Heart function symptoms and conditions

Listen EVERYONE. A LOT of the pills you are going to take have side affects and A LOT of them react with the other meds you are taking. It is a horrible time because you mostly attribute your feelings to your sickness and you want to trust the "system" to take care of you...Well be VERY CAREFUL HERE. I BEAT HEART FAILURE. I'm 34 years old, I went from transplant list to normal heart because of the research I DID ON MY OWN and today = NO HEART MEDS.. NO SURGERY.. BUT NOW I HAVE SEIZURE ACTIVITY IN MY BRAIN WHICH I KNOW THESE DRUGS DID TO ME!! There is no doubt. I felt so bad for so long, just like you all do... But once my heart function went up I still felt horrible... Only THEN I knew to get off the meds, but by then it was too late. It had done it's damage. Instead of just being a heart failure success story.. I have a new sorry chapter to battle with this seizure garbage. This "seizure" feeling which I had when I first started taking the meds now remain even though I am off. FYI - Did you know Lisinopril is made from SNAKE VENOM??? LOOK AT YOUR SIDE AFFECTS>> SOUND FAMILIAR???..Look it up.. It's true. I know it's a tough call though.. What do you do?? You need to do something to help your heart right? Just listen to your body.. That's the best advice.. Your body talks to you. Listen to what it is saying to you. Some people can handle certain drugs and some can not. Just like some people can handle a bee sting and some can die from one. Simple concept really but for some reason it boggles doctors minds if you have a bad reaction...doctors are not gods... Do your own research like I did. It will give you an edge and help you feel less confused. Know your medication: what it is doing and why... EMAIL ME.. ALL COMMENTS WELCOME_ I Will have a Heart Failure website someday so I can help others... but for now I have to figure out this seizure thing.. Good luck.

I was on Lipitor for less than a week 2 years ago and the muscle pains were so bad that moving my head was painful. I called the doctor's office and was instructed to stop taking the medication; which I did and felt 'back to normal' within a few days. I haven't had my cholesterol checked since that time, or if I did before surgery, no one mentioned anything negative about it. However 6 weeks ago I had a heart attack. Apparently my cholesterol was twice what it should it have been, and my potassium was incredibly low. So I'm now on Lipitor (standard procedure after having a heart attack and high cholesterol seen as the cause of it) to ensure that another blockage does not occur.

The only problem is I'm now bloated even though I've changed my diet drastically (no more junk food or soft drinks, no 'white' flour products, no dairy products with more than 5% M.F and lots of veggies and fruits). I've lost 3 or 4 pounds but my pants are too tight around my waist, and now I have a my upper abdomen bulges over the waistline. Besides that, I get muscle 'kinks' in very places and after sitting for more than 10 minutes I limp when I take the first few steps.

People have told me to 'keep taking Lipitor and Plavix' but exercise more. The only problem with that is that I have a brain aneurysm and the neurosurgeons don't think it can be operated on 'without it being a very high risk procedure'. The first one ruptured 10 years ago and since then I've managed to control my blood pressure. However the meds I took for that was what lead to my potassium being so low that my electrolytes were imbalanced. That combination of low potassium and high cholesterol is what lead to the heart attack.

I'm 54 and feel as though I'm losing control of 'how' I feel. Between Lipitor, Plavix and diuretics and medication for hypertension I'm not sure if it's one drug in particular that's making me 'ache, limp and look like a blimp' or if it's because of the interaction of all of them. How do I decide 'what' to stop? What's more important to look after first - my heart or my brain?

I am 26 years old and have been taking 20mg of lisinopril for over a year now and have just gotten the side effects the last 3 weeks! I now have fatigue, light headed, dizziness, fever, and dark urine! Does anybody know whats going on or have the same symptoms! Please reply!

