Drug interactions symptoms and conditions

I am so glad that I am not the only one who has experienced this - not that I want others to experience it, but you know what I mean, it is nice to have some answers!!! I went in to get an allergy shot for my horrible allergies about eight months ago - I have had one done previously a couple years ago, with no problems, and this second one seemed fine too. My allergies are so much better, i can breathe and am not sneezing constantly, etc. However, about a month ago, I noticed this small indentation in my left buttock cheek - I wondered what on earth it could be (cellulite, weight gain/loss from going to the gym I started going to, who knew?) It got bigger and hasn't gone away over these past few weeks, instead getting larger and my skin becoming ever whiter than I already am and the area is sensitive. I had no idea what it was until I stumbled onto this site - I now realize that indentation is the same spot where I received my allergy shot eight months ago!!! I checked my online medical record and sure enough, Tricyclamide Kenalog injection! NOBODY told me that this indentation/muscle atrophy at the injection site was a possible side effect! They warned me about allergic reactions, drug interactions, buildup of steroids in the system, etc, but absolutely nothing about this awful indentation - it is sensitive and unattractive and I really, really hope it goes away or at least shrinks. Not that I am super vain, but it's not all that cute to have a big "hole" in your cheek, especially when that was one of my body areas I actually felt okay about. Just be forewarned allergy sufferers - just because you haven't had a reaction the first time you get the shot, it could happen the second or third or fortieth time. I wish someone had said something about this, so at least I would have been able to make a more educated decision and choose whether to suffer through a few months of allergies or a lifetime butt indentation!

I begin taking SMZ-TMP DS on August 5, 2009. I read the insert about side effects and drug interactions. Being this I am diabetic I did not want this drug to interfere with my medication for diabetes or high blood pressure. I took the medication for four days. On the 4th day I started feeling nausea, fatigue, and overall feeling bad. I have stopped taking the medication and called my doctor.

at the most minor--occasional nausea and heat flashes for me

reading all these postings scared the hell out of me at first...

As I did, later on, all these people should heed their dermatologists' and doctors' opinion and advice before this website's and others' posts and personal comments (not to defile this respectable website), because they dance around various circumstantialities (percentages and likelyhoods, drug interactions with others, etc, etc). Whether they are of coincidence or not, I believe these people scroll through these posts and feel amazed that they aren't alone in terms of side effects and experiences regarding different drugs that other people have had too...
In conclusion--whether this makes sense or not--these comments and threads gather people together to, analytically speaking of course, scapegoat a placebo for any or all various "common side-effects"

Was in the hospital receiving IV and inhaled steroids for breathing problems. Sent home with 10mg prednisone twice a day. It was even worse. ---puffy face, no sleep,and extreme weakness in my thighs--hard to even walk up stairs. Had a CAT scan of my lungs and my dr. was alarmed---said for a 112 pound woman,my stomach was the size of an obese person! now I'm going to have a stomach emptying test to see if that or the steroids is the problem.

I had open heart surgery August 23rd 2006 for a conginital heart defeat (Aortic Valve replaced with mechanical St Jude valve). I wanted a bio valve but Drs insisted I should have the mechanical valve because of my age (45 at the time).

Prior to my heart surgery I was a performer, singer/songwriter/actress/comedianne and I loved what I did. It was my life. Now, after 2+ years post-op and on Warfarin (7.5 mg daily for life) I feel like life has ended and I'm just a walking dead person. The effects I feel daily are as follows...

Dizziness
Severe Headaches
Blurred vision
Memory Loss
Fatigue
Weight Gain
Trouble concentating
Fluttering effect in my head/ears- Hard to explain
Hair loss
Unexplained pains in chest & left side of my body
Unable to sleep well
Tiredness- even when I've done nothing to be tired for
Nausea
Gas & Diarrhea off and on
teeth pain- Like I've drank something very cold
feeling in my head similar to a brain freeze- like you ate ice cream too fast
Night bleeds in my month- wake up with a mouth full of blood daily
What do think, is that enough??

