Drug induced symptoms and conditions

I have been taking Vytorin for about 10 weeks. During this time, I have experienced aches and pain in my neck to the point of tears. Hands get numb, lower back, now....knees, joints, fingers, hips, EVERYTHING HURTS. At first I thought it was due to the fact that I just started work (bar tender/food server) which requires a lot of lifting, reaching, stretching etc. As far as I know all that motion would make me healthier. Right? Common sense tells me......hmmmmm if I've been working for a month and I still HURT and it's getting worse....what the????? The Dr who prescribed the Vytorin then suggested that I go to physical therapy; The PT told me that I had strains in my back from working. What the? Then I'm told that I'm experiencing aches and pains because I'm in recovery????? What the????? I'm in so much pain when I wake up, my hands are stiff, I can hardly move my entire body. This is like it's a drug induced fibromyalgia. I'd rather go home to the Lord from high cholesterol than live with this pain. Today I am stopping the Vytorin. I had one of those AH HA moments that was posted on this site. It's really sad that I had to do the research on what has been the cause of my aches and pains; when the first thing any doctor asks.....what medications are you taking? BOLD LETTERS......VYTORIN!!! I'm going to take a nap, try to rest the next two days off work being that I have a doctor's excuse to do so after marching myself to the medical facility where I live and BEING ANGRY and letting them know........I should not have to have had to diagnose myself. WE ALL KNOW OUR BODIES....I kept insisting that I hurt so bad and it wasn't from "work" or being in "recovery". So, I certainly can relate to all the posts. I'm going to be 50 on 12/19 and I feel as if I'm 80. Thank God (lol) I "look good". A sense of humor goes a long way......but it's so hard to not be a little grouchy when we hurt, right? You are all in my prayers.

Hi, I was switced from Atenolol to Toprol-XL 50 mg about 1 year ago for palpatations and it seemed to work very little papations now. However, I am currently experiencing right upper quadrant pain and my triglycerides are over 500. I am told I it is drug induced fatty liver disease? I am slowly weaning myself off this medication because you can not just quit per/pharmacist. I also have gained weight which I can not lose, hair thinning, hard to concentrate, elevated triglycerides, calf pain after walking or excercising, fluid retention, feet swelling etc..... for those of you who are on it I would suggest having your triglycerides and liver enzymes checked.

A few weeks ago I reported many of the side effects so many of you have reported on. After several blood tests with my endocronologist, results came back normal. I have now been off Singulair for about five weeks and have noted only one improvement thus far: less headaches (especially after drinking alcohol--that being defined as one or two beers/glasses of wine. I think this has to do with less constriction of blood vessels in the brain).

I'm returning to my cardiologist next week. I'm thinking I may have what is called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome which can be described as a periodic low blood pressure disease that causes dizziness, faintness, ect. Many other symptoms of this disease have been mentioned on this site (including Shy-Drager Syndrome which is most scary). Doctors don't really know what brings on Pots but one suspicion is viral/bacterial or drug induced...jury is completely out on this, however).

Most notable is a sudden change in bp after stooping and standing up--bp drops, palpitations begin, extreme fatigue generally follows.

A table tilt test should help with the diagnosis.

Question: Are any of you familiar with Pots and/or have any of you experienced similar symptoms?

Thanks.

Fortuna

This may be long, but please bare with me. My mother married and moved away 14 years ago. Before that she had one bypass surgery, and then shortly after marrying another. Sometime in the late 90s she was put on the drug Lipitor. She told me at that time that the new medicine was effecting her memory. My response was stop taking it! Due to the long distance apart and caring for my family I forgot about it. She began experiencing more memory loss and cognitive deficits and we were led to believe it was the beginning of Alzheimer's. Then in 2001 I read an article by Dr. Duane Graveline M.D. who said that Lipitor causes memory loss and other symptoms. I became alarmed and called to talk to my step sister who was helping my Mom and her Dad though living apart, and who was seeing that my Mom took her medicines. She informed me that a new cardiologist my mom had seen recently then had taken her off the Lipitor because of studies done that he was aware of, so I was relieved, but her brain deficits worsened gradually. Now she is living with me (and her husband) and she has worsened so that she cannot function without guidance and directions in everything. I oversee her medicine now and have discovered she is on Metoprolol though she has not had a history of high blood pressure. She must have been put on this shortly after being taken off the Lipitor but by another doctor who put a stent in. Some possible side effects are in essence dementia symptoms and I am convinced that my Mom's Alheimer's/dementia is drug induced. I am very upset about this and hope to convince my doctor who will be her attending physician that this is a real possibility and that it may be reversed if she is weaned off this drug. I will keep you posted.

I'm a 28yo male. I have already shared my experiences as guest #31827. This is an update of my condition.

It has been over four months now since I've stopped taking Zocor(which I only was on for one week at 10mg), and there has been little change in my condition. My neurologist said that I have drug induced myopathy and It can take six months to recover from, with 100% recovery, and there is nothing they can do as far as treatment for it right now. I found out that my muscle enzymes were up to almost 6000 when I was on the Zocor. I'm still very fatigued, weak, muscle tightness, bad tension headache, neck stiffness/pain, vivid dreams every night, very out of it mentally(brain dead). I'm a firefighter/paramedic for a living, and have been unable to work because of this. I'm really hoping and praying that I recover very soon and get my life and job back.

