Dinner party symptoms and conditions

My brother passed away at 56 of a stroke. So after having my blood tests done, everything was high, cholesterol, CR Protein....doctor put me on 20mg of Lipitor....the very first day, I had severe muscle weakness in my upper thighs, back of my calves, pain in my knees, pain in my wrists, pain in my fingers. What a nightmare. I tried it for two more days, called the doctor told him, he said reduce the dose in half........not a chance, I told him I believe in quality of life, not quantity of life. I'd rather be dead, then live like that.......and yet the doctor didn't tell me to get off of Lipitor!!!

I am on my first pack of Loestrin 24 Fe. I was doing okay except for constant breakthrough bleeding. This past weekend I was at a rehearsal dinner and wedding where I did a fair amount of drinking. On Monday I started feeling weird. By Monday night I was so weak and tired feeling that I couldn't lift my head. I've been laying on the couch for 24 hours and I still feel like the life has drained out of me. I"ve also had a stuffed nose and post-nasal drip since I started the pill. I went to the doctor this morning and they decided I needed iron pills to counteract the bleeding and an antihistamine and singlulair for the nasal symptoms. I'm now totally afraid of this pill!

I have been taking 10 mg Paxil at night and 150 mg Wellbutrin daily for the past 6 months. I was still feeling a bit low energy wise and decided to ask my doctor to ratchet up the Wellbutrin to 300mg. He prescribed the XL formulation.

First day was fine. On the second day, I had a strong cappuccino for breakfast and two diet cokes (at lunch). Also had 3 shots of scotch at a dinner party. I woke up with severe diarrhea and nausea. For the next 3 days, I stopped all caffeine and alcohol intake but my digestive upset has not gone.

The symptoms are very similar to the Irritable Bowel Disorder I suffered for years before Paxil. Alternating diarrhea and Constipation with concommitant dyspepsia.

I am now seeing my doctor today to see what he thinks. I have a suspicion that Wellbutrin and Caffeine do not mix well. Almost a year ago when I first started Wellbutrin (300 mg) and drank 2 diet cokes, I felt very weird. I immediately cut the dose down to 150 mg. Maybe that is all my body can tolerate.

On the plus side, when I started Wellbutrin, I was feeling extremely low energy-wise and was sleeping a lot. At that time I was on 20 mg of Paxil. I have felt much better after adding 150 mg Wellbutrin and cutting the Paxil down to 10 mg.

My original problem was essentially chronic anxiety throughout childhood (a family condition) accompanied by a variety of psychosomatic illnesses like mild Psoriasis, back pain and IBD. I also had a mild stuttering problem that has now almost disappeared. Paxil has been responsible for alleviating all these conditions.

Unfortunately, as is well known Paxil is no panacea and it makes me very drowsy.