OK FOLKS -HERE'S A GOOD ONE FOR YA- Just over a year ago I was on a heart transplant list. Today my heart function is normal and I am off ALL HEART MEDS. Even after finding out my heart function level was normal I was still living a nightmare for some unexplained reason. After MONTHS of tests and everyone telling me I was nuts a neurologist finally found out I was having seizure activity. Funny how my "seizure activity" feels EXACTLY how I felt when they increased my beta blocker dosage. I'm telling all of you.. This beta blocker helps some but they are burying their mistakes. I now know all of my ER trips, only to have them laugh and have them send me back home, were do to seizures caused by beta blockers while I had heart failure. I'm lucky to be alive.... and now that my heart function is good I have to fight this seizure BS. *REMEMBER THIS - Only YOU know what your body is telling you.. LISTEN TO IT! But do be careful.. You can't just stop taking a beta blocker.. Good luck all cuz we sure need it!

After fighting heart failure for a year my heart function is now normal. The entire time I was on COREG I felt HORRIBLE. No one listened to my concerns about it... Well now that I am off ALL MEDICATIONS I am still having problems. The doctors all said it was in my head until a neurologist saw that I was having seizures! Odd that my seizures feel exactly how I felt when I was upping my dosage of Coreg! Now that I survived heart failure I have to deal with seizures caused by COREG.. What a nightmare.

Are you aware about short and long term side effects of this Devil's drug??? Of course, everybody reacts differently while take or withdraw. But there are high number of people who react terribly bad!!! Doctors do not want to recognize and discuss this. They just keep silent... Do you know exactly how Prednisone works??? Nobody knows this for sure, even doctors!!! From my personal experience, and despite gradual withdrawal, I developed extremely high blood pressure, weakness, panic attacks, depression! Practically it ruined my normal life! Doctors have no clue how to deal with its devastating side effects. Steroids are not selective. When you take a steroid, the drug infiltrates the nucleus of every single one OF YOUR CELLS AND STARTS MONKEYING AROUND WITH GENES IT FINDS THERE!!! It probably plays with hundreds of genes. And just a small number of these genes control the pain and inflammation associated with inflammatory diseases, so steroids turn many of these genes off which is good thing. However, because steroids are not selective, they also regulate the genes that control kidney, liver, BRAIN, and HEART function - which is not good thing!!! It is likely that steroid treatment plays with other genes, too, including those we do not know about a lot right now...So, Prednisone pervades the entire body, which increases the likelihood of short-term side effects and long-term DAMAGE. My advice is: THINK TWICE BEFORE TAKING PREDNISONE!!!

I started taking Toprol XL after being diagnosed with SVT back in May of 2003. I was only in my late 20's & was very trusting, at the time. I was recently sent to a cardiologist because I was having horrible chest pain & the Toprol XL 50 MG wasn't working at keeping the heart rate down. The GP put me on a double dose as well as Cardizem to help with the chest pain & rapid heart rate. I was already on Lanoxin 0.5MG, the highest dose allowed. The cardiologist took me off of the Cardizem right away because he said that is was too stressful for the heart to be on that much heart medicine. I went though several tests & was told by the cardiologist that I didn't have SVT & that this was actually Postural Tachycardia (POTS) & Neurocardiogenic Syncope. I was taken off of Lanoxin, but kept on Toprol XL 100 MG. He put me on lots of salt & water to increase my blood volume which would help my blood pressure when standing. That was in June of 2007. All went pretty good, I thought, until January 18, 2008 when I was working. My heart rate went up to 136 just standing or walking across a room. I called the doctor & talked to a nurse who suggested that I take another 1/2 of a Toprol. I did that & felt better for awhile, but it was short lived. I had been having chest pain, rapid heart rate, fatigue, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, nausea, vomiting, short term memory problems, rapid weight gain, hair loss, cold extremities, & other things I can't think of right now for what seemed like forever. My gynecologist & my cardiologist first thought that I had thyroid problems, but all tests have come back negative. They then thought that maybe it was from the birth control pills that I had been on for the ovarian cysts. I was changed from one medicine to another & at first I thought that was what was wrong. I am now certain that all of the problems that I have been having were & are a result of the Toprol XL. I was even told that all the problems were "psychiatric in nature". I know that that isn't it at all! I have never had anxiety problems & the GP now thinks that's all that is wrong with me & wants me to go on Zoloft. I tried it, but became so ill that after one pill, I quit. I now plan on weaning myself off of the Toprol XL without the GP's knowledge or consent. The cardiologist was planning on weaning me off at some time in the future, but I am starting without him knowing it at the time. I'll just tell him when I see him next month. Thanks everyone for alerting me to the facts about this medicine. If I had known then what I do now, I'd have never consented to starting it in the first place. My only question is, are some of the "side effects" going to be a permanent thing for me or will they eventually go away? Any advice would be welcome! Thanks again!

