January 16th
2009
4:49 PM
I am 34 years old. I am a pharmacy tech. I have asthma and allergies. I have taken singulair pretty much every day since it came out on the market. I've had asthma since i was about 10 years old. I took theophylline as a kid. Steriods on and off especially during times when my allergies are bad. I still use Advair during the fall and spring. Every drug has a side effect. However breathing is pretty good damn thing. Do I have days when I feel low? Yeah. Do I sometimes have nightmares? Yup. Are "natural" products the answer. Not always. The fish oil that some of the posters are touting can also cause GI problems. Some of the natural products contain herbs and other plant derivatives that can be harmful for a child that suffers from allergies. Not proactively treating asthma can be deadly. Some of the parents are suggesting steriods as the answer - those can cause weight gain, growth suppression and can lead to a worsening of asthma.
Singulair has never made me feel like I've wanted to kill myself. I was more depressed and angry as kid when my asthma did not allow me to partipate in normal childhood things. I was sad and hated life when I couldn't keep up with friends at recces because I was having trouble breathing. You have to outweigh the costs with the benefits. I am more irritable when I have asthma flareup then I am on a normal day. For me, I choose to breathe. And singulair has been helping me for almost a decade.
I'm not saying the medication isn't causing these symptoms but maybe there is an underlying cause to your child's depression.
Any drug has a side effect. But without medical research and the medications that come with them - people would still be dying of simple diseases and we wouldn't have vaccinations. As a society, as a whole, we are a culture that looks to someone else to fix things and then blames the people who try to fix it. We need to stop being the "hot McDonald's coffee'" society.
-- By vabenavidez | Reply | (23) replies | Private Message me
January 16th
2009
10:59 AM
I was diagnosed with asthma as a child. In late teens it seemed to not be problem, however after 50, I started developing symptoms of asthma again as evidenced from COPD tests. I am currently using Advair 250/50 since 55 yo.
One symptom, that I have not seen addressed here is that of "slow healing" after injuries. I injured my back awhile ago, and it seemed like 2 years before most of my symptoms were gone. To this day I still feel lingering effects. Then I scraped my shinbone. It seemed like it took forever to heal, and now there is an ugly red/purple scar where the minor scrape was.
I had never taken so long to heal before, and read that this was a problem with taking Advair. I never figured my asthma was that serious in the first place, so I simply cut back on the Advair to once/day or less as it seems still to keep my breathing OK. Sometimes, after a few days of not taking Advair, I feel some minor difficulty with breathing.
Now that I am 63, and so concerned about "slow healing", which I attribute to Advair, I have asked my Dr. to perhaps take me off Advair and simply take Albuterol when needed. Then I read that Asthma patients should only use Albuterol if that is sufficient to control symptoms and to advance to Advair to control more severe symptoms. Another article says that Albuterol does not heal Asthma, only assists with sudden onset of breathing difficulties and that I may still damage my lungs if I do not take Advair.
I remain at a loss as to what is best: Taking Albuterol when needed (perhaps a few to several times/week) or as I was doing before, contrary to recommended dosage, of 1-2 times/day. Fortunately my Dr. goes along with my changes, but tells me if symptoms get worse, she will put me on Advair 2X's/Day (which I probably will ignore dosage because of healing side effects, and use once/day or less).
I will report back later after trying Albuterol for time without the use of Advair at all.
-- By sunride | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
October 30th
2008
2:00 PM
Well, I've had some hair loss on Diovan 80mg. been on it since about May 08 - had some leg cramps, even some joint pain, but that seems to have reconciled itself. Not too overly dizzy, some tiredness, but ok otherwise. However, got concerned about the hair loss....long/short, Dr. prescribed Toprol XL/Beta Blocker (he's been great recognizing my sensitivity to meds. I just am),...well, my God, just reading the Toprol printout first paragraph and let me tell you it ain't gonna happen, I am not taking that stuff....plus, it causes hair loss, DUH! In fairness, how can we expect the Drs. to know fully all the side affects, they are not pharmacists - best thing, educate yourself first with websites like this, and the FDA site before you ever fill a prescription again. Anyway, I'm going to stick with Diovan for a while longer and see how things go - will post again. Hang in there, because there's even worse out there!
-- By camberwell | Reply | Private Message me
October 3th
2008
9:15 AM
Can I first just say that I hope millions of women get to read this site and turn away from getting the Mirena, this thing is just plain horrible! I was well aware of all the side effects, but I convinced myself that those were just a few people with extreme circumstances. Boy was I wrong. I have only had this thing for 3 weeks and I am counting down the minutes for my Ob/Gyn office to open so i can get it taken out today. Yes, I have been bleeding since the day I had it put in, but in all fairness even the doctors warn you about that. What I was not ready for was the acne, the bloating, the weird pain during sex, my vision changing, losing over half my hair and one nasty yeast infection. My face within a few days broke out, and I have always had very nice skin. I am so bloated that it hurts to keep my pants buttoned sometimes. Sex just plain hurts, even my boyfriend says it hurts him, he says it is as if my vagina just swelled up and got so small that it hurts for him to have sex with me. I have had blurry vision lately and feel like my vision has gotten worse. I just started having sex again because the bleeding was so intense at first and the next day I got the worst yeast infection of my life. All of these things are horrible, but my last straw was when I lost my hair, so much hair that people have noticed, people that I barely know. I literally have a receding hairline, it is disgusting. i wish I went with my gut instinct which was to not get the Mirena put in, and now I can't wait to get it out. Please read all the information before you ever consider this, and if you have any doubts don't get it. I really wish I never did!