I'm going in tomorrow for a cat scan because the headaches have been so bad they feel I need to be checked for brain tumor and/or internal bleeding. When I tell the Drs I think this is due to Wafarin they pratically laugh in my face as if to say, "Silly silly woman, don't be foolish! We know whats best for you. Remember, we saved your life!" Really? Did you?!

I want nothing more than to get off this rat poison and regain my life, but to do so could mean a stroke or heart attack. I would go under the knife again to have the mechanical valve removed and replaced with a biological valve, but do you think my insurance company (Kieser) would pay for a "silly" thing like that? Right!

Welcome to the greatest country in the world!

I'm going to start a website to help people like us. I want your stories, please send me your info, together we might make a change, what can it hurt to try? Email me ******

B.

Well on 2-15-09 my sister in law died just shy of turning 39. She had severe depression, As of three years ago she began starving herself. She would go weeks without eating or drinking anything. She was in and out of the hospital through out the years. She started taking Lamictal six days prior to 2-15-09. The Dr. said she had made a mistake and wrote 100mg where it should had been 25mg. The doctor's later stated it didn't matter if they wrote 1mg it would have happened eventually.

Now we had called her on her birthday three days prior to 2-15-09, and she said the medication made her feel weird. That night she fell to sleep and did not wake up but for only a brief minute in the hospital. After being asleep for a day she was rushed to the hospital were a battery of test were run. She had begun to have liver failure and sepsis. The doctor's had her airlifted to a hospital four hours away where liver specialist were available. She arrived there and withing a few hours her lungs collapsed, her kidneys began to fail, and she had two heart attacks where she finally died at 11:10 pm on 2-15-09.

So I am here to make you aware. This is the side affect no one has talked about yet. Now she had no rash. She had weekend her system by not eating. Other than her depression she was OK. The doctor's don't know if she had an allergic reaction or not. The autopsy will be arrive in 40 days. With just some fatigue and weird feelings she continued to take the medication for the six days. I read on and on and I see so many symptoms, this would be a great time to evaluate with a profession because lets face it we really don't know the long term affects. It could be doing damage to your internal organs, or not. I feel if your body is showing you signs that are not normal than it is a good indication that your body is telling you that is cant tolerating it to well. So at least your getting the signs you might want to see what else is out there. As God is my witness we wanted her healthy and to not suffer so I really do have only good intentions for you all.

The funeral is today.

It seems that this subject has been extensively documented, but just wanted to confirm that I believe this drug is very dangerous. We JUST put our 5-1/2 year old daughter on it one week ago. She has NEVER had any issues sleeping, is most often in a great mood, and has been protected beyond belief by my wife from negative imagery, TV, etc. The last week was unbelievable. Night terrors every night, with the most vivid and negative imagery when asked to describe the content of her dreams. Things that I would have thought she must have gotten from watching a Stephen King movie. Given the lack of fitful sleep could have been a contribute, but her mood all week was very downtrodden. Hard to say a 5 year old can be depressed, but I would have to say she was, very sullen, moody, despondent to affection.

I can positively say this was a blind test. We didn't really read the label on the medicine until yesterday, so we were not looking into things that weren't there, nor were we focusing in on the sleep issues. We took her off yesterday, and hopefully I will be able to report that the night terrors that I am 95% positive must have come from this drug will abate.

I hear because the chewable format is new, this drug is really being pushed. I hope this drug is pulled instead of being promoted. Buyer beware, especially administering to kids. I can't imagine if our daughter had been a little younger and not able to express herself to the level she can at 5.

