Gi tract symptoms and conditions

I was prescribed a generic for keflex (cephalexin), 500mg three times a day for 10 days for cellulitis(skin infection through an insect bite). My gastrointestinal tract went totally haywire as soon as I started taking the medication, bad stomach upset. The infection subsided in a couple of days but started having stomach cramps and the diarrhea continues for almost a month till I started taking probiotics to replenish all the flora in the gi tract.
It has been almost a month after I stopped taking this medication and now experience phantosmia( phantom smell ), in my case smelling smoke/exhaust fumes at random times throughout the day. I mentioned this symptom to the doc and according to here, it is one of the side effects asked me to hang in there for 5 more months before I can consult an ENT specialist.

I have taken, for the first time in my life for poison oak, prednisone- 60 mg for 3 days, 30 mg for 1 day, and 20 for 1 day. A week after the dose ended, I took another dose of it. As soon as that was over, the symptoms began with extreme low energy and dizziness, and eyes not feeling to well. I have been like this for a week, and would like to know how long this will last? And what can I do to speed up the process?

Hello.

I was started on Prednisone on Saturday (3/15) for Bronchitis. So far I have taken 40mg, 40mg, 30mg, 30mg, 20mg, - I am to take 20mg for two more days than 10mg for three days. I also just finished a Z-Pack of antibiotics and am taking Mucinex and Ventolin HFA...

I have head pressure, dizziness, and weird visual disturbances. The problem I am having is my breathing feels WORSE on the Prednisone??? Is this possible??? I feel like I am losing my mind. I have insomnia and am extremely jittery. I have never taken Prednisone before - but want so badly to breath better - but it is not helping and in fact seems to making the problem worse?

Has this every happened to anyone? Please help I am so frightened.....

Thank you

I was taking this medicine to help calm stomach/GI tract pain. It gave me nausea.

I'm so happy I found this site. I've been thinking I'm crazy or just getting old for the last 3 years while on Yasmin. I started taking it at age 29 and almost immediately after started having mood swings, extreme irritability and depression. I had previously been on Ortho Tri Cyclen and the Ortho Cyclen before Yasmin and was on them for MANY years and never had one side effect. I only switched in the first place because I like to have very very few periods and I run all my active pills together to forgo periods very often and I was having breakthrough on the Cyclen. Hence, the Yasmin trial.

I'm actually a doctor (which is why I CANNOT have frequent periods with all the accompanying issues), but I didn't even realize the possible connection between IBS and Yasmin. This needs to be studied and taken seriously. I never once had IBS symptoms until a few months after starting Yasmin. Now, 3 years later I have almost constatnt trouble, to the point everytime I eat I run for the bathroom, yet my weight has never been higher. I asked a GYN friend at work if they could be related and she said definitely no, but reading all of these "real life" examples, coupled with my own experience has made me think otherwise. Often, the symptoms will occur shortly after taking the pill, even when I haven't yet eaten breakfast. It's crazy!!

I'm going to switch either back to Ortho Cyclen or to something new ASAP and will report back. I'm both excited at the thought that my "IBS" might really be Yasmin related but also scared that it might not go away and therefore might really be IBS. I'll report back... It honestly never entered my mind that all of it could be the Yasmin. I had just moved, started a new job in a town I hate and I thought it was all stress related.

I've also had an interesting side effect no one has mentioned yet- my hair texture has dramatically changed. It isn't falling out, but has gone from VERY curly with a nice soft spiral curl pattern to very dry, straight and hard to manage. Nothing else has changed and now I'm wondering if it's not the DRSP. If pergnant women can have hair changes, why not women on the pill?? It's all hormones.

As always with a drug, there are always possible side effects. No one drug is perfect, and humans are so complex in their make up and they way they process drugs. Therefore, please don't judge your family docs or GYNs too harshly as not even the best doctor in the world can predict every side effect.

