Flem symptoms and conditions

I to can say that Lisinopril has caused me to have the worst coughing ever. I work as a receptionist and sometimes I have to but the call on hold to be able to cough. This is terrible I spoke to my doctor and he just gave me a prescription for another medication. My sister in law told me as well that Lisinopril made her cough. I have not taken it for 3 days now trying to clear up before starting the new medication but I am still coughing from the it, hopefully it will stop soon as this is driving me crazy. I now find myself having this ugly white flem that at times when coughing spits out of my mouth. This is so terrible, doctors must tell you this when given you this prescription not after the fact. Good Luck to all.

I am a 41 year-old male and my doctor started me on 20mg of Simvastatin in January 2008 and subsequently increased it to 40mg (wanted me to go to 60 mg). While it has controlled my cholesterol well, I have had two major side effects. I've had extreme difficulty getting and maintaining erections. Similar to another poster, my doctor claims these are not side effects and also prescribed Viagra. The Viagra worked but, of course, was very temporary. Also, since boosting my dose I have experience non-stop flem in my throat...very, very annoying.

In November, I said enough is enough. Within a week, my libido recovered and I feel like I'm 20 again. Also, while the flem problem remains to some extent, I have noticed a significant but not as rapid disappearance of this side effect.

Regarding the libido, another poster said "My wife says it is psychological." Please tell her I disagree. I too am convinced that Simvastatin ruined my libido.

I am a 55 year male and my doctor started me on 20mg of Simvastatin in Sept 2006 and has subsequently increased it to 40mg. I try to keep very fit through lots of exercise. Fortunately I have not experienced any major side effects mentioned here and my cholesterol has decreased from 6.8 to 4.5. However, I am constantly tired to the extent that I often doze off at my desk at work. In addition, I am having extreme difficulty in getting erections. My doctor claims these are not side effects and has prescribed Viagra but even that is not working now. At Easter, whilst on holiday, I stopped the medication for a week, my libido recovered after a few days, and I was able to have normal sex again for about a month. During the summer, I stopped it again and within 72 hours my libido started to pick up. My wife says it is psychological but I am convinced that it is the Simvastatin. I am going to see if I can get a second opinion.

I used it on and off for about two years, and recently started taking it again due to allergies... I use it sporadically, when I feel I need it. Anyway, I have had a problem about 3 times since the beginning of the year with horrible congestion, and tightness in my chest and lots of flem. It's like a sinus infection without the fever, that turns into bronchitis, but it's not that. I realized over the weekend, that this happens every time I have horrible allergies and use Nasonex. It takes weeks to get over the symptoms. I have decided after reading all of the other posts to NOT take it anymore...

I was prescribed Advair a little over 3 months ago to treat my asthma. It was great for the first six days. No asthma symptoms whatsoever, even after jogging, and I felt great! I woke up the seventh day feeling as though my vocal cords were encased in an incredible amount of flem and my voice went from a baritone to a tenor; I'm a guy so this was disconcerting. During the second week I began experiencing nasal drippage, uncontrollable trembling, extreme physical weakness, memory loss, an unnerving lack of mental clarity and trouble maintaining my temper. The third week of using Advair I began struggling with overwelming thoughts of suicide. All of these things are completely out of character for me. I don't take any other medicine, prescribed or not, have always been healthy and am rarely sick so it was a no-brainer as to what was causing me to experience these things. I stopped taking Advair at that time (after the third week) and promptly developed a headache and other withdrawel type feelings in my throat and chest that took about a week to go away. I also promptly developed a cold that I could not get rid of for a month and a half as well as the flu which I hadn't had in years; I also had asthma related difficulties that were worse than before I started Advair but powered thru those episodes using Primatine Mist. In the month following discarding my Advair disk I noticed a gradual improvement in all the before mentioned Advair affected areas and thankfully the most immediate area of improvement was emotional (i.e., no longer suicidal). One of my vocal chords is still painful but at least I no longer sound prepubescent.

I started researching the side effects of Advair after the second week I was on it and found a reference to it possibly causing an overgrowth of Candidas Albicans. After researching that I'm convinced ultimately that is what I experienced.

