October 14th
2008
2:53 PM
I've had asthma for well over 20 years (I'm 31) and I feel as if my problems are stemmed from the new inhaler. I've taken albuterol, advair, singular all fine with no problems. A couple of months ago I tried the new inhaler and thought nothing of it but the bad taste. About a month later I noticed a white patch/bump on the roof of my mouth where the hard palate meets the soft. Went to an ENT, biopsied it, and it came back negative; they wrote it off as just an abnomality. Well I went back to my old inhaler and I noticed that the bump was still there but hardly noticeable. I am now on the new inhaler again and the bump is back full force. I also have been getting headaches and sinus pressure headaches around my eyes & nose. I've never had this before.
I wonder if there is something we can do to fight for the old version to remain on the market.
Anybody else have anything similar??
-- By belle247 | Reply | Private Message me
June 30th
2008
8:39 PM
I have only been taking singulair for about a month. I have noticed that I have become more irritable, grouchy, hateful and just numb, not really wanting to be around anyone, not caring about anyone else's feelings much. I also noticed I have become extremely lethargic, to the point of falling asleep at work as well as heart palpitations and stomach pains. I just started new birth control pills so at first assumed they were causing these side effects, that is until I looked up the side effects of this drug! I have over half of the side effects so I stopped it immediately and can already tell a difference in my mood. I have to sons age 11 and 14, both who have asthma and allergies. The took this medication for a few years with no side effects but have not taken it for about a year now. My youngest son however, has been diagnosed with ADHA and ODD and possibly BiPolar disorder. As I read the other posts, I realize the description of how their children act while on this drug is exactly how my son acts. I wonder if there can be irreversible permanent damage from taking this medicine? He has been on a number of ADHD drugs, none have helped except to make him stop eating and lose weight and he is small for his age, so I have taken him off everything. Has anyone else out there experienced what could be permanent damage from this drug in their children? Even after being off the drug for a year or so? If it could make me miserable within a month, what can it do when one takes it for years? Its sometimes hard to tell the effects of medicine on small children. My son prob starting taking it around 4 yrs old and took it til he was about 8 or 9. Just wondering if anyone else out there has had this happen to them or their children.
-- By cinnamonbuns2005 | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
June 17th
2008
2:43 PM
age 48 - after having no period last summer into fall and then suddenly it returning full force with no end in sight I had numerous scans that found my ute the size of a five mo. preg. and multiple fibroids. Really not in the mood for a hysterectomy I asked my doctor what other options I had. She did a D&C and Mirena placement in the hosp. end of Nov. '07. Things were fine for a few weeks and then the spotting began. I spotted all the time and could never go without wearing a pad. Now in my 7th month of giving it the so called TIME to thin out my ute lining, lighten flow etc. I am having it removed tomorrow morning at 8:30 and scheduled for hysterectomy pre-op July 11th. Here is the never ending list of crap I've had to deal with since I had the Mirena put in:
Mood - horrific. High then low... no in-between.
May 22, 08 - current heavy bleeding with cramps and spleen sized clots.
flow stoppage for 24-36 hours only to gush and return full force at will.
ovary pain both sides
upper leg pain
massive wt. gain = 32 lbs
swelling/bloating
extended stomach from under breasts to pelvic bone
June 12th, woke to spinning room.. day I called to make the appt. for removal.
burning sensation left ovary region
acne ear to ear chin line - extremely oily face
headaches
shakes
sweats in air conditioning day/night
full bladder sensation 24/7 with more freq. trips to the bathroom
less bladder control
Guess that about sums it up... I am sure it is a combination of menopause onset and the Mirena. I will be able to gauge better the few weeks I am Mirena free before I have my bag of fibroids removed. At the very least I expect the acne to lighten up and hopefully some wt. LOSS.
May 14th
2008
2:21 PM
Has anyone experienced pain in the abdomen on the right side? Seems to have started when I started this birth control...sometimes it's under my last rib, and then there are days it hurts all the way down to my hip.
-- By ttrinkle | Reply | (4) replies | Private Message me
May 12th
2008
2:39 PM
Hi Ladies,
Same here. A week and 3 days post-removal. I feel a little better except for my period coming back. It started on Monday and stopped on Thursday. It was ok. nothing major. Then started up with full force again on Saturday night to Sunday morning. It is very clotty and very painful.It has taken a toll on my body. I was in bed all day Sunday. I don't feel like I have been run over by a train as before with the Mirena in place, BUT I feel the PMS raging. I have felt lightheaded and weak from so much clotting, but knowing that this too shall pass is such a great feeling! I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but my only worry is that my body will take a while to get back to normal. I have read other threads on other sites that say after 2-3 months, it all gets back to normal. maybe it depends on how long it was inside? I just wish it would disappear altogether. That IUD is awful! I still cant believe I suffered so much without putting it all together. They make you believe wholeheartedly that it is not the Mirena causing symptoms. Then how else could a normal, healthy woman begin to deteriorate so much?