-- By zulpie6 | Reply | Private Message me
September 18th
2008
1:08 PM
I've been taking 25mg toprol-xl since December 07, Went to Dr one day for something not heart related and he told me I have a heart murmur, after several test I found out my tricuspid valve was regurgitating. My BP has been a little high but nothing out of control. I have gained over 20lbs since Dec, I ve been extremely tired, swelling in hands and feet. Aches and pains in joints and muscles. I just recently stopped taking zocor thinking that was the culprit and probably was, but now I think it could be the combination of the two. I am going to take myself off of the toprol (monitoring my BP of course) and was wondering how. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
-- By littletexan61 | Reply | (4) replies | Private Message me
July 13th
2008
11:53 AM
Three days ago I had my Mirena removed & a tubal ligation. I can tell you getting it out was the best thing I have ever done! As I already feel a difference. They filled my stomach with gas for the tubal. Even though I'm swollen the bloating, feeling full & pressure is gone. Which is something I felt every day. My stomach feels empty finally as it should. I quit taking Darvocet yesterday & since the tubal I have woken up refreshed & like I had a great night of sleep. While on the Mirena since 2005 every morning I woke up feeling groggy & drugged no matter if I got five hours of sleep or twelve. I just felt terrible & it was hard to get up and function until I had layed around for several hours. Why is it now three days after surgery that I feel better than I can remember feeling for years? I havn't had the joint pain that I experienced everyday but in all fairness I had been taking pain pills. So we will see about that. Now I'm anxious & waiting for the old me to return & very optimistic since I already feel wonderful. Please doctors, women, anyone listen to these complaints. If you have these symptoms don't dismiss them get the thing out. It's not worth loosing the quality of your life for!
*I posted previously in June.
I will continue to update.
June 9th
2008
10:27 PM
I took my son off Singular a month ago, some slight improvements with the sleep and behavior problems. I voiced my concerns with my doctor twice now he looks at me like Im crazy and then he goes on the PC and says he cant find any of these side affects im talking about. My son was an appointment to see an allergist specialist.
-- By mommy12 | Reply | (5) replies | Private Message me
December 13th
2007
11:20 PM
Started 10 mg Lisinopril, after 4 days I couldn't catch my breath. Had to sit and not even talk, in order to get oxygen in. Couldn't sleep, would wake up gasping for air. Would take 2 breaths and the 3rd would be a yawn to get oxygen in. It's been 5 days since I quit taking Lisinopril, and my breathing finally feels normal. And the doctor said this is not a side effect of the drug, just a coincidence.
In fairness, I have two friends who have been on it 15 and 20 years respectively. Also a 95 year old aunt, and she suffers from shortness of breath but blames it on other things. I wonder.
A doctor at my health club said his patients have had great success with Resperate, a biofeedback machine, for blood pressure. Will give that a try next.
-- By kjp | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
December 8th
2007
1:32 AM
Where do I begin?
I can’t tell you all how appreciative I am to find this site! I have been on the NuvaRing for nearly three years and was ignorant enough to never attribute my increasing problems to this terrible medication. In all fairness, I must admit that the initial reason I decided to use the ring was because I had even worse results with three different types of pills. My doctor then prescribed the ring, telling me that it would have the very least amount of hormones of any birth control. What she didn’t tell me and may not even know is that some women can not physically handle any type of added hormones at all in their body and must use a non-hormonal method. Why don’t they warn us of this?!
