Epidemic symptoms and conditions

I first started on the generic form of celexa(10 mg once a day) a little over one year ago..it was because I was having some mild depression..I also in the past have had some anxiety/panic attack issues. When I first went on it..it kind of scared me because I felt like I was in a fog..felt like i couldn't respond to things in my normal way..However, i did feel like my energy level was better, wasn't flying off the handle the way i used to, my panic/anxiety seems less frequent. Good things to say. I recently decided, however, to come off of it..(under the direction of my Dr.) I just hate the thought of being on med's to help me cope..I have been having a horrible couple weeks since I have been off of it..back to some of my old behaviors..and worse! yelling at my husband and kids for trivial things..feel very angst and ready to tell someone off at any moment..it has been horrible..am hoping this gets better..I hate feeling like this!

I received yet another email from someone who has had a recent MRI due to memory difficulties and the MRI indicated brain shrinkage. This drug is breaking the blood brain barrier, causes depression, and is shrinking the brain. I know of 3 people who began Lisinopril and over a period of less than 2 years, have had MRI and their brains indicate shrinkage. We are wondering why Alzheimers is becoming an epidemic. More people are being prescribed Blood Pressure medicines at earlier ages, particularly Ace Inhibitors because they are cheap and these drugs are pentrating the blood brain barrier and causing a drug induced brain damage that mimicks Alzheimer symptoms. It begins to appear as depression, so, they treat the depression with anti-depressants. They improve for a period of time and then the symptoms of memory loss, difficulty retaining, concentration issues, mental sluggishness begin to present again. The Doctors are in denial, not us who are posting these symptoms. The obvious is oblivious. You cannot take a healthy individual who never took anything more than an aspirin and within 17 month of taking this medication have depression, memory issues and brain shrinkage. I hope if there are any Doctors that read this site, they pay attention to their patients and watch those people on Ace Inhibitors who then follow a pattern of memory problems and depression. It's much more than depression. I bet if all those people who experience memory difficulties got and MRI, there brains would show shrinkage.

Is anyone experiencing confusion, trouble thinking, trouble concentrating, decreased cognitive function, mental sluggishness, trouble solving problems or situations which require logical thinking and sequencing, and memory loss? Would love to hear from anyone experiencing any these symptoms and if so, how long were you on the drug.
Thanks!

Hello I'm a 41 year old female, and I took Lipitor 20 mgs for 6 months about two years ago. When I called my doctor's office to complain about side effects they told me it couldn't be the Lipitor because I had been taking it for a month already, and would have had problems before that. I eventually took myself off of the drug 5 months later. Here are some of the side effects I experienced:
Itchy fingertips, increased blood pressure, 30lb weight gain, shaky hand writing, acne, poor driving skills, poor memory, hair loss, "frozen joints", IBS, incontinence, low grade fever, itchy feet, numb toes, numb hands, foggy brain, joint pain, muscle pain, foot pain, plantar pain, dizzy, jaw pain, back and neck pain, week ankles and wrists, nasal allergies, skin rashes, migraines, heartburn, Increase in Astham, heart palpitations, knee pain, difficulty standing up from sitting position, difficulty climbing stairs, water retention alternating in feet, hands, arms and legs, almost constant taste of bile in my mouth.
These are only the ones I can remember. Two years down the road everything but the muscle and joint pain and weakness is gone. even those have improved a lot. I stopped taking the Lipitor and lost all 30lbs I had gained on it, without dieting, in a months time. I still have two toes on each foot that are partially numb. I have trouble climbing stairs, and getting up from a sitting position. I can do both, but I move slowly while doing them. The pain in my muscles and joints drives me crazy, but I'm grateful that the rest of the symptoms have cleared up. My doctor never believed me about my symptoms, and neither does my new doctor really. Went to the emergency room for asthma that was not responding to my inhaler, and they were about to let me go home when I mentioned to the doctor that I had been on Lipitor. Suddenly a huge battery of tests were ordered including a CT scan and a stress test. When I asked the doctor why he said that they just wanted to be sure that it wasn't something other than asthma. Why did they do that after hearing about the Lipitor? Do they know something? Are there doctors who believe that statins are killing and seriously injuring people? I'm so angry. Even as I sit here typing I know when I stand up I will have massive amounts of pain that I will have to "walk off". My quadriceps have not recovered, and remain ridiculously weak.
If I can stop one other person from going through this I will be happy. Thanks everyone for taking the time to list your symptoms. It makes me feel better to know that someone believes me, and knows what I am going through.

