Cheek symptoms and conditions

I am so glad that I am not the only one who has experienced this - not that I want others to experience it, but you know what I mean, it is nice to have some answers!!! I went in to get an allergy shot for my horrible allergies about eight months ago - I have had one done previously a couple years ago, with no problems, and this second one seemed fine too. My allergies are so much better, i can breathe and am not sneezing constantly, etc. However, about a month ago, I noticed this small indentation in my left buttock cheek - I wondered what on earth it could be (cellulite, weight gain/loss from going to the gym I started going to, who knew?) It got bigger and hasn't gone away over these past few weeks, instead getting larger and my skin becoming ever whiter than I already am and the area is sensitive. I had no idea what it was until I stumbled onto this site - I now realize that indentation is the same spot where I received my allergy shot eight months ago!!! I checked my online medical record and sure enough, Tricyclamide Kenalog injection! NOBODY told me that this indentation/muscle atrophy at the injection site was a possible side effect! They warned me about allergic reactions, drug interactions, buildup of steroids in the system, etc, but absolutely nothing about this awful indentation - it is sensitive and unattractive and I really, really hope it goes away or at least shrinks. Not that I am super vain, but it's not all that cute to have a big "hole" in your cheek, especially when that was one of my body areas I actually felt okay about. Just be forewarned allergy sufferers - just because you haven't had a reaction the first time you get the shot, it could happen the second or third or fortieth time. I wish someone had said something about this, so at least I would have been able to make a more educated decision and choose whether to suffer through a few months of allergies or a lifetime butt indentation!

****KENALOG CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT****
Need a list of people that want to join Kenalog class action lawsuit A.S.A.P Please email me with name,state and all side effects. Include if you were treated for the side effects from a Doctor and/or hospitalized.
******

Started Doxy 4 days ago. Supposed to have been taking 100mg twice a day, did it first couple days then forgot. Started back on it today. Almost immediately after taking the dose I noticed my face was itchy. I have tons of tiny bumps all over my right cheek up into my eye area and down the jaw area as well. Other than this I feel bloated as hell, I don't know if it's related or not. The rest of my skin feels itchy on and off but I don't notice any bumps anywhere other than the right side of my face (so weird). Any thoughts on why I might be having this reaction??

I have been taking welbutrin for about 4 years now. I am going to tell my exact dose and type since I am trying to figure out from other peoples comments if there is a difference in side effect in SR vs XL . I have taken 150 XL and the went down to 75 mg Sr because i was trying to decrease the dosage and come off entirely eventually. I have suffered with acne all the four years but thought it was stress (Daughter became type i diabetic and can't ever get her blood sugar stable and the my son developed a bone tumor not long after she was diagnosed). Anyway we finally got his problem resolved with good results but hers is a blood sugar nightmare everyday. So you can see why I thought the acne was from stress . Never even crossed my mind it could be wellbutrin. I noticed my skin was better for a while when my dose was just 75 mg sr. But alas the bone tumor came back again for my son and had to go back to 150xl. Skin has hundreds of little white tiny tiny white heads. Is this the type of acne other people are experiencing?

I was taking Topamax for about 4 years for chronic/daily migraines. It helped tremendously after I had taken almost everything else with no success. Then I had an episode where I ended up with 5 kidney stones. They passed but my neurologist wanted me off the Topamax in case that was the cause of them. I went off and my headaches came back with a vengeance. I had them daily until I begged my primary care doctor to put me back on Topamax. I honestly would rather have stones than daily headaches. I am a mother to four and have a husband and a job. I can't live with daily migraines. After being back on it for about two weeks the headaches have disappeared. I take 200 mg twice a day. I do have memory loss and loss of words big time. It is VERY frustrating. I feel stupid. But I can live with that. I have tingling cheeks , lips and hands. I'm sensitive to sun and have to wear my sunglasses a lot more now. I now talk in my sleep- a little nervous about that :) I lost weight last time around but haven't yet this time. I am very happy, not sure if that is the RX or just me reacting to not having headaches. I guess you have to weight the side effects with the benefits. The choice is ultimately up to you. Good luck everyone!

