Doctors orders symptoms and conditions

I have been reading all of your Simvastatin experiences with high interest and would like to share my adventures with all of you as well. My story began seven years ago when I was relatively healthy and enjoying life. My doctor prescribed Lipitor for my elevated cholesterol and two months later I found myself in the emergency room after having a severe bout with vertigo for the first time in my life. I have since spent the last seven years fighting this debilitating illness which continues to haunt me after having seen every top neurologist in my area and having taken every neurological test available. It would be as difficult to convince me that I was not somehow "poisoned" by Lipitor as it was for me to convince my doctor.

I was eventually prescribed Simvastatin 40MG and seemed to stabilize for a few years even though my dizziness problems persisted. Suddenly I began experiencing bouts of upset stomach and severe lower abdominal pain. I allowed my doctor to order basically every nasty test known to man in an effort to discover the cause of this new problem, but all have come up negative so far. Eventually I began to experience total exhaustion in the middle of my work day, not to mention the back, neck, and muscle pain that has been described so vividly in this forum. Basically, I have become a 53 year old man who feels much older, has absolutely no energy, and rarely has a day when I can honestly say I feel alive and well.

I am not a doctor and I can't honestly prove that Simvastatin is the cause of all of my problems. However, I do have common sense and after reading all of your thoughtful comments on the subject I would be foolish to at least not suspect that the drug may possibly be making me less healthy and not more healthy. Thank you all for opening my mind to this possibility and I certainly plan on discussing this with my doctor very soon, who may no longer by my doctor should he continue to insist that I take this nasty drug.

I have been on this for 6 days for a UTI. I personally am not allergic to sulfa drugs and have had absolutely no problem while on it so I can't speak to specific side effects but I do have something to say about it. I'm a little confused as to why so many of you believe that this drug should be taken off the market. Surprise, a lot of people are allergic to sulfa drugs which accounts for the vast majority of adverse events described by nearly everyone on this post. And guess what, every single drug comes with side effects (Tylenol, Advil, Tums, etc. are no exception) and you accept the risk of those side effects when you put it in your body and weigh that risk against the possible benefits. It's not your doctor's or the drug company's fault you're allergic! Antibiotics, including this one, have saved millions upon millions of lives. It seems intuitive but it evidently must be said: if you're allergic to it STOP TAKING IT and call your doctor so he can prescribe a different antibiotic. Seriously people, it's not rocket science. Hives are a pretty straight- forward symptom of an allergy and one that can be diagnosed by the lay person. I am a medical professional, but even if I wasn't, you don't need an MD behind your name to figure that one out. Why would you continue to take it after having an obvious reaction? (a reaction that, by the way, is a well documented, clearly stated possible side effect of this particular medication if you'd taken the time to ask any questions whatsoever regarding your own health, not a surprise adverse event of a bad drug) It's not rocket science, it's common sense people. When I'm prescribed something I'm not familiar with, my first question is, "What do I need to know about this." Even after a satisfactory explanation, I look it up before taking it. In fact, that's how I found this post. Which brings me to my last point, why is it that people blindly put things into their bodies that they know nothing about. If the pharmacist doesn't explain drug information to you in person, that's what the little drug safety pamphlet attached to your Rx is for. Read it, that's why it's there. OR, there's always the option of using this wonderful resource called the internet. Use your brains for god sake and take a more active, responsible, and informed role in your own healthcare process. You are ultimately responsible for your own health, and to be completely honest, you're one of the only people who actually cares about it (guess what, your doctor probably isn't one of them because he has a hundred other pain in the ass patients with no common sense to keep track of). Think people...

I'm a 30 yr old healthy male. I went to the ER, and then the Dr., about 4 weeks ago after waking up with intense pain in the veins of my right arm and having pounding palps. I had just been told some extremely stressful news the night before, so I was pretty sure this was blood pressure & stress related. ... EKG showed Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome, so that's what the Dr's assumed was the problem. I never knew what it was called, but I've had my heart race due to WPW many times since I was a young child .. this did not seem to be related. This was just pounding.

The cardiologist put me on 50mg of Toprol XL daily to control the WPW - even though that wasn't acting up. I left confused. Pharmacy issued generic Metoprolol Succinate mfg. by Sandoz.

I didn't want to be on meds, so I didn't take it for the first few days, hoping that I would return to normal. After all, I just woke up with this all of the sudden.. I had been fine the day before. Palps continued, though, so eventually I relented and started taking the meds.

The first two or three weeks were filled with ups and downs. Exhaustion, palpitations and anxiety would come and go.

