April 30th
2009
3:47 PM
Hello Again. I'd like to correct my earlier statement regarding the migraine. The terminology is "migraine with aura" (it still hurt like a son of a b*^$& no matter what you call it). I'd also like to update you all with an interesting finding from my Dr. app the other day...it appears that I have "hyperthyroidism" which can, in fact, cause many of the symptoms that I've been experiencing. It may be a good idea, for those of you who haven't already done so, to have a complete blood workup, including thyroid tests, to rule out possible root causes for many of these symptoms. I need to undergo further testing (which is just how a Mom wants to spend her precious "free-time" eh?) but I'm still keeping Mirena high on my list of culprits! Best of luck!
-- By sam611 | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
March 1th
2009
5:06 PM
First I want to say, after reading several posts, that it seems a lot of you are taking Topamax without food, which may be causing your "spaciness." My doctor suggested always taking it with food, even though it says with or without food, and I only experienced spaciness the few times I took it at bedtime without food. Once I started taking it with breakfast and dinner, that never happened again.
I am a 48 year old woman, prescribed Topamax in September of 08 for migraine associated vertigo without headaches, with facial numbness. The first thing I noticed was I immediately had headaches, which to me indicated it was dehydrating me as that is the only time I get a "normal" headache. So I knew I had to drink a lot of water. Soon after starting Topamax I developed a dry cough that lasted the entire time I was on the med. I did not relate it to the drug at the time, however. It never even occurred to me. After about two months on the drug I started having trouble breathing with extreme dryness in my airways. I was prescribed an albuterol inhaler which did not help. I was then prescribed a corticosteroid inhaler which also did not help. I thought the trouble breathing was from taking Nadolol which I was prescribed for occasional heart fluttering - the neurologist said this was a normal side effect of Topamax. I stopped taking the Nadolol but the trouble breathing continued. I also had more migraines with vertigo and facial numbness than before I started taking the drug. I hoped it would eventually stop and the drug would kick in to help the vertigo, so I stayed on the drug. I had very minor tingling in my feet, but it was tolerable. I became very stressed out, had trouble sleeping, depression, my face started breaking out in November (and still is), I lost interest in everything that I normally enjoy - reading, photography, following politics in the news (sort of an obsession of mine). In December I was so depressed that for the first time in my 11 year career I started canceling appointments and eventually took three weeks off from work to "re-group." In January the neurologist decided that we would increase the dose from 100 mg to 150 mg for one more month, and if it did not get rid of my migraines with vertigo, we would discontinue the drug. The first day on the increased dose I had a killer headache, and I drank 150 ounces of water before it went away. That night I did not have to go to the bathroom during the night, unheard of for me. That's a lot of water to drink and not have to pee. Within two days of increasing the dose, my cough became much worse, and within three days, the breathing became more difficult. Within five days, I was having trouble speaking because my airways felt so dry. I called the doctor the next morning and he said it was not the drug, but if I wanted to, stop taking it. So I went off it cold turkey, per his instructions. I had rebound migraines every day for a week or two and my heart was pounding, sometimes for three or four hours at a time. Eventually the cough and trouble breathing went away, however, I had to continue drinking lots of water or I would notice that I didn't have to urinate, sometimes not at all. Again, unheard of for me. I saw a cardiologist at the neurologist's urging and they said the heart pounding was just anxiety. I disagree, as did another doctor of mine. We both believe it was withdrawal. I have now found out (by getting copies of my medical records) that the neurologist is now attributing all of my side effects from the Topamax to "somatization." In other words, psychosomatic - not a side effect, but just a way of getting medical attention. I am seeing a few people on this board who have also experienced a dry cough and trouble breathing. Can I have the same side effects as other people and have them still be psychosomatic, even though I had no idea those side effects could occur? I don't think so.
I have a theory that Topamax interferes with hormones which causes a lot of the side effects like lack of concentration, memory loss, anxiety, depression, insomnia, acne, and hair loss - all symptoms of peri-menopause and menopause. Ask any woman in her 40's or 50's if she has these symptoms and most of them will say yes. My face has not been this broken out since high school! My hair is falling out at a rapid rate. I won't even bother mentioning these to the neurologist. He'll just say it's not the drug.
I'm very frustrated and not sure what to do at this point. The neurologist has me taking a supplement called Migrelief now, but I think it takes three months to kick in, so I have no relief at this point.
Has anyone else experienced the trouble breathing with dry cough? I don't believe for a moment that it was psychosomatic.
-- By brbarb | Reply | (10) replies | Private Message me
August 3th
2008
9:54 AM
I've been on 300 mg's of Lamcital since last December. Great drug, really helps my mania get under control. Lithium wasn't cutting it for me with my depression, in fact the side effects were making me even more depressed. My pdoc decided to try out Geodon (at 100 mg's). In the most part, it has been great. I feel alive and like myself again for the first time in years. But...