I was again surprised to see one or two comments about how they feel like an 80 year old woman. That was my favorite line before I found this website. It was quite shocking. It felt like I was listening to myself speak! No joke. I would be asked how I was feeling today and I would respond with sincerity that I was feeling like I was 85 years old.
What bothers me the most is that I was a newlywed throughout this whole time. My marriage suffered and I thought it was me and that I had a bad attitude. I thought that I was just so tired and nobody understood me. Don't ask me how but my husband had a feeling it was the Mirena the whole time. I could not believe it! I am sure many of you feel cheated out of a year, two years or more of a good life and a good marriage because of this. It is frustrating to look back and see how it all played out. To think that now I am "recuperating" and getting "back to normal". We should not have been going through that in the first place and we should not be recuperating from anything. Our bodies can get back to normal, but it's that emotional roller coaster that stays with you. To me, it's lost time that as a newlywed forming a new family, I could have enjoyed with my husband and daughter being my loving self and not a mean, raving hormonal lunatic like I was. Yes, I still feel really bad about it all. Mirena is a nightmare. I am blessed to have a wonderful sweet and beautiful 4 year old and such a patient, loving husband. They both kept after me, loving me, even if I was turning into Oscar the Grouch.
Don't give up, ladies. Hang in there!
April 30th
2008
10:51 PM
I took Topamax for 6 months. I am a control freak by nature and really liked the drug at the start when I took 25 mg.; however, like most people who take Topamax know, you increase the dosage until you get to 100 mg. By the time I got to 75 mg. I was a basket case. I did lose weight and I was really calm; however, I thought I had Alzheimer's. My short term memory was shot and was slowly effecting my long term memory. I was constantly at a loss for words and stuttering all the time. For someone like me who is extreme control freak this was very debilitating. I also had constant tingling on my nose (I know weird) and my fingers. My husband begged me to stop taking Topamax because he could see the difference in me. Like everyone else my Migraines completely went away and so I thought the benefits outweighed the side effects.. The doctor said that maybe 75 mg. was to high so he put me back to 50 mg. It didn't change. Finally after 6 months I was almost a vegetable. I stopped talking which is extremely unusual for me. I stopped hanging around my friends and family and wouldn't deal with my kids. My daughter finally came up to me and said I don't know who you are, but I want my mommy back. That was all I needed. I weened myself off and within 2 months was back to normal. Unfortunately, my migraines came back full force 4 days a week. The good news is that about a year later I was having a physical and the doctor said that my thyroid was off and needed to start taking Synthroid. I have to say I couldn't believe it, but ever since I started taking Synthroid my migraines have completely gone away. From having them 4 days a week to maybe have 1 or 2 a year since being on Synthroid. I have been basically Migraine free for almost 2 years. I highly recommend that people, especially women, talk to their doctor to see if their thyroid could possibly be causing migraines. I have had migraines since I was in college 20 years ago.
One thing I do have to say is that the company that manuf. Topamax listed all the side effects. It did say that Topamax could possibly cause Neuropathy, loss of memory, weight loss, etc... It also stated that the symptoms should disappear after 6 weeks; however, it some cases they didn't. I respect that they were honest with their research and were very clear in the side-effects. I have many friends who use Topamax and thank g-d for it everyday. They had no side effects from the drug and have been living happy lives.
-- By texdog | Reply | Private Message me
April 8th
2008
6:50 PM
My son is 8 and he has been on singulair for at least three years, maybe four. When I heard about the side effects a few weeks ago, I stopped his medication right away. I have since learned that it should be tapered off, but won't put him back on to do that. He had so many of the depression, I hate myself, everybody hates me, facial tic, stomach ache symptoms . . . Now he is almost two weeks off of singulair and he is throwing screaming fits, kicking, threatening, uncontrollable for up to two hours and more! Is this a side effect of coming off of the medication? Has anyone else had this experience? Please email me at amy-weaver4@sbcglobal.net - I'd really like to hear if anyone else has experienced these symptoms. Thank you! Amy
-- By ymategan | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
March 30th
2008
5:43 PM
I have been on Topamax for several years now for crippling migraines. I now take 125 mg at bedtime. I once tried to take myself off of it but, the headaches came back worse than ever So... I went back on. some say that it works because migraines are like a type of seizure. I sure don't know but I'll do anything not to have them like I used to. Recently at night my arms and legs get numb; sometimes one side sometimes both sometimes all I feel is my trunk. It is really scary, but more scary for me is the headaches with the intense nausea that accompanies them. You just can't function. Lately I also feel very tired too! Every one tells me it is just stress from work and "perimenopause" (just what I need more hormonal fluctuation to cause headaches) I really wonder if all this increased fatigue could also be the Topamax ... I mean I could easily sleep 11 hours per night if you let me! Has this happened to anyone? Did perimenopause complicate your treatment?