Hello Gang,

I have never felt so sick in my entire life. I started taking Yasmin two months ago (I only went through two packs of pills). I have felt like I am going to die every day of this last month. I have had severe migraine headaches, body aches, chest tightness, dizziness, SEVERE anxiety and EXTREME fatigue. My sex drive has packed up and gone, I have terrible vaginal dryness and I am never hungry. I used to work out every day but now find that the very thought of lifting weights puts me to sleep. The strangest part is how the "illness" kind of comes in waves, I'll be fine all morning and then I'm freaking out/sick all night. I have panic attacks and I'll start crying for no reason. Sometimes I lay in bed and worry that I have cancer or a tumor or all types of various diseases. My boyfriend has been extremely patient throughout the whole thing but I feel terrible because we hardly have a chance to get romantic because I'm constantly sick or simply worrying that I might get sick later on. I actually just had four vials of blood taken yesterday to make sure that I'm doing okay. They also gave me chest xrays due to the chest tightness. The thing that really bugs me is that aside from being frustrating, confusing and scary, it is proving to be quite costly since I now have to pay for my doctor's visits and doctor's expenses. I just switched over to Loestrin two days ago so I'm hoping that will help get me back on track. Until then, I'm just gonna have to hope that this stuff gets out of my body and that the feeling of looming death vanishes. I'm all for going to the news or Oprah or maybe dateline nbc. Women should know what they're getting themselves into because it seems obvious that if doctor's are prescribing this to us, they must have no idea what they're doing. And that thought is equally as terrifying as the constant sickness.

I have a condition called Myositis and for the past two years the specialists put me on Prednisone, my condition of myositis is an Autoimmune problem that degenerates the muscles and causes artherites throughout the joints in the body.
I am 58 years of age and survive the chronic pain by taking 5 Mg of prednisone each day along with different types of anti inflaminetery pain killers.
Some days are good and other days require a wheel chair to get around but the side effects of this have caused Cateracts in both eyes, fatty liver tissues and other side effects like mood swings and so on.....

I was given Yasmin when Ortho tri-cycline gave me severe stomach pains and constant bloating-- I was diagnosed with sensitive lining of the stomach a couple years ago (after multiple tests for gall bladder, ulcers, GI tract, etc, that's all they could come up with!!), so basically I have had some sort of stomach ailments for the last 5 years. My biggest concern with the Ortho tri-cycline, prescribed for me to hopefully help wean myself off of my Tetracycline pills before I get married, was that the pills would help my acne-prone skin. Little did I know that that pill would make my stomach problems so much worse; I had constant pain for over 2 weeks before I called the advice nurse, who said I should try Yasmin because it helps with bloating....

Now honestly, I would rather have stomach pains than anxiety, nervousness, panic attacks, and all-around depression. I had a bad bout with depression about 6 years ago, and I thought that dark time in my life had passed once I moved back home and met my dear boyfriend (now my fiance). I was all right for almost a week on each pill before I began having issues.

After a week on Yasmin, the stomach pains started again, but this time I wasn't bloated-- I just felt sick to my stomach, and like someone was pressing on my stomach (I felt like I was flexing my tummy all the time). The kicker was that I fell into such a bad depression at work one day, that I wouldn't talk to anyone, and didn't want to see anyone-- including my poor fiance. I stayed home the next day and tried to sleep it off; my minor, usually (semi-)humorous OCD tendencies became almost unbearable as I became more anxious and nervous about everything that was going on.

After speaking with my Mom and fiance, I decided to stop the Yasmin last Wednesday. I was hoping maybe this pill would help my complexion or help my boobs to grow (LOL, I know, but the ortho made ONE boob grow, LOL LOL), but if it did a little bit of any of that, it wasn't worth the emotional trauma I was going through. I was thinking maybe I'd start the Yasmin again after a month or so, but my body became totally confused and my period started about a week early... now I have bad cramps, and Saturday I fell into panic/depression again and spent the day alone, wondering why I am feeling like this again. I have been sleeping very badly at night as well-- and don't get me wrong, I can usually sleep at any given moment for any given amount of time, haha... I have had some of the worst nights' sleep of my life this last week or so.

