Echocardiogram symptoms and conditions

PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS DRUG! IT"S LETHAL> I was on Advair 500/50 for 2years to control my severe asthma, which it did and for about 6months I felt great, but at what a price?....Chronic Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Teeth Breaking, Bone Density Issues, severe hair loss, most awful leg cramps, dizziness, shortness of breath, night sweats, anxiety and chest pains. I suspected that Advair was too blame, came across this site and it all just clicked!. I immediately quit Advair cold turkey in March this year. In May during my annual physical I had an abnormal EKG and a murmur was noticed (for the 1st time in 20years). My primary care physician of 25years was as baffled as I was,.I had a perfect EKG the year before. She referred me to a cardiologist and he did a battery of tests (EKG, echocardiogram and stress test with contrast).The echocardiogram came back as abnormal with mitral valve regurgitation and tricuspid valve regurgitation. Is it coincidental that some of the side effects triggered by Advair such as Chest Pain, dizziness, heart palpitations is also the common symptoms of heart valve issues? I don't know. I'm not a doctor, but my common sense tells me that this drug is the culprit.
Before taking this drug, I was a very healthy 40 year old. I could run 10miles a day, work 10hours a day and take care of 4year old. 3months ago before quitting Advair, I felt like a 83year old with advance heart failure. I'm finding my way back to almost feeling and looking my old self again minus less hair, broken teeth and a not so perfect ticker, courtesy of GSK and Advair.

I started taking Welchol in February of 2009. Took 4-6 pills a day. I began to have heart palpitations, and flutterings of the heart soon after. I did not see any connection to my symptoms with the Welchol. I went to the doctor and he did a CT and told me that the heart was fine. He increased my heart medication and still the palpitations went on. Then, last week, I forgot to take the Welchol...didn't take it for a whole day and suddenly the heart palpitations ceased. I'm into 4 days without the Welchol and have had no heart palpitations whatsoever. I will stay off it for awhile...then try it again, and if the palpitations return, I will know who the culprit is. Is anyone else out there having this problem. I did have the tiredness and after reading all these side affects, I now know the reason why.

Returned yesterday from 3 days in the hospital. Rapid heartbeat and pain in the chest sent me to the ER. The heart enzyme tests showed that I'd had a mild heart attack but an echocardiogram showed my arteries were fine and there was no damage to the heart. They call me "the mystery lady". No mystery to me! It's been 2 weeks since stopping Levaquin after 5 pills of 500 mg. I've been suffering with constant headaches, severe neck, shoulder, arms and elbow pain and am convinced that the heart problems are all part of the results of taking Levaquin. I'm drinking Aloe Vera Juice, and taking calcium, magnesium, garlic, Omega 3 fish oil, and lots of water. No one seems to know what works!

I HAD THE USUALLY SIDE EFFECTS OF PREDNISONE-WEIGHT GAIN, CONSTANT HEAD ACHE, BLURRED VISION AND AFTER SOME MONTHS RAPID HEART BEAT WHEN I LAID DOWN AND EXTREME FATIGUE. WELL, IT TURNS OUT THE RAPID HEART BEAT AND FATIGUE WERE NOT FROM PREDNISONE AND I ENDED UP HAVING A HEART ATTACK AND NEEDED BYPASS SURGERY. MY DOCTOR HAD DONE AN EKG DONE PRIOR TO THE HEART ATTACK AND THE RESULTS WERE FINE. MY INSURANCE COMPANY REFUSED ECHOCARDIOGRAM WHICH WOULD HAVE SHOWN PROBLEM WITH MY HEART AND COULD HAVE AVOIDED THE HEART ATTACK. I WOULD ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WITH "RACING HEART BEAT" TO GET IT CHECKED OUT.

