Drug side effects symptoms and conditions

I am a 34 yr old registered nurse and I was given Levaquin for a kidney infection. I was very pleased that by the next day my symptoms from the infection were gone. Unfortunately, after 5 out of 7 days of taking Levaquin I developed pain in my knees, wrists,shoulders,ankles and hands. My hands are swollen and difficult to use even to type this. I am very familiar with Levaquin and give it to patients all the time without even considering these symptoms because they are dismissed as "very rare"! Obviously they are under reported because doctors don't attribute these complaints to the drug side effects. I pray that this pain goes away soon for myself and everyone else. I have learned in my career and in my own experience that though doctors are the ones with the ability to diagnose and treat, WE are the ones that must be our own advocates! I will definitely never give Levaquin without warning patients of potential side effects.

Was prescribed Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim 3 days ago for a bacterial skin infection. At the same time, I also had an apparent allergic reaction going on (unknown source, had never had one before) where my arms were both covered with hives/welts. So my skin was peeling and hive covered BEFORE even starting the meds, which is making the evaluating of the drug side effects a bit trickier. So far, the skin seems to be improving but the hives/rash has not improved, despite taking prescribed allergy meds during the same time. So this could be the current source of the rash, but I can't tell.
On the plus side, have not had any stomach upset (I took all doses w/ food) or other GI symptoms other than increased frequency in BMs. I only seemed to get a headache after not drinking water for a couple of hours. If online sources are to be believed, the "sulfa" portion of this is the culprit behind the worst side effects, AND food may interfere with absorption/effectiveness. Based on that, I'm planning on taking my remaining doses w/ food since the skin infection is already clearing up after 2 days and I've got 10 days to go. Hoping to avoid the reactions folks described here where they starting rashes late in the treatment cycle.

After taking Omeprazole for about a year, I became unusually fatigued. I just wanted to lie down and sleep. The acid reflux was under control, but I could not function from being so tired. Once I stopped taking the Omeprazole, the fatigue is gone. I can deal better with the acid reflux than with the drug side effects.

CK

I didn't have a good experience with it. I was taking it to get my period started because it suddenly stopped. And then I got a really strange discoloration on my thigh that came after my calf hurt. I have had an ultra sound done to test for blood clots and have found none. I have been to up to 4 different doctors. ALL have said they 'don't know what it is'. Besides that, some have said it's hormones. Others have said its a skin problem. One said it's circulation problems. My OBGYN didn't really say anything. When I stopped the medicine, I was able to have my own periods, but then at that same time I developed multi-nodular goiter. And then my periods stopped again. My OBGYN told me to start on the pills again but I am scared because I don't know what's going to happen and my OBGYN just told me to start it again like everything was okay. I'm thinking of going to a different OBGYN. I just wanted to share my experience..

I have been in Lisinopril for about a month. I have a dry cough that keeps me awake at night, headache, fatigue and lightheadedness. My doctor refuses to believe the cough is from the Lisinopril. He said I have not taken in long enough for it to be side effects. He keeps increasing the dosage from 5mg then 10 now 30mg my blood pressure continues to climb averaging 150/100 not dropping below 140/90 and spiking to 177/118.My doctor is not concerned and says come back in 2 months. I am calling him tomorrow and if he doesn't change my med. I will stop Lisinopril and find a new doctor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be very wary of this drug! My son was on it for a year and a half ...the last six months were a veritable nightmare for him. Severe anxiety issues (had to be hospitalized at one point ) and depression. Doctors kept saying it was not the medication but when I googled the drug side effects and stumbled on a blog about singulair problems , I told my son and off the medication he went. Within a month he was back to his normal self .
Thank goodness he was old enough to tell me how he was feeling ( 17 years old at the time) but what about very young children on this drug...how can they voice their problems when they don't have the vocabulary or knowledge of what is "normal"?

