Hopeful symptoms and conditions

Hi there. A number of years back--maybe 8 or 9 years, I was prescribed Topamax for bulimia and mood swings. I was on a dosage that eventually went as high as 75 or 100 mg. At first it improved my mood and decreased my bingeing, which was very encouraging, but I began to have really awful side effects. First was the cognitive stuff: I couldn't remember people's names and even simple logic puzzles like how to fit a pair of shoes into a shoebox correctly stumped me. Soda tasted flat. Then my moods became somewhat erratic and I began to have intestinal discomfort. Then, even more oddly, my skin started having trouble healing from minor wounds. My hair became brittle and began to fall out. At that point I gave up and stopped the medication. It really felt like I was undergoing some kind of slow poisoning, like arsenic or something.

Now, I've developed migraines and my neurologist has put me on a small dose of 25 mg at bedtime. I've been highly reluctant to acquiesce after my former experience but nothing else has worked and I sometimes have headaches that last over two weeks at a time. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced side effects at 75 mg but not at 25?

Hopeful in NY

I have had some of the same symptoms described above, but they seem to have increased since I went off just days ago. I'm hoping they decrease in the next few weeks. I'm just so happy to be off of them, and I'm hopeful that my normal figure and state of mind will return. The last year and a half has been an emotional roller coaster.

Right now, three days off of the pill, I am so bloated it is painful. I know it's not constipation since that is happening regularly. What doesn't happen after "elimination" is relief. I am having constant abdominal cramping and bloating. It's awful...I have gained four pounds in as many days which is WAY more than I'm usually capable of.

The very first day off of the pill I had to call in sick to work with throwing up and other fun stuff. I thought at first that it was a 24 hour bug...but now I don't know.

Why do women get bullied into taking these products? It's been 40 years now and the best we still have is the pill? I'm going to take my chances I think with my natural mood swings and pregnancy.

I had the Mirena put in when my son was a year old....i have had it now for over 2 years...i experienced the cramping, bloating, bleeding, etc.....i did not know that i would probably gain weight.....i chose the mirena because i was already 30 years old, a smoker and was previously on birth control for ten+ years before stopping it to conceive my son. I slowly began to gain a few pounds, but always put it off to work, my routine changing, etc. We moved to Alabama 6 months later and I noticed that I kept packing on the weight. I contributed it to the lack of an exercise routine that i could be consistent with. I realized this , so i began getting back into the gym, eating right and drinking my water. Still no weight loss. I have since started school again and gained more weight. Again, i blamed it on the stress of school and trying to take care of a three year old. But, after a while, I started to question whether it is really those things, or is it the Mirena. No Doctor has ever suggested that it could be the Mirena. My internal medicine doctor even noticed the weight gain and she doesn't even mention the possibility of it being from the IUD. I know that I am not making this up.....something is not right. NO matter what i do, the weight will not come off......and now, because of the extra weight, i have blood pressure problems. I am 5'9 and weigh 185 pounds.....I have only weighed that one time in my life, and that is when i was pregnant with my son.....I am so discouraged , depressed and just totally give out......I hate the way I look and feel. I used to be tall and slender with a few curves, but GEEES.....now i just have curves and alot of them!!! I think that i have decided to get the Mirena removed , also......and i will just have to stay hopeful that the weight will come off, eventually. Any comments, words of encouragement , personal experiences would be appreciated.....thanks .....lmc31

Ugh, I gained 25 pounds during the 4-months I was on Loestrin 24. Plus, I bled the entire time and no significant change in my mood; still strong feelings of sadness prior to my period. I’m tired all the time, no desire to do anything but sit in front of the TV, could eat a horse, and zero sex drive (my poor husband). I’m hopeful for Yazmin; my doctor literally switched me today. I think the marketing literature, that comes in the box, was a little off; they say occasional break through bleeding may occur during the first month of use while adjusting to Loestrin 24; not. I had just lost 60 pound prior to starting Loestrin 24 and with the gain of 25 in such a short time, I feel derailed with my weight loss.