AM

I think it is interesting the symptoms that you mention here. I have been on birth control pills since the age of 19. I am now 28. Over the past year I have had similar symptoms. I have been on so many different BCP's that is is hard to keep count. They don't seem to work the way they claim to. The last BCP I was on was orthotryciclen. While taking these I began to experience severe heart palpitations. So bad that they would wake me up at night. Because I wasn't sure if it was an anxiety attack or just being in my head I decided to ignore it. Four months passed by and it seemed to get increasingly worse. I had enough and decided to go to my PCP. She wasn't really much help either. Although I was tested for Mitral Valve Prolapse, which I was told affects younger women my age. There was nothing found. What I thought was interesting is I really felt that it was the birth control pills, but I couldn't find it as a side affect on the information that was provided in the box. The tech who was doing my echocardiogram began to tell me she also experienced the same feelings and found out it was her BCP. Once she confirmed what I thought was right, decided to stop taking them. After three months the symptoms began to disappear. I figured it was just the particular brand. I began to take loestrin 24. I started to feel the same symptoms again, just not as severe. I would feel my heart beat when I would like down in my back and my stomach. My heart rate would reach 90 to 100 sometimes. I know this is not normal. When I visited my gyno yesterday she told me it was impossible that it was a result of the BCP. Maybe it was just anxiety and or perhaps I should get checked out by a cardiologist. That is serious stuff when you are talking to a young person about getting there heart check out. I think if there are any other women out there who are experiencing any similar symptoms should speak up. So these doctors won't keep telling us it is all in our heads and help to take care of this problem.

After just one dose of Ambien I experienced my 1st panic attack. I was 38 weeks pregnant and my physician prescribed it since I was not sleeping for more than 30 min at a time because of the urge to urinate as the baby was compressing my bladder.
I took it again thinking that maybe it wasn't the Ambien and I began having daily panic attacks. These episodes didn't last minutes as do regular panic attacks they lasted 4 and 5 hours. My husband, a physician, noticed that my heart was not beating rapidly as it usually would during a regular panic attack, I was actually having bradycardia (low heart rate). He still didn't put the side effects I was having and the Ambien together. After being seen by multiple physicians I was admitted to the hospital for these severe attacks and after having an echocardiogram, a CT of my brain, and multiple lab draws a psychiatrist finally examined me and took my history realizing these panic attacks had never happen prior to my taking the Ambien. He took me off the drug and within 48 hrs this awful hell started to lift. It took me a year to get over the post traumatic shock from this horrible 4 weeks of my life. I gave birth to my newborn and was unable to care for her or even myself while experiencing the side effects caused by this hellish drug.
Meg in Sugar Land

I was taking Lovastatin until the VA told me that it was not on their formulary any longer and I had to take Simvastatin. Within a couple months my feet started burning and a numbness began creeping up my legs. I began falling, staggering and lost the ability to walk without two canes. I thought I was in the early stages of MS or ALS and feared I was dying. My fiance' did research on the internet (Spacedoc.com) and discovered that the symptoms I was suffering from were the result of Statin Poisoning (don't take my word...look it up) I took myself off the Simvastatin at the doctors request and began taking 4 1000mg of Omega 3 Fish Oil, 2 50mg CoQ10, 1 50mg L Carnitine, a multi vitamin, and 1 81mg coated aspirin per day. I still have numbness in my legs and some burning in my feet one and one half years later. My Neurologist has told me (and written a letter to the effect) that I am permanently disabled...that this will never go away. Statins (all Statins) are poison...don't take them....the pharmacutical companies only push them to make MONEY they don't care about you or your health. If you need more information contact me anytime and I'll be happy to share any research I have. ******

I started on 40mg of simvistatin 3 and a half months ago,after being on them for a week i started to get bad headaches and felt really fatigued,so when i told my gp she said its just a matter of your body getting used to them,so i continued taking the pills i seemed ok for a while but 5 weeks ago i started with palpitations,then i got indigestion, and general discomfort in my chest,weakness in my arms and legs, headaches and the fatigue came back worse than ever,i haven't been back to see the doctor,i stopped the pills yesterday,the indigestion has gone already,i want to lose about a stone and try to lower my cholesterol myself ,but how can you exercise when you feel so weak and tired,my cholesterol level is 5 but because i suffer high blood pressure the doc said it needs to be 4.3,does anyone else suffer from the same and is on this medication?

Heart palpitations, dizziness, migraines, fatigue, no sex drive, weight gain, panic attacks. Saw cardiologist was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse however i don't think the doctor ever saw this on my echocardiogram. All of these symptoms appeared after being on yaz for over a year. I am stopping Yaz at the end of this pill pack..any idea how long it will take to get back to normal?

