Complete recovery symptoms and conditions

My experience was a seven day short-lived trip through hell on Topamax.

I began experiencing a constant headache for several months in February 2009 (no prior history of headaches). I am healthy 32 y/o male. After multiple MRI's and CT scans came back negative I had a very severe headache that sent me to the ER. The ER helped arrange for me to see a Neurologist, who after patient listening to my laundry list of symptoms concluded I was having migraines (even though I had no sensitivity to light, sound, or nausea). I had been doing a decent amount of research on headaches and didn’t agree that they were migraines but decided, he’s the neurologist, I should trust him. Let me also say at this point, I am not a person looking for a pill to cure my problems, but I was getting desperate as my headaches were ruining my life. I was prescribed Topamax.

I was suppose to start with three days at 25mg, then go to three days at 50mg, and finally up to 100mg per day. The first three days were uneventful when I hit 50mg and then 75mg…I was out of my mind. I read these messages and see people at 400mg with no problems…it makes me cringe to think of dosing that high. I stopped at 75mg…here were my side-effects. Tingling in my face, lips, hands, arms, and fingertips, chest pains (I do have GERD and it jacked up my GERD bad!!!), pain in the back of head, taste confusion (soda tasting flat), and pressure in my eyes and temples…But those are NOTHING compared to the complete feeling of anxiety that over took my body. I had a mild nervous breakdown at work, became paranoid to the point where I was afraid to do routine tasks. And the MUSCLE SPASMS…those are the worst part. I have muscle spasms all over my body, just random fluttering of muscles in my chest, arms, back, neck, head, and face! I became suicidal and had the worst night terrors ever, of things, that I wasn’t even afraid of.

I have been off Topamax cold turkey for four days now and the anxiety has significantly subsided. I have worked through a lot of the anxiety with my wife and I now believe that stress is the cause of my headaches, not migraines like I tried to tell the doctor…but the muscle spasms have not stopped (they have decreased) yet…but I can’t wait for the Topamax to leave my body.

I used to think these messages boards were part of the problem, but they are very helpful. Do your research before you put anything into your body…trust yourself and if you disagree with your doctor, get a second opinion. This has been a life changing event for me.

Health and Happiness to all

I have to comment..... look at how many entries there are showing side effects.. so many people have the same symptoms. does this not open the eyes of others to accept that it can be a real problem to some people, admittedly not all, but it obviously doesn't agree with all of us. I could not believe my ears the other week when the local GP said that it's rare there are side effects, then 4 hours later a DR. in a hospital emergency department stated that statin drugs are very common for muscle problems, in particular one named brand (need I say more??) Couldn't wipe the smile off my face after hearing someone finally admitting it..
Come on professional people, start listening and accepting that people do know their own bodies and can see and feel so many vast changes in their day to day activities. Maybe guide people to a better understanding of diet and lifestyle before dishing out meds. so quickly. Give us some credit......some of us exercise regularly, we want to live healthy too and all this has done is put a stop to that luxury.
I have to add, I posted earlier this month, I AM getting much better each day, clearer thinking, vast improvement in mobility, so please stay positive and take care of yourselves, obviously we all need a little patience, hard to do after some long term suffering i know, we want overnight fixes just to feel normal again.. :-)

Last year, starting July 5th till August 20th, at the age of 15, I am female, I had to take this devil of a drug. For nearly a month, after getting out of a hospital for a massive kidney infection caused by a kidney stone. The month I went through was a total hell; I was up all night, nearly every night, vomiting what I had managed to eat during the day. Cause of this I lost over 50 lbs and became underweight, from being unable to safely eat without vomiting minutes after the consumption of food. It gave me pseudotumor cerebri, and papilloedema which has nearly ruined my eyesight. It has also caused psychological effects with me caused by hallucinations, I cannot sleep without a nightlight, I am very paranoid of mirrors now, it has left me with depression and paranoia. I do not recommend this drug to anyone, as I am afraid it could cause death! I truly would wish this on no one, not even my enemies.

hi all. thanks for writing your comments here. it has helped me today, another HORRIBLE day of prednisone hell. i have been seriously ill for 8 months been told ever other week I'm likely going to die from lung disease (i'm 35) and after a painful lung biopsy have been told my lung problems are almost all reversible... after a year on high dose prednisone. i was on 40mg a day for a month a while back and was so out of control from rage and crying and insomnia and panic/suicidality, ravenous appetite, that they lowered me to 30. then after biopsy they said i should be on 100mg to cure me, we settled at 60mg. it's been 24 days. The moon face started about one week in. i've gained 8 lbs. i am an emotional wreck. i have at least one rage filled attack per day where i am screaming and want to kill somebody or destroy something. some days i am so filled with hopelessness and worry i just want to die. my body changes (after just losing 30 lbs and being a work out fanatic my shortness of breath makes it impossible to walk up 2 flights of stairs without resting) face changes, acne, excess body hair (oh my god please make it stop i'm like a chia pet and i'm so afraid it is going to get worse) double chin, puffy eyes and cheeks, absolutely uncontrollable emotions and mood swings, inability to be logical or reasonable. i don't want to leave the house, i'm panicked and scared all the time. i never sleep. ambian gives me minimal relief (just started taking it) i feel like i'm losing everything, except my lung functioning is returning and i'm not going to die from this illness (they assure me THIS week) i understand light at the end of the tunnel, but living like this is unbearable most days, almost impossible the rest of the time. am i alone with the severity of this? or are all the others like me too busy hiding the sharps and crying in a corner to write on this board? thanks for listening :)

figures, forgot to mention what HELPS. no eating after 8 (7pm is better) no salt, no sugar, exercise, even just a walk every day, anything physical, i walk like a grandma on the treadmill but i still do it, sometimes it is the only thing that stops my crying. no alcohol, support and understanding from loved ones, it's not you, its the drugs. good luck.
figures, forgot to mention what HELPS. no eating after 8 (7pm is better) no salt, no sugar, exercise, even just a walk every day, anything physical, i walk like a grandma on the treadmill but i still do it, sometimes it is the only thing that stops my crying. no alcohol, support and understanding from loved ones, it's not you, its the drugs. good luck.