I hope that what I'm going through is a side effect of this stuff. I'm a 31 year old, non smoking man. Almost three weeks ago I noticed a rash starting on my arms and torso, it looked exactly like poison ivy, except there is no likely way that I could have come in contact with it. I went to see my doctor as a precaution. My normal PCP was booked, so I saw another doctor at the practice. She said "we may never know what this is, but it should go away soon." She told me to wait and keep an eye onit. At this point I really had no other issues, it didn't itch too much.
Four days later, the rash had spread all over my torso and arms. I was starting to feel bad, and spent the weekend in bed with dizzyness and nausea. I called the doctor and she phoned in a prescription for Amoxicillin. I was on the Amoxicillin for 4 days before I went back to see her as my symptoms had not gotten any better. She put me on a 9day cycle of Prednisone. The prednisone cleared up the rash mostly, but throughout the cycle I felt weak, nausea, dizzy. It sucked. I read a lot about side effects online and was hopeful that this would end with the endinig of the prescription. Tuesday morning (8/14) I took my last pill. Yesterday I could barely function. I felt dizzier than normal and had a very hard time getting through the day. Now it's Thursday 48+ hours since my last pill, and I still feel dizzy, like I'm in a Fog. Does anyone know if this is possibly still due to prednisone? If I wake up tomorrow like this I'll plead for an appointment with my PCP. Any help is appreciated.

I started with 60 mg per day for polymyalgia rheumatica and now after two years have weaned myself down to 5 mg per day. I have a side effect that I have not read anyone else having. It has effected my taste buds. Many foods that I loved in the past, have a foreign taste to me. I am 66, male and have tried to drop down to 2 1/2 mg but the pain is too intense to remain at that level, so had to return to 5 mg. I have lots of pain in the feet and especially toes. I can tell that I am getting better and am very anxious to get off of Prednisone.

I've been on Wellbutrin XL 150 for a few months and I love it! The first few weeks were a bit hard because I felt constantly jumpy, nervous, and had a hard time sleeping. But there are side effects with almost everything for the first little while! Now that I've been on it for a while, I've noticed I'm losing weight, feeling energetic, and I feel hopeful about my life! Also I have a ridiculously increased sex drive. It may not be right for everyone, but for me it's been awesome so far.

I have had the Mirena IUD since January 2006, so for about 18 months. The insertion was HORRIBLE and painful. i was very unprepared for the pain, and had to call someone to come pick me up because I couldn't drive. Also had severe nausea and felt like I might pass out. For the first few months I had continuous bleeding/spotting. Even now, my cycles are very short and I will have spotting for two weeks at a time. I began having pain during the time of ovulation probably a year ago, and it has progressively gotten worse. I found out today that I have developed functional ovarian cysts as a result of the Mirena. They are harmless except for the pain, and are supposed to go away on their own. I will go back in 2-3 months to see how the cyst looks. If it is not gone, or I have more, I will likely have the Mirena removed. I have also experienced decreased sex drive, difficulty achieving orgasm, and moodiness, all of which have gotten progressively worse over time. I like the convenience of the Mirena, and was hopeful because of the low dose of hormones, but I am feeling more and more that it is not for me. I haven't ever been satisfied with any type of birth control though, so am not sure what I will do instead.

I went on Yasmin in late February of 2005. In early April of 2005,I started having severe anxiety and panic attacks. I had experienced a bout with anxiety and panic one other time in my life, but it was 10 years prior to this, and I'd had no trouble since. After having cousneling and working very hard to deal with the anxiety,things got better. However, I still don't feel like the strong, confident woman I was before all the trouble began -- I used to feel like I could do anything and like I was on top of the world. Since I've had anxiety and panic issues, I've had trouble getting to the gym (something I used to do 6 - 7 days a week), and I am fearful of things I was never fearful of before. Anyway, about a week ago, I started thinking back on this whole journey and realized that the anxiety started just about 4 - 6 weeks after taking Yasmin. So I typed in anxiety and yasmin in Google and came across this website -- I have been so surprised to see so many other women struggling with these same issues. I am now off Yasmin (I'm supposed to start a new pack tomorrow, but I will not be) and am very hopeful that I'll return to my former self sometime soon. My husband and I are hoping to have a baby early next year, so I won't be taking any hormone birth control after this -- I don't know if I ever will again.

My 6 year old son has had all of these more or less. He has been on Singulair for about 5 months. We took him off last Friday when he started having seizures. It is only now that we are connecting the things he has complained about. He is still going through testing but everytime a test is done it is negative. He is in perfect health. The dr.s are stumped. What happens is, he smells a wierd smell. Then he sees lights. After this he has a bad headache and becomes weak so he lays down. Shortly thereafter he stiffens and starts shaking his arms and legs while clinching his hands. He also grunts and makes a buzzing sound and appears as though he only breathes out. the dr.s say it is not seizures but movement disorder and if it is Singulair it should be out of his system within 3 days... He is still having the seizure type fits and its been a week since we took him off singulair. He is still losing his temper and having horrible dreams as well. Cat scan was normal, EEG was normal, blood work is ok, they want to do an MRI but does this sound familiar to anyone?

