Full strength symptoms and conditions

I have been taking the generic for Allegra (180mg), Fexofenadine 180mg, for about 2 years -- ever since I moved to middle-Virginia. I thought I had a cold that would not go away. The doctor put me on Allegra, and it did help, yet didn't stop, the horrible runny nose, watery eyes, etc. Around that same time, I started having horrible leg/feet cramps at night...so bad that my sleep is constantly interrupted with having to jump out of bed multiple times to walk off the cramp. My doctor prescribed Requip and, even on the strongest dose, the cramps would not go away. A pharmacist suggested I try Highlands Leg Cramp pills (w/quinine) and that helped reduce the severity and number of leg/feet cramps for a while. Now the cramping is back, full-strength, and I just began a desperate research of side effects for all the medications I am taking. Lo, and behold, I just read that others who are taking Allegra are experiencing this same symptom. Unfortunately I took my morning dose this a.m., but I will begin tomorrow not taking Allegra and hopefully that is all it takes to end these leg cramps. And, oh yes, I too have regular stomach cramps and diarrhea and have lost 20 lbs. without dieting. I'm now wondering if Allegra is also responsible for all of these unexplained "other things" going on with my body. I hope I won't be bombarded with bad side effects by going off the Allegra "cold turkey." However, anything is better than the leg cramping!

* Completely sunburned after 30 minutes in the sun
* Have to get up at least once a night to urinate (never had before)
* Extreme pain in my feet when I first get up in the morning. (Goes away in 30 seconds) If I feel it when I get up to urinate, I won't feel it later when I normally get up
* Decreased sex drive
* Cholesterol decrease from 310 to 147

Afraid these side effects are just the beginning

I am a 55-year old woman. I was first diagnosed with paroxysmal svt at age 7. It has never been much of a problem, but as I have aged, I have worried enough about it to make sure my doctors are all aware of the condition. I have had many ekgs, echos, worn a holter monitor, had every kind of stress test, but it wasn't until April that the svt was actually seen on an ekg. My internist freaked out, wanted to put me on Toprol immediately, but I resisted, since I knew that my irregular heartbeat could be back to normal by the time I reached the parking lot. I did heed her urging to see a cardiologist (two in fact), which led to an ep study, with the hope of a radio frequency ablation on August 5. I have been taking a full strength aspirin since April to decrease the slight risk of stroke during an svt episode. The ep study showed that the electrical problems in my heart were in places that made an ablation too risky, so nothing was done, but the doctor advised me to try Toprol (25 mg) for a month "and see how I liked it." I had my first dose in the hospital on Tuesday, August 5, and proceeded to take it as prescribed. By Thursday afternoon, I felt oddly on the verge of tears. On Friday, both of my knees were hurting, by Saturday evening, I was in bed feeling like I had the flu. Every joint in my body was aching. Sunday morning, I felt even worse. I found this website and decided to stop taking the medication at that point. Today, Thursday, August 14, is the first time I have felt vaguely like my usual healthy self. After stopping the medication, I had 2 episodes of svt, lasting about 10 hours each. I have had excruciating stomach cramps, headache, inability to sleep, depression. This is after taking it for 5 days!! My heart (no pun) goes out to those of you who suffered for months on the drug and then even more months off of it. I know it helps many people, my mother included, but thank goodness that those of us who have a bad experience have a place to realize that we're not crazy.

Some of these stories read like a diary of our life.our son went from a reasonably confident, happy, somewhat easy going 10/11 year old to a now 16 year old with no confidence, somewhat paranoid, dealing with depression and tremors so bad that he could not hold his pencil to draw a straight line in drafting. He often says he hates his life, can't see any hope for the future and feels he is a failure- he is an honors student with a nearly perfect 4.0 average, yet he is never sure it is enough.

some of it we put down to being a teenager, who had inherited hubby's fathers shaky hands. some we figured came from my dad and his troubles with ocd and depression. i have worried, cried, prayed, ranted and begged for things to be different for him.

what changed at 10/11 years of age? he started taking Singulair. at first a low dose but about 3 years ago the doctor uped the dose to full strength, the symptoms also escalated - however he had entered the teenage years and changes they go through.

