Fella symptoms and conditions

Moderately high cholesterol and BP 150/90. Was put on Lipitor 20mg and after a week felt more fatigued than usual but nothing much more than this. Had stress test and angiogram which showed 60-70% block in one artery as well as arrhythmia. Cardiologist bumped Lipitor up to 80 mg which I took for 2 weeks. But by then I was suffering most of the effects described in these postings: aches and pains, giddiness, nausea, extreme weakness and fatigue. I took myself off Lipitor and even after one day my head started to clear aches started to diminish, though urine still a reddish color suggesting a lot more flushing out required. And, best of all, the arrhythmia reduced from moderate/severe to mild (which it always used to be before taking Lipitor). This drug is not for me. I'd rather take my chances without it and rely on strict diet, weight loss, etc. It is surprising that the possible side effects are so understated in the manufacturer's descriptions.

Struggling with a sinus infection that threatened to bore into my brain, resulting, ultimately, in seizures and death, I've been taking Levaquin now for three days. I'm experiencing anxiety and sleeplessness, however, it's not from the medication. It's from all the hyperbole on the internet.

Look, I understand that many have had adverse reactions to this medication. One dose of penicillin can kill you without warning. At anytime. No warning. I suspect that few of those labellings Levaquin "poison" would ever bother to consider that - or anything else. All wrapped up in your misery, you spout off with rhetoric that is really better left to lawyers and politicians.

If you were uninformed of the possible side-effects of this medication, blame your doctor. I see that the last post here is dated November 2007, and the bottom of this first page takes us to October 2006. Perhaps one could take a bit of responsibility for oneself and do some research on one's own before popping a pill handed out by a disinterested physician. This information is out there - and yes, your doctor could have seen it, too. But he didn't bother, did he? Neither did you.

So, yes, with my first dose, and despite the impact drill driving through my eye-socket, I waited for the seizures, swelling and signs of imminent demise. Nothing. Sorry. Oh, my sinuses feel better, I don't have a brain infection, and so I won't die frothing at the mouth on my living room floor.

I'm sorry you feel bad - and if you hadn't run off at the mouth calling what may be one of the last effective antibiotics "poison", I might mean that with some sincerity. Oh, and lest you forget, antibiotics are poison by definition - the idea being that they affect/poison/kill the source more than they do the host.

So let's stop the hyperbole, and simply say you had a bad reaction to this medication. Not everyone does. Your option might have been to skip the doctor and the meds altogether, and see how you'd fare. But that would leave the responsibility, and the blame, all on you, then, wouldn't it? Far better to spread it around some.