This past weekend things got really bad. I began having anxiety attacks -- I think that's what it was, I'd never had one before -- and my vision was totally screwed up. I couldn't focus on anything and was sensitive to some lighting. Black text on a bright white screen (lcd monitor) was especially hard to read. I was completely in a dazed & confused state. Loud noises and crowds were bothering me... which was awful, considering it was my best friend's wedding. Also had headaches, lightheadedness & loss of appetite. These side effects came and went on Friday & Saturday and were pretty constant on Sunday & Monday.

I decided to quit Toprol cold-turkey on Sunday. I have been 2 days without. I have used L-Theamine to reduce stress and keep my blood pressure steady. It seems to be working. I also began taking CoQ10 today after reading some good things about it here.

My vision & mental focus is beginning to improve after 3 days of disabilitating problems. Anxiety has also improved. I even attempted to "get back to normal" at work today, but had to leave after only an hour of strenuous exercise in the heat. Vision problems returned, anxiety set in. It's like riding a really freaking scary roller coaster, except with a legitimate fear that this thing might kill you.

I will update this as time goes by, to let you all know how things worked out for me. I'm really hoping to be mostly back to normal in another day or two, since I haven't been on for very long. Hopefully this will be of help to someone in the future. Damn, I Wish I had never gotten on this stuff.

I have had diarrhoea now for nearly (8) eight weeks.
I am currently trying to get off of a Prednisone prescription that was given to me September 14th, 2007, for Costochondritis/fibromyalgia/ Chest wall pain.

I have been very sick from withdrawals and side effects since Sept 14, 2007. The Doctor I was with at the time was trying to get me off of the Prednisone too fast and making me even sicker! I.E. cutting me one particular week during the end of October from 20 mgs to 10 mgs a day! I have since refused to go to that Doctor because he made me sick.

I stuck with that dosage at the time because the Doctor told me to; ( plus an older Brother who would call me daily and scream at me long distance to be sure I was following 'Doctors orders'!) but I was so 'out-of-it' as a result, that I had items and personal effects stolen from me by the very 'care-givers' I had hired to take care of me and help me around the house? They told me later that I had 'instructed' them to give all my stuff either to them or to the Goodwill.

The entire second floor of my house was cleaned out by the time I started feeling a bit better and the so-called 'Caregivers' abruptly quit and moved out of town! Plus! My paid-for 2002 T-Bird was sold. I vaguely remember my Brother 'ordering' me to sell it. He was jealous and didn't want me to have it. He nearly had my house offered up for sale as well...but I got better just in time. I no longer want to speak to my Brother.


At any rate, I am down to 1.5 mgs Prednisone a day and my head has 'cleared up' substantially; also I still suffer from 'Brain Fog' and other terrible side effects of trying to getting off this poisonous drug.


I am now also suffering from a brand 'new disease' because of this Prednisone.
Doctor #### has diagnosed me with "Leaky Gut Syndrome".


I cannot eat 'normally' anymore since November. All simple crabs, sugars, breads, pastas, eggs, soy, potatoes,creamy salad dressings, potatoes salad, tuna salad, egg salad...a whole plethora of food items I can no longer consume!!! I have a freezer full of food I can't touch! The Holidays were a nightmare! I couldn't eat any of the foods or desserts! No ice cream! After going to one friend's house for Thanksgiving and being unable to eat a morsel, I stopped going anywhere. The torture was too much for me to bear!


I can't eat Chinese, Italian, Mexican, pizza~ any ethnic foods anymore!


P-nut butter,cereals, mushrooms,crackers, meatloaf, etc. Too many to list!! No more sodas, vitamin water, not even gator-aide can I drink. No more teas, coffee, chai-tea, etc. etc. Especially! No 'junk-food' at the usual places. No chocolates, candies, gum, or yogurts, cheese or dairy of any kind. No shellfish either.


If I do 'cheat' and eat the forbidden food (like toast) anyway, it creates more withdrawals and severe 'brain-fog'! I cannot 'cheat' because this body 'knows somehow and I have to 'pay' for it later by means of brain-fog and terrible withdrawals for days on end.


I can't go anywhere and "Do lunch" or "Dinner" with anyone. This simple social pleasure has been stripped away from me! I dwell in a personal living hell here. Isolated from people and social dinner occasions. Depressing.


BUT ! I can drink all the water I want! GRRRR!!!!!! >:oP

...and eat dry or fresh-steamed vegetables, baked chicken and turkey (No gravies) Or baked fish/ Salmon. Or Steak all by itself...but no steak sauce; no katsup either. I can eat salad. No crutons or cherry tomatoes.(withdrawals) Italian-type dressing (vinegar and oil) This is all I have been eating for weeks now and I am sick of eating the same stuff night and day. So I haven't been bothering to even eat anymore because it is sickening to me to eat the same stuff day after day. At least this cuts down on the amount of diaoreaahh I have now.


I have lost weight and feel physically very bad.