I wonder if making me so stable has also given my mind way to much time to over- analyze what I see and do. I see things out of the corner of my eye all of the time. I had something appear right in front of me the other day. I can no longer sleep past seven in the morning. And I have three facial twitches: my lower lip, the arc in my left eyebrow and the very top of my forehead where the first of my hair follicles start on my widow's peak. Those drive me nuts.
I am also on 40 mg's of Propranolol (Anderall) and Cytomel for my thyroid. For having such a severe case of BP, it's nice to be on so few medications. Geodon has been a lifesaver and has given me back my creativity and my marriage. I'll take seeing things and facial twitches any day for those.
June 21th
2008
7:37 PM
wow, I'm officially terrified. I've been taking Paxil for 8 months now for chronic anxiety and panic attacks. Prior to paxil, my muscles became so tense, my entire body would seize up. Paxil has helped with that but left the rest of my life in shambles. Effexor used to work for me, but I tried to go off them then go back on and eventually effexor became ineffective. With the paxil I have night sweats (just learned that is a side effect from this website), dizziness, takes a couple hours to fall asleep and a couple hours to wake up, dreams that feel real, light sensitive, some days I shake so bad that I have broken glassware! What bothers me the most is my inability to read. Are there others who have this problem? I can't see the page properly, or I can't concentrate long enough to get through a page, and sometimes both. Is this a side effect of the drug?
-- By lostinspace | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
June 9th
2008
7:29 PM
I started Femcon FE for the first time 3 1/2 weeks ago, and have noticed weight gain (5-7lbs), severe bloating, pains in my abdomen, not depressed, but definitely not as upbeat & positive as usual. I also have been much more jumpy, thinking I'm seeing things out of the corner of my eye... I have been on birth control for many years, and have never had such noticeable changes as with this one!! YUCK! I'm thinking about going back to my old pill!!! I'm so glad I found this site, I could not figure out why I felt so different all of a sudden!
-- By dyoung | Reply | Private Message me
May 9th
2008
3:40 AM
hi,
i have had many of the symptoms explained on here. I am 20 and getting married in August so I figured I needed to get on these soon because we do not want to get pregnant. These have been horrible so far! I have had EXTREME moodiness, headache, no sex drive, nausea, horrible breast tenderness, vomiting, dizziness, weird vision problems- I couldn't see out of the corner of my eye, leg pain, hair on my nipples?which ive never had before.(anyone have this?) I am also always bloated and tired. This is my second pack and I just started my period on time yesterday so should I stick it out or change pills? anyone have any good info or opinions??? Thanks!
December 2th
2007
3:04 PM
I just started Singulair 10 days ago and 3 days after I started I developed what I thought was a massive head cold. Pains at the base of my neck, followed by a stuffy head, sore throat, and a nasty cough. This dry, never-ending cough keeps me up at night. It takes over an hour to go to bed even after taking Nyquil and last night I even tried Rx cough syrup w/codeine, still over an hour to get to sleep. I cough to the point of gagging and sweating. This has been happening since last Monday and it's so embarrassing at work. I know people are afraid they are going to catch my "cold" If it were a cold, I would think I would be getting better by now, not worse. This morning I felt so bad that I decided to search the internet and found this post. I beginning to think it's the Singulair. I'm going to the doctor and then depending on what he says, I may try quitting the Singulair. I am miserable. I was reading the other posts and was amazed at the symptoms I've had but had not connected to Singulair yet. I had a vivid, scary dream last night and I don't usually dream much, but this was very real. I also had noticed lately that I keep thinking I see someone coming or passing by out of the corner of my eye, and I read someone's post that referred to shadows in your peripheral and I was shocked! This is exactly what I've been seeing. I would have never blamed it on the drug. I will see how things go once I quit taking it. This is unbelievable!
-- By dd1024 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
October 14th
2007
8:30 PM
I was on Singulair for about 5-6 years and I rarely had an asthma attack. I had the vivid dreams that are common with Singulair, but that didn't bother me. I also had the occasional earache, but it was tolerable. My last 3 months of taking this drug, I started "seeing things." I would see shadows darting out of the corner of my eye. At the time I was waitressing and I went out to wait on a table that I thought was there. When I looked up to take their order, there was no one there. One night I almost got into an accident because I thought a car was behind me that was tailing me when there wasn't one. It was at that point that I really started to freak out. I thought I was going insane, possibly schizophrenia. One day I was flipping through a magazine and happened to see an ad for Singulair. I read through all the fine print and saw that a rare side effect was hallucinations! It all made sense at that point and I knew I wasn't going crazy!
I stopped taking Singulair and then started to have breathing problems (I wasn't taking anything for my asthma at that point). I went to the doctor and he laughed when I told him about the hallucinations being from Singulair. He told me to go back on it and see if it happened again. The second or third day I started to see shadows again. I lasted about a week and then just stopped and went to Advair. It doesn't help much.
