Controlled substance symptoms and conditions

I am a 60 year old male. I have been on high dose Niacin for more than 12 years. 2 years ago I started taking the combination drug, Advicor. (Lipitor and Niacin) Up until this point, there were no side affects with the Niacin other than occasional flushing. Since starting on the Advicor I have noticed a gradual weakening of muscles, and occasional joint pain. I have recently increased my exercise, thinking this was part of the aging process. I have not worked out consistently for 2 years. I have not noticed much improvement in my conditioning in the past 3 weeks, and have in fact noticed my quadriceps feel as though there is a buildup of lactic acid. I also notice my heart rate does not climb very high before my perceived exertion is above 50%. I did a fitness evaluation today at the health club I go to. The trainer mentioned that he hears the same thing from a lot of people who are on Lipitor. He went on to say, there heart rate is usually 20 bpm lower when on the drug. I am going to be talking with my physician to see about getting off Advicor and going back to just the Niacin. I will increase my exercise and more closely watch my diet. I want to thank the folks who have posted.

I have had really bad anxiety and panic disorder for a year now from being a former pot smoker. My doctor prescribed me adderall xr 20mg after I asked her to. I'm in college and I have a friend I go to school with who takes it. I found out about it from her and she gave me a few. When I took it I was fine. Even the come down wasn't as bad as what I am experiencing now. I took the first pill out of the bottle yesterday. The first 5 hours were great. I was focus on what I was doing and I had no anxiety or weird side affects what so ever. Around 2am I started feeling dizzy, fatigue, parts of my body was going numb, my limbs were getting weak and they hurt, i got massive migraines, chest pains, weird shots of pain that felt like lightning going up my spine to my neck, blurred vision, and my speech was slurred. I did not want to wake my parents up because I thought maybe i was just having a panic attack. My doctor put me on metadate prior to adderall and I had some panic disorders with it, but this was far worse. Then I realized that all of these horrible feelings couldn't be from anxiety. I usually just get the rapid heart beat, short breath, numbness due to hypertension, and chest pains. This was far worse! I felt like a thousand needles were poking into my chest, at time I felt so weak I thought I was going to faint, if I got up too fast I got dizzy spells and everything became a blur to me. I was so scared that I felt like I was going to die. I had read the papers given with the drug and it said to seek medical attention immediately with the symptoms that I had. I didn't want to do anything drastic like call 911, because thats what I did with the metadate and over time i felt fine, so instead I called the poison control hotline on the pamphlet. The woman over the phone said that what I was experiencing was normal and that everything only seems more intense because its late and i'm tired but I can't get any sleep. Her voice and assurance made me feel slightly better, but afterwards things just got worse. I don't understand why this drug had these effects on me when I took the same thing before with no problem! During that time I had anxiety as well, and I still did not have any issues. I love the fact that this drug helps me to remain focus, but the after affects are so horrible. Does anyone know if I can just sprinkle half of the pill in some food or something and I won't have these problems, or if there is something equivalent to adderall without those horrid side effect?

I've been on Seroquel for a month now. My dosage was progressively increased from 100mg to 400mg for severe chronic insomnia, a symptom of manic depression.

Within one month, I've gained 20 pounds and I look as if I'm six or seven months pregnant.

I am weaning myself off of it, because my doctor doesn't seem to care much about the weight gain, despite the fact that I eat less than 1000 calories a day.

A symptom of bipolar disorder is also depression, and the more I look at myself in the mirror, the more depressed I get.

I'd rather go without sleep than gain weight at the rate I've been gaining it. It's just not safe, and I can feel it taking its toll on me physically and psychologically.

It's just not worth it in my opinion. I'm giving Melatonin a try. Hopefully, that will work for me. It was suggested by one of my nurses.

It's not easy to go from a 4/5 to nearly a size 9 in a month. It really makes you feel terrible, especially when you exercise an hour and a half everyday and are on a low calorie diet.

Until I'm given something that can counteract the weight gain, I refuse to stay on Seroquel.

I admit I'm having some bouts of insomnia, but they're not nearly as bad as they were before I started the Seroquel. Perhaps that will change once the Seroquel is all out of my system.

I also notice I'm itching everywhere, from head to toe. I suppose that's a symptom of weaning yourself off of the drug.

I have never taken pills except for mild anti-depressants when I was younger. I am 24 and I took this pill for 6 weeks at which time the Doctor wanted to up the dose from 100mg/day to 200mg/day, until the increase in dosage I have been sleeping more than usual, once I changed to 200mg/day within a couple days I started having progressively worse sleep until I couldn't sleep at all. Also it didn't get rid of my headaches just made them more manageable. I have been off Topamax for 2 months and my sleep was so screwed up during that time, I still haven't gotten back on track and now have to take prescription sleep aids and/or controlled substance benodiazepines. STAY AWAY from this pill!!!!!!!! It is not worth the trouble