I have been on lisinopril 20mg for a couple years. Took a more expensive med for 8 years prior to lisinopril. The dry cough has been my most persistent side effect. It's worst in the mornings. The last couple months I have experienced a very unpleasant taste in my mouth. Hard to describe, kind of bitter or acidic. Not all foods are the same, coke & pepsi are the worst. Sometimes the tase is present in my mouth even if I'm not eating at all. I don't know if this is related to lisinopril. It's the only med I take, except for vitamins. Has anyone experienced this?

I have just called my dr. for an appt. I was not researching Lisinopril I was looking for info to email someone - happened to spot the first post...I nearly fell over! I now know I am not losing my mind, because that's how I've been feeling - the cough, the weary feeling, palps, my anxiety increase, etc. etc. Low readings that I'm wondering if I'm still alive, and this head detached from my body,, feeling, sort of walking like a well in control drunk, if that makes sense to anyone, a feeling like "iI'm gonna have a stroke" feeling in my head...it feels "tights". I started this med. last year, and feel this has been a gradual on-coming train! I have anxiety, and try to keep it under control myself, since I took prosac for about a week, talk about looney - look up another charming side affect - akethesia - nasty. For one poster who said we're all overweight nuts, I am 103lbs, I do a mile every evening, and eat very healthy, thank you.

I have recently "weaned" myself off Wellbutrin XL, over the course of 3 weeks, per doctors orders. Since then, I have been feeling bouts of hostility and anger. I cry alot. I feel as though I can control a single emotion?! Anyone else have these problems?

I took Doxy as an anti malarial precaution. Worked fine, no physical side effects. Did get bitten by mozzies in a major endemic area in Nuigini but no Malaria. However, for the time I took the drug (and I did follow doctors orders for the full course) I was visited nightly by the most vivid and horrible nightmares that made it quite an ordeal to go to sleep. Now, I suffer no mental illness or take any mind altering substances. I have heard annicdotally that other people have endured similar side effects. Any other Doxy dreamers out there?

i am a 52 year old male, and i was on 10 mg of lipitor daily last year for a few months. i started to experience neck pain so i went off of it. a few weeks later i developed severe neck and shoulder pain that lasted for three months. i went back on lipitor two months ago, doctors orders, and i developed acid reflux about a month ago. i stopped taking the lipitor, hoping the acid reflux would go away. it hasn't. anyone else experience this? can lipitor be the cause of acid reflux? i never had a problem with this before i starting taking lipitor. j.p.

Just got off of lisinopril a few days ago under doctors orders after taking the drug for about 6 months. Was having bouts with itchyness with skin writing all over the body, went to a dermatologist and suggestion was made that lisinopril was the culprit. Itctyness is subsiding now. Still coughing with a little phlem once and a while that I hope will subside within a few weeks. Was getting shorness of breath wich seems to be getting better as the days progress being off the drug. On the plus side it had lowered the blood pressure significantly. Am now monitoring and recording blood pressure at home till drug diminishes from system and something else can be prescribed if needed....

I have been reading a lot about some of the side-effects of coming off paxil. My girlfriend is attempting to do the same right now. Her withdrawal seems to be in line with some of the worse descriptions that I find on the net, and she is starting to question her ability to successfully come off the drug. I support her either way - on or off - but she really wants to come off for at least long enough to evaluate if she actually needs it any more (she has been on it for 7+ years).

She has had dizziness, nausea, and reported "shocks inside her brain" for the past 3 weeks while reducing her dose. Last weekend we went away, and she forgot her medication. In the past, we would have resolved the situation, but since she is in the process of reducing her dose (she went from 30->20->10) and was feeling OK, she decided to go from 10->0. At the end of 3 days, she is crashing hard!! Very distraught, emotional, slurred speach. Really having a rough time. She has gone back to 5 mg, which seems to have helped the physical symptoms a bit, but that is only 1 day after being off for 3. We will see... the emotional/self-questioning is the toughest part right now.

I think it would be good if I could pass along a "success" story... so many people have shared their problems online, which goes a long ways toward her feeling like she is not "going crazy". However, most people don't follow through when they get through it. I think she needs to hear that it is not all just trouble, and that there is an end to it (if, in fact, there is).

Just for the record... her doctor told her that she would be fine to reduce her dose to 0 over the course of 7 days... it was her own research that lead to her decision to try to do it over the course of 30 days instead. I can't imagine how she would have gotten through it if she had been so naive as to have followed his instructions!

Thanks for sharing...

