Contraindications symptoms and conditions

I started Topamax over a year ago and titrated up slowly, 25 mg a week until I got to 125 mg a day, split dosing. I was started for migraine prophylaxis. Once it kicked in, it did an amazing job of keeping my headaches away. But, here is something really important: if you are going to have surgery, there are contraindications with Topamax and anesthesia. No one either knew this or told me this and I only found out weeks after I went through a really lousy experience. What I believe happened is that the combination threw my body's pH balance off. I felt like my insides were burning and it was only at that point that I started to experience the severe diarrhea and weight loss, fatigue, and general malaise. It lasted for weeks. All I could figure at the time was that it was just taking me a really long time to recover from my surgery (ovarian cyst removal and unilateral oophorectomy), but that didn't make sense. I felt like I had a horrible flu for weeks. I kept seeing my doctor saying something was wrong with the way I was healing (ie, i had an infection or something). Anyway, this eventually stabilized as I back off the Topamax. I was so weak that I didn't even realize the memory issues or word finding problems, but when I started to feel better physically, I did notice those. That REALLY bugged me. I like to be sharp. So, I tapered off. About 1.5 months later, my headaches started coming back. I decided to try Topamax again feeling that now I understood it much better and could watch it more closely. Maybe this time I could ride out the side effects. Well, this time several months passed at the same dose. My headaches were still there and I had no side effects. We upped the dosage. Still having headaches, but no diarrhea, no weight loss (in fact, weight gain of 15 pounds over the last 9 months since last Topamax round), no real problem with word finding, etc. Up to about 200 mg daily by this time. It has been about 6 months and I have started tapering down and about to give up, down to 150 mg daily right now. NOW, here is something interesting: I just have another surgery, but no anesthesia. It was oral surgery. I did, however, have to take a round of antibiotics. It seems that this round of antibiotics has kicked the cycle into gear because I started having gastric problems, perhaps because of the antibiotics (although in the past, I have not had problems with antibiotics before, ALTHOUGH I did have to take them last year with my in-hospital surgery), I don't know, but I have finished the round of antibiotics and I am still having diarrhea. My appetite is suppressed, and I have lost 5 pounds in this last week. Many people say you cannot lose weight if you stop Topamax and restart it later. That is an interesting. I wonder why that is. Topamax is such a strange drug. Why did it not work for me the second time I took it, or at least for 9 months? Is it just now kicking in with its side effects as the result of upsetting my gastric system? Will it start working now for my headaches, too? I think I will continue to taper off or maybe see if I can prevent headaches on a very low dose. Oh, another interesting thing: I found the first time I took Topamax, it made me feel energized. I found that this time, it made me feel the opposite. I sleep a lot more and feel more sleepy during the day.

On May 8th 2009 I had my gallbladder removed. I have lupus, sjogrens disease, pulmonary hypertension, diabetes type II and coeliac disease. I was prescribed doxycycline as an antibiotic for post op infection. Within 2 days I was very ill - thought I was going to have a heart attack. The pain over my heart was alarming. Also, I found it very difficult to breath. I did some reading and found out that Lupus patients should not be given doxycycline. (The hospital and specialists knew my medical history and it should have been an easy thing to check for contraindications of medications - I had never had doxycycline before)A day after I stopped the antibiotic things improved dramatically. At the post op visit to the specialist, I was told that this was 'all in my head' and it was a lot of nonsense. However, I stuck to my story and finally the specialist conceded that even the best doctors do not know everything!!!!???
One really has to be VERY careful to look after one's own health.

Wow, who should I believe? Placebo controlled studies which suggest Avelox is a perfectly safe drug or a bunch of crazy people who like to TYPE every OTHER word IN all CAPS who are probably all middle aged women with psychological problems and/or fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, or other made up diagnoses.

