College athlete symptoms and conditions

I have been taking L for about a 9 months and dealing with many of the same effects mentioned on this board; lethargy (hard to get up in the morning), irregular heart beats, erection issues, loose stools (wiped my ass raw at times), limb tingles, etc, etc, etc. I forgot to take it yesterday, didn't take it today and wow, my normal bowel movements are back (one wipe ;o). I am going to stop taking for a while and see if the strange heart beats stop, Bummer of it all, is that the drug did wonders for my 190/80 bp. Within a week L Iowered it to 120/70. I have always been borderline (even as a high school and college athlete). I am guessing I will need to try another drug, but which one? I have actually tried others but none worked as well as L for the bp.

Rapid pulse, shortness of breath on exertion, kidney function tests out-of-line, muscle aches, problems sleeping.

I'm 36 and have been on this med for about 1.5 years. I've had some mild sporadic side effects on going but thought they were just my failing health! Chest pains, tingling in my hands, arms (my left arm bothers me more and scares me of course), my legs and even feet. I have insane muscle spasm/cramps. I have twitches and spasms in places I had no idea were even muscles. Backaches, head and jaw aching, blurred vision, feeling hung over and drugged, tired and require at least 9 consistent hours of uninterrupted sleep if I am to feel okay for half of the day. No energy otherwise, pain in my feet now when I walk, heart flutters and twitches and neck spasms and pain all over my body. I've been in the ER a number of times with them unable to find me ready for the heart attack I think I'm having. I've even been depressed and suicidal with feeling this bad. These symptoms increased in discomfort and My bladder/uterus are enlarged/swollen and morning urination especially is painful even if I have not much to evacuate. I noticed that these symptoms grew more frequent and stronger and the past few months I literally thought I was going to checkout any day. I was just waiting. I thought, oh well, you're on meds for bp, but you got on too late. Your time is up. I noticed also that right after I take my pill I feel worse. So I feel the best (which is not really at all) right before my next pill is due. After reading everybody elses problems with this med, and that it's actually made from snake venom, I am going to as safe and painless as I can, wean myself from this junk. Who in their right mind would give snake venom to people? If you get bit by a venomous snake, these are exactly the things that are effected. Your nervous system, your heart, breathing, blurred vision, etc. My only fear is that having these symptoms now for this long have done permanent damage. I pray not.

My daughter started taking Yaz 3 months ago. The first month she was fine. Then all of a sudden in her second month she became depressed. Crying all the time, moody, very tired and just plain unhappy. She is a college athlete and always has been happy miss social butterfly. She has lost interest in all the things she loved 2 months ago before taking this pill. After all the research I have done, I told her to stop taking this pill now. Hopefully after a few weeks from now she will feel like herself again. She is away at college and I am so worried. I would tell everyone stay off this pill its horrible.

Glad I found this forum. Yesterday my doctor started me on Levaquin 500mg x10 for a mild case of epididmytis. I've taken two doses thusfar, but have decided to discontinue the medication after researching quinolones online. Also, I developed a small rash on my stomach last night, and a minor rash on my left flank today. Add to this the jittery/dizzy feelings and anxiety I'm feeling, and I think that's reason enough to d/c. My doctor should be calling in a new prescription today, from another class of antibiotics.

I fully recognize that my anxiety is most likely not from the medication-- rather, it's likely from KNOWING that all these potential side effects exist. However, I believe that the symptoms described by the userids of this forum are real, especially since there is so much negative press about this class of drugs. I'm starting medical school next year, and I assure you all that when I finally become a physician, I'll strongly encourage proactive patients. Why trust exclusively what the drug companies/literature says about a medication when there are multiple patients telling you about their bad side effects? Patients know how they feel, not some report.

As an aside, I think I'll start looking into when my girlfriend took levaquin. She's only 22 years old, but has suffered severe lower back pain for a couple years now (sometimes so bad she couldn't walk). I know she took levaquin at some time in the past-- I can remember looking at the pills. She deals with the pain through natural anti-inflammatories (flax oil, etc.), but she has gone through a lot of physicians while trying to find the cause. She's had x-rays, MRI's, physical therapy, steroid injections, and has met with multiple neurologists and orthopods. So far, no cause has been found. She was a perfectly health college athlete (equestrian) when her back pain struck out of the blue one day. I still remember, she was crying, and couldn't walk the two blocks to her class.

By no means have I suddenly concluded that her pain was caused by levaquin; rather, I relate this story to see if anyone else has experienced lasting low-back pain. I'll keep looking into that possibility, but in the meantime, I'l continue feeling relieved that I'm stopping a potentially dangerous medication. Good luck to all of you in dealing with your afflictions.

Nick