I am trying to wean off of Atenolol bc it makes me tired and I feel as though my metabolism has slowed down. I have been on it for one year due to a fast heart beat. I did not have hbp when prescribed and I don't now. I was suffering from anxiety due to katrina and quit smoking. sometimes I feel sick to my stomach. has anyone gotten sick to their stomach from this med. also, I found that if I take it at night I am not tired during the day but I do have strange dreams.
my real question is how can I wean myself off this drug. I am afraid that if I stop it I will be somewhere and my heart will jump out of my chest.

Hi. I just wanted to let everyone know what has happened since I stopped taking Yasmin 4 days ago. (I only took it for 2 months.) I'm still having heart palpitations, feeling of a lump in my chest, and still a bit dizzy at times. My ears kind of feel like when I'm on an airplane coming in for a landing when the dizziness comes around. I'm also still having an occasional urge to cough. I still have shortness of breath and it's very noticeable when I'm talking and saying a long sentence. I thought the symptoms would really decrease but it seems to come and go. I feel the palpitations more frequently during the evening hours. I don't know why that is though. All of this makes it really hard to concentrate a work. I was reading one blog that said to take extra magnesium and zinc. Has anyone tried that and is it effective?

Foggyhead
yes many people on this website have posted nausea as I have myself. It will pass. You are not vomiting right? We all know the scary feeling of permanent damage. We have all been there unfortunately none of us can say for sure, I am sorry to say I dont have any cold hard facts as to why this is happening to us, but only that I have experienced it myself and to have medical professionals telling you no this pill cant do this to you is a person talking excuse me but a person talking out his butt! Sorry, I dont care what little letters follow their name. Unless they care to put this little white pill in their mouth, I dont care to hear whats coming out of their mouth, unless it is of useful information to me. Sorry, now you know where the bitter part of the RN came from. I can only tell you from my experience much like the experience of many women on this website that yasmin seems to mess up your hormones more than any of the other pills on the market. It has a "unique" ingredient in it called drosperinone sp? that NO other bcp has. Something my gyn did not tell me when she prescribed it. I still dont know why this one seems to mess up (or depress the hormones I think) so much, but recovering from it takes a long time. As your body cycles each month naturally your hormones rise and fall at certain times. Now that the body has been through this yasmin rollercoaster, your hormones are all out of whack, and the body is trying to stay on its cycle but it has too much of some hormones and too little of others.. the causes all the systems of the body not to function well, because hormones are in a nutshell what make you feel good. From receptors firing in the brain, to digestion, to skin, to heart function. The body being in perfect balance with every puzzle piece in place (hormone on its receptor site) is what keeps all our systems running well. This is why you feel good sometimes (the lacking hormones are starting to rise) but then sometimes you dont (hormones naturally fall right before your period and then dont start to rise again until after your period, and then its the estrogen that rises first, progesterone doesnt rise till about 12 days after your period, when you ovulate then both fall again right before your period. See why you feel so up and down? I am still trying to figure all this out, believe me it is nothing I learned in nursing school, most of this I learned through relentless research on the internet and from doctors who understand hormones. Even then I am still in search of answers so I have an appt with a doctor I feel is on the cutting edge of hormones and hormone therapy, but he is so booked I cannot get in until March. Still I will have lots of questions, and hope he has some answers.
Sorry about the long post. Keep in touch.
BitterRN

I've been taking Lisinopril for Cardiomyopathy...along with another medication called Coreg...3 months now, just had an echogram and no improvement in heart function. Side effects - dizzy, lightheaded and complete and utter exhaustion. But I'm unsure if these are medication side effects...cardiomyopathy symptions or what. Anyone out there with cardiomyopathy and taking Lisinopril?