I will never put this drug in my body and I will never forget the levaquin night. Dad was already on an antibiotic. He’s been gone 8 years now so this is somewhat of a blur. His catheter sprung a leak so he had to go to the urologist. While there doc noticed a UTI and prescribed the levaquin. Even though dad was already on an antibiotic he was told to start the Levaquin once he was done with the other. Who knows if the infection was even there by the time he took the levaquin.
Dad was on drugs for seizures. (Unexplained seizures to this day)
I filled the prescription. I was the one down on him for being on so many drugs. I should have read and noticed it said not to take this drug if you’re taking seizure meds. I’d programmed myself by then that things are what they are and no one would listen to me about the drugs and side effects etc. They all see me as a witchdoctor as my husband would tell me. The doctor later told me he doesn’t have the staff to stand around checking drug interactions all day long…..
Dad took the levaquin. I said let’s get you out for a while and come down to my house. I drove the 2 miles to my house with him and by the time we arrived he could barely stand. It was all I could do to get him into the living room. He couldn’t get comfortable. He seemed out of sorts and agitated. I assumed it was his surroundings and he just wanted to be home in his chair. I struggled to get him to my car and back home. .
Once back to his house, we were talking, his eyes went off into a dead stair. He wasn’t aware of anything going on around him. They became fixated (seizure). This lasted a long minute or so and I watched his eyes come back and him come back to awareness. It was then I went to the printout info on taking this drug and saw to not take it with seizure drugs. I called the doctor and was told to immediately stop the drug. (if my memory serves me, he took one a day).
Later that evening, I went to check on him lying on the couch. He had this dopey smile on his face and when he spoke this really creepy gibberish came out. He wasn’t making any sense. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. My sister and her boyfriend arrived. Dad was calling my husband by MY name and insisting he wanted to march. ( He used to march in the front of the parade every year in his sailor uniform) My sister and her boyfriend had to hold him up to march. His legs and muscles were too weak to hold himself up. He was like a noodle. He would not sit down or calm down. It was constant moving him from one place to another.
I offered to spend the night and sit with dad. It didn’t look like either of us was going to get much sleep that night. Dad laid awake most of the night. Occasionally he would speak to me and I could barely tell he was indeed in there ….. somewhere. He looked wired with a somewhat terrified look in his eyes. He could barely speak and just seemed to be on a bad trip. I moved him around the living room all night from couch to chair to chair. He finally fell asleep and I dozed. I woke to find he had slid out of the chair and was on the floor staring at me. Huge wide awake eyes looking at me when I woke. Mom woke up. We helped him to the kitchen for breakfast. He did really well walking. You could tell the drug was wearing off. I felt some relief. I went to work.
After work I went straight to dad’s to take him to the doctor. We all gathered in his office at the hospital to discuss trying to get dad off most or all of his drugs. We were grasping at anything to give him relief. Herbal remedies were finally being considered for some of his conditions. It was time for his next Levaquin dose. He went into what the dr. called a “life threatening” seizure.
He was rushed to ICU and pumped up on more drugs. It was said his seizure drug wasn’t working because…. He had a seizure. No one would even consider the Levaquin causing ANY of this. The “side effect” was simply treated with more heavy duty drugs. The new seizure drug was doing practically the same thing the Levaquin did! Or from what I’m reading and researching online now.. maybe it was the levaquin. Doctors would tell me it was long out of his system and wasn’t causing any adverse effects. You could watch them put the new seizure drug in him and watch him leave reality and his mind. I was later told he had a rare brain disease. They couldn’t explain why this was happening, nor would admit that dad was in there somewhere. I’d see him there when the drugs were wearing off, before the next dose would arrive. We’d hold normal conversations. My husband saw him too. All my other family members were FREEKING OUT at his condition and didn't have their minds about them... in my opinion. They couldn't and wouldn't believe a drug could cause any of this. I can’t recall the name of the seizure drug. I have this all written down somewhere around here!
I do believe though, they would have never changed the seizure drug if not for the levaquin causing a seizure by being prescribed because the doctor has no staff to check drug interactions. I will always believe it was the Levaquin that started him on his downhill climb to not being with us today. He was a strong man before Levaquin. He became weaker and weaker to the point of getting pneumonia and having a heart attack before leaving us 4 months later. Levaquin may not have been the end of him.. it was just the beginning of the end………….