I have been on 100 mg topamax for a few months now, and i was actually having people try my drinks bc i thought they was flat, and i would feel my fingers and my toes go numb and tingle. I honestly never thought for two seconds it was my medication. The only side effects i was warned about was weight loss (which hasn't occurred with me) and that i would be very thirsty, which i am. But i have NIGHTMARES about things im not even afraid of, and i have trouble spelling words i didn't before, and sometimes i can't even remember what i wore last week to school. Im starting to rethink this whole topamax thing, does anyone know any other prescriptions that will help headaches without the crazy effects?

I am a part-time professional singer and attorney. I developed an odd cough-variant asthma this winter at age 42 -- it had scary breath shortness and wheezing plus lots of phlegm coughed up. I had never before had the shortness/wheezing/asthma, though I have always had allergies and occasional bronchitis following a cold. The asthma/allergy specialists put me on Advair 500 twice a day with each attack, plus an oral prednisone burst/short taper, nebulized (not just rescue inhaler) albuterol (beta 2 agonist), and antibiotics (a different one each time). I also take Claritin, Rhinocort and Astelin for my allergies. I had four attacks of asthma this winter that were treated this way; after the fourth, they put me on Advair 250 maintenance for a month. With each attack, I would get hoarse, have trouble sleeping, and get odd muscle cramps I never had had. The hoarseness was worse each time, but I was able to sing through it at my regular gigs. I attributed the side effects to the prednisone. With my fifth attack, they told me to ramp up the Advair to 500 and do all else the same, but as an experiment to see how this would alter those side effects, I decided to treat it with everything but the prednisone. The hoarseness, sleep trouble, and muscle cramps were all much worse. I found this site, noted the recommendation of several other singers to try Asmanex instead of Advair, and asked the docs about it. They agreed that all these symptoms could be related to the Advair and gave me Asmanex 250 twice/day instead instead of the Advair, plus all the other meds for the attack. The symptoms went away within a week, although it took a little longer for me to get over the asthma attack this time. I am extremely grateful to this site and all the users posting comments. I can sing again, sleep again, and exist without weird muscle cramps during treatment of my asthma. Thank you very much.

My next door neighbor is the one who told me about the Mirena and I called her tonight after viewing this web site. She has had it for almost two years with no side effects... do you know people who the Mirena works for?
I think I will call my OB tomorrow and ask him, but if I still feel awful in a couple of weeks I will get it removed and have my TUBES tyed. Not to mention I have gain 4 pounds in one week, thats a first in years, I have a inside zit on my cheek, when I NEVER get acne. I only weigh 103 and my hair is already VERY, VERY thin. I do NOT want this to mess my whole body up. As for the sex drive that was bad before I had it place, in fact I asked my doctor at the time of placement if their was anything I could take to improve that.
At the time of placement I a also asked if there were any side affects and was told NO. I will be very angry if this comes down to me having it removed, considering I payed out of pocket for it and will have to do something else.

THIS THING SUCKS...I am 38 yrs old and could no longer be on birth control because I smoke. I had the Mirena put in on 4/13/2009, the insertion was so painful I thought I might faint. My doctor said I had the smallest uterus he had ever seen...I had really bad cramping all night long.
The next day I felt fine.
But now two weeks later, I thought my vertigo was coming back, until my meds would not work. I am so tired I can't function, I don't even feel like smoking, I'm lightheaded and dizzy all the time.
Should I have it taken back out or give it more time???

I am a physician. Kenalog is one of several injectable steroids that can cause subcutaneous atrophy or lipoatrophy as a side effect. For those who have this reaction, they will notice a dent or divot. This is not dangerous problem and most of the time the dent or divot will fill back in with time. How much time? The range is 3 to 24 months without treatment. However, for many patients this healing process can be speeded up with weekly saline injections that can be safely performed by almost any Doctor and need not be expensive.

The technique was well described in the Journal of Dermatological Surgery in 2006. If you do a google search for the name of the article as listed below you can find the Abstract and take a copy to your Doctor.

Best to all,

T.

