Feel lucky symptoms and conditions

My daughter was on NuvaRing for four years. she has been very very sick...she has extreme fatigue...wanting to sleep up to 18 hours per day. Very irritable...lost her friends, boy friend and we had to move her back home. She had to drop out of school. Severe back aches...hand tremors, memory loss, lack of coordination. This drug is TERRIBLE and should be taken off the market. She went to four obgyns and ask if her problems could be from the NuvaRing...they said no. So I know the company is keeping this info from the doctors. now...after being off of it for three months, she said she feels like she just got out of a coma. She is back living on her own, getting ready to go back to grad school. we feel lucky that she did not get a blood clot or a stroke which is also a common side effect.

I was prescribed Levaquin for seven days in August for a strep throat infection. I took a "frontload" dose of 750mg and four doses of 500mg. I got off it after the 5th day due to strange feelings of tingling, burning, stiffness, and pain in my feet, ankles, knees, and hips.

For the first week or so after discontinuing Levaquin, I could barely hobble around due to the stiffness and pain in my legs. I took an Aleve every twelve hours for about 10 days, which helped a lot. As someone on this board suggested, I also tried drinking Ensure (apparently the calcium and magnesium helps to counteract the effects of the drug). Can't really say whether it did much, but at least I felt like I was doing something to repair the damage. I laid off vigorous exercise but tried to maintain some moderate activity so as not to let my muscles weaken.

I'm relieved to report the symptoms diminished over time. After about two weeks off Levaquin, I finally had a pain-free day. It's now been six weeks and I'm pretty much back to normal (though still being careful not to overstress my joints).

My heart goes out to anybody suffering from the side effects of this drug. I hope with care and patience you're able to recover. I feel lucky to get out of this without being crippled. I will NEVER take Levaquin again.

Well, so far I have been lucky as my side effects have been bareable. I have had to take prednisone twice due to ulcerative colitis flares. The first time I started at 40 mg I.V. while in the hospital. Within 2 days I had gone from having 15-20 BM's a day, to 2 or 3 a day. Within 9 days my diarrhea had cleared up (and I was able to leave the hospital). I noticed after about 4 or 5 days of being on prednisoe that my appetite had gone through the roof. I was inhaling the tasteless hospital food like it was gourmet cuisine, and then I mooched food off the teenage in the bed beside me, and anyone else that had any. After loosing about 30 pounds in the previous few months from the colitis, the weight gain was actually a plus. Other effects from the prednisone were night sweats, insomnia, mood swings (I was really irritable), joint pain, and kind of a buzzy head feeling. The Doc tapered me quickly on the following schedule:

40mg 2 weeks
30mg 1 week
25mg 1 week
20mg 1 week

then dropping 2.5 mg's a week to 10, then 2.5 mg's per every 2 weeks until 5mg, then off.

I noticed the side effects diminished alot once I was under 20mgs.

The second time on prednisone after another colitis flare has been a lot easier to take. The only effects I noticed this time were appetite, buzzy head and joint/bone pain (especially in my neck). which again decrease alot when I got under 20mg.

Like I said, I feel lucky that my problems haven't been as bad as many who have posted on this site. If you are new to prednisone, don't get to scared by everything you here. If you are taking it, it is probably because you have little or no choice. Stay positive and maybe you will be lucky like me.