Here's a hint morons: The reason why every drug in existence now lists every possible side effect is because of crazies like you. This way, the drug company can protect themselves from litigious idiots like the poster below who wants to join a class action lawsuit. This only compounds the problem, though, because then more crazies look at the side effect profile and when they see that "Oh my gosh, it says right here it causes x, y, and z" it just validates in there mind that this is somehow a dangerous drug.

I swear, if all of the pampered babies in this country were put to work in a rice field in Cambodia, there would be a lot less nonsense in the world. You would see what true pain and suffering is about.

My husband was recovering well from hepatitis A. He's been bothered by some GERD-related digestive problems so he tried OTC Omeprazole because he didn't find any contraindications for liver conditions on it. He took 20 mg daily for 3 days, suddenly felt too full and had no appetite, stopped it but tried again 3 days later when he started having stomach discomfort again. On the 4th day he complained of stabbing pain in his stomach. The next day he was exhausted, bloated,and had a tickling irritation in his throat, and swelling in his feet. He'd had none of these symptoms before taking Omeprazole. I did some research on the Web (at physician's sites) and learned that it is very bad for people with liver problems -- it suppresses key liver enzymes and remains in the body for a very long time. That's been 10 days ago now and his symptoms continue -- mostly fatigue, bloating and swelling in the feet. He never experienced ANY of these things before taking Omeprazole! I see by postings that many people do experience these symptoms for a very long time.

I am a 52 year old female. I've been using Zyrtec for four months, at first PRN, then for the last eight weeks daily. I also take Norvasc and Atenolol for BP. I was already experiencing slight swelling in my ankles presumably from the Norvasc, and I have been gaining weight steadily since starting the Atenolol in December. I have had overwhelming fatigue during exercise to the point that I can hardly finish a one hour Jazzercise class (which I have attended on a regular basis for over 20 years.) All symptoms I've blamed on the BP meds, especially the Atenolol.

I began complaining to my doc about the symptoms and had a complete blood work up to rule out other diseases that cause these symptoms. He suggested Weight Watchers and increased exercise to battle the weight gain, and reduced the Atenolol to half dose to over come the these issues. I didn't think to tell him about the Zyrtec I had started taking OTC.

I began careful monitoring of calorie intake and increased my Jazzercise classes in an attempt to lose weight with no success. In fact, the weight continued to increase.

This week, the swelling in my ankles increased to the point where you can not recognize them and the swelling has now included my feet. They are so puffy the toes are connected and you can make a deep impression with your finger in the skin. I decided to stop the Zyrtec and found the swelling to stop immediately. Even the slight ankle swelling has abated.

I started searching the web for contraindications between Zyrtec and the BP meds. None of the drug sites offer any negative side effects The Zyrtec site gives no info at all. After reading the many experiences here and on another site, I think the Zyrtec is to blame for all of my symptoms. I have not asked the doc about his opinion, but will inform him at my next appointment.

I was prescribed Geodon for schizpophrenia and it has had little impact on the illness. I was told to take it three times a day, 20mg capsules. At 60mg I experience somewhat strange physiological changes, like severe weakness, dizziness, and an increase in visual and auditory hallucinations. Orthostatic Hypotension is one of the major contraindications of the medicine which I have experienced. My use of the drug has been no more than 15 days and I have not finished the bottle. I could be highly sensitive to drugs which would mean having to increase the dose slightly over longer period of time. In my experience with many of these drugs I have had few positive results with mostly negative side effects that have only served to limit my physical and mental powers. I would recomend that anyone considering the use of typical or atypical antipsychotics should reconsider and look into other options. Especially when prescribed for youth or children under the age of 10 years. The permanent changes that could occur are not positive in terms of mental development, and also the possibilty of developing Tardive Dyskinesia a serious neorological abnormality that can last for the rest of one's life. My experience has ended with Geodon because I derived little benefit from its use. I would not recomend others use of the drug.

My mother has been given Actonel samples to try, before a prescription. I am looking for userid experience, ie, side effects, contraindications, and especially interested in blood clots, if any.