This is a follow-up to my posting on October 10th regarding my 57 year old husband who began taking Lisinopril in March of 2007. He was NEVER on any other medication prior to taking this drug. He suffered Depression, loss of memory, lack of concentration, can't focus and struggled with small task. We have recently had an MRI done and his brain has shrunk. Deadfred1 replied to my posting and he is a 36 year old male who has been on Lisinopril for 5 years. He has the same side effects as my husband. He had a recent MRI and his brain has shrunk!!! We visited a Neurologist with his MRI results for a second opinion and he is ordering more tests because "it appears to be indictive of Alzeheimers" with the area of the brain that has shrunk. How can this be??? This was a healthy, 57 year old NEVER on a drug in his life and within months of taking this, he is in Depression and having memory issues. Isn't anyone connecting any symptoms here??? Any Doctors out there with an "open mind"? This medication is was developed from the venom of a poisonous Brazilian snake!!! Hello...it's more like a slow death with Arsenic!!! My mother-in-law has been on this drug for years and years and years. She now sits with dementia in an Alzeheimers unit. Is anybody out there listening? Alzeheimers is becoming an epidemic in this country. Have we ever thought the medications we are taking is creating this devastating disease? Millions of people take Ace Inhibitors, millions of people have Alzeheimers. They are getting younger and younger according to the Neurologist. Why, because younger and younger people are being put on Blood pressure medications from poisonous snakes. Are there any open minded Dr.s out there that can "step outside the box"...don't just "think outside the box"...."step out for goodness sake" and start paying closer attention to the symptoms people are having. I am convinced there is a definite connection to my husbands side effects and this drug. Get off people. Get off.

I had 95% occlusion of the major artery in my heart July 2007 with no symptoms except slight shoulder pain on 3 occasions. They did a cath and inserted 2 stents. Started with Lipitor 10 mg. and my LDL dropped from 75 to 112. The MD wanted to double the dose, but I refused because of intermittent nocturnal nausea. MD switched me to another statin and I had immediate muscle involvement and severe nausea at night. She wanted me to try another statin drug and I refused. After a 2 month period of no statins, she put me back on Lipitor 10 mg. daily. I decided to cut the pill in half and take it twice a week, then move to every other day and gradually go to 10 mg. daily. Immediately, the nocturnal nausea started again. Last night I awoke at 2 a.m. with nausea, sweating, sore muscles around my rib cage. Still no sleep at 4:30 a.m., so I got up and tried to eat something. This has been the pattern every night since I went on Lipitor.

I don't know if I can take this any more.

CK

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

I have read a ton of the posts in this category. I have been taking Lisinopril as an addition to my regular blood pressure medication for approximately 3 years, with absolutely no problems. My 10mg was increased to 20mg a week ago. Still no problems. It has only helped me. If there are any changes, I will definitely post it. I believe that symptoms can arise from reading an article. I actually know a couple people who read things, and suddenly they are convinced they have the problem or disease referenced. I call it an Epidemic of Diagnoses. Always seek a doctors advice before stopping medications. Stopping suddenly on certain drugs, can be more dangerous than taking them.

May 26th? You got it.

And soon we should also address the unprecedented actions of more and more MD's twho are too often immediately suggesting depression as an answer for anything they can't diagnose. As if to say their failure to find anything can't be due to their lack of experience or training or talent...and that it just must be that the patient is making this all up and or exaggerating his or her symptoms simply because he or she is depressed.

I am hearing from so many people now that I have been through a traumatic experience like this that are saying and sharing their own doctor stories and hearing the same thing more and more from their doctors...that their doctors are mentioning "depression" so often about almost every unexplained symptom and almost pushing them into seeking psychiatric care and getting them onto anti-depressants.

I had never seen a psychiatrist in my 54 year old life until this Levaquin nightmare. I had never had a problem with drugs or alcohol, never been arrested, married once for 24 years now, two kids in college...but suddenly I am a loon who will not accept that I am so depressed that this is causing all these unprecedented symroms like body pain, and all the rest?

This "depression" excuse and diverting by doctors is becoming so common now that it is almost an epidemic.

I was guest #1855 (a male) I had Lupron January 29th of 2003 and two weeks of Eulexon. This is June 12th of 2003. The sweats have not ended and in fact are epidemic through out the day and most of the night. It is the worst thing that I ever did and can not wait until they end. When ever I am asked when they will end, my answer is "when they end". Not sure if the two were necessary but wish I never took them