a spazzed muscle in my back shoulder blade area near the spine. The doctor who gave me the shot stated if it didn't help, they would try giving me a cervical epidural, which has its own set of scary risks! I am beginning to think I will have to live with my symptoms for the rest of my life!
-- By asmith | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
March 28th
2008
4:40 PM
Rapid weight gain,ringing in ears,bloating in legs and feet and or hole body,depression,headaches,sleepy all the time,short of breath,heart burn, alot of the same side affects as others on this web page I have only been taken clonidine 0.2 mg for high blood pressure two times a day for 3 months and gained 45 pounds now I don't know if I want to stay on it or not?
-- By dro1962 | Reply | Private Message me
December 2th
2007
12:33 PM
Today is my ninth day coming off Toprol (had been on 25 mg for 2 1/2 years, then 50mg for 1 1/2 years) - today is the first day that the Dr. does not want me to take any Toprol. It has been SO DIFFICULT... Extreme chest tightness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, headaches. She has me switching over to Diovan (80 mg) which I have been taking for 7 days now. I want to believe that everything I am feeling is from the Toprol Withdrawal and not NEW side effects from the Diovan - but I am scared. I feel really awful, I have no energy. I lay in bed waiting for the bad feelings to pass and they do not. I have lost 7 pounds in the past (2) weeks. Not sure if it is from going off the Toprol - or just not feeling that well. This website has been my only source of sanity and peace. Anyone else gone off this and can tell me what to expect? THANK YOU!
-- By vanessa74 | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
August 9th
2007
6:58 AM
My then 8 yr old daughter was prescribed ADVAIR when her doc diagnosed her with mild asthma. 2 puffs twice a day.She had developed a wheeze during a 5 day rainy spell in our area. I notice the change in her early on. A gifted student, she began to display symptoms of ADHD. Lack of concentration, unable to focus. She became emotional frequently. Gained wieght in a short period of time. Nosebleeds, some so severe she choked on the clots. My daughter chronicled her levels daily, gradually losing lung capacity..she began at 300 on her flow meter and within 6-8wks she was below 200. She began to complain of leg aches, loss breath during ordinary gym activiites, climbing stairs, walking at the mall.
I began to search online for forums such as this. I found that ADVAIR was intially to be used in chronic asthma..not like my daughter's mild case. Also, that ADVAIR was known to increase asthma symptoms in some cases,so severely that it was actually almost pulled of the shelves but "saved" when the FDA , instead, allowed for a black box to be printed on the label, stating a warning.
I also read that ADVAIR should not be prescribed to children under 12.
Many advair users made claims of exact symptoms my daughter was experiencing. Many said that when they went to their doctors with these claims, they were "blown off" or told " you can't prove it". Why would so many doctors take this stance?
After 80 pages of comments from users who were athletes, vegetarians, parents, nurses, etc stating their negative effects and prolonged symptoms even after getting off ADVAIR, I called my mother.
My mother is 63 and a more severe asthmatic. She had in the last 12 months been to the ER, 5 times. No oxygen, unable to breath, heart palputations, symptoms of heart attack, chronic bronchitis...twice having to stay for 2-3 days. When I told her I was going to wean my daughter off ADVAIR (NEVER QUIT ADVAIR COLD TURKEY. WEAN IT OFF) She told me that she had been on ADVAIR, for the past 16 months....
It has now been almost 2 yrs since my daughter and mother have been off ADVAIR. My daughter regained her lung capacity and actually improved it within 4 weeks of getting off. It took her about a year to lose the wt.Her concentration/focus returned to normal in about 6 months, but I had to meet with teachers to help her adjust. No wheezing, no joint pain, no severe nosebleeds. My daughter has only used her emergency inhaler 2 times last year, once during a field day in high humidity heat and once during flu season.
My mother has not been to the hospital since getting off ADVAIR. She did notify her doc about getting herself off and he just looked at her with eyebrows raised and said "what have you been reading?"...He did put her on SINGULAR bec she has to be on medication....I do not know of any side effects she has form that.
In my research, I did come across a few ADVAIR users who truly benefited from it. Also some who preferred the pros to the cons they experienced so they were content. I say, if you are lucky enough to have ADVAIR do what it's supposed to , good for you. BUT, if you are seeing an increase in severity of your symptoms please notify your doc, or get a new doctor if they won't listen. Asthma deaths related to ADVAIR have ocurred. The term "RARE" occurence of increase severity of symptoms or death is a misnomer. There are too many users citing this. Please be careful. Listen to your body and GOOD LUCK TO ALL.
