Epstein barr symptoms and conditions

As a fairly healthy 34 year old male, I went to my doctor for help getting over poison ivy mid-July 2008. I received the Kenalog 40 injection without being advised on any potential side effects. Within 36 hours I started having severe anxiety attacks with spikes in my blood pressure and vision problems (spotty, increased sensitivity to light). These attacks continued for 4-8 weeks during which time I underwent an MRI (head), stress test, and blood work to make sure nothing else was causing my symptoms.....conclusion: everything normal. My doctor prescribed me Xanax to help with the out of control anxiety. Started feeling more normal 60-90 days later. I started trying to run on my treadmill to get back in shape at the 90 day mark, and once again....symptoms returned. It's been a couple of weeks and I'm getting closer to being back to "normal", but I have no idea how long it will be before the Kenalog has completely metabolized out of my system, and I can get on with life. This has been a horrible experience and I would caution anyone from receiving this drug!

I posted for my 14 year old daughter a couple of weeks ago. I am happy to say that we stayed off of the YAZ after going to the hospital 2 times, sonograms, cat scans.... worried about spleen rupture ~ pains in the side, back, shoulder, throwing up THE WHOLE SHABANG! pretty much every side effect there is listed for this horrible drug she had. Well...turns out she had mono/epstein barr a couple of months ago so it kicked it up again after it was getting better. DOCTORS PA's....push push push meds. We need to be more informed about what we take into our bodies. MEN WOMEN CHILDREN just because they prescribe it doesn't mean we should take it. we are the guinnea pigs here. Yes there will probably be a law suit and it will like the patch be taken off of the market. But where will we be??
So my thought on this drug is that doctors need to be taking blood tests of a variety of things before saying ~ yes it is ok for you to take this. Because there are some (I say SOME) people who aren't as sick as others... some people drink booze so their liver will be elevated some people have dormet problems that will cause this pill to reek havoc on your system... everyone needs to get a grip on taking meds.... it is whats causing havoc on our bodies. we take all these pills. its crazy.

I have posted several times. My 16 year old daughter took singulair for 4.5 years starting 11-17-03 and ending 3-28-08. She was the dancer,cheerleader who starting cutting her legs with razors and completely changed. Lost friends, depressed, withdrawn,anxiey attacks,headaches,stomach aches on and on and on..... I took her to a Psychiatrist who gave her Fluoxetine which did not help. She is doing much better now that she is off Singulair but will never be the same. She found a lump in the back of her neck and a lump in the groin area. I remember Concerned citizen mentioning Lymphoma(cancer) discovered in some of the Singulair Children because of the reduced immune system connection. I have also found some info on this on line. We are going to the Doctor Thursday and I will have tests run. Concerned citizen are you still out there? Have you found out anything else? Sue

Concerned citizen!!!
Just had to share the news! 3 months after stopping singulair and taking omega 3 (for last 3 months) has resulted in my 6yrs olds cholesterol going down from 236 to 202! Absolutely no diet change, in fact he has been eating worse due to throat condition/tonsils. Makes me go HMMMMM!!!

These posts about contacting a bad viral infection while the immune system is suppressed by Singulair are particularly worrisome. This was from 2007 so it has nothing to do with the FDA investigation. Epstein Barr causes some really bad illnesses including lymphoma.

The scary part is that children are the most susceptible to viruses. They need to develop immunity at a young age that will build up over time to levels that will protect them for the rest of their lives. Why are we giving children a drug that will suppress the leukotrienes? Why do we think that it is okay to take away one of the bodies defense mechanisms? Wouldn't it be logical that a drug that suppresses the immune system is a last resort option not handed out like lollipops?

www.iddb.org/drugs/singulair/ - 243k
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Anonymous Immune System Dysfunction September 13th, 2007

Do users of Singulair and Advair understand how these products work? In order to understand how they work, you must first know what happens in the body during an allergic attack.

Allergic response is a function of the body's immune system. When an allergen enters the body through the nose or the lungs (e.g., a bit of pollen or cat dander), it is recognized by the body as a foreign substance, and the immune system then produces histamines to fight the intruder. Singulair and Advair work by disabling the body's immune system, so that there is no allergic response.

I too thought these drugs were wonderful. I was on both Singulair and Advair to combat asthma from my new husband's cat. I took high strengths of these drugs for approximately three years.

During the time I was on these drugs, some disease entity, most likely a virus (e.g., Epstein-Barr, Herpes Simplex I, HTLV I). I have been sick with a fever for the last four and a half years. My immune system seems to have been permanently impaired, and every organ in my body is now compromised. I have a fever, night sweats, liver and spleen enlargement, digestive problems, skin infections, hypertension, rapid-onset insulin-dependent diabetes and other endocrino;ogical problems, blood cell abnormalities, and neurological problems (e.g., tremors, myoclonic seizures, muscle cramps and weakness, vertigo, incoordination).

I am about to undergo a spinal tap and other tests, looking for the causative entity. Whatever it is entered my nervous system when I had an epidural anesthetic while on these immune system depressants. I have not been the same since. I have been too sick to work. This has ruined my life.

As we have all learned from recent reports of heart damage from Vioxx, the FDA no longer has the money to fully test new drugs entering the market. The "clinical trials" are a drug's entry into the population. If it kills or sickens too many people, they withdraw it. However, the drug companies define "too many people" as a number that could potentially ruin profits through lawsuits.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't rely on the government to protect you. Before putting any drug into your body, do the research into how it works. Read comments from other users. I wish I had done that.

I went to the doctor with a sinus and kidney infection, after 2 days of levaquin, I had severe swelling in my knees, calves, and ankles, the pain was more than I could bear, I had vomited of the dry heaves because I had no appetite. Does someone know why this mediation is on the market, and why no one has done anything about it. I am still in severe pain after 9 days

I am into my 6th day of taking 500mgs a day. The first day my calves tightened up-felt like I'd been exercising too hard. My mouth has been dry, and now the bones in my hands ache and I have a fever. Today was spent over the sink barfing, or rather, trying to. I have heartburn/acid reflux that keeps gagging me. Feels like someone punched me in the chest and then set it on fire. I haven't been able to eat anything since yesterday because it just sits in my throat and then comes right back up. I also wasn't expecting severe constipation, as the other antibiotics had given me diarrhea. I'm glad I found this site because none of the literature mentions any of these side effects, and my doctor said there were no side effects. I was prescribed for pneumonia/bronchitis/sinus infection, and after the first day I was impressed because the lung pain and coughing had lessened considerably, my head stopped hurting and I could breathe. I didn't think much of these symptoms, even though they were new, because I was told there were none. I attributed them to the fact that I have Epstein-Barr. Now my guess would be they are directly related to the medication. I'm glad I found that other people have had these reactions, too.