I agree that this drug is of evil. My mother was treated for 3 years on and off long term use for Wegener's Disease. She just tapered off her last dose, the docs are telling her she is done with it, thank the good Lord. She has told her doctor of all of her symptoms, manic episodes, severe depression, hallucinations and just recently the doctor suggested that it "may" be steroid psychosis. My mother inquired if there was some meds that could help b/c over time, it just seemed to get worse. She told her that she wasn't getting enough prednisone to cause this. Wasn't getting enough...when she was first diagnosed, she was given 3000 mg b/c she was near death, after that, each follow-up consisted of 40 plus mg, and I am talking 2 to 3 month stretches...but she wasn't getting enough to cause steroid psychosis??? My mother came to me one day and asked me not to leave my 3 year old daughter with her alone ever and of course I asked why. She told me that she had thoughts of harming those around her, that they would actually play out in her head. Through my tears, I asked my mother if she followed through with these thoughts, would that give her some relief, and she replied yes. At this point, I know it is bad. I have found a site that lists treatments for steroid psychosis and plan on not stopping until a physician agrees to help us. My prayers are with everyone that is experiencing these horrible drug interactions and side effects.

Hi, I have just started Lisinopril today, and wanted to search the internet on side effects. I was taking atenolol and felt I was on the right blood pressure med because it was working. Well I started getting tired after 4 years on atenolol, it started 1 month ago. I went to the Dr. and they did a ekg and told me they are surprised I am still walking/standing because my pulse was measured at 41 and that explained why I was so tired all the time. I am 49 years old and am going through menopause and deal with high blood pressure. Well the Dr. told me to stop the atenolol immediately. Then 2 days later I went to see th Dr. again and they switched my blood pressure over to linsinpril. I also take HCTZ a water pill and have been taking it for years. I hate to say it but I am developing the sore throat thing after 5 hours on the med and I am worried about that. I took my BP reading and it is better than ever 108/59 pulse 68. I guess I will get some honey lozengers for the sore throat. Not saying it is the lisinopril causing it but my body is very delicate and I watch my meds carefully so I know when something goes on in my body (meds) and I feel it right away that I have to wonder if it is going to be an ongoing problem for me. I will keep you updated on this as I really am hoping that the lisinopril helps and I can get my energy back. Have been taking the B12 and magnesium and vitamin D and Calcium. I also take vitamin B2 and B6 every other day. I had yeast infections constantly and the B2 has really helped me with that. I get night sweats and hot flashes and take soy pills for that and the herb sage every other day. I was taking low dose prempro about 6 months ago for 2 years and that made my hair fall out terribly, but also made it grow a lot too, it was a ongoing problem with the hair laying everywhere in sink on the floor etc. I stopped the Low dose prempro and the hair loss stopped, so if I lose hair from lisinopril I will be used to that, but hope it also will grow. I need to give this lisinopril a chance as I have little choice right now. My heart they said was pumping too slow, the pulse should be 60 or above not low like 41 so I will keep updated on how the lisinopril side effects are with my body.

As a Doctor myself I think drugs are NEVER the answer except in EMERGENT issues in Heroic life saving... YOU however and all individuals are and should be MORE accountable for your own health and STOP DEMANDING the Drugs and look to LIFESTYLE changes in DIET and EXERCISE to achieve the GOALS so necessary for quality and quantity of life.... The tools are at your fingertips ... The almighty internet ... And your OWN imaginative mentation is your TRUE limitation... So TAKE control of yourself and BE accountable .... Sorry so blunt but MORE tough love and Educating people is whats needed.... NOT more drugs....

MDG

Hello All;

I have had the birth control from hell since 2005 and have had all of the side effects you girls have listed. I am having mine out this Wed. SURGICALLY! I have had two transvag. echos and the bloody (excuse the term) thing is in place, however three Dr.'s could not find the strings and after much rooting around my new wonderful OG/GYN has scheduled me for surgery to get out the"retained IUD". On the positive side, we did find my lost car keys! Ha! It may have been mentioned in one of the postings, but has any of you had this procedure? AND just recently I got ahold of the Physicians Prescribing Information so now I feel dumb. Has anyone noticed 1) Under Drug-Drug Interactions...the effect has not been tested 2)Carcinogenisis...Long term studies....has not been tested...O.K. I get the feeling as someone mentioned...we are the long term study!....If anyone has had to waddle to the hospital (sorry, I have a few fleeting moments of humor) to have this procedure (gotta love the medical term, right up there with discomfort) can ya let me know what happened?