-- By noadvair | Reply | Private Message me
August 6th
2007
12:06 PM
Lauren- May 2005 through August 3, 2007: The following is my daughter’s story which I put on paper so that she could bring it with her to the gynecologist in case I couldn’t be with her. I didn’t want her to forget anything. Someone suggested that I post it to a website:
The most recent issue seems to have started when she first went away to college in the fall of 2005. She came home one weekend with a stomach virus (vomiting, nausea), but it seemed to never completely go away. She was taken to the ER a few times, just to be treated for dehydration and sent home because there was 'nothing wrong with her'...Over the next few months she seemed to constantly feel sick, nauseous, fatigued, and get a lot of headaches. We took her to her primary care doctor, who did blood work and treated her for heartburn, acid reflux, etc.. During this time, she actually had appendicitis and had her appendix removed. After that she continued to feel sick. So we moved on to the gastroenterologist who ran many tests: cat scan endoscopies, more blood work, and were told that they couldn't find anything wrong. Then we started with a nutritionist to help her eat healthier and hopefully reduce the nausea which subsided occasionally but never let up. Nothing there helped. Then it was back to another gastroenterologist with no results. Over this time, anxiety was hitting her big time. She was finishing up finals in her first year of college and was constantly skipping classes because she was too nauseous to get out of bed for her 8:00 classes. Home for the summer - no relief. She decides she couldn't go back to her college for her 2nd year so she enrolled in community college - not exactly the plan, but at least she was on course with her classes and doing well. Still stressed and nauseous, we started with the neurologist who prescribed many medicines and ordered an MRI, which showed nothing (no problems, not no brain!). Back to the primary care doctor who finally diagnosed her with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which fit the current symptoms of nausea, severe diarrhea while vomiting and the finale: passing out. So, back to the state college for 2nd semester of sophomore year. But the medication for IBS was making her too sleepy to get through the day, so she discontinued it. The symptoms had subsided a bit but towards the end of the school year got worse again - just in time for finals, again. During that semester at school, she sought counseling at school which seemed to help her stress level, but she still had daily ‘melt-downs’, so the therapist sent her to a psychiatrist for meds. The doctor started her on the lowest dose (25mg) of Zoloft. As she started to feel a bit better, they increased the Zoloft over the next few months until she was at 100 mg. Home for the summer, the symptoms came and went, but about 2 weeks after she started the 100 mg, she confided in me that she was feeling depressed and actually had thought of 'not caring if she died'. We immediately took her to the psychiatrist upstate who had treated her at school and whom she had seen once since she left school. (She had also continued with the cognitive therapy at the college.) The doctor told her to start weaning off the Zoloft, but start Seraquel (another seratonin-based drug). She also said she was going on vacation and Lauren needed to be seen often as she switched medications, so she advised us to find another psychiatrist closer to home to monitor her progress. So the new doctor put her on Wellbutrin, continued to wean her off Zoloft, and continued her on the Seraquel. He also ordered blood work and a fasting glucose-tolerance test (all of which came back normal/negative). The symptoms got severely worse over the next 2 weeks: constant nausea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, fainting. On Monday, she spoke with the psychiatrist and he told her to stop all meds. We continued to believe that the recent symptoms were caused by either the psychotic meds themselves, still in her system or the withdrawal of the meds. By Tuesday night, she had been vomiting for almost 24 hours and I had to take her to the ER, not because I thought they could figure out what was wrong, but to re-hydrate her because she was becoming dehydrated. After 7 hours, and more blood work, x-ray, EKG, she was released and proceeded to get nauseous on the way home at 4AM. BUT, a very nice nurse came in while Lauren had fallen asleep and asked me why my daughter was on so many meds. I basically told her the above story and she asked me when Lauren started on birth control pills. I told her that I took her to my gyn. in May of 2005, before she was going off to college and we told him about the terrible menstrual cycle (heavy bleeding and 1 day a month home with cramps all through high school) and he put her on Ortho-tricycline low. At her 3 month check, she told him she was losing large amounts of hair. He changed her contraceptive to 'Ov-con 35'. In November, she complained of nausea and he switched her to Yasmin. She has been on it ever since. The nurse asked me if I was aware that every symptom that Lauren has had since October of 2005 could be a side effect of oral contraceptives!! She told me about a book to buy, written by Dr. John Lee about hormones and imbalances. She told me not to stop the b.c. pills abruptly, because since they are synthetic hormones, and with what her body was going through, it might put her into an hormonal chaos, similar to a full-blown menopause! So we are now reading the book, waiting to do saliva- testing and trying to see a gyn. to help us. Her own gyn. has a personal family emergency and is on a temporary leave of absence (as we found out when his office canceled her yearly check-up twice in the last 10 days). We are trying to get her in with one of the other doctors. She cannot start a 3rd year of college still feeling ill!
Added to the above is the fact that my husband’s sister called to see what was going on with Lauren after she got a phone call from her mother. It turns out that my niece, Heather (age 23), has been making the rounds with the doctors and having testing done (MRI, blood work, etc.,) because she has been nauseous and passing out. Guess what medicine she is taking…..Yasmin!
This is the list of most of the medicines (besides the 3 oral contraceptives) that she has been on during the last 27 months because of the side effects of Yasmin, and no doctor suggests she stop her oral contraceptive pills for a few months!