I went ahead and reported our experience online to the FDA:
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch_online.cfm

Amber here again - It's been nearly 2 weeks since I've had my Mirena removed. I have stopped sweating as of about 3 days ago. I can even go on an extremely rigorous mt. bike ride, get home and still smell like deodorant. This is unheard of (since Sept 2006). My stomach feels like a deflated balloon. I still weigh more than normal but it's coming off without hardly any effort. Slowly, but surely. I've even been eating Easter candy. Its unreal. Just now I was feeling my back, just in passing kind of massaging my neck and I noticed how unbelievably smooth my back is. No bumps or blackheads, just silky smooth... unreal.
I am so freaking pissed at the medical community I could SPIT. I am documenting all of my symptoms to report to the government website for drug side effects. I can't BELIEVE my doctor (both of them) told me I was nuts for thinking this was all due to Mirena. OH MY GOD I guess it's all just a COINCIDENCE. Give me a break.
I don't trust MD's any farther than I can throw them anymore. I know they have a huge education but they sure are f-ing retarded.

I am still on my anti depressants due to weaning problems so I can't report on the f-cked up mood swings yet... but soon.. I will be back!

My son is 16 years old, a wrestler, and was in excellent health. He developed sinus issues and had surgery on September 17, 2007 (he had a headache on the left side of his head which the ENT said was due to sinus issues). After sinus surgery, the doctor prescribed Levaquin for 10 days. After 4 days, I called his doctor and told him he was getting worse and not better. The doctor said not to worry. After that he had sleepless nights, felt like the room was moving away from him, became dizzy and light headed. Then the joint pain came. First in his thumbs, then wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. He developed severe headaches in the back of his head. The headaches were moderate to severe and with him 24 hours a day. He became extremely weak and his dizziness continued. He was tested for many diseases through numerous blood tests, had a spinal tap, MRI, MRA, CT of the spine, CT of the sinuses, x-rays of the knees, and an EEG. All came back normal, except his sinuses were still swollen which is normal after sinus surgery. He has seen numerous medical doctors (primary, pediatrician, two neurologists, allergist, two Ear Nose Throat) and is now seeing a pediatrician in UCLA and has appointments to see more UCLA doctors.

He has been out of school now for a couple of months. Luckily, the school has him on home instruction and sends teachers to the house and he is maintaining his honors classes. To give you all hope, he does appear to be getting better, but it is a very slow recovery. Up until two weeks ago, some days were okay and some days were pretty bad. It comes and goes like that. At first I never suspected Levaquin, but stumbled across the side effects when I was trying to research what was wrong with him. The only thing I found that had helped some people was taking high doses of magnesium (the kind ending in "ate" is better absorbed). I was and still am nervous about giving my child a lot of any type of vitamin, but no one was able to make him better, so I gave him 250 mg three times a day for three days. It could be just a coincidence, but about 3 days after I stopped giving him the magnesium, all of the joint pain was gone except for his knees, which still hurt if he bent down.

After a couple more weeks, he still had severe headaches, knee pain, some dizziness and some weakness, so I thought I would give it another go and gave him magnesium three times a day for 4 more days. After the 4 days of magnesium, he started on a new medication called Lyrica. His knee pain is almost gone and his headaches are minor with only an occasional flair up. I can see in his eyes and how he reacts that his is feeling better than he has in a long time. He has always been a happy kid, but I can tell he has his special spark back.

For the last two weeks, I just give him one 250 mg of magnesium a day, multi-vitamins, and Lyrica. By the way, one of the blood tests I requested was for magnesium, and it showed his level was normal. So, I have no idea if it is time that is making him better, the magnesium, or the fact that he is taking Lyrica. He will still continue to go to the doctors, none who believe Levaquin could be a cause, until he is completely back to normal. I believe that Levaquin was likely a culprit in his overall health issues, especially since no one can figure out how my healthy, energetic son suddenly became so ill he could no longer go to school. For the past two weeks now, he has had good days mixed in with okay days (no bad days though!!!) He has had only 2 weeks so far of better health and we hope it continues to get even better. Good luck to all of you and my prayers are with you. I hope somehow this will help someone.