I was prescribed Levaquin by my Dr. for a sinus infection. There were 10 pills and I was to take one a day. No one mentioned any of the side effects or drug interactions except to not take antacids within 2 hours of taking the meds. During the coarse of me taking the medication I began having substernal chest pains which I thought was just horrible heart burn, but it got so bad that I woke up screaming multiple nights from the pain. I also started having pain in my ankles, legs and especially my knees. The pain in my knees gets so bad that I think my knee caps are going to shatter when I walk especially when going down the stairs. I didn't know any of the drug interactions and my father in law who is a physical therapist has always advised me to take ibuprofen for muscle and joint pain so that's what I did, but little did I know that was only increasing the effects on my central nervous system. I am also experiencing bouts of nausea, confusion, light headedness, difficulty sleeping, anxiety and I actually thought I was having a mental breakdown.. I was freaking out on my husband and very depressed even having suicidal thoughts. It wasn't until my mother randomly mentioned that she had heard about the FDA issuing the Black Box warning that I connected the dots and had already finished the meds. I called my doctor's office right away and was told that the symptoms I am having are not side effects of the medicine. Maybe the Dr. doesn't listen to the news either.

I am a 41-year old female with allergy induced asthma, who has been taking Singulair for almost 1 1/2 years now. I was diagnosed with depression about 5 years ago (after my sister's death) and was taking 100mg of Zoloft daily, which my doctor upped to 200mg around the same time I started Singulair for allergy problems. I did not know about the Singulair/depression warnings until searching today on Google for drug interactions on the meds I take in hopes of trying to find a reason for my overwhelming depression. For the past 1 1/2 years, I have lived like a zombie, numb to the world and my family, gave up a $72K job, gained alot of weight, have the weirdest and most vivid dreams, and am tired all of the time, only finding rest after 10-15 hours of sleep per day. I am a working professional, have a Master's degree, and have always considered myself a rational objective person, and not a "lemming" that follows the rest over the cliff. However, the side effects I am experiencing ARE NOT NORMAL and ARE NOT IMAGINARY. I do not know if Singulair is causing my symptoms or not, however, I am going to stop taking the medicine today, and switch to something else. For me, QUALITY OF LIFE is the major issue. While Singulair works great to help me breathe comfortably, I can find other meds to do the same thing. However, what I cannot take is a medication possibly responsible for taking my "life" away.

I just saw this post and it makes me feel ashamed of our medical system which includes everybody.

about 12 hours ago on Apr 14, 2008 by jerseymomma, #7220
My boss has been in contact with all of the top law firms in the NJ & PA area. We want to make sure that we give you info thats actually going to help and not send you to some bloodsucker. When you file an injury suit, there is no money out of pocket. The lawyers only get paid if you win your trial or the case settles (so if you loose-- u dont loose anything either). And as a heads up, if this is something that can be proven to a jury, the suits take fooorrrrever. I think that is the worst part for the families that I personally have dealt with regarding liability suits-- u want closure and you want answers but it takes so long to get them!

Let talks about the "everybody knows category" of the pharmaceutical industry.

1. Everybody knows that: There are many compounds that never go to market for various reasons. Even back then, no pharmaceutical company wanted to spend money on a drug that was not as chemically "reliable" (I chose that word to encompass many things) as possible in all of the known interactions that could be expected in clinical use. The categories are also "everybody knows."
2. Everybody knows that: Merck did a lot of testing for "reliability" on Singulair. But Merck also did a lot of testing on Vioxx. No conclusions can be drawn from this per se.
3. Everybody knows that: Even back then, important decisions were being made as to whether to market a drug that related to how body enzymes metabolized that drug (meaning utilize the drug and then break it down so that the body could eliminate the waste products.) Genetics differences between different people were a factor that were also put into the decision making process.
4. Everybody knows that: clinical variations in efficacy and side effects can be a result of different factors. Some might include 1. genetic differences 2. drug-drug interactions 3. improper use 4. diet - take the grapefruit juice example. Those are just some.

