Cnn symptoms and conditions

Wow. Not sure what to think here. I was in the ER today with heart palpitations and chest pain - really bad pain. . . thought I was having a heart attack. Mine started low sort of in the stomach and worked it's way up and settled in my chest. I could breathe but the pain was overwhelming. I sat on my yoga mat in the park took a few pepto tablets, called the Dr. and after almost an hour of pushing on my diaphram and trying to breathe and ease the pain I had to get help. Guess what - like most of you I'm extremely healthy. The EKG, stomach and chest x-rays and blood work (all done today) are fine. And I've been on Yasmin for too many years to count. This is not the first time I've had tightness in my chest or palpitations. One night I thought my heart was coming through my chest for hours on end I sat straight up out of bed and went to the ER the next morning on the advice of my allergist. Again all was fine. I always thought it was some "allergic" reaction to some other test I'd had done with a reaction to dye or some other medical interaction since I tend to be allergic to many things and get allergy shots. This really makes me think about getting off this pill, and I just happened to stumble onto this when I typed "chest pain" in as part of my search. It has been less obvious for me since this has happened infrequently but twice now in a few weeks. And it is rather frightening. Best of luck to all - thanks for the posts.

I took Singulair for about two years. I had developed these now known to be side effects but at the time nobody including the FDA was either aware or honest about the aggression, agitation and other side effects. I assumed this was all due to stress in my life and since it came on so gradually I did not put 2 and 2 together that it was the medication. I lived for two years being an irritable stressed out pain in the you know what struggling with these major aggressive compulsions. Then I saw a story on the news that the FDA was issuing this new warning on Singulair about the aggressive, anxiety and suicidal side effects of this drug. I stopped taking it that day. Luckily my asthma had been fairly well under control, I noticed no increase in asthma symptoms. What I did notice was I stopped being irritable and constantly annoyed and angry within a few days. I am back to being a mellow person, no problems since I quit this drug. I am horrified they are giving this to children. Both doctors and pharmacists should be warning people UP FRONT of this risk.

Hi Metoprolol pill takers, You need to get off of this nasty drug immediately. My husband has been on it for 5-7 years and it has ruined his life. He still works and that is a miracle to me. His short term memory has been totally taken away. When I am talking to him, he forgets what I just said to him. I no longer let him drive our car. Everything that he once loved to do, can no longer be accomplished. He was once a fun loving guy who everyone wanted to be with. He no longer has friends that call him to do things with. He has night terrors that are horrible. The news on CNN announced last week that they are using this drug to give to people that have just gone through a traumatic event.. You know, like a plane crash, attempted murder, rape. This drug takes away their short term memory and they forget about the event ever happening. Can you imagine my husband running a lumber yard, getting a order, or talking to a customer and trying to make sense of the whole thing. I heard that the drug company has recalled the drug. I couldn't get it at Costco but I managed to get more of it at Haggen's. It's like they are getting rid of every last bit of it. Drug Companies will do anything to make money no matter who they hurt. They should be ashamed of themselves for putting out such a dangerous horrible drug. They need the money so they can bore the living hell out of us with their television commercials promoting erectile dysfunction and the four hour erection. I'm sure that is really good for you. Joking aside, I want everyone to know about these life altering side effects of Metoprolol. My hope is that he will return to normal after he is taken off of this drug and can lead a normal life with his memory intact. I will write to you again in 4 months and let you know.

I had been on Yaz for almost a year. I have tried EVERYTHING!!! I went to Yaz after trying even the Nuvaring. It seemed like everything from regular Ortho was too strong and the ring was too little. I've been on birth control since I was 17 (now I'm 26) and have tried it all. I mainly stayed on because of cramping and digestive trouble I used to experience around my period. For about 3 months Yaz was great- no mood swings, my cramp pain was cut in half, and my sex drive lost on the ring came back. However, after about the 5th month, I started to notice the same side effects as other posters; headaches, night sweats, fatigue, numbness in my legs, moodiness, zero libido, and the carpal tunnel in my wrists would increase in pain by 10 fold, etc. In fact, it was getting so bad, that my husband was getting annoyed with me saying I was always tired even though I would sleep 8 hours and not have any other outside stressors impacting my sleep patterns. We almost divorced over the stupid, but outrageous, fights I would pick for no reason at all! I would get so irritated at the smallest thing. It was like a switch would flip and I couldn't turn it off! I couldn't figure out why I was so fatigued- I exercise and eat right (I'm a nutritionist)and have played sports for years!. The depressing feelings bothered me because I know that eating right and exercising keeps serotonin levels at an even keel- that's what I do for a living! Mine were way off for no reason! It got to the point that my friends noticed a huge change in my personality- I used to be the life of the party, and now I would rather stay in instead of go out and socialize with my best friends and husband! Thank you for writing these blogs. I can't wait to feel normal again! I'd rather deal with the cramps or take some homeopathic remedy than deal with this horrible drug. There is a great article on cnn.com about birth control pills and libido/ side effects. Just search for "the pill" and the article should come up.