Both my 19 year old daughter and my 30 year old step daughter were put on Yasmin. Both began having heart problems. The eldest had heart palpitations, a racing heart and dizziness. The doctor discovered that her potassium level had shot up and her magnesium was down. They put her on magnesium to help control the racing heart. It helped, but then she became pregnant and had to lower the dose. The 19 year old has had the worst side effects. She was fine on ortho tricyclene, but when her doctor switched her to Yasmin her blood pressure shot up to 170/118. She began having chest pain. We pulled her off the Yasmin, but she has continued to have uncontrollably high blood pressure. The doctor ran several tests and has found no underlying cause as of this writing. She began taking 5 mg. of Norvasc, but was increased to 10 mg. to manage the high blood pressure.

I have been on Lisinopril starting at 5 mg and increased to 10mg about 1 month ago with increasing side effects. I have had the dry hacking night time cough since I started on the medication which I could deal with. I started to notice knee joint pain recently which I never had before. I also have loss of taste and food does not seem appealing like it used to be. The most disturbing of the symptoms though started several weeks ago and I have been getting this quick shooting pain in my throat/neck area. I recently had an echocardiogram and saw my cardiologist and everything is the same and stable so I don't think it is anything cardiac. I feel in my gut it is probably due to this medication. Anyone else have fleeting throat/neck pain while on this medication??

At age 71, in excellent health and rarely seeing a physician except for minor skin irritations, I experienced a mild TIA and to be on the safe side, checked into the Emergency room. Among the medications recommended were Lipitor which I began taking regularly. Within less that 6 weeks, I'd developed a heart murmur, had an echocardiogram and was told that I'd developed a severe stenosis. The murmur was not present at the time of my TIA or a month later.

After about another month, I was walking the dog and began to experience fatigue and muscle soreness. At the same time, my left little and ring finger began to 'fall asleep' with tingling and loss of a sense of touch. That has continued for several months.

By the following day, the sense of fatigue upon any moderate activity was like being hit by a truck, it was sudden, unremitting and would only relieve with rest. Any attempt to walk more than 100 yards was out of the question.

I talked to 3 different specialists, none of them were willing to listen to me when I suggested that the cause of this was linked to Lipitor. By now, I had taken myself off of it and have not resumed.

I believe that the Lipitor also caused renal insufficiency which I'd only begun to experience after taking it.

The most difficult part of dealing with this problem is finding a physician who is willing to listen. Presently, the neuropathy is 24/7 but the generalized weakness has not gotten any worse and seems to be permanent.

As I read others complaints, mine are limited to the physical, there's been no effect mentally other than insomnia.

well, this has been an enlightening forum.. glad to know im not crazy. I started taking toprol xl about 1 1/2 months ago..and it's been DOWNHILL ever since. I went to the ER one day with a rapid heart beat and overall weird feeling, they say it was either a panic attack or dehydration. anyway, the first 4 days after that i took 25mg of metroprolol, and my first side effect was tingling and pain in my leg. Then, my Dr. prescribed 50mg to keep my BP and palpiations down. Since then, i've felt bad EVERY day. Tingling in legs, arms, face and lips. Fatigue. Consitpation and Gas. Nausea. CRAZY dreams. An overall bad/weird feeling. Weird heartbeat. Though, I have to say i havent had any weight gain. I told my Dr, his first idea was i was having panic attacks, i tried zanax for about 2 weeks, didn't really help. He insists what im feeling isnt from the toprol...(must be in my head?) I had blood work and and echocardiogram-everything came back normal. I guess he's all out of ideas so his next suggestion is for me to see an neurologist who i'll be seeing this week, if that doesn't work, he suggested a psychiatrist... That's not gonna happen. If it comes down to it i'll just have to ween myself off these crazy pills.. After reading all these posts, i'm convinced it's the toprol....

