Days of my life symptoms and conditions

I'm 15 years old and i've been taking prednisone for a few months, and from what i've read i'm on a really high dose. i was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and another autoimmune disorder concerning my muscles at the same time. my doctor told me prednisone was my only choice; it was either that or i would lose the ability to walk. he told me there'd be side effects, but i had no idea it'd turn out like this or i would have fought harder for another course of action. i started out on 30mg twice a day, and since then was weaned down to 20mg twice a day and now i'm down to 30mg once a day. i've been looking up a bunch of information trying to figure out if there's a way to lessen the side effects or any hope at all that they will get better. apparently there isn't much. after reading a bunch of these stories i gotta say i'm not feeling great about this. i totally understand everything everyone is going through. i'm sure you can imagine what it's like being smack in the middle of high school with a huge puffy face, acne so bad on my face, chest, back, neck, and shoulders that wearing a bra could put me in tears, and mood swings so bad i've lost friends over it. everyone knows how brutal high school can be, where appearance and attitude are everything. and i try to tell my doctor about it and he literally looks at me like i'm a whiny teenager and says "you're just going to have to deal with it." and people like my mom and my closest friends don't get it either. nobody understands how beyond frustrating it is. i'll get into the worst moods and not have a reason for it, but i'll stay angry for hours or burst into tears over someone looking at me the wrong way. it'll get to the point where i have to isolate myself from other people because the abrubt mood changes get so bad. as bad as i hate to admit it, the pain from the arthritis is gone now and supposedly my muscles are doing better too. developing arthritis caused me to have to quit cheerleading, something i've loved doing for 6 years, because the pain got to the point where i couldn't get my arms above my head or bend my knees. however, i'd almost rather deal with the horrible joint pain than deal with the side effects of prednisone. if your doctor gives you and alternative method, take it. i've always been confident in the way i look and really outgoing and happy and now i sometimes catch myself thinking about suicide. that's shocking to me because i've got so much going for me, but this medicine makes me miserable. and when i complain about it, anyone i'm talking to just looks at me like i'm being a cry baby. my mom does too, she'll say things like "you just have to do this. i know it's not what you want but to be honest i'm sick of hearing you bitch about it."
i feel a little better knowing other people feel the same way - like nobody gets whats going on with them. the prednisone does give me days of really great euphoria and days when i feel like i could run a marathon, but waking up in the morning to the acne and huge face puts me to tears every day. i have to pee all the time, usually getting up at 2 or 3 am. i don't sleep well anymore and i do sweat all the time. which also sucks being a teenage girl. i'm always hungry, and when i eat i never feel full so i don't know when to stop. my neck and face have put on so much weight that when people see me in the halls or out and about they ask me what happened. mind you these are people i don't talk to, just ones i know from classes or whatever. and it's pretty bad when teenage boys i've never really talked to ask what happened to your face. kind of a blow to the ego, or whatever is left of it at this point.
i'd like to know if, as my dosage gets lowered, the side effects will diminish and when i'm off the prednisone completely if they will disappear altogether. any help there?
or if there is any way to help the acne or puffy face

my doctor just put me on something called methotrexate or something like that to help wean me off the prednisone, and does anyone know what those side effects will do? or if they'll affect the prednisone side effects?
i'm constantly obsessing over gaining weight and what my skin looks like and what i eat and how heavy my face feels and the occasional pressure in my eyes to the point where i just want to be put out of my misery.
and after reading other people's stories i really don't understand why this drug is still given out as freely as it is. but maybe all doctors are like mine, they just don't get it.
best of luck to anyone who's on prednisone, my heart goes out to you; i'm right there with you
sorry this became like a book it wasn't meant to be this long

Oh my gosh! Let me be the five hundredth entry on here and let me as...why are doctors still prescribing this drug??? Yesterday was my LAST day on Yaz. I was only on it 4 days, seriously. I felt like I did not care about ANYTHING. I am usually a blast to be around for the most part....not now. It is Easter and I can''t get out of bed because I have been throwing up with accompanied diarrhea. I am so depressed I can't stand it and I nearly bit of my sister in laws head for NO REASON yesterday. This is NOT me and I am so discouraged that I will never get my flippin hormones sorted out since no birth control has ever worked for me. I am thinking about trying bio identical hormone replacement....any success stories? I am so tired of feeling this way. I can not believe it has only been four days.....worst four days of my life!!!