It makes me really sad that Singulair did this to me. It was the only time in my life where I didn't have to worry about breathing. Now I have to take prednisone about twice a year, which I never had to do on Singulair. I just wanted to write this in case anyone else was experiencing anything similar.
-- By briarrose24 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
September 9th
2006
4:01 PM
I was put on Geodon about 2.5 to 3 years ago for about 7 months. I was only 15 at the time so I had little control to what medication I was being perscribed to. I wanted to get off of it about two or three months after I was on it but I had a terrible physiatrist who insisted he knew what I was experiencing better than I did which was perfect because if I refused to take any medication then I was sent to a pych ward for a week. My parents were understandably worried and didn't understand anything about these medications so they listened to that idiot.
Ok so, though at the time they weren't sure, I had severe depression. He thought it could be bi-polar and put me on Geodon, which I just read today that THIS year the FDA says is a medication to treat bi-polar. I can't remember how much I took but I think it was around 80mg to start. Within the first few days I noticed some annoying side effects such as drowziness and alittle shaking. Within a few weeks since nothing positive had happened, the physiatrist decided to increase the dosage. I noticed no change in my emotional state but the side effects were getting worse, I was becoming really fatigued most of the day, if I sat in one spot for about an hour my back would start to ache very badly, I noticed I was getting somewhat paranoid during the night as I become more tired. Still despite all this the physiatrist decided to increase it again things got worse ect. ect. he increased it AGAIN, I was on at least 180mg by then. At that point every night at about 10 I was knocked out, I literally couldn't stay awake even if I tried. Sitting in one spot for 30min made my back ache. I began to find it extremely difficult to use the bathroom (both ways). I also developed some minor hallucinations, the most memorable one being that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dog becoming flat and sliding under the door. This sounds like it might be funny and it may have been if it wasn't for the worst side effect, the paranoia. Every evening as I began getting sleepy the slightest noises would make me jump and if I was alone in a dark area I would constantly look behind me in fear. I would tell myself "this is just that pill cmon it's not real" but I would still feel a sensation of fear. My parents, though they reluctantly trusted the phyciatrist, at that point had had enough. There was still no change in my emotional state in terms of depression and since this was all overwhelming me the depression was just getting worse. Since it was getting worse the shrink wanted to admit me to a pych ward (for the third time) and my parents disagreed. They had a pretty big arguement, I very rarely see my mom unable to handle herself in an arguement but she was crying pretty bad. We never went back to that guy, though he did send my dad a letter saying that he thought that their desicion to not send me to the hospital was stupid and that he went to however many years of school and they don't know anything ect. ect. ect.
The next guy we went to got me off Geodon as soon as possible. To this day I have a small temor in my hands and find it difficult to use the bathroom often.
July 23th
2006
2:16 PM
I haven't seen this side effect listed but on the second day of taking Levaquin for an upper respiratory infection I had a yellow streak from the inside corner of my eye down my cheek. I was speaking with a co-worker when she said, "What's wrong with your face?" Knowing this to be a jaundice sign from my liver, I discontinued the Levaquin immediately and called my Dr. I also experience fogginess to the point I shouldn't have been working or driving.
-- By iedward994 | Reply | Private Message me
March 16th
2004
10:55 AM
21-year old male taking Levaquin for 11 days for sinusitis.
Side effects in chronological order:
Chest Pain and tightness/Tachicardia, high blood pressure, had to go for a ECG the day after beginning the drug. Brought it up with the doctor who told me it was not the antibiotic.
Tension Headaches (intermittent) and mostly towards the evenings/nights. Even had some pain in my right eye for 2 days, when I looked to the corner of my eye.
Neck and back pains, which I think may cause or at least exacerbate the headaches.
Insomnia as well.
I shall stop taking it today and go see my doctor to discuss this. I feel less worried now that I've been enlightened about how many people experience side effects with this drug. Of course you read the "possible side-effects" leaflet and dismiss it. I won't be doing that again.
Good luck to all, Thomas.
-- By tcarrozzier | Reply | Private Message me
Singulair (3) Geodon (2) Levaquin (2) Loestrin 24 Fe (1) Topamax (1) Paxil (1) Mirena (1) Femcon FE (1)
September 28th
2009
11:47 AM
I am 51 and have been taking singulair for a few months. Recently, I have been having trouble concentrating and felt overwhelmed by stress at work and in my home life. I even started seeing a counselor to see what was going on and learn stress and relaxation techniques to help. She said from the sound of it I was mildly depressed. All sounds good, but was getting no better.
Last night, I was getting ready for bed and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a sticker on my singulair prescription that said may cause depression or suicidal thoughts.
May not be related, but the timing is pretty much the same for me - for switching allergy medications and my feelings of anxiety and depression. I will stop taking singulair and see if that does anything. Maybe the heartburn I have been having will get better too.
-- By rogb | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me