I have been taking LIPITOR for about 1.5 years and have been feeling the cotton head but thought it was allergies. for about 8 months or so I have been feeling pain on the left side of my chest and upper back by the shoulder plates. I've told my doctor and had several tests done incl. MRI, C-scan, etc. Once I even had to go to the emergency room thinking I was having a heart attack. But the doc. said the EKG was normal and that it might be muscular. I have not read that anyone else is having the chest symptoms. This is very scary to me. Lately I feel my neck getting stiff and I am also constantly tired and keep waking up at night and have a hard time going back to sleep. I don't seem to have the arm or leg pains that most people here seem to be suffering from but am now convinced it's LIPITOR since it is the only prescription medicine I am taking. I would appreciate hearing from someone who has had the same symptoms I've described above. I stopped taking Lipitor about 4 days ago and do feel already less tired but the upper body pain is still present.

Our 6 year old son is on Singular since March 2006. His smiles turned to frowns, laughter to screams, playfullness to agression. Although, he is quite bright for his age, it appears at times that he is in a fog. He says unbelievable things for a 6 year old; " I just want to die, I hate myself, you hate me don't you, I just want to kill myself, I can't stop/help myself, my brain is telling me to do it". Singular was very helpful for his asthma but, what it has done to his spirit and our lives is not worth a single mg. He is off the drug for 3 days, we pray our little "sunshine" will return to us.

Lipitor NOT EFFECTIVE ON WOMEN!!

"Again and again, clinical studies have failed to show that the use of statins lowers cardiovascular risk in women who do not already have coronary heart disease or diabetes"

I am a 53 year old male on disability for a bad back and atributed a lot of my symptoms to my back. Leg pains, leg cramps, foot pains and extreme fatigue... Also occasional mental fogginess to depresion as I was on Prozac for depresion... When the side effects hit the hardest I was literally crippeled and barely able to get around on crutches although limited to one level of our split level home, the stairs were TOO MUCH. I had stopped the Lipitor immediately put that didn't help, the pain was overwhelming despite the Hydrocodone #10 I was taking 4-6 a day!! (I previously took 1 per day max) I found on the internet how statin drugs deplete the body of CoQ-10 and cause the muscles to atrophy.

For results of CoQ-10 see my other post...
I don't list website where I get mine because I don't want anyone to think I have anything to gain by making these posts. I am sharing what worked for me and got me out of a period of paid so intense. I only want to help others.
I had to find a cheaper place to buy because I'm on social security disabilty with kids and I don't get enough money to be able to buy it any where else so now maybe I can help them another way too. God Bless all who have been effected by this drug and may you have a complete recovery, if you refuse to quit taking it, supplement with coq-10 even drs and pharmacists agree (that know what they're talking about)

Hello,
I started taking Effexor about 4 weeks ago for social anxiety disorder. Initially I experienced some side effects such as dry mouth, trembling, feeling light headed, nausea and drowsiness. These side effects diminished and my doctor increased my dose to 75 mg, I then experienced other side effects for example very vivid dreams like watching a movie played out before me which was kind of interesting until I had a very vivid and disturbing nightmare. I also experienced weightloss. Currently I am having trouble sleeping which causes me to feel very tired in the day, and have been troubled by mild depression which I'm trying to conquer. On the positive side, i find that I'm not as anxious as I used to be however I'm a long way from complete recovery. It takes about 12 weeks to feel the full effect of the treatment and I am impatient to be rid of this horrible anxiety disorder. I'm happy to be on Effexor and can tolerate the side effects, they are nothing compared to what it's like to live with social anxiety disorder and insignificant in comparison to enduring the pain of depression.

hi kim, have you tried clicking the link from this page or are you using the link i sent you in my email? i would really love you to post your story on the new forum. I think silke is right,when the ladies are back to their old selves they stop visiting this site,it's a shame because it would give us hope if we knew a complete recovery was possible,maybe the fact that they don't need this site anymore should be all the proof we need that recovery is possible?
I had insomnia for quite a while when i 1st stopped yasmin, i used to drink a couple of cups of strong chamomile tea before bed,i found that helped a lot and the other thing that helped was not stressing that i couldn't sleep, i would just say to myself oh well i will just lay here and read or one of my favourite things was to lay there in the dark and think of as many wonderful images as i could come up with,like a lovely sandy beach or a gorgeous log cabin in the snow or playing in the sun with my kids being happy and laughing.i got to a stage where i would almost look forward to nights that took me longer to get to sleep but ironically once i got to that stage i would fall asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow!

hi everyone, thanks for the response and great advice for my daughter. As you know she is almost 18 and has suffered all the depression/anxiety symptoms. She went to a fantastic psychologist a couple of days ago, he says she has social anxiety, and yes that is exactly what it is, the anxiety kicks in when she has to go to a party, work, away to our holiday house for the weekend etc. He along with the doctor have not dismissed a problem with hormones causing all of this, So now she is learning ways on how to cope with the anxiety, is going to ease herself back to work and we just hope that she will improve bit by bit. Its incredible to think that she is on a high dose of lexapro{40mg} and stil suffering from extreme bouts of anxiety. I think that any woman suffering from these dreadful side effects of yasmin must do all they can to improve their quality of life, whether it be vitamins, massage, councilling or what ever may help in any small way, these things may help your wellbeing and assist you to have a complete recovery. good luck to all