I was prescribed Biaxin XL 4 days ago for sinus infection ( 2 -500mg tablets taken together once per day). The side effects were worse than the infection for me. I became extremely anxious and panicky, nauseated, sweaty, tired but unable to sleep and I lost my sense of smell and had a terrible metallic taste in my mouth. By the third day, I could tell the infection seemed a little better, but then I took my third dose and within 30 minutes I got the shakes, suffered diarrhea with terrible stomach cramps, vision problems, loss of appetite and a terrible anxiety/panic attack where I felt that I was losing it. I had to leave work to get home quickly. My blood pressure kept going higher and higher and I started to get teary. This was one of the worst days of my life. I have stopped taking this medication and have replaced it with amoxicillin. Today I feel much better and blood pressure has gone down. I will never take Biaxin again. Continuing on this medication for 10 days could have led me to suicide. If you feel these things when taking any medication, stop taking it right away and speak with your doctor and pharmacist. When I contacted my doctor;s office they said it should not make me feel anxious. They should obviously do more research on the drugs that they prescribe. I hope no one else experiences these terrible side effects.

Ok here's my story with Prednisone. Let me first give you a little back ground info on me. Born with a VSD, that was repaired at 8 months of age, only after developing severe pneumonia. Was fine as a child growing up until at 18 i developed asthma. i am 29 now and have been on and off prednisone during that time. During that time however I have always been on a metered dosage pack that has always tapered usually within 5 days with no side effects.

Now lets talk present day with me. First off I went in back in early Sept. for what I thought was just a sinus infection, turns out my lungs were so tight, i was immediately put on 80 mg for 5 days straight, and you guessed it no tapering. Those 5 days were the worst five days of my life. I have SVT- taychcardia and the med made it worst, I was running around like I was on Speed or something. Also, I had started to urinate like crazy. Headaches, nausea, muscle pain as well as joint pain. i can not walk without feeling as though my knees, and ankles are going to break. Also, i am not as foccused as I usually am. Ever since that faithfully day in September I have been on this stuff. it has already been 2 months and im on 40mg now. And I cannot sleep at all at night and during the day now i crash once it seems like the prednisone starts wearing off. its horrible. I am going to go see the Pulmanologist Monday hopefully he will have some answers, and Im dreading him telling me i may have COPD, from a protien defiency(sorry for spelling, this med is messing with my thought process). Any who, i cant just stop taking it, i have been warned about that. something has to give or my body may give up.

hope this helps.

this med is good if used correctly but i agree Doctors need to fully warn patients before hand of all possible side effects.

I was prescribed Avelox 400 mg last week for a sore throat. I took one table per day for 5 days but those 5 days were the most miserable days of my life. I had panic attacks, short ot breath, rapid heartbeats, confusion, dizziness, lack of appetite. Last Friday and Saturday were the worse days. I went to see another doctor this past Monday and he told me that I had been given the wrong medication that could have killed med because of the side effects of the quinolones. I took the last pill last Saturday night and I still feel the side effects and don't know for how long they will last.

I have just finished taking Levaquin for a 10day treatment for pneumonia. In the last 5 days or so I have noticed stiffness in my achilles tendon (no pain) until I get moving. I have also notice a tremor in my hands and no muscle weakness and shaking in my triceps and quads. Of course I hadn't read the precautions to this drug before noticing these symptoms. I contacted both my pharmacist and physician and neither seemed concerned and told me if I was really worried to go to the emergency room. I am wondering if these symptoms will disappear since I am no longer on the drug, how long it will take, and how long I should worry about tendon damage----is the possibility of rupture forever???

Just an update about the class action suit discussed previously, and Aamaya had provided us with the Florida attorney, Justin Wikin: I got a letter in the mail yesterday stating that they would not be pursuing suit against them. They said that they deal mainly with wrongful death cases and it does not mean that the case does not have merit, just that it is not their specialty. I will be doing some research here locally in Ohio to see if I can locate a practice to pursue this. If anyone comes up with something, please let us all know.