Treatment of Local, Persistent Cutaneous Atrophy Following Corticosteroid Injection with Normal Saline Infiltration

Shumaker Peter R., MD*, Rao Jaggi, MD † , Goldman Mitchel P., MD †

Published in Dermatological Surgery, 21 Mar 2006

ABSTRACT
Background. Injections of corticosteroids are commonly used for a variety a dermatologic conditions but may cause local, persistent cutaneous atrophy, with few therapeutic options.

Objective. To determine the effectiveness of bacteriostatic normal saline infiltration on the improvement of corticosteroid-induced cutaneous atrophy.

Materials and Methods. Four patients with corticosteroid-induced atrophy of the skin, two caused by acneiform cysts and one from intramuscular steroid injection, were treated with weekly injections of normal saline directly into the atrophic site. The patients were seen on weekly follow-up visits, and improvement was documented.

Results. All four patients demonstrated complete resolution of skin atrophy and restoration of surface contour within 4 to 8 weeks of initial presentation. Injected volumes of normal saline ranged from 5 to 20 cm3 per treatment session and three to six weekly treatments. The patients were completely satisfied with these results.

Conclusion. Normal saline infiltration offers a safe, tolerable, relatively rapid, and effective treatment for local, persistent corticosteroid-induced atrophy.

Dermatologic Surgery, Volume 31 Issue 10, Pages 1340 - 1343,

Hello, I'm a 21 year old female and I've been taking Yasmin for about one month and two weeks now. Prior to taking Yasmin I was on Ortho-Tri-cyclen lo for about 8 years and had only positive results. I have PCOS and my specialist recommended that I take Yasmin because it is suppose to be better for those with PCOS. After reading the negative posts on this site I was scared to switch but decided I would give Yasmin a try because results vary from person to person. The first month I noticed that I was extremely moody, when I'm usually mild mannered. I also noticed that I was really thirsty, which is probably because Yasmin is a diuretic. Other then that I didn't have any negative symptoms. This month I noticed that the mood swings have disappeared. Yay!!! Also, my skin looks really clear. My skin usually has one or two bumps on either cheek, while taking Yasmin I don't have any. Oh yeah my period lasted about 7 days and Yasmin hasn't altered my weight. I wouldn't mind losing 5lbs though. I will post another update once I've been taking Yasmin longer.

I am 24 years old and I was prescribed MICROGESTIN FE which is the generic of Loestrin. It was AWFUL! I took Yaz for about 2 months but it gave me such bad headaches I stopped. Other than that I've never been on birth control. That was about 6 months ago. So I started Microgestin and was fine for the first few days. On my eighth night I woke up feeling really nauseated. I went back to sleep but ended up waking up multiple times afterward to throw up. I threw up 4 times that day and had the worst headache ever. The whole day I just layed in bed sleeping or watching movies. It was awful. I was so weak I didn't even go get the mail. The whole week after I was slightly nauseated a lot of the time and really nauseated about once a day. I didn't have much of an appetite and I had crazy mood swings. I would be happy one moment and on the verge of tears the next. I broke out on my chin and cheek, which is really unusual for me. I stopped taking the pills on about day 14 and am so glad I did. I have had a slight period / discharge after that but am feeling a lot better. ~ S. from TX

I'd had been on Altace 20mg (2-10mg capsules) for about 2 yrs. A year ago a 25mg. HCTZ tablet was added. BP was under control (140-150s/ 80's) with only side effects from HCTZ, cramping from mineral imbalance, and the occasional bouts of being lightheaded. I decided to go off meds and monitor BP. I was fine for about 6 weeks, but then BP started up and felt I needed to get back on meds. Dr. agreed and prescribed what she said was a replacement ACE inhibitor with the convenience of HCTZ built in, Lisinopril HCTZ. She also prescribed Benicar an ARB. I took both for five days with side effects of being light-headed, feeling like fainting occasionally. On day 6, I developed an ugly skin rash/swelling on right front part of my head. I thought it might big a spider bite. Next day I developed more of the same on the right side of my nose, my right eye, and on my right cheek. I thought it was the Benicar, since I was made to believe an ACE inhibitor is an ACE inhibitor (from Altace to Lisinopril), and did not have a history of problems with it, and the ARB was the new kid on the block. I quit taking the Benicar but the symptoms persisted for 3 more days. I called the Dr. and was told they did not believe it was related to the meds since it did not manifest earlier, but to go ahead and stop taking the Benicar until the symptoms subsided, then resume to see if they came back ( sound like good advice to you?) 4 days after being off Benicar the rashes and swelling were worse. I then decided the problem had to be the Lisinopril. I have been off only 24 hrs, but symptoms are starting to improve. I will be calling tomorrow for a new Dr.