What we don't seem to do in this country is adequately monitor post marketing complaints? Why did it take five years to find out about Vioxx? If we did monitor more carefully, could we identify some thing that was overlooked or the technology has changed so that it is easier to identify what is wrong?

When there is a problem, there is no way that we should go back to the same company for an explanation of the problem. Everybody knows that many companies work on the same category of drugs. Sometimes those companies encountered some road blocks and they abandoned the drug category. The FDA ought to require everything from everybody to get to the bottom of the problem. And also hire independent evaluators.

The next part of what I have to say is just a hypothetical - a FICTION like a WHAT IF. This is just to make a point. What if another group got different results for the metabolism studies? What if another group decided that the drug was not reliable because a hydrogen bond at a certain location could be influenced by too many different factors to be able to accurately predict what would happen?

So why do people have to hire lawyers, when the FDA should be doing it's job? There are many specialities of law just like the doctors. Does getting to the bottom of this problem require the lawyer-chemists? Why is it their job?

I have been on Lisinopril for several months and my blood pressure was 170/104 . It is now 104/77, but I do have side effects that my dr. says it isn't from this drug. 1 is asthma and a cough and headaIches. Lightheaded and fatigue. I am now on asthma medicine an inhaler. I was taking 10mg but it was increased to 20mg and with hydrchorothiazide 12.5mg. I was depressed on the first 10mg I don't feel that now. I am also now taking zocor. I don't sleep as well. I am 57 year old woman, I other wise had been active enjoying life.

A couple of years ago I tried Singulair due to problems with oral yeast infections from my inhaler. I'm a athletic, health conscious 46 year old woman with a high-burn hypoglycemic metabolism, and often have unusual and extreme reactions to food and medications. I hallucinate on Diet Coke, for example. I waited until the weekend to try Singulair just in case I reacted, and it was a good thing I did. I slept about 10 hours in three days, and when I could sleep I had bizarre dreams. I felt like an ADHD woman having a manic episode! My boyfriend noticed behavioral changes right away, and fortunately he did all the driving that weekend! I stopped the drug on Sunday, and was barely able to sit up at work by Monday afternoon. The next weekend I broke the pills into quarters, but had the same problems even with only a fourth of the dose. Once all the drug was out of my system, which didn't take long, I was fine. I went back to my Claritin and Pulmacort Turbuhaler, and I've been fine ever since. I'm both surprised and not to find Singulair causes similar reactions in others. I thought it was just my strange metabolism, but apparently not. This is a sad, cold comfort way to find out I'm not as freakish as I thought. My condolences and best wishes to everyone dealing with children and family members on this drug and/or going through withdrawal.
P.S. I never drink soft drinks anymore, or eat or drink anything with artificial sweeteners, either.