Hi, my name is Hannah and I am a senior in college. At the age of 19, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I was a sophmore in college at the time, had a job, and was a completely HEALTHY girl. I have been living with the disease for two year now, and my doctors still can't come up with the cause for my seizures. Recently my sister called me to ask if I had received the gardasil shot, because on CNN talk radio that people were starting to think that the garasil shot might be linked to paralysis,seizures, and even death. I immediately called my OBGYN to ask the dates in which I had received my shots. My first dose was given on Oct.17, 2006. I had my first set of seizures on Nov. 24, 2006. WOW...I was in shock. I feel like I now have an answer for the cause of my illness. I talked to my Neurologist about this and he said we will have to wait until more research is done. I am convinced that Gardasil was the reason for my epilepsy. I am so sad to think that other girls are going in to receive a vaccine that is suppose to help their lives, and instead they could have crippling side effects that never go away. I can no longer drive, I had to choose between school and a job, and now I have to plan my day around taking my medicine. All because a drug company wanted to make some money before their completely researched their product.

SINGULAIR AND ZYRTEC SAME MEDICATION made by different companies. Be careful!

Sales of Merck's asthma and allergy drug Singulair dropped 1% to $1.1 billion for the second quarter. U.S. sales have been hurt by the recent introduction of an over-the-counter version of rival drug Zyrtec by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), as well as concerns about the Food and Drug Administration's March alert of a possible association between Singulair and suicide and related behavioral side effects Got this off cnn money,i don't know but thought zyrtec and singulair were different drugs,my son at one time was prescribed both to take at bedtime

Saw this story on CNN today. Guess we aren't all tinfoil-hat wearing nutcases after all.

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FDA orders 'black box' label on some antibiotics

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Tuesday ordered the makers of certain antibiotics to add a "black box" label warning -- the FDA's strongest -- to alert patients of possible tendon ruptures and tendinitis.
Cipro is one of the drugs for which the FDA will require a "black box" label warning about tendon problems.

Cipro is one of the drugs for which the FDA will require a "black box" label warning about tendon problems.

"The new language will strengthen the existing warnings," said Dr. Edward Cox, director of the FDA's Office of Antimicrobial Products.

The FDA is requiring the label warnings and a medication guide for fluoroquinolone drugs, which include Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Noroxin and Floxin.

The consumer group Public Citizen asked the FDA in August 2006 to put the "black box" warning on Cipro and other fluoroquinolones, and also to warn doctors. Earlier this year, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit to force the FDA to take those actions.

When asked about the lawsuit and why it took so long to add the label warning, Cox stressed that the FDA included warning information with the drugs from 2001 until 2004, and updated the information last year.

"There has been ongoing work to update the labeling of the fluoroquinolone drug products," Cox said. "We have been working on this issue and making progress over time."

The companies that make the fluoroquinolone drugs will be required to submit label safety changes and the medication guide within 30 days of receiving the notification from the FDA or provide a reason why they do not believe such labeling changes are necessary, Cox said.

The fluoroquinolones drugs can increase the risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture -- which is about 1 in 100,000 -- by three to four times, according to the FDA's Dr. Renata Albrecht.

"This risk is further increased in those over age 60, in kidney, heart, and lung transplant recipients, and with use of concomitant steroid therapy," the FDA said in a statement.

Albrecht said that sometimes patients have no symptoms before they experience a rupture in their tendon -- commonly their Achilles tendon.

"Sometimes it's been reported on the first day of taking a fluoroquinolone ... a sudden snap or popping sound that is tendon rupture with no preceding warning," she said.

Normally, she added, that patients experience some pain or inflammation "a week or two before the patient will rupture."