Prochloroperaz (5mg), Topamax (25mg), Prevacid (30mg), Zofran (4mg), Omeprazole (20mg), Amitriptyline (25mg), Amitriptyline (50mg), Inderal (60mg), Propranolol (10mg), Amitriptyline (10mg), Sertraline (Zoloft) (25mg), Sertraline (Zoloft) (50mg), Metoclopramide (5mg), Sertraline (Zoloft) (100mg), Seroquel (25mg), Wellbutrin (150mg), Dicyclomine (10mg), Compazine (severe reaction: Extrapyramidal), and other anti-nausea meds in 4 trips to the ER (one due to the reaction to Compazine!)
May 8th
2007
11:49 AM
I am 31, been taking this stuff for about 5 years now. I am always tired, sometimes dizzy spells hit me out of nowhere. I wake up at night with my heart racing and/or pounding. If I get up out of bed suddenly, I swear my heart is going to beat out of my chest. I have had bouts with PVC or my heart skipping beats and such. The least little thing I do I feel like I've ran a marathon, out of breath, heart racing and pounding. A few months after starting, I developed horrible acid reflux, so of course had to start taking Nexium. My hands sometimes slightly swell and get red and I also get the hot flashes like my bp suddenly spikes on me, but i'll take it and it'll be normal. Im going to the doctor and get off this medicine. I also always feel weird, or like i'm just not all here. I feel like an idoit its taken me this long to figure it all out. I feel like i've lost 5 years of my life to feeling horrible.
-- By stjoto69 | Reply | Private Message me
April 11th
2006
7:56 AM
I took Imitrex for the first and my experience started 1/2 hour after I took it. I turned very pale white,my face swelled up I could not breath heart racing so fast I thought that my heart was going to come of my chest, I then became very dizzy and very tired and my arms and legs felt so limp like they were not even there.I could not even think so I layed down and fell asleep and didn't wake up till hours later.My DR. told me I was lucky.
p.s.
Be aware of all your side affects and make sure you ask your Dr.or pharmacy about counteracting with other meds that you take if any.. Imitrex
March 7th
2006
3:01 PM
I started taking Yasmin 4 days ago and immediately I could feel something very weird happening. I've had headaches, flightyness, shortness of breath, heart flutters, I'm not really ever hungry...I really feel like I'm taking a diet pill. I've heard that you loose weight on this stuff, but I've put in a call to my doctor cause I'm really not sure what the appeal is??!! Haven't women in Europe beeen taking this for a while now? Don't they have any of these side effects?? Is there anyone taking it who isn't having problems with it?
-- By lesliecropper | Reply | Private Message me
August 24th
2005
10:49 PM
I have always been told by doctors that I had a perfect heart, and should live to 100! In midJanuary 2005, I experienced all the symptoms of a heart attack, like the mother of Guest #3586, above--namely, shortness of breath, gasping for breath, heart palpitations, etc. The ER doctor said all my heart signs were excellent, just stop taking the detrol. He has seen many others with symptoms like mine who were also taking detrol.
I immediately stopped and felt better for a while. By midMarch, feelings of constant fatigue, etc, etc, drove me to a doctor again, who informed me that I had a loud heart murmer, and needed to see a heart specialist at once. I did, and within a week I was undergoing open heart surgery to repair a badly damaged mitral valve.
Yasmin (5) Lisinopril (2) Toprol-XL (2) Clonidine (1) Advair Diskus (1) Kenalog (1) Zocor (1) Detrol (1) Imitrex (1)
October 12th
2009
8:25 PM
HEADACHES,NAUSEA,MAJOR HAIR LOSS,EXTREMELY DRY SKIN,GALLBLADDER REMOVAL,FULL HYSTERECTOMY,PANIC ATTACKS,MOOD SWINGS,STOMACH/DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS,PARANOIA,NEAR LOSS OF JOB,PROBABLE LOSS OF MARRIAGE,MONETARILY DEPLETED,SHORTNESS OF BREATH,HEART PALPITATIONS,VISION TROUBLE,CHILDREN TRAUMATIZED,LOSS OF ENERGY,NEED FOR THERAPY,CURRENTLY USING THE CLYMARA HORMONE PATCH. I WAS ON THIS YASMIN DRUG FOR ALMOST FIVE YEARS, AND SYMPTOMS STARTED ABOUT 2 MONTHS AFTER I STARTED ON YASMIN. I WAS PUT ON YASMIN TO KEEP OVARIAN CYCSTS FROM BURSTING. I FINALLY TOOK MYSELF OFF OF IT DUE TO WHAT FELT LIKE A MINY STROKE AMONG SOME OF THE OTHER SIDE AFFECTS. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND MYSELF FOR 5 YEARS, I DON'T EVEN KNOW THIS PERSON INSIDE ME. DOES ANY ONE KNOW IF CLYMARA IS OKAY TO BE USING W/WHAT YASMIN HAS DONE TO ME? IS THERE A CASE # NUMBER FOR ANY CLASS ACTION SUIT OUT THERE?
-- By 66frog | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me