In short, I guess the diuretic effect of Yasmin has totally messed up my chemical/hormonal balance or something in my brain. I am on Weight Watchers so I am monitoring my weight closely, and I did lose about 3-5 pounds after taking Yasmin for only 1.5 weeks without changing my diet, so apparently all sorts of things were being flushed out of me unneccessarily.

I can only pray now that I will be back to normal again soon. The negative experiences I have had with hormonal birth control so far are really leading me to believe that I should just go with the IUD even though that scares me too since I am a virgin... yet, I'd rather have cramps or insertion pain than have anything affect me emotionally.

Thanks for reading so far. All I can say is that anyone prone to any sort of nervousness/anxiety/depression should stay FAR AWAY from this pill!!!!!!

Been on Levaquin for 6 weeks now for acute prostatitus (thought I was ready for the glue factory, let me tell you that was no fun).

The first few weeks all I had was acute sensitivity to sunlight, a few itchy bumps and the inevitable GI tract distress that doctors always seem to think is unusual but for me is an inevitable consequence of taking antibiotics of any kind.

The last month however, I have extreme joint pain, mostly in my left hip socket but also in my knees. It almost feels like sciatica but it comes and goes. Mostly it is in the back side of my legs. One more day left, next time (hopefully never) I will insist on something else.

Glad to see its not just me, the "official" side effects don't seem to acknowledge the joint pain side effects.

Regards

Peter

i was admitted to the hospital with possible heart attack and or getting ready for one---also inner ear infection and upper respiratory infection. put on levaquin g and discharged after 4 days. legs, calves hurt, lower and upper back pain, shoulders, one which i fractured and had not problem with, became very painful as did my neck. took for 8 days. saw my doctor today and he said stop the levaquin because it can cause alot of intestinal problems and some weird "stuff". stomach and gi tract feels raw. levaquin may have helped the infections but created another problem WHY DON'T THEY
ADVERTISE SIDE EFFECTS.......DANGEROUS.....

This is an additional comment to ershry's question since I am the daughter to which the question refers to. Not only has this rash steadily worsened throughout the past few years, I am now having random chest pains, and it feels as if I have something stuck in the top of my throat and along the tonsils. The doctor says that these new symptoms might be related to the GI tract since I am taking prednisone to keep the rash semi-under control, but it sounds as if numerous people have these symptoms without any other cortisones.

For the people who have been stuck on advair for a while, have you noticed a pattern to how the side effects occur? I started with a rash on my face and neck that has now spread all over my entire body, then severe, debilitating calf pain that the doctor wrote off as shin splints, then the throat irritation, and now the chest pains.

The info on this site is certainly affirming and helpful! My doctor started me on 10 mg Lisinopril about 10 days ago, saying it had virtually no side effects except "a mild dry cough for some". I was especially concerned about starting on a med, as I tend to have sensitivity to various drugs and their side effects. My doctor assured me this drug would be safe for me. Within the first three days, I had my first bout of diahrrea; several days later I had a rash on both arms, which went away. Because symptoms seemed to be intermittent, I told myself they couldn't be from the Lisinopril...especially since my doctor assured me there were no side effects! I also was unusually fatigued, felt "flu-ish", so chalked it off to a bug. Last night was the last straw, with severe diahrrea for hours, unlike any I have ever had. I didn't take the med this morning, and will not take it again. I already feel better physically, the fatigue is gone, and my GI tract is better. I'm so anti-meds after all this, but don't want to risk a heart attack or damage to body organs from high BP...anyone tried Respirate with success? It's a device (very expensive) that supposedly lowers BP without drugs. I'd pay it, to avoid medicine!