The FDA would only say that it has received "hundreds" of reports of tendon problems linked to fluoroquinolones, without being more specific, citing the ongoing lawsuit. But Cox said "the FDA continues to receive a considerable number of reports on tendon adverse effects."

Patients should stop taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics at the first sign of tendon pain, avoid exercise and contact their doctor, the FDA said.

Cox said the FDA would not require companies to send letters to doctors alerting them about the connection between tendon problems and the antibiotics.

"It is possible under REMS to ask for a letter ," Cox said. "Certainly for sponsors that would choose to go forward with a letter, we'll be happy to work with them."

In September of 2007 my then 13 year old daughter was put on Singular for mild asthma. At the time she was a straight A student, vice president of our school and a popular girl who's guidance counselor described as "the glue of her grade" because she was so well liked. In November she told me that she was struggling with advanced Latin and Science. She asked to drop down to on grade Latin so we did. In December her science teacher notified us that she had a C average. She told me that she thought she had ADD/ADHD and she couldn't keep up. At the same time she was having a lot of problems with friends at school and we just attributed it to being 14. 3 weeks ago we discovered that she is significantly behind in English and it was then that she told me that she is been having horrific night mares. She said that they usually involve someone killing her or her killing herself. She said that they were so graphic that she couldn't repeat it out loud. She also said that she would feel waves of anxiety that would come over her at school and she would act "witchy" to the kids in her class for no real reason. She said that sometimes when she is trying to do her homework she will read the same passage for 2 hours and still have no idea what it's about. She also said that the suicidal thoughts from her sleep happened during they day and that she had thoughts of her harming herself. Fortunately her pulminologist told us that this may be caused by singular and we immediately took her off of it which was 2 weeks ago. She has only had 1 "bad dream" not even a nightmare since. She had one anxiety attack 3 days after she was off it and she describes her moods as the "cloud lifting....slowly". Now, we have to pick up the pieces. Her grades have suffered, her friendships have suffered and most of all her self esteem is very low. I'm grateful that we found out the cause but I feel as if my daughter lost a year of her life and I worry that because Merck won't admit there are side effects we can't find out how long it remains in their system. Is anyone else concerned about the long term affect and has anyone pursued a class action suit to try to get this drug tested properly?

I am an individual that started taking Singulair about a year ago. I've had allergies to weeds, grasses, and pollens since I was a little girl and have taken a variety of meds including Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra, Flonase, and allergy shots. Last summer, my usual Claritin just wasn't enough so my doc prescribed Singulair. It worked wonders for my allergies. Soon after, I began to feel "numb" -- that's the best word to describe what I felt. I was depressed. It just so happened that my mother had had surgery and I had moved to a different city about the same time as beginning the Singulair. When I began feeling depressed and disconnected from the world, my doc and I contributed it to depression from life transitions. It didn't go away though. For a year, I isolated myself. I didn't talk to friends and family. I missed over 10 days of work just because I didn't want to get out of bed. I slept almost 15 hours a day, gained 60 lbs, didn't clean my house. I didn't really do anything and I didn't care. I felt so disconnected from the world. I didn't cry. I didn't feel suicidal, but I knew that something was wrong with me. I thought I was having a breakdown or something. My doc checked several things but all test results were normal. It wasn't until my mother seen a CNN report on Singulair that I began to link my depression to when I started the drug. I immediately quit taking Singulair and felt better within 4-5 days. After 2 1/2 weeks, I was back to being my old self. It was so scary feeling so isolated, numb, and disconnected from the world. I never would've thought about it being a side effect from an allergy medicine.

My daughter took singulair for a number of years because she was asthmatic and the doctor recommended that she takes one each a day. At 13 she started acting differently and I thought it was just growing up and being a rebellious teenager. I later found track mark on her arms and she was hospitalized under suicide watch. She was not allowed in school until she had numerous therapy sessions. On top of everything she was giving topamax to control her anxiety and depression and now missed so much school that she has graduate a year later.