-- By tiredalways | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
March 27th
2008
7:40 PM
I started taking Chantix in August right after I had my teeth cleaned by a periodontal office which I was doing every three months. Three months later my periodontal disease which had been controlled for four years came back full force. I had just had an implant placed in July and now am in fear of losing it along with some other teeth. I have had to have new bone graphs and gigival flap cleanings trying to stop the problem. I have now been off the drug four months and things seem to be going better. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR PERIODONTIST IF YOU HAVE EVER HAD PERIODONTAL DISEASE BEFORE TAKING THIS DRUG.
-- By smonsen | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
March 26th
2008
3:42 PM
I was on Advair for 3 months. I had the following DAILY symptoms: throat constrictions/swelling, loss of voice, difficulty breathing/panic attack-ish reaction, and most recently heart palpitations followed by my heart skipping beats. I am now off of Advair for 5 days now. The first few days were rough - I got every symptom in full force. I am now taking Flovent 110 mcg. I am supposed to take it 2/day, but have started with only 1/day to see if my body will react to this lower dosage. I look forward to becoming healthy again - like I was prior to taking Advair.
Oh, and I went to 2-3 dr appts every week to try and uncover why I was having these terrible symptoms. All gave up on me. Including the asthma doctor that prescribed the medicine. Surprising that the entire GROUP of doctors did not know the side effects of Advair well enough to recognize them in me.
-- By auntlainey | Reply | Private Message me
March 22th
2008
10:23 PM
I had 2 c-sections back to back and I had so much complications with the patch in the past that I figured the natural choice was the IUD. I talked to my OB/GYN and he suggested the MIrena. I did a little research and talked to a few women who had it and htey seemed to like it, so I figured what the heck, might as well...
BIG MISTAKE!!! I had a lot of pain when the IUD was put in, but right away I started gaining weight. I gained 30 lbs and even with running 2 miles 4 times a day and doing other activities, I lost nothing. Additionally I started having my cycle for 2 weeks straight and had constant breast sensitivity and pain, back pain, pain in my lower abs, weakness in my joints, mood swings, NO SEX DRIVE WHAT-SO-EVER, gassy, bloated all the time, etc... Basically, you name the symptoms, I had them.
I finally had the Mirena removed on Thursday 19 Mar, 08 and I am so happy I did. I am seeing changes already, my body is in serious withdrawal though. I am tired and listless, sleepy and moody, but I am hoping these symptoms will soon past.
My advice to anyone wanting to get this IUD put in, think twice!
Can someone tell me how long it took for the symptoms to go away?
-- By formula1babe | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
February 14th
2008
8:43 PM
I experienced a severe, exceedingly painful scleritis after my first dose of Fosamax. The ophthalmologist treated it as as "allergy" with prentisone drops. I was prevented from taking a second dose and the eye cleared up but recurred in full force after resumption of the medication. I accidentally noticed "Rarely, eye involvement" in the brochure that comes with the drug. But who associates Fosamax with the eye? My doctor didn't believe it until I was able to find several medical reports of such instances. The reports emphasized that the affliction did not clear up until the medication was stopped. I have not taken it again and have had no further trouble. I suppose I should try it once more,but no thanks! It hurt too much!
-- By ldennis471 | Reply | Private Message me
January 16th
2008
5:42 PM
Ive only been on Advair for almost a month. I couldn't believe how quickly my asthma disappeared. I was using my inhaler daily and tried other things but nothing helped. I went to a pulmonary specialist and prescribed Advair for a month. I'm so glad i have to go back and see him this Saturday b/c I want to tell him I will no longer take this. I'm 26 years old and had developed asthma when I was 7 years old. It went away when I was 14 and just came back full force 3 years ago. I would have tried anything to be able to breathe normally again.
I've had the hoarseness in my voice and a bad cough where I'm spitting up mucus everyday since I've been on Advair. I figured if this was what I had to live with to have the chance to live a normal life asthma free that id take it, it wasn't so bad. But this past week I've had blinding headaches non-stop. Ive been nauseous, sweating, coughing, I've been sore like I just finished a long workout, chest pains, tightness in my chest and my legs have felt so weak. This morning I woke up with the worst cold too; which I know Advair weakens your immune system but this is crazy. I stopped taking Advair this morning & I'm going to tell my doctor I need to try something else.