Does anyone out there know about any class action lawsutes going on? Has any of you been in my condition and fully recovered, and how long did it take you? I'm young and healthy otherwise. This shows you how powerful and dangerous statins are! If you have any insight for me and others about recovery write back.

Has anyone been on long term decadron for hairloss due to elevated androgens from adrena gland? I did not have any visible loss then suddenly after over 2 years on it lost massive amount of hair that is showing all wide parts with change of texture to almost like a spider web, this was sudden and it not better. also headaches and stretch marks are new. I am a mess and wonder now if the drug induced a female pattern alopecia. did not have the loss that looked like that before. was just chronic sheddiing and mild thinning.

Anyone with similar symptoms?

I'm a 28yo male. my over all cholesterol was elevated at 248. I am a very healthy person otherwise, and active. My HDL chol is very good. My Dr. had me try to lower my chol by diet and excersise at first for a little over a year, but didn't work. About two months ago he decided to put me on Zocor 10mg. The day i started taking it I felt very tired, weak, very dazed. I told my Dr. and he said it was a likely side effect and to keep taking it. After a week I was still feeling bad to the point where I had to call in sick to work. My Dr. finally told me to stop taking the Zocor and come in to the lab to get my blood drawn. A few days later my results showed that my liver and muscle enzymes were way elevated. My Dr. called me and said to drink copious amounts of water to flush out my system. After about a week of still feeling terrible my liver and muscle enzymes were back down to normal range. That was almost two months ago and still feel terrible. I've been very fatigued,muscle weakness,muscle spasms all over my body,dizziness,very sharp headches, stiff neck,but mostly pressure in my head and in my ears which cause them to pop and ring. My back even got really stiff and sore for a couple of weeks. I've been in such a daze. After 8 hours of sleep when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I've only had about two hours. I've been back and forth to my Dr. many times over the past couple months, and he's started telling me that because of taking a low dose of Zocor for only a week, he doesn't think it was the statin that is making me feel like this and said it could be a virus, and has been drawing blood for lyme disease and mono etc., which have all came back normal. I believe this is ALL from the Zocor!! I think I have drug induced myositis. I am scheduled next week to see a Neurologist. Hopefully he can give me some answers. I hope my experiences can help one of you out there. Alot of Dr.'s out there aren't aware of how dangerous these statins really are!.

I have administered Ambien to patients during hospital stays and I have seen more than approximately 90% of instances where very undesirable and dangerous side effects occured. In my patients the usual pattern is complete amnesia once the med has taken effect or after a short course of 1 or 2 hours of "drop dead" sleep. People experience complete disconnection with their immediate reality they have no idea what is going on usually becoming argumentative and at the least very suspicious of what is going on. Disoriented to place, time, situation. Become angry, often uncooperative and occasionally violent. Always with paranoid ideations and dellusions of persecution. Many times these drug induced symptoms take up to 6 hours to abate and then a persistent mild paranoia may plague the person for hours after.

side effects....................thats a fine term. whats so side effect about my dad becoming a totally different person as soon as he started taking lipitor. the doctors keep switching him from medication to medication and they all have so called side effects. one does this one does that. when will the drug companies create something that actually heals instead of hurts in a different way. i for one will never take these so called medications. i like who i am as i am, not as a drug induced pawn for my doctors.

Drug induced hepititis. Increase liver enzyms.

hello, i was on prednisone for 3 weeks to treat shingles. my face is so bloated like chipmunk cheeks! is this normal and will it go away??? how long will it take? i feel like i don't even look like myself anymore. also i sweat a lot at night and have a hard time sleeping soundly. when my dose started tapering off, i was so freakin' irritable and suffered from low self-esteem. i felt like a monster inside and out. kind of still do but i am realizing that it is drug-induced and not necessarily me. thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences.

-- Drug Induced Peripheral Neuropathy From The Fluroquinolone Antibiotics

THE ABOVE QUOTE IS FROM WorstPills.org site.

THIS IS A GOOD SITE TO GET DRUG INTERACTIONS FROM.

ALSO, FLOUROQUINOLONE AND ALL OF IT'S FORMS IS A DRUG YOU DON;T WANT TO TAKE.

AS SOMEONE SAID, DOCTORS NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE PRESCRIBING.

I AM WONDERING IF THIS IS WHAT CASUED MY PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY. I WAS DIAGNOSE 5 YEARS AGO.

I've been on Wellbutrin for 2 1/2 months and finally realized I am losing my hair. The hair line is intack but I can see my scalp real clearly when my hair is wet, mainly on the top of my head. I went to the Dermotolgist today, he gave me a heart to heart about male pattern baldness (thanks but I don't think you develop male pattern baldness overnight like this). I am convinced it is from the drug.

He did say that about 1% of your hair folicles are always shedding and regrowning. Drug induced hair loss simply increases the percentage of folicles in the shedding stage. He said this stage is not permanent and the hair will grow back.

I am off the Wellbutrin. Bring on the Gloom baby, I keepin' my hair. I'll take my chances with the depression.