I have been on Topamax for approximately six weeks - 100 miligrams for migraine. I have to say that so far my side effects have been minimal and my results have been quite good. I am experiencing some parasthesia in my hands and feet - but it is transitory and mildly annoying at worst. I have found that a lot of foods don't taste very good - and I really only like highly flavorful things like fruits and vegetables. I don't enjoy anything fatty, starchy or sugary. I'd like to be able to complain about that - but let's get real - that's probably a good thing. I've lost about 20 pounds since I started on the Topamax, 20 pounds that I can easily afford to lose. I also find that I am quite thirsty. I was experiencing some tiredness, but by switching to dosing only at bedtime, I have minimized that side-effect. My appetite has diminshed a great deal. I am not noticing cognitive side effects. I have had two migraines since I started on the Topamax (I was having approxmitately 15-20 days a month of severe migraines before), but I was able to take 1/2 dose of Relpax, and the migraine was gone within a half an hour. Typically I woiuld have to take a whole dose, repeat the dose in 2 hours and still have a headache, and repeat for 3-5 days, so I am seeing a big difference in the incidence of my headaches. All-in-all I am feeling quite hopeful that the Topamax, for me, will be an excellent overall solution for something that has been quite debilitating.

It seemed to begin with a 2 day headache. As I had a severe UTI, I was not sure if the symptoms I was having were because of the Levaquin or the infection. The headache was the first "unusual" symptom I had within 1 hour of taking the Levaquin. Then the muscle aches, tendon pain, arches of feet hurt, arthritis in hands became more painful than I had ever experienced, very fatiqued, skin sensitive to touch, tingling sensation on arms, racing heartbeat (may have been due to anxiety of other symptoms). These symptoms continued for 6 days until 24 hours after stopping medication. I discontinued it after researching side effects on internet as Patient Information sheet that came with medication was vague. I still have tendon pain in left elbow, and arches of feet. Amazingly, I have had knee surgery and back surgery, but neither of these areas seemed to have been affected. Still don't feel "right", but hopeful will continue to improve.

@ Guest 37781

How did you stop taking singulair?i mean are you on some alternative medicine or has your asthma subsided?how come?

Actually pregnancy and its complications really really worry me....i am about to be married in a year and asthma frightens me of what future may bring.I have read and consulted many doctors and all confirm that allopathic medicine has no *cure* for asthma though it can prevent it ....and we have to depend upon medicine quite a lot.But many many people say that homaeopathic medicine can completely cure ....all we need is to find the right kind of a doctor...these days i am on homeopathic medicine....and weaning from singulair was really difficult ....with all the terrible results...i just use inhalor these days when needed....it is mucosy asthma with a lot of cough.But the good news is i am improving a bit....and am really hopeful that one day i will do without any kind of medicine.Do pray for me.

With singulair i experienced excessive falling of hair,stiffness and pain in joints and addiction to singulair.

It really disturbs me to see a few months old babies suffering from this ailment. i developed it when i was 21...it is difficult to imagine what misery they go through. May God bless all.

I know that many people come here because they have experienced problems with the Ring, so I don't know if the information here accurately represents the "common" side effects or not.

For me, I was on Ortho-Lo for the last year, and I just don't think it worked well with my body chemistry. I have always had problems with my BC, and with Ortho-Lo I experienced nausea, mood swings, and worst of all--severe depression.

Like many Ring users, I had never been depressed before in my life. I started questioning every decision I had made in life, and constantly felt homesick. I never thought that the Ortho-Lo could have been the cause until I started reading this.

My doctor just put me on the Ring a few days ago, but so far I have been very pleased. I always had a hard time remembering to take my pills, and one reason my doctor recommended the Ring is because I have breakthrough bleeding so much that she can never get a Pap from me.

Immediately after putting in the Ring, my breakthrough bleeding stopped. I have had no headaches, discharge, vaginal irritation or nausea. I have been a little irritable, but I assume it is because I just switched BC.

As far as sex drive, I hadn't thought about it because I am still not supposed to have sex for another few days (my doctor told me to leave it in for 7 days before having sex). BUT I have felt sexually attracted to my BF, I just know I can't get carried away with those thoughts until I am in the safe-zone with the Ring.

My body chemistry tends to be very different from most women I know, but I have a hopeful feeling that there are some women out there who will be greatly benefitted by the Ring...maybe I will be one of them!