My 15 year old daughter has been taking Singulair for about 10 years for asthma, and it seemed to do a great job of controlling that condition. However for the past year or two (since onset of puberty) her mood swings, anxiety, sleep problems, ability to concentrate, etc., seemed to escalate to extremes. She has always been a little high-strung and emotional, but I never related it to the medication. Lately I tried to convince myself everything was a result of hormone fluctuations although things were going from bad to worse. Late this fall she suffered a series of back-to-back illnesses (flu, sore throats, etc.) which caused her to miss so much school she almost flunked her entire first semester of high school. After the holidays she seemed to be back on track but then another bout of flu triggered asthma, and then she seemed to bounce from one to the other - and missing a lot of school again which caused a lot of anxiety, which caused the asthma to flare, causing greater anxiety, etc., etc. For almost 3 weeks she barely came out of her bedroom, and looked more despondent by the day, begging me to not force her to go back to school because people would make fun of her. After lots of arguing one Saturday she agreed to go with me to a therapist while we tried to find alternatives for school this year. Well, that same night my daughter woke me around 3 a.m. (she also does not sleep well...) to tell me about the story she had just heard on CNN about Singulair. After finding this website the next morning I was horrified - and she has not taken it since. Our allergist dismissed the CNN story, saying there was no scientific evidence to support that claim, but agreed that maybe we should take her off Singulair. We did visit a therapist, although since that day I have seen a noticeable change in her behavior and moods. If anyone else is considering a class action suit, please email me since I am seriously planning to take some kind of action - I believe the FDA should move quickly on this so that other parents may be able to avoid seeing their children have to deal with the effects of this medication. I could probably write pages, I am so appalled that this has happened, but I will end here for now....

PLEASE READ:

I have posted my side effects here before. Was floxed at least twice but didn't put 2 and 2 together because the side effects came well after I had taken the medication. I caught it this time because I was on a higher dose. I was on Leva-Pac 750mg for 9 days. I have had 2 distal bicep tendon ruptures and surgery each time.

It's nuts that there is no treatment for the person who is floxed and how many doctors and hospitals are telling us this is all in our head. This needs some coverage. I had thought about Sonja Gupta on CNN but every other commercial is from a drug company.

Then I thought of Helmet Oz on Oprah. He is into alternative medicine and if he did a segment on Oprah I think it would raise awareness. I am writing and urging you to do the same. I am telling him my story and the lawsuit that Public Citizen with the Office of the Illinois Attorney General against the FDA to blackbox this medication.

Please follow my suit and submit a letter and also spread the word to other floxed web sites. The link to Oprah is
http://www.oprah.com/email/reach/email_showideas.jhtml

I kind of think CNN and the FDA are intellegent enough to figure out that they should NOT get information off this website. What makes everyone think all these posts are real? First you have to weed out the pranksters who post here for fun, then you have to weed out the competitors to Merck who post here to bust chops, and then you have to weed out the ones who really have a psychiatric condition and get their jollies by posting made up stories.....shall I go on? This is the INTERNET people!!! Anyone with one, two or ten verifyable emails can sign up (I have 11 email addresses myself). I have been intrigued to see the same people posting under multiple user names. Then you go to the other boards and see them there. If you really study these messages you can figure them out. So my point is, NOT ALL THESES STORIES ARE REAL. I think I would be generous in saying 25% of these posts are legit. I would hope that no government agency or news agency is going to risk their reputation on a public forum message board.

**Update** on my 17 year old son, 7 years Singulair use. He has been in a therapeutic boarding school for 2 years because of serious behavioral issues quite possibly because of side effects of Singulair. He wrote me a letter the morning he went off Singulair, March 29. In it he wrote about being very depressed and sad and told about how he had been struggling with it for such a long time. It was very upsetting. I got the letter this morning. Coincidentally, we had a conference call about 20 minutes after I read the letter. He has been off singulair for 4 days now. I asked him how he felt. He said "Excellent". That he was feeling a lot better, not very depressed and really feeling good about himself. I have not heard him describe himself as "Excellent" in a long, long time. I am cautiously optimistic that removing Singulair from his system will have a dramatic effect on his well being. He sounded incredibly upbeat today. It was amazingly good news! I have reported online to the FDA his symptoms and sent my comments to CNN. The FDA needs to issue a BLACK BOX warning about Singulair. It's quite possible that this drug has caused my family to live a nightmare for 7 years.

I just contacted CNN to give them a tip/heads up to our message board so that they can consider doing a news story about this situation to raise awareness. Please send them your concerns and personal story to:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html?2
If enough of us email them, they will start to listen.

Lourdes
Mother of Julian
(severely affected by Singulair use)
Suffered severe head drops seizures, obsessive compulsive and agressive behavior and night terror and hallucinations.