I felt like i was going to die! I paced back and forth like a restless tiger in a cage, nervous, panicky, jittery, and restless. I felt like I was choking on flem and I was ready to go to the hospital! As for sleep ...good luck with that. I finally fell asleep at 3:30 AM and was up by 6:30 AM! This has been going on for two days now. I called my Doctor and he said that he has prescribed this medication to thousands of patients and never has heard of a reaction like this. My doctor told me to stay off of the meds for two days to see how I feel. I'm afraid to take these meds or anything else again.

I posted here many months ago. I was given 2 Levaquin pills in an ER on Dec 10th, 2005, after fainting from the flu at home and falling face first on a wooden floor and smashing my nose and knocking myself out. Much blood pouring out all over. Very traumatic. Nose smashed to right side of my face. I was rushed by ambulance to our local ER but was sent home after 2 hours in this ER even after pleading with the hospital to keep me. No luck there. I fainted about 20 to 30 minutes after these first two ER administered Levaquin pills were given to me and they sent me home... 5 minutes into the ride home at midnight. My frantic wife rushed me back. They said it was a "vagal" response. My electrolytes were out of balance ( low pottassium) I had a fever and an elevated white blood cell count. I was coughing up bronchial flem and blood running down my throat from the smashed nose. I was extremely traumatized and scared from being knocked out and having blood shoot out of my smashed to the right nose ( I was bleeding and swallowing and spitting up blood for over one more week) and all while I was still in the middle of a powerful flu! But, not sick enough to be hospitalized according to this prestigious hospital here on the super wealthy Monterey Peninsula near Pebble Beach, Ca.

When my wife rushed me unconscious back to the hospital this time they put me in a large "recovery" room. Next day they gave me more Levaquin. Sent me home again that day, again against my wishes ( I had no PC to demand they keep me.) By that night I was having all the symptoms you all here have described. Nightmares, burning pain in right arm and shoulder, left shoulder also down to my hands. Bladder acting whacky, insides feeling haywire. shooting pains in chest, almost complete insomnia, scared, almost paranoid. And weakness beyond anything I have ever experienced...even with the flu. I could not even hold my hands up while laying down!

Went back to ER by ambulance 2 or 3 times that first week as I thought I was dying ( even while laying down ! ) that first day home and that first week. They always asked me what I was taking and it was only one drug...Levaquin. They never once suggested I stop taking this and I took a full 6 day course. Finally they started calling in the psych ward people and almost not treating me when I would go to them. How sad and humiliating that was. My stomach became so destroyed starting those first few days on Levaquin with pain I couldn't eat and lost 35 lbs. ( yes, that's 35 pounds ! ) in 1 or 2 months! Doctors couldn't find problem first couple of months but eventually months later after a camera endoscopy it appeared my middle intestines had been severely damaged somehow. 25 areas of inflammation, damage to fibers in the illeum, two beginning ulcers and I'm still going for more intestinal tests this next month at University Of San Francisco and Pacific Medical Center there....It's 9 and 1/2 months later and I am still going through daily nightmares of my insides and even heart beatings feeling like they have gone ballistic. Still pain in shoulders, arms, hands, chest walls, buttocks, knees, ankles, weak, unbalanced on my feet, weak thighs, incredible itching on forearms, back of elbows and sometimes scalp, incredibly sensitive to cold like never before, sometimes a burning ( sunburn ) type of feeling in face and neck, odd sharp pains sometimes in upper stomach, lower and even above heart area that last a few seconds, and a weird dry throat feeling when I breath like all the moisture inside of me has dried up, eye sight much worse, bladder acts crazy, many panic attacks ( Having one as I type and have to keep lorazapam handy ) Money has dried up.

Can't afford co-pays anymore. Doctors are irritated and impatient with me and don't even return calls. Small town. No more doctors to try. I'm 55 now. Was a concierge in a well known hotel. Loved my job. Hardly ever took medicines, didn't like going to doctors. But now, most doctors think I am just mentally off.

Had never seen a psychiatrist in my life. Married 24 years same woman, first wife, raised two kids who are now in college. This normal mental and social 50 year background means nothing to these doctors. I just all of a sudden have gone whacky according to them because they can't find easy to explain symptoms except middle intestinal damage, torn rotator cuff in right shoulder, fractured vertabrae posterior L-1 and two small cysts on left kydney, slightly enlarged prostate, mild to medium gastritis and diverticulosis...but nothing that would explain my body feeling like it's constantly being gripped and going haywire inside.