Haven't been taking this medication very long started March 1st or so with 50mg once a day. But felt didn't need it so took it kind of sporadically the first week, every other day, then I tried just half the second week 25mg. Then I had to go back to full 50mg this past week, so basically 50 to 25mg for three weeks or so now, and I feel AWFUL. Now that I have dropped back to the 25mg the side effects have lessened but the anxiety is unbearable! My arms and hands go cold and numb. When taking it at 50mg felt very sluggish, cloudy mind, doomed feeling. It just doesn't feel right. I am only 33 years old they did a stress test on me this past Friday and 2-D echocardiogram. Tomorrow they are going to do some blood tests and a get a holter monitor put on me for 48 hours. To see if I "need" to be on this med. I dont' think I do, if it truly was something I needed or helped my body, it would help it not bother more. I truly think I may have some other underlying reason for the high heart rate, my BP has always been normal except when I was hospitalized and then once they had me hydrated and my sugars back to normal (I'm hypoglycemic) my BP went normal I just had the tachycardia off and on. So that's why the doctor in the hospital said to begin the Toprol Xl b/c it's SO SAFE I GIVE IT TO PREGNANT WOMEN!! His words. I pray for those women. After just the one week straight of 50mg when I dropped to 25mg a couple days ago it felt AWFUL to do that as well, today is much better Thank God. But can you have such strong withdrawals after such short period of time? And if so, that is scary in and of itself.

Flowerbabies-

Posted to the site you created as well to see if others would like to weigh in on this:

lowerbabies-

so heres is what I wonder. If the chest pain we are both experiencing is in fact due to the loss of magnesium as part of taking this pill, than how many other women that are experiencing that are having direct heart damage and being told that instead, to cover it up, that it is anxiety and stress? I mean seriously? Afterall, if magnesium prevents the heart muscles from spasming-and Yasmin causes a deficiency in magnesium ......then what, I am wondering is the link to the week before our menstrual cycles that this chest pain shows up?

There is an article in Health magazine I read called A Woman's Heart. Basically cites/talks about the fact that the public nor most doctors are taking the time to understand the single largest killer of women in America-Betsy Berne was the example they provided and that often women do not take themselves and doctors do not take women seriously enough. She ignores her chest pain for a week. Then is encouraged to see an internist who detects a murmur. This is true in my case as well...., then they did an electrocardiogram, and a chest Xray to discover that her heart was enlarged. An transeophageal echocardiogram (a more invasive test) that required she undergo open heart immediately.

This article goes on to state how many women are often not taken seriously who complain of chest pain and are often misdiagnosed with panic attacks while what's actually occuring is a misfunctioning valve between the left ventricle and atrium-with severe leakage and improper blood flow. Ordinary MVP is nothing to worrry about . They say it effects between 5 and 20 percent of population-mostly women.

In this article she also mentions that classic symptoms for women are: chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, abdominal pain, dizziness, and swollen feet. Also advises that for women, who have smaller arteries than men, when they have a heart attack there is usually no plaque in their arteries-a heart attack is when one of the vessels occludes-and they're more prone to artery spasms.

Other symptoms/warning signs: uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, or pain in the chest that last more than a few minutes, or pain that spreads to the shoulders, neck and arms. Chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating or nausea. Unexplained anxiety or weakness, palpitations, cold sweat, paleness. Shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, jaw pain. Isn't this alot of what many women are describing experiencing?

I've been on Advair since it has been on the market. Last year, for no reason my heart started to pound it's way out of my chest while I was sitting; of course, then I felt my left arm being affected. My doctor ran an echocardiogram, which showed nothing. It was recommended to use Advair every other day. This summer I went back to Advair twice a day, and it's started again...I am done with Advair. I too have gained weight for no reason, also, my restless legs is so much worse for the past few years and the meds I use aren't working as they should.

Hi everyone!
Well. It's now been 6 1/2 weeks since I took my last Yasmin pill. My husband told me yesterday that I seem more like myself these days! I asked him to describe how I USED to act. He told me that I would go off on a tangent for no reason,get my feelings hurt over tiny things,have days where I'd hardly talk at all. He said he's glad his wife is back!
Guess what?? I mentioned the side effects of Yasmin we have all discussed here to my doctorS (ob/gyn/internal specialist/family md & ENT!)....they all said they've never heard of any of it! They offered me Paxil,Zoloft,referral to psychotherapists, endless tests and bloodwork. I mean, Holter monitor,EKG,Echocardiogram,3 blood tests, and tomorrow they want to do a CT scan on my head. I'm thinking I don't really want to expose my head to radiation over this.
I've not had anymore "attacks",no heart palpitations,my so-called IBS with diarrhea has miraculously disappeared! But they doctors don't believe it could be the Yasmin because it's "such a mild dose of hormones". Can you all believe this??
I'm so freaked out over what's happened to me these past few months that I don't know that I'll ever take BC pills again. I'm contemplating asking to have my tubes tied. Really!
I'm so glad I accidentally found this site. Now if I could just find something to explain the burning pain sensation down the side of my neck and in my inner left ear and the tingles in my left arm I'll be SOOO happy. Could these be side effects too after 6 1/2 weeks off Yasmin?
Take care all of you. I'll check back periodically to see how everyone is doing! :o)