January 14th
2008
5:50 PM
Hello! I've been taking Lamictal for about 6 years now. I'm diagnosed as BP II and have the most difficulty with depression. I currently take 500 mg-- 400 mg at night and 100 mg in the morning. I have to say that Lamictal has been very good to me for the most part. As long as I don't put myself into extremely stressful positions-- such as my last job-- I do quite well. I also take a combination of supplements with Lamictal which seem to give the extra push that I needed to completely get out of my last depression. I take 1000 mg EPA (fish oil), B-100 Complex, Folic Acid, Cal-Mag, multivitamin (high quality, organic), Vitamin D (at least 1000 mg) and a few others.
I notice that when I take it at night if I don't go to sleep right away, my mouth and tongue will tingle. Sometimes when I take it in the morning, I feel foggy and dizzy and sometimes get vertigo. Every now and then the side effects seem to get worse, which I am not sure about. I started searching on the internet because I've been noticing that the "tip of the tongue" problem has been occurring more and more often. I often cannot think of the word I want, simple things even. As others have mentioned, I also have difficulty with memory. I am still very successful, currently pursuing a 2nd Master's Degree, but have noticed that achieving the same level of quality of work takes a lot more effort than during my previous degrees.
I do have some periods of anger/irritability and have recently been sleeping a lot, though it probably has a lot more to do with the time of year-- winter with less light-- than anything else.
I am particularly worried about my memory loss and inability to sound "well-spoken" in a setting which demands that of me. It is frustrating! I don't want to do any lasting harm on my brain. After increasing to 500 mg from 400 mg, I have noticed more of these brain issues, but I'm also doing so much better mood wise!
-- By maggie22 | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
November 26th
2007
5:40 PM
My son is 14 years old and was given two rounds of this drug for an infection (two weeks and one week respectively). Last round in the middle of September. The pain started with the first round and got worse the second time. Real bad. We had him tested for a multitude of diseases and x-rayed the knees - all came back normal. We finally stumbled onto the fact that the joint pain coincided with the drug - WE WERE NEVER WARNED!
Well, he's a heck of an athlete/student/good kid...and has been wrestling since he's 5 years old, has competed nationally and this sport is "his thing." Well, now he's finally in high school and can barely make it through practice - can't go live at all. The pain and stiffness ain't going away even though he's been off it since September!
What in the world can we do to treat this effectively (or t all)? Doctor prescribed anti-inflammatory meds and they did nothing. Physical therapy is doing nothing. Ultrasound treatment on knees is doing nothing.
How long will it last?
Help please anybody with any information - we're disparate.
Prayers are welcome too.
Thanks.
Craig V. (Dustins Dad)
-- By dustinsdad | Reply | (4) replies | Private Message me
Mirena (4) Advair Diskus (2) Loestrin 24 Fe (2) Singulair (2) Topamax (2) Chantix (1) Celexa (1) Lamictal (1) Albuterol Sulfate HFA (1) Levaquin (1) Fosamax (1)
October 24th
2008
2:36 PM
I just had Mirena inserted on Oct. 21, only three days ago. The pain wasn't to bad, just very crampy. I had to concentrate on making sure I wasn't holding my breath due to the discomfort. It otherwise went well, quick. Mine was inserted by a nurse practitioner. She wanted me to come in and have it inserted during my time of the month. She said it goes in much more smoothing that way for a couple of reasons, moisture acts as a lubricant, and during our cycles, our cervix dilates slightly. I was at the beginning of my period when I went to have it put it. Just spotting waiting for the gates to break loose. I still am just a little heavier than a spot, my period has yet to come full force, cramping like it wants too though. The past two days, I have had the worst mood swings. Feels very similar to the baby blues. I am hoping this is just my body adjusting to the hormones and it will subside as I had postpartum depression after my daughter was born (4yr). After my son (6mos) I was ok, just baby blues for a couple weeks and I was back to my old self. With my history though, it scares me, I don't want to experience that feeling again. I have been getting very angry over little things the past couple days as well. Almost uncontrollable. I came home and found that our cat had got in our blinds and broke a slat (I guess that is what I can call it) I was so mad, I kicked her and she slid across the kitchen floor. I felt so horrible and guilty after. That is so not like me. I would just ordinarily scold her and forget about it. I am worried that it is going to get worse. Ever since I have had Mirena placed, I have noticed these changes and it seems to be increasing each day. Like I said, I have a 6 mos baby and my husband is deployed. The last thing I would want is a Dr to dismiss my side effects. I already have a stressful life situation right now, if this makes it harder for me and my family, it is going to have to go.
-- By sgt_mom | Reply | Private Message me