1. Sciatic pain
2. Left leg is numb; tingling, burning, shooting pains
3. Foot pain/numbness
4. Constance shortness of breath/palpitations
5. Incident of high blood pressure
6. Weight Gain: Belly! Bloated appearance
7. Constipation
8. Fatigue
9. Periods of depression
10. Anxiety
11. Neck pain.
12. Coughing like choking

I only took Lipitor for 20 days but those were the worest twenty days of my life. And well be with me for ever. All the above started 3 days into taking the pill. One night after another one I was in so much pain. But worst of all I couldn't breathe. My back and neck hurt so bad. I couldn't lay down on my back and breathe. I felt like in one week I was finally going to die. after 20 days I threw the Lipitor away and went to the internet. Scared me to death, I called my Doctor. I went in for more test, he said I was just having a heart attack and put me into the ER. They said NO heart attack here and sent me home. $3000.00 for hospital and $900.00 for doctor's. And no one knew what was going on.
After four days I started feeling better but the breathing didn't get better. so went back to the doctor after two weeks. He said he read up on Lititor and it was a good thing "I" stopped. Lipitor will effect your muscles and the heart is a muscle. What the Lipitor did to me was trigger off COPD. He said I might of gotten COPD 10 to 15 (maybe) years down the road becuase I'am a X smoker but the Lipitor changed all that. Lipitor did nothing for me except to make my life harder on Oxygen. I'm only 59. Constance shortness of breath/palpitations for the rest of my life. Let me stress this I was totally in good health. Always had low Low Chocholesterol 120. But something else was a little high and Lipitor could lower it. GOOD Health. 20 pills trashed my life forever.

So I'll refer to today as Hell Day, the day when all the horrible symptoms of my birth control pill attack me at once and I literally cannot take it. I had this exact same thing happen when I was on the nuvaring, and I stopped it immediately. I'm willing to sacrifice having 100% safe sex if it means I don't have to feel like I'd rather shove a knife through my brain than exist. It's only my second month of Yasmin, and I'm feeling more fatigued than ever before in my life. I feel so horribly depressed. It's beautiful outside and I was lying on the grass, thinking only about being DEAD. I'm not one to be depressed. The only other time I've felt this awful was my third month into the Nuvaring. I specifically asked my doctor for something that wouldn't make me depressed, nor gain weight. Well, I gained about 5 pounds that won't come off no matter how hard I try, and the depression is just getting worse and worse. I'm stopping this pill tomorrow.

Other symptoms included:
*Initially: a sharp breathing pain under my left lung
*Weird, small rash on my leg
*Would rather be in bed than do anything
*Overwhelming feeling of loneliness, questioning self-worth, etc.

I had strep throat, they gave me erthromicine- sorry about the spelling- I took it for two days, the worst two days of my life- I threw up constantly, couldn't sleep and gas like you wouldn't believe. Went back to doctor got sulfameth /trimethoprim. Have been taking it for 9 days, twice a day, almost done with the perscription and broke out in a huge rash. My internal temp is very hot but I get the chills and my throat muscles hurt now. Not like strep on the inside but when I turn my head- this sucks!

Hi Everyone

Iam still doing not well went back to ER today I know they are sick of me have been 5 times in 6 weeks cant help it the effects are so horrible and scary

I took a quarter of the Lexapro yesterday and a quarter today it scares me too
If any of you knew how holistic I was prior to this
I never took anything at all and was always telling everyone to stop taking what they were taking and go to the health food store.

I dont know what made me takt the BCP.
I think I was weak from the anemia and wasnt thinking clear

Yes I have had my blood drawn 4 times now just today again my iron is up to 12.8 was a 8!
Ferritin is kind of low doctor told me to continue iron daily

My stomach is so nauseated though its hard for me to tolerate it now
Couldnt eat and still losing weight I cant sit down to a meal just biting here and there

Its so scary I have lost my slepp my appetite

The Lexapro is terrifying to me but no one has discussed the serotonin in the brain. Dejay therapist and cotor told her that the serotin and dopamine were altered by the BCP.
Iam not sure how that all works

I dontlike fooling around with chemicals but Dejay said we made that mistake when we took the BCP

Iam making myself sick about the Lexapro and that I took it I felt so jittery from it last night and today
Iam terrified to get hooked on it

The doctor and pharmacist said I can stop it at anytime I feel better in a month or whenever

Iam scared of it scared of not getting better scared of never being the same scared of missing these days of my life scared of losing my mind