I had a kenalog injection to my right cheek to treat a cyst. It ended up dilating the blood vessels and it atrophied the fat cells under the skin's surface. Now I have a permanent indent in my cheek that looks terrible. There is no way to cover it up and people ask about it all the time. It is very upsetting and stressful. I went to a different dermatologist and was told the only thing to do is a filler injection that only lasts up to 6 months at a cost of $525

I went to my family doctor for some mild allergy problems. He prescribed me a daily Claritin-D and suggested that I get a shot of kenalog seasonally (4 times a year). I allowed him to do the first shot, that was almost 9 months ago. I am not sure when the dimple at the top of my right cheek started, but it is now noticeable to me. After googling "butt indentation" and I came across this page. Fortunately I did not go back for the other 2 kenalog shots I was supposed to get, and I am sick to my stomach that this thing is permanent. My doctor has lost a patient due to the fact that I feel misinformed about the possible side effects of something he seems to prescribe so easily. I also, have lost a little pride in the fact that I used to be very proud of my ass and now even though most people will never notice it, I know it's there... :(

I'm so glad that I have read all of these. The last 3 days have been horrible. This is my second month using the NuvaRing. I put the 2nd ring in on Monday night and I starting throwing up Tuesday night and haven’t stopped. I can’t hold anything down (not even water). I drove to work on Wednesday morning, while throwing up and literally falling asleep at the wheel. I couldn’t see anything, my vision was awful. I had lost feeling in my arm earlier that day. I took an early lunch yesterday and fell asleep in my car. I fell asleep at my desk and couldn’t see my computer screen. I thought I was dying. A few girls looked up this website and told me to immediately take the ring out after lunch. I had become so dehydrated and weak I left work early and went to the doctor. The Doctor immediately referred me to ER. I have a horrible infection that has gone through my body. I am on strong antibiotics to get better.
Now that I read all of these stories; I realized that I have been extremely tired for the past month and would fall asleep anywhere all the time. Like mentioned from the other girl below it was like I was in a coma. I have lost all my energy. Others have noticed a change in my attitude. I’m usually really hyper and now I’m very quiet. This ring could have wrecked my new relationship. (He noticed my attitude change and that I couldn’t even stay awake to watch a movie) I had a rash on my forearm a few weeks ago that freaked me out. I started getting acne on my face and dark spots on my cheek. And now that I think about it I have thrown up many times in the past month for no apparent reason.
Now that I have read all of these and have went through this horrible experience; I have a much better understanding and will never use the ring again. I feel bad for the girls that are going through this horrible experience now and in the future.

After a year of battling effects from an eye injury, an optho-neurologist finally came to the conclusion that I had orbital inflammatory psuedo tumor. I was told to take 60 mg immediately and then take 2-40mg doses (AM and early afternoon). On Friday, July 18th I took 60 mg at 6:30 p.m. and was so nauseous and barely slept. That next day I took 40mg in the morning and another 40mg around 2:30 p.m.. Although I had been, throughout the year, experiencing pain in my left eye and cheek..what I experienced by 4:00p.m. that next day was more severe than ever. I started having shooting pain and a headache so excruciating that I was in tears. (I had two children naturally).
By 10:30 I had several hours of this pain when the worst happened. The left side of my face drooped and I had difficulty speaking. By the time I got to the hospital I could not move my left arm and left leg. After five days in the hospital and every test imaginable (cat scan, MRI, EKG, etc) they ruled out all stroke, MS and anything else that would show up on these tests. During the hospital stay (although they did not cite prednisone for this event), they started tapering me off. I went from 80 to 50 in one of these days and thought I would DIE. There was no pain reliever/narcotic strong enough to take away the headache. I spent ten days tapering and prayed every day for the end. Sweating, no sleep, crying and did I mention...my headache has still NOT gone away. I have a couple of hours here and there without this pain but for the most part I have been in this hell even after my taper. The clincher is that NO ONE at the hospital or afterwards would admit that this was a side effect but they also could not provide a response. It took three weeks for me to work my way back to walking and using the left side of my body. Has anyone heard of this before? Good luck to all of you, it has meant a lot to read your comments.