I come from a generally nervous and careful family. You could say they take life very seriously and perhaps too much at times. However, I myself have always been very social, productive, and had a passion for life. I used to love to write. I was good at it. When I started taking birth control, I was busy planning my wedding and so I just figured all the stress and business of life was taking all the fun out of everything. When I did get married, my sex drive tapered drastically (with the exception of my “free week” when it’s at its highest all month long, but still not what it used to be). I stated suffering from severe abdominal pain at certain yet random times of the month. One month, it got bad and was associated with a mild fever. The doctors did an emergency appendectomy on me just as a precaution. It turned out my appendix was fine and never needed to be pulled! Since the beginning, I’ve suffered the same pain almost every month. Not a month goes by that I don’t have weird things happening to me physically. About a year ago, I started suffering terrible panic attacks! I get extremely dizzy in stores, in traffic, while eating, lying in bed and it happens completely randomly. I suffer terrible leg cramps at night during the week of my period. They’ve gotten so bad that I wake up crying sometimes. I never used to grind my teeth and now I have TMJ! I’ve become overly paranoid and find that at certain times of the month I have more courage to do things I know I shouldn’t ( I have crazy thoughts), while at other times, usually right before my period, I’m afraid to do anything at all. I become obsessed with the thought that I’m dying and I suffer from extreme panic attacks for no good reason at random moments. Rarely, but on occasion, I feel completely normal and just wish I could stay in those moments for good. I suffer from: night sweats, bouts of intense emotion and sadness at the start of my free week, nausea upon insertion of the ring, lethargy and the feeling that my body is held down by weights. My appetite fluctuates greatly from day to day. One day, I’ll eat very little, and the next I’ll want to eat everything. Also since I’ve been on birth control, I’ve developed what you could call an eating disorder. I argue that I don’t have an eating disorder simply because I know that I am not myself on birth control. I haven’t always been this way, and I look forward to the day when I’ll be back to normal. I’ve grown so neurotic that everything in my life is just one big disorder! Doctors can only seem to diagnose what they can see, and so naturally they label me anorexic at 5’7 and around 90llbs. Two and a half years ago, I was a thin, normal girl at 105lbs. The pill made me gain about ten pounds, and since I’ve been on the ring, I’ve lost more and more weight as I’ve grown weird about everything in my life including food. I don’t use laxatives or throw up my food; I’m just a strict eater, disciplined to a fault and with more self control than one should be allowed to posses. I hate my life now. I’m terrified of having an attack in front of people and my daily life has become unpredictable and daunting. I want to be normal. I don’t want to have another dizzy spell ever. I hate it! I feel for women everywhere who are put on such drugs. I did decide to contact NuvaRing first, even before I found this site. I figured they could provide the best answers. Since it’s the only form of medication I take continually, (I’ve decided NOT to follow doctors orders to take the three different anti-depressant meds they’ve prescribed to me in the past two and a half years) I started to wonder if this was the cause of my problems. A representative of the drug told me that there have been no known reports of dizziness, my main complaint. This made me feel alone in my frustration. Now, either she was out right lying to me or the company hasn’t been notified by patients like us who suffer everyday from the adverse reactions to the hormones unnatural to our varying bodies. Regardless, this will be my last month on the ring. I’m pray that I can go back to life as I knew it. I don’t know if that’s even possible. Right now, that just seems like a dream.
-- By hollyhudson | Reply | Private Message me
August 21th
2007
3:23 PM
I started taking Quasense around the end of May , when I first started taking it I was perfectly fine for the first month . Well I came on my period at the end of June which I wasn't expecting because your periods are only suppose to come every three months and I had just had a period before I had started taking the pill. Since the end of June I have been on my period , it stoped for about an week and came right back. I called an clinician and they said for the first three months of the pill your body is getting use to the hormones so I want to know will it eventuall stop soon, or what is going on with my body ,and also is this normal?
-- By britney12 | Reply | (6) replies | Private Message me
July 3th
2006
2:58 PM
I'm glad I decided to look up side effects for Singulair. My 5 1/2 year old son has allegeries and was prescribed Singulair and Nasonex. Our son before taking these drugs was a smart and happy boy. Since taking these drugs for almost one year, he has shown very aggressive behavior by hitting his sibling, cousin and classmates. When asked about what he did or learned in school he couldn't remember. Favorite line, "I forgot". He started to display ADD like symptons too. Short attention span. Can't seem to be able to focus on one topic like he used to. He would cry easily and talks back. Lately, he showed a total lack of respect for even his favorite uncle. Basically, he has this attitude on and off. We, as parents, are trying to understand what is going on with his behavior and are getting quite frustrated. Time out has no effect and we are tired of yelling at him when simple reasoning doesn't work with him. My mom had mention a while ago that perhaps the drugs had something to do with it, but I didn't believe her. Now that I've read about it here I think we will need to take him off and see what happens. As to his allergy, we will just have to find something else if Singulair is the culprit. His present behavior is unacceptable and is not good for his younger sibling to see this kind of behavior. I want my happy son back. We are not the liberal kind of parents that would let the kid get away with everything. And yet, we do not run a military type of family. We use alot of common sense and fairness in raising our family, so it just boggles our mind about the behavior of our son. It's bad when other family members who we see every-so-often noticed the changes in him too.
-- By caroline996 | Reply | Private Message me
January 23th
2003
8:36 AM
sore muscles and joints. but,in all fairness i must say i also take lipator which i understand has the same side effects. your advice please?
-- By jhooghe | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
Singulair (3) Lisinopril (2) Mirena (2) TriCor (1) Quasense (1) NuvaRing (1) Toprol-XL (1) Diovan (1) Advair HFA (1) Yasmin (1)
September 5th
2009
4:34 PM
Took Yaz years ago for some months. Do not remember many side effects. Starting taking it in July 2009 and within 2 weeks was hospitalized with pulmonary embolisms in both lung. Which means blood clots in both lungs. Doctor's could not find any other reason than Yaz. Please DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG. I was a healthy 37 year old with not history of clotting disorders and now I have to have see a hematologist, pulmonologist and take Coumadin for the next 6-9 months. I never thought that a medicine could destroy me in as little of a time as 2 weeks. I thank God for getting me through it and am writing to warn any future users. Don't take this med.
-- By koral | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me