the allergist last year,put him on Pulmicort and at that point did not need the Singulair but through a misunderstanding we kept giving it to him. hubby is a pharmacist and questioned it, he has never been wild about Singulair because he says it opens you up to infections.

which may answer a secondary question of why he has had more cases of bronchitis and has had 3 bouts with pneumonia, more since the dosage was raised.

i have to wonder if the history of depression in our family made our son more open to the symptoms and side effects of the Singulair. the suicide part of it really scares me as my uncle and aunt both committed suicide, we didn't need any push in that direction. we have talked extensively about it and he assures me he does not consider it an option.

i know some kids take it no problem, but this recent set of reports, and the fact that the FDA has changed the warning labels 4 times in a year, causes me to take notice for him

please pray that we can see some improvement as he is now off of the Singulair. I stopped mine last year due to recurring ear infections. now i am especially glad i did. i have felt very hopeful today that this may be an answer to prayer. two days off and he had a good day today.

My dentist has me sleeping with full-strength Perio Med in bleaching trays. Since I began doing this, I have broken out into a rash on my legs. Could it be from the Perio Med??

I have been on Estratest for a couple of years and feel like a new person. I have more interest in sex and my energy level is much higher. The downside is that I have gained weight. I was on Estratest half strength in the beginning and that did not seem to make a difference so I went to full strength. I had a hysterectomy last spring and have gained even more weight around my midsection. I am 43 and not terribly overweight at 145 lbs but I feel I am losing ground quickly. I could eat anything I wanted without gaining weight when I was younger but now my bad habits are beginning to tell on me. I have considered switching back to half strength Estratest to see if that would help with the weight gain.

On day 12 of a 14 day treatment of Septra DS the backs of my thighs began to itch. I thought I might have gotten a heat rash from the vinyl padded chairs at my work. Just to be safe I stopped the meds because I have a history of antibiotic allergies. That was on a Friday. By Monday afternoon I had to leave work early to rush to my doc who said I probably had a rash from the bronchitis I was treated for (something called viral exanthem). I didn't buy it but trusted the doc. Two days later I was in agony. I itched EVERYWHERE! Relentless horrible itching. I took 2 full strength benadryls every 3 hours to no avail. Tried calamine lotion,etc. Nothing worked. The doc finally gave me 40 mg of prednisone for 5 days. But it's day 3 of the steroid and I started itching horribly again last night.
I know it's the sulfa because I now remember some slight itching the last time I took it. So beware... itching on sulfa is a red flag... your skin is telling you something!

unrelenting laryngitis...it didn't go away until I stopped the drug. I have not taken it for around a month. I had multiple side effect taking the full adult dose. However, Singulair was very effective at halting my allergy symptoms. Allergy-wise it was one of the best summers since childhood. It also seemed to clear things up for the month after I quit. They say there is a fungal infection usually at the root of chroncity with sinusitis...well, maybe, just maybe Singulair cleared that up for me. I am, once again, experiening symptoms so, I have decided to give it a go once more. I am going to see if I can take it for a couple of days full strength and then go down to half or the pediatric dose. I was going to chuck it for good because I had headaches, laryngitis, muscle cramps, stomach and chest pains, extreme tiredness, dizziness and I became a very angry and unhappy depressed woman and that really is bad if you're already female and over fifty!! I'll post the effects of the new regimen I am going to try with the reduced dose and for a smaller length of time of use of the medication.

I am 65 years old and started taking Lipitor (10mg) in November of 2003. Within days I strained my back doing something that should not have had this kind of impact. It took months to recover which was unusual for me. I should note that my lower back has given me problems in the past but this one was the worst and took the longest to heal. I also had the knee pain that many others have reported but that subsided within a few months.
In August of 2004 I had the worst lower back muscle spasms of my life and actually ended up in hospital for two days as I could not move without my back going into spasms. Muscle relaxants and anti-inflamatories solved the spasms in a few days. Since then I have not been able to get back to full strength in spite of physical therapy and religiously following an exercise regimen. It seems that if I do anything to put any strain on my back, it cannot handle it. I am/have been, very active all my life and still play tennis and golf regularly although I now question whether my back can stand up to golf.
I assume that lipitor is the main culprit here as my back has not responded to the exercise program.
I see many other similar cases on this web site but would be interested if anyone has had this same experience.