When I was visiting him for something unrelated, my doctor pointed out the bags under my eyes and said he could eliminate them with a Kenalog injection. He did not mention any possible side effects. Worst case, he said, would be that the injection would have no effect.

That's the last time I consent to a treatment on trust without first researching it thoroughly myself. The injection did nothing for the bags, but did cause atrophy of my right cheek at the injection site, resulting in a severe indentation in the middle of my cheek which continued to get worse as the weeks went by.

Attempts to fill out the sink-hole have resulted in a lopsided appearance to my face, which is quite demoralizing.

i feel no emotions while taking effexor. no anxiety, mind you, (which is what i was using it for---GAD.) so no anxiety is good, but is it good to not feel any sorrow, empathy, joy or happiness??? I feel like i am just going through the motions of life, not really living it. but if i don't take even 1 dose, the anxirty comes back. (but the other emotions come back too) i cry more if i miss a dose, and that used to worry me into thinking i am depressed....BUT it is normal to cry when you feel sorrow or empathy. and maybe the tears have to come flowing out as a form of release, because they were withheld for so long by the effexor. other possible side effects could be: insomnia; headaches, clenching teeth, biting cheek and tongue a lot, constipation and weight gain. (hard to know if these are side effects of effexor, or symptoms of fibromyalgia).

Meprozine worked for my abscessed tooth! I was in severe pain to the point of crawling the walls... I could not tell you which tooth was even hurting on Fri. when I went to the dentist. She had to numb my mouth to give me even a minutes relief. My cheek swelled the size of a baseball! Today it's the size of a plum.... I think I'll make it through this ordeal now, but without this medication I certainly would not have made it.

I was put on this medicine for a bladder infection ,(*whicn by the way was really a yeast infection I learned later ) after 3 days of taking it , the whole side of each cheek and roof of my mouth ,plus just behind the tongue ,and on the tongue sides , broke out in the worst blisters I have ever experienced in my whole 80 yrs , also the vagina area was blistered too, I stopped the meds 3 days of taking it and called my doctor she put me on a yeast infection med that cleared up the bladder infection right away ..the mouth completely peeled off every blister but remains very sore and hard for me to eat ..this sulfameth drug needs to be removed from the market or stronger side effects need to be listed aslo as a more of a warning in big letters ...!!!!

I too have a huge indentation in my back for about six months, and I've been worried that it was cancer or something. I have no insurance so never went to the doctor, but did call a nurse at the time, who said she had never heard of it and it didn't sound like anything to worry about. If she had actually seen it, she might have thought differently. I had an injection in the same spot last August, and never even correlated the two. After my son gasped in horror today when he saw it and insisted that I go to the doctor, I decided to Google "indentation by shoulder blade" and ran across this website. I immediately called a nurse and asked what injection I had received, and it was Kenalog and two other drugs. I asked if she had heard of this before and she said no, but that she would have the P.A. who administered it call me tomorrow. I'm so mad about this. I will not be able to wear the same clothes or dresses that I normally wear in the summer, because it is hideous and disgusting and huge. If anyone has spoken to a lawyer or if there is a lawsuit pending, please count me in! There must be something we can do, because this has obviously affected many people.

I had injections in my cheek for a cyst. I know have a bruised sunken-in spot that is the size of a half dollar. Can this be fixed?

I, too, have atrophy from the Kenalog, which is unsightly and causes me great emotional pain. Can anyone recommend a good attorney for this?

Thank you.

I to have a huge dent in my right butt cheek. I would be interested in a class action suit. This is ridiculous! It has been about three months since I received the shot. Has anyone noticed their dents getting better with time?