My 52 year old wife had a painful capsulitis in one arm that just did not get better. In the absence of her regular doctor, we went to a walk-in clinic for help for the unrelenting pain. She was given two injections of Kenelog withing 14 days of each other. The pain in the arm started to recede but a few days after the second shot, we had to admit her into a hospital emergency department for severe heart palpitations, extreme weakness in her legs, tingling and numbness in her hands and fainting. She was stabilized over six hours, blood tests were done and an electrocardiogram was done. She was negative in all the tests. It is now almost eight weeks later and she continues to experience palpitations irregularly and continuing fatigue that forces her to lie down at work and curtails her usual activities. None of this had ever happened to her before the second Kenelog shot. Her doctor has now had her screened for liver and kidney inflamation and she will have an echocardiogram in ten days. She has also seen a hematologist for interpretation of the blood tests. She is anxious and depressed by all this and feels frightened about the severe fatigue that keeps on hitting her. She'll never let herself have another Kenelog shot as long as she lives!!!

I wanted to write back to Chris--Holy Cow you sound just like me!!!!! I have been off Yasmin for approx. 7 months now and I, too, am STILL having the heart palpitations, racing heart flopping like a fish in my chest feelings! I was in the ER for these symptoms last Friday--every test--blood work, EKG, echocardiogram, and a CT scan (to check for clot in the lungs) came back normal--and yet these feelings persist. Also, my blood pressure (although it has come down since I went off Yasmin) is still too high--I am praying that it will continue to slowly go back down to what it used to be prior to taking Yasmin.

I'm 41--two kids (ages 2 and 3), and NEVER had pressure higher than 120/70 (not even while pregnant). And yet, within about 8 weeks of taking Yasmin, my pressure had shot up to 160/110 (and had been higher than that from time to time!!!!) Now it is about 140/90--still not acceptable, but better than it was. Have you checked your blood pressure?

I am going to see my cardiologist (sheesh never thought I'd write that sentence at this age) on Friday--I will get the results of a 24-hour heart monitor harness that I wore after the visit to the ER.

I wanted to also mention that I developed a pretty serious case of acid reflux disease while taking Yasmin (again, NEVER had anything like that before)--treated it (saw an ear/nose/throat guy), and it healed up. I am wondering if some of this feeling that someone is digging a fist into the center of my chest could be reflux related. I've been taking some Pepcid Complete over the last couple days and it has seemed to lessen the intensity of the feeling or make it go away completely for a while. I had been burping like crazy--it made my hysband think maybe some of my symptoms were stomach related and he suggested I try the Pepcid.

I wish you all the best--I plan to print out several pages from this forum to bring to my dr.'s visit this Friday--I just can't fathom that all of this cr*p is "random"--is there anyone else out there with blood pressure problems lingering from Yasmin? I would be very curious to hear about your experiences--esp. about how long it took for it to go back to normal.
Connie

Thank goodness for this site !

I am a 36 male living in Australia and was prescribed Advair(Seretide) 4 weeks ago to treat a asthma induced cough.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and have scheduled visits to a cardiologist, the next one in a few weeks for an echocardiogram and follow up.

About 2 weeks after starting Advair I started having the following side effects:

Racing heart beart, dizziness & feeling faint,waking up with tingling in my hands at night, inability to sleep at night, anxiety/ nervousness.

Further side effects developed over the last few weeks:
hoarse, need to swallow, extreme anxiety and feelimg panicky.