My husband, former commercial airline pilot, began taking Lipitor January 27, 1998. He was misdiagnosed with alzheimers and treated for it till Smart Money magazine article: Nov 2003. He quit the statin, but his brain was too damaged. Recently he received an Allen Cognitive Level test at a nearby Memory Disorder Clinic. Six is normal, his score is 2.2 Withing 5 1/2 months of when he began Lipitor, he had bladder, prostate, sinus, muscle pain in arm, pectoris pain and a 8 months when he first mentions that he has had problems with his memory. His Dr. wrote, "alzheimers". There are no miracles on the horizon. The doctors and pharmacists are not told. The FDA is totally broken. There is no independenet agency tracking drug side effects. This is all about greed. Everyone thinks the situation is fine. The pharmacutical companies, insurance companies, doctors, pharmacists, and nursing homes are quite pleased. Once someone is diagnosed or mis-diagnosed, you are on your own. Care-givers are told to "get on with their lives". (liquidate your assest and put your loved one in a nursing home-you are not capable of caring for them) All forms of media are also receiving huge profits from drug commercials.
Tell your doctor to take Lipitor and let you know how it works!
Both political parties get huge amounts of money from the drug companies and they won't touch this issue. A doctor told me that 80% of drugs that are given are to mask the side effect of a previous drug. Studies show that Lipitor shuts down the production of Co Q10 which results in cell death.
Bk

The only side effect that doctors officially recognize is the cough. Some doctors will try to convince you that you can live with the cough, which is such bad advice.

The cough is a sign that your body is not happy with the med. It took me about 2 weeks to get the cough. It is the first symtom I had. I wish I'd stopped right away when I got it, but it was so mild at first and the doctors convinced me I could live with it. Once I had the cough, it very slowly kept getting worse over a period of the next 2 weeks, though I would have still considered it liveable. But then other side effects that the doctors don't acknowledge started happening. Eventually it was these other side effects that made me stop taking the drug. But the cough was the first symptom that my body didn't like this med.

Since it's the only one the doctors know about, it's the one to complain about. So if you get the cough: start complaining about the cough right away - immediately, the first day you get it. Tell them that you associate the cough with taking the drug. If they don't switch you off right away and it gets any worse at all, complain that the cough is getting worse and worse and tell them you can't live with the lisinopril, and tell them before it harms your lungs and energy levels, or you develop other symptoms.

I have learned that it is up to the patient to complain about drug side effects. The doctors will never diagnose it on their own. They must be trained to consider new conditions as new conditions, and never as side effects. It is important to them to never put it in the patient's head that a symptom is or could be a drug side effect. They don't want to mess with patients who are actually taking a drug and getting some benefit from it. Compliance (getting the patient to take a drug every time, on time) is a big problem. And, of course, experimenting by taking a patient off a drug might make them question the drug. So they would rather experiment by adding more drugs than to put the idea in your head that it might be a side effect of one you're alread taking.

Therefore you, the patient, must make the association yourself, and complain about the drug's side effects. And you have to complain about a side effect they already know of, or they will flatly reject the idea that the drug is doing any harm. Even when you do they will try to get you to live with it. Once they have you living with it, they not follow up with you to see if it gets any worse, and, you'll probably also be less likely to complain about it again if it does. This is a bad situation. And maybe you can live with it at first, but the first side effect appearing is a bad sign and if, after complaining, you agreed to live with it, if it gets any worse at all you need to bring it back to their attention, quickly, and let them know things have changed and it's time to stop living with the side effect.

muscle pain and spasms when dosage was increased from 20 to 40 mg...when stopped drug, side effects have not gone away...so far 3 wks.........

I began taking Levaquin 500 mgs. once daily for eight days about two weeks ago for treatment of a severe kidney infection. I had a positive experience with the drug. Side effects were mild and included some sleeplessness and mild night sweats.

I did make sure I drank a full glass of water when I took the medication, and that I drank liberally throughout the day.

I also timed my doses EXACTLY 24 hours apart to minimize any possible effects from toxicity.