General health symptoms and conditions

I am 52 and took levaquin (the doctor described as a very high dose needed for what he felt was a generalized infection he couldn't pinpoint). Within 2 days I began feeling very weak. I also had moved to a new town and couldn't return to the prescribing doctor. I felt so very weak and felt actual pain in my heart I became very scared and went to a friends because I was afraid to be alone. I called the local pharmacist and was instructed to stop taking the levaquin. The following day I went to a new doctor in my new town and my nightmare began.
The new doctor stated "you have a very large heart murmur". I told him no doctor ever told me this before and he insisted they must have, I just don't remember. He decided to do an echo and diagnosed aortic stenosis. He stated it didn't require surgery, yet but would in a few years.
Fast forward to now, 2 moves for my work and changing doctors. Also, to be frank I think a firm denial on my part that I could not have heart trouble diagnosed under the age of 50.
I have received a variety of "borderline" diagnosis'. From COPD, Hepatitis and an inability for my heart to pump proper blood flow to my lungs. While I have had "many" diagnosis there isn't anything concrete and no caused determined or resulting changes to be made to improve my general health.
The one symptom I have, that seems to have worsen as time passes is that what I do seems to build up over time. Energy used and strength used (to carry something while walking) seems to build up to the point of exhaustion and inability to even get out of bed. I have been hospitalized for chest pain 4 times in the last year. The last one being after a business trip, where I took a train and needed to roll and/or carry a very large suitcase. the first night I began to feel weak. The second night my face swelled to a cartoonish state overnight and I began to feel very congested, coughing continually. I didn't go to the hospital because I didn't want to be in the hospital away from home. I Stayed at the conference and returned at the end of the week. A friend took me to the hospital and I was in Congestive Heart Failure. Once released from the hospital, I began to arrange to move back to my home state, to be closer to my family. Now I am here and if I do much of anything (even heavy housework) within days I am too weak to do anything. I am barely managing because I am not working, but I must return to work because I am fast becoming broke. But, how can I take a new job if I know that I can't work long-term. I haven't found a new doctor yet, because most here are not taking new patients and I am just not sure the type of doctor to go to. I am also afraid that they are just stabbing in the dark. Diagnosing borderline "everything" and the treatments for not knowing what is going on could make things worse.
If you have read this far..thank you. If you could reply with suggestions, please do. I feel like my health has been ruined and I don't know what to do to get it back. I only took levaquin for 3 days and all this time later, I still feel pain in my heart. Which is the strangest thing because "before" levaquin I "never" actually felt my heart at all.
Any suggestions , I would be the most grateful.

Several years ago I saw a doctor at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City, IA and was diagnosed with a chronic disease. Although most researchers and scientists will tell you lifestyle and dietary changes are essential when diagnosed with a chronic disease, my doctor, Dr. Anne L., told me they don't matter. In the spirit of "Do no harm," dietary and lifestyle changes are often the first things doctors recommend their patients change.

Instead of harmless lifestyle changes, I was put me on a lot of dangerous prescription drugs. One of those dangerous drugs was prednisone.

It didn't help my disease, but its side effects have been devastating and debilitating. And these side effects are particularly annoying because I was told this was a drug that didn't have side effects. (And when I learned about the side effects, I wanted to stop using it, but my doctor told me I'd die if I did. So I had to keep using it. Once you're on prednisone, you can't stop taking it abruptly. It really can kill you. So before you take it, you need to be informed. If you later found out its a drug you don't want to take, you can't just stop.)

But this is what I really wanted to say.

Look, prednisone's a bad drug, and most doctors don't prescribe it so casually anymore, but under the care of a good MD, its effects can be managed. Most docs will tell you right away when you go on prednisone about the side effects that most people are concerned about, like weight gain and acne. The fact is, those things actually matter not just superficially, not just for self-esteem, but in terms of people's overall health and even for managing the chronic disease for which prednisone is likely prescribed. If one becomes depressed, this not only affects one's overall general health, but for many chronic diseases, it can cause the disease itself to relapse. And because prednisone itself carries a risk of depression, managing such side effects, side effects that are likely to make a patient become depressed, is paramount.

Certainly most doctors will readily prescribe either topical acne treatments oral antibiotics for cystic acne which prednisone often induces. For the weight gain itself, ignoring the chronic disease for which prednisone is probably being prescribed, doctors often recommend a different diet to the patient.

My point is just that prednisone isn't as evil when you have an average or mediocre doctor.

Now, on the other hand, prednisone really is a bad drug to begin with. So under the care of a bad doctor, it's almost inevitable that you're going to experience permanent side effects and yes, under such incompetent care, this drug could easily ruin your life. That's what happened with me.

So make sure you have a good or at least mediocre doctor if you're using this drug.

And as far as dietary and lifestyle changes, I've been able to manage my disease solely with dietary and lifestyle changes. So I didn't need prednisone in the first place. Regardless, I would never take this drug again and I would not recommend anyone else take it unless you have exhausted every other possible option, unless you know you're doctor is competent, unless you know about the risks and side effects and what to do when they occur.

