Drug abuse symptoms and conditions

My son became soo aggressive 3 days after starting Singulair, that he was almost banned from soccer for life because of attacking another player on the field. It resembled what I had heard of 'roid rage'. When I questioned the doctor immediately, was told there was no connection. After months of the aggression, then came depression and self mutilation. My 15 yr old was secretly burning himself to 'punish' himself for things he done wrong or "disappointing" those around him. He now has permanent scars all over his arms from these burns. The depression took to drug abuse and my A student fell to an F student in 6 weeks. He completely lost his will to live and thrive. After 4 months of hell, the dr informed us that the FDA just warned physicians of this side effect. Im furious now that I read through the court documents and find that the drug company knew this all along. I know I am a luckier parent than some whose children committed suicide, but still wish that the FDA would get off their BUTTS and do something to take this drug off the market. I was told by a rep at the FDA that Merck will not take it off the shelf until they're made to because even if they had to pay parents millions for their child's suicide, they would still be pocketing more profit than our children's lives are worth in the court system. Not sure WHY we even HAVE an FDA, they won't do anything to protect us from these money hungry drug companies. A YEAR to do an 'INVESTIGATION" are you kidding me? If the CEO of Merck had to bury his child, it would come off the shelf THAT DAY.

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 was on Lamictal for 4 years and after the first year I suddenly started having all kinds of teeth and gum problems for no discernible reason. But since Lamictal has the possible side effect of "sores or blisters on the inside of the mouth" I wondered if it could be related.

I did a Google search and am coming up with no experts yet, but lots and lots of posts connecting anticonvulsant meds, particularly Lamictal, Topamax, Neurontin, and Depakote, with dental problems. Dilantin is well known for causing gum disease and breaking down tooth enamel, loosening of teeth, and even breaking down of jawbone tissue.

I don't think the experts have connected the dots yet, but is anyone else having this problem?

RE: Neurontin and "anger problem".

The only FDA-approved use for Neurontin is for epileptic seizures, as the major effect is for involuntary muscle spasms. Describing something as an anger-problem is too vague to give a specific answer. Do you hurt people or yourself? Do you break things or do actions over which you have no control? Do you have insomnia that makes the anger-problem worse?

I have read of very bad side-effects from trying to get off of Paxil, and it's possible that the Neurontin is just an effort to try to deal with being on Paxil too long -- which sometimes happens, and the effectiveness of the drug goes down, something like heroin or cocaine.

Who told you the Neurontin was for an anger-problem, and do you have a choice of who you see or what you take? If it was me I would get off of both these drugs, and find out more about their physical effects on personal biology. Jan S. Kauffman, Neurontin userid, Master's degree in ounselling, alcohol and drug-abuse rehab professional.