Repeating Our Story:

Repeating my post from way down below - IN CASE someone's child with these head drops is looking for someone with similar symptoms. WELL - Thank God! It is so about time! My son, age 6 now was given a very grim outcome/future by two top pediatric neurologists 2 years ago when he started having not the typical seizures we associate with epilepsy (no epilepsy in our family) - his head would drop forward - like his muscle tone in his neck would collapse for a few seconds and he would literally bang his head on tables (this was when he was 3.5 yrs old) - my husband and I always knew in our heart of hearts it WAS THE SINGULAIR he had been taking for 1 year after he had a bad coughing spell the year before - not formally diagnosed with asthma - but the pediatricians insisted it would only benefit him to continue to take it. When we noticed these head drops and his eyes would at times roll back in a matter of just a second or two and he was the most loving, caring and affectionate child and turned into an aggressive and obsessive compulsive child, who also began to have HALLUCINATIONS at night - he would sit up in bed and be seeing things and scream and cry, WE JUST KNEW IT WAS THE SINGULAIR and we stopped it COLD TURKEY on Oct. 31st 2005 - against the advice of the pediatrician. We took him to a neurologist and we told him about our suspicions about the Singulair he, just like the pediatrician brushed it off, but he had an MRI and an EEG - the MRI came back normal, but the EEG was devastating!!! We were told to get ready and pray alot - that our little boy would become a vegetable and would require assisted living for the rest of his life. That he had a rare form of seizure disorder for which there was no cure. We took him then to Duke University Hospital and had him checked by the top pediatric neurologist for a second opinion - he gave him another EEG and the diagnosis from this dr. was even worst - he would probably die an early age due to the severity of his condition and that he would lose all his motor skills and regress to a vegetable. Those were the worst days of our lives. We went back home and put him on anti-seizure medication and prayed ALOT - even strangers added him to their prayer list. Well, the seizures stopped in late January 2006 and just last March of 2007 he had another EEG and it was NORMAL - he was weaned off the anti-seizure medication and is thriving and his a great kindergarten student. Doctors cannot explain how he was cured - there is just no explanation. Aside from the faith we have in God's hand in this cure, we just KNOW THAT STOPPING THE SINGULAIR saved him from further damage and probably loss of life. He is the most affectionate and caring little boy you can imagine and I do want to point out that his speech was affected in our hearts, we know it was the Singulair but in the last year his speech has improved dramatically and he is doing just fine. My husband and I have been struggling to get awareness about the dangers of Singulair and children but the doctors do not believe us. At our last appointment with the pediatric neurologist, I told him, "one day, you will see that we were right about our suspicion regarding Singulair". I do want to add that it was just too much coincidence that when he went for his first EEG in Dec. of 2005, there was another little boy in the room next door that his parents suspected Singulair as the culprit too. If anyone wants to email me and if there is anything I can do to help with my own personal testimony - please email me starwedd2@aol.com - I will be glad to share any other information. LET'S RAISE AWARENESS TOGETHER and stop more damage from occuring. Remember, my son (post is far down) almost became a vegetable and was given a grim prognosis by 2 pediatric neurologists including the top one at Duke. No cure we were told. But we always knew it was Singulair. He was cured and there is no medical explanation. Had he continued to take it he would be the vegetable they had predicted he'd become. Okay, I just emailed DATELINE NBC - please be sure to submit your children's adverse reactions story to them - here is the email address: Dateline@NBCUNI.com I also tried emailing ABC for PrimeTime and 20/20 but they use regular snail mail for story suggestions - please do your part and mail out your story to them at: To submit a story idea to one of the ABC News shows listed below, write a single page letter including your name, phone number, and address. Include photocopies of backup information. On the outside of the envelope, write "Story Idea." If a producer is interested in your story, he/she will contact you. Here are the show addresses: 20/20 147 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 Primetime 147 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 Together we will do something to help avoid more tragedies I went ahead and reported our experience online to the FDA: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch_online.cfm

I feel sick to my stomach over this. I didn't see the report on the news, but my husband told me a little about it. I didn't look till today and when I read all these postings I can't believe it. My 7 year old daughter has been on Singulair for several years. The past couple of months she has been having some anxiety issues. She started talking about death. Fear of others dying, and today she told me she didn't want to die. She is afraid to go into any room herself, unless someone goes with her (which was never an issue before), and she is super sensitive. Everything gets her upset. I can't believe this all could have been caused by a drug I thought was helping her prevent her asthma. Last night was her last singulair. I hope she gets back to her old self soon.