Heredity symptoms and conditions

I had a Mirena IUD placed at my follow up appointment after my second child in November of 2004. I feel that I have had excellent results from this form of birth control. The strings disappeared after I had it in for about a year. They had to do a few sono's to see if it was still in place. It was but I had developed an ovarian cyst that didn't go away. I ended up getting it surgically removed and found out that this is a side effect of Mirena. the cyst caused me no pain and the only reason I knew it was there is because of the sono's. I will not have surgery again unless it is highly recommended by my doctor. I just had a new one placed this month. It was more painful to place than I remembered it being. The cramping lasted for almost 24 hours. I have had no periods since before my youngest son was born....he's 5 now. I have had it for so long I don't know if the problems that I have are related to Mirena. I am obese. I have been obese my entire adult life so that is nothing new. I do have a hard time losing weight but I don't believe it has anything to do with Mirena. My hair is thicker since starting Mirena. I do have some skin problems but most of them have been with me for more than 10 years (seborrheic dermatitis and rosacea). I have a history of depression...so nothing new there. I have varicose veins...a result of my obesity, heredity, and working on my feet all the time w/o support hose. I am 34 years old, married, and do not plan to have any more children. I plan to continue using Mirena until menopause. I am EXTREMELY SATISFIED with Mirena and I am sorry for those of you that are having problems with it. I hope you find a method of birth control that works for you. Sexual freedom is a nice thing for a woman to have.

I have always had a full head of thick hair. In the last two years since starting Lisionpril I have started having noticeable thinning on the top of my head - I first thought little of it but now with all of the postings I have read I think the Lisinopril may be a contributor. My hair texture has also changed from smooth to dry and brittle - that should not be a heredity factor.

I am currently 58 years old and lead a very active, healthy lifestyle. I began taking 10mg of Zocor, along with 1000mg of niacin in the summer of 2004 to reduce cholesterol (251) and triglycerides (571). The therapy dramatically improved my blood tests, however, within 6 weeks, I began to experience minor chronic skin infections, both fungal and bacterial. They were easily controlled with topical over the counter type medications, but they were annoying. At no time was this new condition linked to the statin/niacin therapy by my doctor(s). The infections became progressively worse over the next 3 years, and evolved into chronic folliculitis in my scalp, neck, and face, cystic acne, and persistent fungal infections that were becoming more difficult to control. In addition, I began to get chronic eye infections. It was as if my immune system was becoming ineffective. I stopped taking niacin in December of 2007 and the symptoms immediately lessened. I stopped taking Zocor in March of 2008 and within 2 weeks, all the skin problems and eye infections completely ended. My health was restored completely and I am glad to have put that whole mess behind me! I have been taking Omega 3 supplements to control my cholesterol and triglycerides and have had results that equaled the Zocor and Niacin therapy, with cholesterol at 160, triglycerides at 91, and a favorable HDL/LDL ratio. My physician is skeptical, but I know that my body was not functioning correctly with the statin/niacin treatment. I have found anecdotal reports from others who seem to have experienced a change in their immune system, but no mention of this as a side effect by the medical establishment.

In response to dtrzaski post Im am sending out this question to everyone. We know there have been stool/stomach/weight issues. Are there any other children that it has been discovered to have high cholesterol. My son was discovered to have high cholesterol at around 3yrs old, apprx 6 months after starting Singulair (regardless of a very healthy diet lots of fruit and veggies!) Any thoughts out there?

buddysgirl: What a relief to read all I finished reading. Both my husband have high heredity cholesterol, and presently have high strees increasing those numbers.

I went on line as I began having two things I was concerned with, besides everything I found listed in responses to this site: spontaneous tissue tears, and small pin head size blood blisters. I found both to be part of the "rare" side effects of Lipitor. If either of these bleed, it was difficult to get the bleeding stopped. At times my clothing was enough to break the small "blood blisters", and they were everywhere, except my face.

Thank you so much to everyone who wrote in. I am not sure how the doctor will react. I know my numbers are too high, but I am not interested in being killed by medication to lower them! I have already had one "go around" with my doctor, but I'd rather go when it comes my times that be destroyed.