Initially I put the symptoms down to stress and concern over the impending cardiologist visits.
But the situation worsened to the extent that last week I felt extreme distress at going to work.
I went to my GP who put it down to stress and referred to a pyschologist.
This site has been such a relief - thanks

I am so glad to have found this sight. I thought I was seriously ill. I have been on Advair for about 8 months. Since January I have been quite fatigued. I was never able to nap in the afternoon but now if I'm not at work I have to have at least an hour nap. I have chest pain that travels down my left arm. I was sent for stress test and echocardiogram and everything came back normal. The doctor has just prescribed Aciphex for acid reflex thinking that could be the problem. I have a metalic taste in my mouth. I have leg cramps from the knees down and muscle pain in the back and shoulders. I feel like I constantly have the flu. I get night sweats and last night terrible stomach cramps(the first night I stopped Advair). I have gained weight that settled around my waist. I have weighed the same for the past 10 years. I have headaches and blurred vision and trouble concentratring. I have a constant postnasal drip and am always coughing. I stopped Advair yesterday and am not quite as tired. I am interested in knowing if and when the symptoms go away. I just pray that this does no permanent damage.

I would advise any woman to not take yasmin. I am in college and getting my work done has been a challenge. I have struggled trying to study and keep my grades up in the midst of all this pain. This birth control pill from hell almost ruined my life. I began taking this pill back in November. By December, I was rushed to the emergency room with chest pain so bad I thought I was going to die. I was given a steroid, and it went away....for a while. Meanwhile I started haveing dizzy spells so bad that I was scared to drive. I became very emotional and often wondered why I could not stop thinking about certain things. It was like I could not control my own mind!!!! This was the anxiety kicking in. Later, I began to have panic attacks, but it wasn't until this month that I knew what they were. Life for me had become hell. Things that used to make me happy did not anymore, and I could feel on top of the world one minute and like hell the next. The reason it took me so long to link these things to yasmin is because there were so many factors such as college, etc. that I thought could take a toll on me. I was ignorant to the fact that bcp could do this to me...until now. Now, I will never take another bcp in my life! It's not for me. I can't speak for all women, but I personally have thought I was going insane or losing my mind. Even when I had no physical pain, I still felt sick on Yasmin. Since december, I have been to the doctor more than 10 times, mostly trying to find the source of my severe chest pain and heartburn. I have had an echocardiogram, EKG, Chest CT Scan, Upper GI endosopy, blood drawn, and two chest x-rays. Every doctor tells me I am perfectly healthy, even though I feel like death is around the corner. From my first doctor's visit in december, I asked if Yasmin could cause my pain, and I was convinced by every doctor since then, appox 6 doctor, that Yasmin could not be the source of my issues. Three doctors have tried to put me on anti-depressants such as Prozac, paxil, and zoloft, but after reading the horrors of these drugs I decided not to. You cannot solve a problem with a problem. If you find yourself on an antidepressant, stop the birthcontrol, give it three or four months and see what happens. Many of the anti-depressants have side effects similar to the ones we are complaining of. Don't let a doctor convince you that you're crazy if you know in your heart of hearts that you are not. I have been off of Yasmin for three days now in addition to seven days of the white pill, and I have began to notice that not only do I have chest pains, but I have random aches and pains all over my body. They are very sharp and move quickly. Sometimes they tingle. Mentally, I feel so much better. My life is mine again. Now I just have to get rid of the physical symptoms. So far women have had strokes, blood clots, parts of their lung removed, gallbladder removed, and contemplated suicide. What will it take for us to see that man-made hormones don't mix well with most women's bodies. I, for one, am ready to be free. Before Yasmin, I was stressed, but I am now a different person. I can't wait to get back to normal. Don't listen to doctors if it doesn't coincide with your heart. Also, if you are taking this just for acne, look in the mirror, I am sure there is a beautiful face there. Don't go through all this hell on the inside just to look good on the outside. I am taking my life back one day at a time, and I hope you do too. To decrease my anxiety I have drastically cut my sugar intake and my caffeine intake as well, this may help you. Also, exercising regularly will help you destress when anxiety/depression seems to set in. A friend of mine also recommended that I not eat over-processed foods. She said that simpler foods are easier on your digestive system, and they don't have that draining effect on you. So far I have lost approx 5 months of my life. Good Luck ladies.