I never would've taken if I knew about the side effects. It's really quite stupid to use this drug as a first-line treatment, which is how it was used in my case. It should only be used as a last resort, if at all.

If I had never taken prednisone, I would be perfectly healthy today. My chronic disease itself doesn't influence my daily life at all anymore. But every single day the side effects of prednisone are evident and debilitating and will be for the rest of my life.

I was given 40mg Lipitor for elevated cholesterol. I took it until I started having muscle weakness .I am a retired nurse of twenty five years, and knew this symptom was not correct. So I stopped taking the medication and told my doctor of this.He did not protest in any way.My symptoms now include;two torn ligaments, sob,mental deficits, muscle wasting, night sweats, weakness,h/a's, and more. I have not taken Lipitor for two years now. Damage is done.My doctor said it should be out of my system by now. Is this a cover up?

hated it. It was prescribed for insomnia and anxiety. Worked at first for the insomnia at 25 mg, then had to go up to 50 mg and barely worked then. My anxiety was worse, woke up with panic attacks. Vivid horrid nightmares. Spiraled into a severe, deep suicidal depression on it. Had hand tremors and restless legs. Currently weaning off. Never again!

Cholesterol Decline May Be Associated With Early Stages of Dementia

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 19 - A decline in total cholesterol
levels precedes the diagnosis of dementia by at least 15 years,
according to an epidemiologic study reported in the January issue of
the Archives of Neurology.

"Studies like this are extremely valuable because they can provide a
'window' on to processes going on early in dementia, allowing
researchers to look back in time at people's health and other
characteristics and compare these between people who develop dementia
and those who do not," Dr. Robert Stewart from King's College London,
UK told Reuters Health.

Dr. Stewart and colleagues used data from the Honolulu-Asia Aging
Study to compare the natural history of cholesterol level change over
a 26-year period between 56 men who were found to have dementia at
examination 3 years after the last cholesterol measurement and 971 men
who did not have dementia.

Total cholesterol levels at the beginning of the study did not differ
by later dementia status, the authors report, but the decline in
subsequent cholesterol levels was significantly steeper among men who
went on to develop dementia.

Adjustment for potential confounding factors strengthened the
association between cholesterol level decline and the development of
dementia, the results indicate.

The cholesterol level decline was most marked in men with dementia and
the APOE epsilon-4 allele and in those with dementia and worse self-
reported general health at the final cholesterol measurement, the
researchers note.

"The observed associations may not represent direct causal pathways,"
the investigators say. "Hypocholesterolemia is recognized to be
associated with frailty and poor general health. It also has been
found to be specifically associated with inflammatory markers and poor
nutritional status."

Rather, they suggest, "It is possible that the decline in cholesterol
levels is a marker for early processes that reflect neurodegenerative
changes and also lead to a decline in general health status."

The drop in cholesterol was not a result of medication. "Very few of
the participants in this study were receiving cholesterol lowering
treatment at the time the decline in cholesterol levels was observed
(there were few cholesterol lowering medications around at that time
in the 1970s), so medication was not responsible for this," Dr.
Stewart explained.

"The drop in cholesterol was instead probably caused by some other
event and was a 'marker' of risk rather than actually increasing the
risk itself," he concluded.

Arch Neurol 2007;64:103-107.

During the 2000/2001 school year I became extremely ill from a pnuemonia type disease. It was my first year as a public school teacher and I was reluctant to miss any days. I tried self medicating myself and was not able to get over it. I sought relief from this from my family doctor. He examined me and prescribed the antibiotic levaquin. He described the drug as the "cadilac" of all antibiotics. I took the medication as prescribed. During this course of this medication I developed yeast infection in my mouth. My doctor prescribed the recommened medication for the yeast infection. Soon after the levaquin I began to experience severe ulcerated colitus including bleeding stools several times a day. I notified my doctor who emphatically denied that levaquin was in any way the cause of this. He advise me to seek treatment from a specialist. I was treated with such drugs as Asacol (12 capsules a day) and for a time predisone. These symptoms continued for the next two to three years. As a middle school teacher I experienced much stress from my duties as a new teacher and along with the daily rigor of the effects of the disease was unable to perform my teaching duties to the standards of expectation. In the spring of 2003 my teaching contract was not renewed. I have not been in the class room since. Additionally in the Spring of 2004 I switched medical plans and went under the care of a new specialist. He performed a colonoscopy outpatient and determined that I was free from the Colitus. Even though I am pronounced free from the disease the above circumstances have had a direct impact on my general health.

After more research I have come to the preliminary conclusion that I may be one of the rare Singulair users that is afflicted with Churg-Strauss Syndrome. If you or a loved one have any severe side effects from Singulair it is important that you take a serious look at Churg-Strauss Syndrome. Other than seasonal asthma symptoms that were more related to my environment (Phoenix) my health was great until I started taking Singulair. After five + years of using this wonder drug my general health and well being was not too good. Three weeks after stopping Singulair my body seems to be healing itself. To be safe Google Churg-Strauss Syndrome.