My husband was given a sample of this for a month-long bout of bronchitis and we are now thinking it has done permanent damage to his vocal chords. He only used it 5 times, got thrush (yeast infection) in his throat and is still hoarse after a week of being off of it. Does anyone know the history of this drug and has the word "class action lawsuit" crossed anyone's mind besides mine? I am amazed at the way pharmaceutical companies run the healthcare business in this country!

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but are people aware that a large portion of the FDA's operating budget is provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers? This isn't our first experience with this type of thing and I'm about to launch a grassroots campaign to educate the public. Maybe they'll stop believing all the marketing hype.

I'm thinking that the pharmaceutical companies ought to heed the Hippocratic oath - FIRST, DO NO HARM. Wouldn't it be a remarkably different world if they would take all the money they're spending on marketing and use it to lower the price of orphan and AIDS drugs? They keep saying that research is expensive - and advertising on every possible television show, radio and magazines is cheap? Hello? Are we going to be sheep or are we going to be citizens and hold these companies responsible for what they're doing. Thanks for letting me vent. Please contact me if you want to do something about this. And no, I'm not an attorney, but I'm a writer and I think I just found out what my first book is going to be about...

I have been on 20mg. of zocor for 4 years, due a heredity of high cholesterol. I though I was doing OK until about 3 months ago, when my eyes began feeling "heavy" with pressure. I most recently ran a marathon in 2000 (just before being put on zocor), and have continued to run. I have had difficulty keeping my weight down after going on zocor. 2 weeks ago, I had a severe leg cramp in my lower right calf muscle while running. I could barely walk home. I ran again after 1 week--the same cramp happened. I have never had this in 31 years of running. My Dr. said to try going off the drug for 1 week. I'll see if things improve.

I was diagnosed with high chol. in 1987. 360 now 260. I have taken Zocor for some 16 years now. Within 1 month the leg pains and cramps began. The Dr. told me I wasn't getting deep REM sleep and put me on Ambien. Still leg pain & cramps. I accepted the pain as a trade off for lower chol. My chol. is hereditary, not diet related. I can't recall my last egg, butter, milk, etc. I now see the long term effects of Zocor, 2 years ago I went to 40 mg. I suffer from depression, more medication, can't work, do simple chores, play golf, even walk around the block. I am now taking Oxycodone for pain. Severe, all joints, leg muscles, neck, knees, elbows, you name it. The Dr. finally said it must be heredity and put me on Crestor. Too little too late! My girlfriend is disgusted because I am half what I used to be since all the other meds to offset the Zocor effects. I have lost friends and career. I am tagged a hypochondriac. I have sought help from specialists and alternative measures to relieve the pain. No-one, I mean no specilalist even suggested the damaging results of the Zocor until I stumbled onto the "net." I can't walk, much less get out of bed in a reasonable amount of time. I am severely limited in my ability to do anything. I am glad I know what has caused this situation but fear my diminished quality of life and ready to give up. I am not crazy as has been suggested and can now give my detractors a name for my condition. I am relegated to SSD instead of working. DON'T TAKE A STATIN BASED DRUG. Seek alternative methods. They are liars and have cheated me out of my life!

I just found this site and I'm totally AMAZED at all the similar complaints I have. I am a 46 year old female and have been on Zocor for about 6 years. My cholesterol is high, due to heredity. I've gone from 20mg, to 40 mg, to 80 mgs. I had leg cramps so badly with the 80 mg. that I just quit taking it. I was put back on 40 mgs. and still have many of the complaints.. i.e.... chronic muscle pain in neck, shoulders, arms, legs... chest pain/burning just doing minimal walking (saw cardiologist and had treadmill - nothing found)... a rash that comes and goes on my face, especially on and around my eyelids... insomnia... strange to horrible dreams... sudden lower abdonimal protrusion (never had that in my life!)... inability to lose weight... So, there you have it. I will be consulting with my doctor and getting off this horrible medicine! Diet and exercise will be a forever friend to me. I'm so glad I found this site.