Today I feel this and like my heart and breathing is just gone crazy. I'm unsteady on my feet. Took a lorazapam and not feeling much better at all ( This is why I do not think it is simply anxiety...and I took Lexipro for a few months with similar no help with these symtoms. I quit that 2 to 3 months ago...actually can sleep better now and again, my symptoms never felt better with that stuff. ) I layed down but I still feel gripped inside and my heart beat kind of changing like a power surge and then a nervous jumpy feeling afterwards.

I am as scared as ever and it is a nightmare feeling that everyone has given up on you. I mentioned the Levaquin theory to my PC ( who is ready to drop me ) and he got upset and refuses to even discuss this saying it absolutely cannot be from that Levaquin prescripton I took.

No attorney will even touch this as they say it's too hard to prove and Bush has capped awards at $250,000 which you would have to be dead from liver failure to win.) My life is ruined. And no one will even begin to consider that it was the Levaquin even though all of this exploded that first week while taking only ONE medicine...Levaquin... and with thousands of people reporting the exact same symptoms. I literally have to pray constantly to keep it together with all the debt and almost death like feelings I live with every day. Creditors are calling like crazy. Dear God. But nobody will even consider the Levaquin. Isn't there even one doctor in the country that will even try to see what is happening to me outside of saying I'm crazy?

First afternoon:
At first it worked great, the dizziness was the same as before I started on V-Q-TUSS, my coughing became controllable, and I wasn't drowning in flem.

First evening: Extreme nausea, disorientation, sleeplessness, and tossed my cookies 3 times.

Next morning: I was very week again and VERY tired from not being able to sleep, and choking on my own flem. So I decided to take a dose (not realizing this was part of my problem). As soon as it hit my stomach I realized that this was the source of my nausea.
10 minutes later I was puking my guts out again.

Next attempt: NEVER!

Not only do I have blurred vision, shortly after taking Pamine, I start with a hacking cough and flem in my throat. The other day I was eating something shortly after taking the medication and the food got hung up in my throat and nearly choked. The only thing that helps dissolve the food is soda.

If you're like me then the lump in the throat isn't reflux.

I discovered that the lump comes from swallowing that stuff that is coming up from the lungs.

The ACE inhibitor class of medications is well know for the side effect of a "mild" cough. This cough is dry or non-productive, meaning that the volume is low and there is no colored flem coming up. Because of this the doctors consider this to be a mild cough. However, there is a very sticky substance that the body is trying to evacuate, and if you swallow it, it will irritate your throat and stomach. Of course, it is already irritating your lungs.

To test for this you can do the following: When you wake up in the morning, clear your throat and spit out every bit you can. Do this procedure before each meal or eating something. If at any time during the day you find that you have to cough or ahem to clear your throat, do not swallow and spit instead. For me I noticed a dramatic improvement in about 4 days. Still, it's not a cure.

After about two months of following this procedure, I relaxed and stopped spitting as much. I had no problems for a while, but then suddenly, my lump was back. It seems that the body goes thru waves of trying to expel this stuff. So when it does that, I go back to the spitting procedure and that helps.

I've been off the medication for close to 7 months now. You can read my 3 month report below, user guest00222.

I've found that Vitamin C with bioflavonoids helps the twisting sensation in the stomach as one person described it. I think that this might also help those with hair issues (hair falling out, dryness).

I've found that calcium helps with shortness of breath felt low in the chest. Because of this medication, my stomach is really tender and sensitive and I've had to seek out supplements that are very gentle. I've found that calcium citrate w/ magnesium helped me quite a bit (from twin lab).

I have frequent aching and soreness in the chest and bronchial tubes, and have found that Vitamin E helps with this. At first, it made me tired, but that went away after a few days, and it helps enough that it's worth it.

I'm currently experimenting with mushrooms as they are reported to have benefits for deep breathing, which is my main on going issue. So far they are helping, but I'm having a bit of increased irritation in the stomach, so I have to find a brand that is gentler.

Note that with starting these supplements, sometimes they help the lungs be more productive for a week or so, so remember not to swallow what's coming up.

I thought my problems with these side effects would be gone by now, but some of them linger on. I'm starting to consider legal action. If the drug itself is not the problem, then maybe the generic has some vile impurity in it. This just isn't right.

And the doctors are very unhelpful. They prefer to suspect you rather than the drugs: they are advocates for the drug industry instead of for their patients.

I hope some of this help. Good luck to all, and please post any progress, especially with natural supplements.