I'm a 35 yr male and have been dealing with depression/anxiety for years due to current & past issues in my life. This post IS dealing with singulair side effects but want to give some history as to why I think it's singular and not something else. For the past 2 or so years I've been using xanax which has worked fairly well in controlling my anxiety, but my doctor preferred I stop taking it because of it's potential for abuse. I've been on SSRI's before and I hated them, so I did some research and decided to try wellbutrin which works differently from the SSRI's. I was still using xanax while ramping up on wellbutrin the end of February. To my relief, the wellbutrin started working wonderfully - felt like I could cope with life, increased energy, better mood, with no negative side effects (actually some positive ones) - the only problem I was having is I traveled during this time frame and developed a bad case of sinus rhinitis due to the climate changes. I've had chronic sinus problems my whole life so it's no surprise. I tried most otc meds and nothing was helping. In the meantime I was feeling so much better (other than the rhinitis) that I decided to start tapering myself off the xanax. When I got to the point where I'd stop taking the minimal dosage I would start getting physical withdrawal symptoms (headaches, dizziness, etc) which is fairly common after taking for a prolonged period of time. The side effects were strictly physical - no excessive anxiety or psychological craving My sinuses were still really bothering me so I had two reasons to visit the doctor - try to get something to relieve my sinuses and to get a short supply of a benzo with a longer half-life to ease the withdrawal from xanax. The doctor gave me a prescription for a month of diazepam and 9 weeks of singulair samples. That was 3 weeks ago. I immediately begin using the singulair, but still had some xanax left so I decided to continue on a minimal dosage and use it up before I went to fill my rx, which I just started several days ago. Coinciding with when I started taking the singulair, all the positive benefits I was feeling from the wellbutrin just suddenly stopped. My depression and anxiety came back worse than they were before - another persons post describes the change in me: feel very anxious, fearful, reclusive, depressed, that everything is going to go wrong, or is always wrong. I'll have extreme anxiety about small everyday things. I’m unable to concentrate. I've also become more irritable, argumentative, and aggressive. I have difficulty falling and staying asleep. I also experienced a very noticeable decrease in sexual energy after a very noticeable increase which is a side effect of wellbutrin. I can even understand the rationale for suicide just to be free of this emotional nightmare - not that I would do it - but can understand it. I couldn't figure out why I went from finally feeling good about life to suddenly feeling worse than ever before. I guess I didn't realize it right away because my sinuses were much better, but I know these symptoms began occurring very shortly after I started to take the singulair. I was trying to figure out what was going wrong with me and yesterday I did a web search on 'singulair side effects' (since it’s the only variable I could think of that changed within that time period) and came across this site and several similar ones. It blew my mind how many people were talking about the exact things I was feeling. Yesterday was my last dose. Does anybody know how long it takes for this crap to work its way out of your system after 3 weeks of use???

My experience

I was given Metoprolol, a generic for Toprol-XL several months ago, for high blood pressure. It was prescribed after I was determined to be allergic to Lisinopril. ( It caused a cough that lasted 3 months; I sounded like a TB patient.) Anyway, I have been taking Effexor for years, for anxiety attacks. Now that I take Metoprolol along with the Effexor, I am so tired and drained all the time, that I am contemplating quiting work. I go to the grocery, come home and lie down. I can't seem to have energy to breath correctly. My Dr. won't believe that this has anything to do with meds. I have now developed blood and mucous in my stools, diarrhea, and very urgent BMs. This all started after taking these two meds in combination for about 4 months.

I am sorry to hear of the trouble and pain that you all are having!

The common thread is the the DOCTOR didn't tell of the dangers and side effects. This is not at all unusual. I am employed as a Certified Pharmacy Technician for one of the largest HMO's in the country and have also worked for retail pharmacies. If I have learned anything at all it is this; ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING MEDICATIONS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO A LICENSED PHARMACIST!! Day in an day out I see doctors, PA's and RN's who are all but clueless as to drug interactions, proper uses, side effects, even proper & safe dosing! Countless times the Pharmacist will catch and error and not only save the patient from a potentially fatal mistake but also save the doctor's license, yet they are not given the respect they deserve. These people go to college for 7 to 8 years and study every possible aspect of pharmacology. Our society puts such God-like faith in doctors and fails to realize, they have only studied pharmacology, if we are lucky, for a couple of classes for one semester. Graduates now, at least in my home state are earning the degree PharmD (Doctorate of Pharmacy).

Please, please, PLEASE, don't say "Oh, I have no questions, my doctor told me" or "If I have questions, I'll ask my doctor." ASK A PHARMACIST!!! Granted, even the best trained pharmacist can't predict ALL potential problems but their knowledge is far superior to the vast majority of doctors!

Another point to consider; doctors are greatly influence by "drug reps", salespeople from the pharmaceutical companies that tout a new "drug du jour" every week, bombarding the docs with free samples, promotional gimmicks while wining and dining them so they will push (prescribe) THEIR product over the competitors' or any older but just as effective medication that most likely costs less too!

Again I wish only the best to all of you and my heart goes out to you who are suffering.

Susan

Its been a while since I've used Ovcon but it worked just fine for me. The only reason I had to change my birth control was because they made the copay higher for the brand name and due to drug interactions. Definitely not as bad, if you look at what others have gone through with other brands or methods.