Given Biaxin XL by an ENT for 3 weeks and my throat and tongue have not been the same for three months! I have an enlarged lymph node on my neck which at first only caused pressure with no other symptoms. A ENT explained that a antibiotic for three weeks is protocol and if the lymph node did not become smaller I would be sebt for a CAT scan and biopsey. So I followed the doctors orders ... by the 18th day of BIAXIN my heart was racing so fast at night , it was very frightening. My heart would skip beats and race at other times following the first episode. Finally I finished the medication and haad no change in size to this lymph node. Finally had a CAT scan and biopsey... biopsey only showed that the lymph node was " reacitve" not benign and thta CAT scan confirmed it's size. Within a few days of stopping the medication my throat felt funny, swollen, dry and sore and my saliva would not go down easily it felt stuck in different places. MY tongue eventually had ulcers on it and would be swollen when I would wake in the morning. My mouth would feel pasty and the back of my throat was bright red. When I went back to the ENT she tried to tell me I was fine and these symproms are probably from av virus... and if they didnt go away... she handed me another script for Biaxin. I ofcourse got a second opinion and was told I probably had reflux desease and was sent to a stomach doctor . I had an EGD and ofcourse they threw in a colonoscopy because " you might as well have it done at once while your put out ". Afterward I was told I had gastritis but that it was mild and probably from the Biaxin . All in all this doctor had no idea why my throat and tongue felt the way they did. He told me my esophagus was fine.. so maybe I should see a rheumatologist because I could have an autoimmune disorder. At this point Im going on almost two months of this balogna and the run around. My internist decides to draw my blood for HIV, all kinds of Hepatitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, sed rate for inflammation , CBC to see if my white cells are O.K. , folate B12 , thiamine. All come back negative and show thta I am HEALTHY. I have lost 10 pounds and have lost all of my faith in doctors. A third ENT does alargoscopy and says my throat is irritated but he doesny know why... I decide to go to a larger facility that specializes in the throat. This becoming costly my family is begining to look at me as if I am nerotic. For a few weeks previous I only eat bland food and drink lotes of water.The doctor at this facility after examining my mouth and throat says my throat looks well and my tongue is swollen "glossitis" with geographic tongue... which is something modern medicine cant figure the cause of. He tells me I probably had a very bad yeast infection in my throat from all the Biaxin and Iahve managed to fight most if not all of it off. He asks that I swish ans spit NIASTAIN for two weeks. My tongue isnt swollen any longer but Is till get patches that come and go. The back of my throat still is inflamed especially if I have anything with ketchup or mayo. Something I never had a problem with. And I still wake up with the feeling that there is a film on the back of my throat or mucus on the back of my tongue near my throat. As if something is draining, and it isnt my sinuses. This is annoying and has been a horrible experience.I hope this crap goes away completely. I will nver take BAIXIN again. I think I had a horrible adverse reaction and my good bacteria was demolished from this crap. My body is trying so hard to recover and it will but its taking a long time because of this horrible medication!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took fosamax once a week for 3 years. I now have
extreme pain below my knee on the front o f my left
leg. I quit taking fosamax 5 months ago against
doctors orders, my leg still hurts but nothing shows up
on the MRI, bone scan, ultra sound, . P hysical therapy
didn't help. I feel that the fosamax caused this ignema
and it is time for doctors to start considering that
fosamax might be the cause of this?
Also fatigue is a constant problem

I was prescribed a 10 day dose of levaquin for my saliva gland being swollen. At first I had stomach problems with the drug. Upset stomach usually after taking the pill. Then after the 9th pill I started having severe muscle pain and then joint pain. I couldn't sleep at night for the joint and muscle pain. I had to stay on ibuprofen for the pain per the doctors orders for a few days for the pain. The pain was so severe that I couldn't walk up and down steps or move very good. I wouldn't ever take this again.

I have been on Levoxyl for 2 years. At first I lost weight, but then I started gaining and bloating like crazy. My doctor upped my does to 75 mg and that has made my hair fall out like crazy. I have bald spots on top. I am going to take myself off against my doctors orders. This is a horrible drug and should be taken off the market. Does anyone have any suggestions. If I do not take anything, I gain weight like crazy and am very tired. Please help. Send emails to bcioma@peoplepc.com Thanks.

Levoxyl is an evil drug. I went off on my own against doctors orders and found a doctor to prescribe the leading brand of natural hormone. After 6 months on Levoxyl, I had heartrate of 120 at rest. Nausea, diarrhea, hair loss, weight loss. I suffered on this stuff for 6 months because my "labs were in normal ranges". I took myself off, and within 9 days my heartrate had dropped to 84. No more nausea, bowels were fine. Found a new doc quick. I was only on .05 Will the docs tell the FDA about my side effects? Probably not, its their wonder drug...and they make plenty of $$ for prescribing it. They tried to convince me that synthetic hormones have no side effects. You could hold me down with a gun to my head and I would never ever take any brand of synthetic T4 again.