Weight yes I too lost so much weight my rigs and chest bones are poking out

It has been a year ago since I had my reaction to Levaquin. On Feb. 11, 2005; I suffered an anaphexia reaction and had to be put on the vent for 3 days. I remained in CCU for 6 of the 7 days I was in the hospital. I took Levaquin about 5pm that evening and all of a sudden I became very tired. I went to lay down and 20 minutes later I woke with my ears on fire. I went to the bathroom and looked at my ears and they were both bright red with a rash on both of them. Then these red marks began to go down my neck, down my arms and it was covering my whole body. I went immediately to the emergency room. The triage nurse asked me some questions and my lips began to turn blue and my tongue was swelling even bigger. The nurse put me back in the Urgent care where I was left. I was not put on any monitors or seen by any doctor. Then within 5 minutes a nurse showed up, didn't check my arm band to see if it was me and gave me a shot of ephirenephrine in my stomach and walked away. As she turned the corner, I was laying down on my back telling my daughter to go get a "real" doctor, something was wrong. The next thing I knew, I was being surrounded by a bunch of people and being told they were about to put me out and put me on the vent. I just wanted to go away. I did. I lost 3 days of my life. Now, it has been over a year since this happened. I am extremely hypersensitive. Now I am experiencing allergic reactions to everything I eat. It starts with the very tip of my tongue going numb and tingling. Then it goes to the middle of my tongue, which makes my tongue thick, then it goes to my Uvala and down my throat. My hands get real red and I become very thrusty. But it hasn't bothered my breathing at all. Does anyone out there have these same symptoms? If so, what is it called? and do you know how to get rid of it? Thanks.

I am on pill 11 today and this has been the worst 11 days of my life. I have had cramps and bleeding but the worst part is the mood swings. I am ILL at everyone. I am coming off these pills as soon as i get a call back from my DR.

I am an extremely healthy 27 year old male and was prescribed Levaquin for an abscessed tooth that had broken off. I requested Zythromax as I had had great success with it before, but was told by the doc that this was much better at treating what I had. So of course I took his word for it and got the medicine. I actually left the pharmacy and had almost decided not to buy it because it was so expensive, but I really wanted to get rid of the abscess. I went back and shelled out the 110 dollars for 10 pills and started day one. Had very minimal side effects and thought that it was just maybe the infection which had brought several adverse reactions itself. After sleeping way into the next night, I woke up at 4am and took my second pill. Needless to say, the next day was probably one of the top three worst days of my life as far as health goes. I had the worst headache of my life, VERY nautious, extreme sweats followed by chills, even in a hot house-with no fever, and my only relief was to sleep which brought on very bad dreams. When I would wake back up I literally thought I was going to die and even hoped to at one point I felt so bad. Maybe this doesn't happen to everybody, but I wanted to let SOMEBODY out there know that they ARE NOT crazy if they experience any of this. Dont be scared by the "you have to take them all" phrase you hear from your doc. STOP immediately if you experience this.

These side effect stories seem scary, but I have heard the same stories about any birth control pill discussed on the Net'.

Birth control pills are a very tricky issue, and I think most women experience physical changes of some sort while on them. As one poster wisely pointed out, people who are LESS satisfied are liekly to be MORE vocal about it.

I started Yasmin after doing a lot of research, and being sick of feeling like a wacko on LoEstrin Fe 1/20. I was on the LoEstrin for almost two years and it made me:

a) lose my sex drive entirely
b) experience vaginal dryness
c) lose my period altogether
d) bloat me up with water weight
e) made my cellulite look a lot worse
f) made me moody as all get-out
g) the only "normal" days of my life occured about 2 days into my 7 off days
h) have difficulty losing weight
i) experience unyielding acne around the mouth and chin
j) experience dry hair when I always used to have thick healthy hair

Sound familiar?

Bottom line is that birth control pills are by their nature EVIL, but they are our best hope unless we want an IUD or surgery. The whole birth control issue stinks, which frustrates me to no end. I think right now Yasmin is taking a beating because it is VERY popular and more people are talking about it.

I will try to remember to keep posting here to report my future experiences on Yasmin.

Oh, and btw, I had higher blood pressure from LoEstrin, which has less estrogen than Yasmin. My blood pressure was always normal, shooting up to 120/80 when nervous. Now I'm lucky to get 120/80 at any time. I work out doing vigorous cardio 4-5 times per week for 50 minutes at a time. I'm a vegetarian, health nut, pilates-loving California fruit, LOL. I'm a non-smoker, non-drinker.

I'm convinced that for many of us, the pill is just plain wrong.