My mother has been taking Lipitor for four or five years. We moved and the new doctor increased her to 80 mg. He also put her on Zetia. Mother is 86 and weighs barely 100 pounds. This past year her short term memory started getting worse,more so than normal for her age, according to doctors. I was also noticing cognitive problems. She went through a battery of tests. She did not have alzeimers and nothing could be pinpointed other than she was worse than normal for her age as I already stated. Then this last week of the year, her muscles all over her body started hurted and feeling very sore. Then she started have lots of trouble walking, getting in her car, etc. It was so bad so quickly that I became extremely alarmed. My sister mentioned Lipitor and I started the research. I talked to two pharmacists, since we could not reach the doctor. They were both alarmed at the symtoms I described. We stopped both medications three days ago and she is already improving. I now believe that even the memory problems and other things that were gradual were because of the Lipitor. (the pharmacists did tell us it would be okay to stop both for the time being.) I was ready to take mother to the emergency room. That is how bad she had gotten is such a short time. I watched her and talked with her. She was very discouraged at the rate of decline in her walking. It was as if paralysis was setting in. I believe she would have been in a wheelchair soon had we not stopped the Lipitor. We are going to try some natural things to keep her cholesterol down. The quality of life is important too. This has been very scary for us but we are hopeful as she is already experiencing some improvement. We do understand that it can take time to get back and at her age that is expected. Being an elderly person though does not justify that all of these symtoms were 'just' her age. She has always been very active and alert and could outdo me (and my sisters) on most days! I will check this site often for comments and stories of others on this drug. Thank you for the help to those of you that I read your stories and good luck to you that are having difficulties.

I received 10 Kenalog injections on 9/15 in my scalp to help with hair loss. I am 34; the doctor biopsied and said I had scarring alopecia. I asked about cortisone shots and she elected to give me a series to see if it would help. The shots were painful, of course. But I'd read that steroid therapy can help regrow hair, so I remained hopeful. On my return visit a couple of months later, I pointed out the dent to her, and she said it would fill in in a few months. She gave me a 2nd shot of Kenalog in my left buttock.

I got home that night and looked up the drug and its side effects. I found this board. I cried all night.

It's 3 months later and I have one huge, tender indentation in my scalp--it is BALD; how ironic as there was hair there pre-Kenalog. I also have several less deep dents in my scalp. I've also had the yeast infection, but so far I have yet to develop an indentation or discoloration in my buttock. I am wondering if I should see a lawyer because I was not informed of the risks of this drug. And apparently rather than improving the situation it was prescribed for, it made it worse.

Sigh.

Dear Guest 33726-

I went off of Yasmin 2 months ago. I went instead onto Orthocept which I took years ago but will likely "wean" myself off of this as well when some of alot of transition that is happening in my life has become more settle. My ears are still plugged though they are not hurting as much as they used to while I was taking it so that should be hopeful for you. And I'm not as "foggy" headed as I was while on it. I used to take it and feel exhausted afterwards, yawn all day and pee up a total storm.

Two months off, though I am still experiencing chest pains (they were really bad last few days), ears are better. I also got a cold in September (same time I went off of the Yasmin) and it lasted for 2 whole long months! Then I was feeling a little bit more back to normal and then got sick again for this last week. I've never been sick like this in my life.

I can't link all of this to Yasmin but I've definately seen the patterns and confirmed what looks like similar experiences to so many others here (like colds, sinus and otherwise), chest pains, plugged ears, constant urination due to the diuretic effect, exhuastion and feeling blue.

I have also gained 7 lbs in just 1 month since going off of the Yasmin. Did this happen to anyone else? !!! One of the greatest benefits on it was losing weight (I am sure due to the diuretic effect)-but the trade-off of all the rest of the side effects so not worth it.

Hang in there. Things will get better. Much of them already have for me. Least I think so. And staying positive, thinking positive really important too.

My son has been on Advair for several years and is now 9. He is a healthy eater and quite tall for his age but is getting an increasingly large mid section. When I looked on this website and saw that many other people had this side effect it made me hopeful that this may be his problem! Is there any proof that this is a side effect? If so are there other preventative asthma medications that don't cause this side effect?

Hi all: My wife has been having problems for about a year and when we started talking about them with our counselor, I realized that the problems began the same time she started taking Topamax.
She takes 100mg a day, (4, 25mg pills every night before bed)
Thinking back and thinking currently, she has had memory problems, problems holding objects, NO SEX drive, has had problems thinking clearly, moody and is mad at me a lot. This has all lead to problems in our marriage.
I'm trying to see if these side effects are common!
I have read some posting from others that show some or all of these sypmtoms occurring in themselves or their loved ones.
I love my wife greatly and have mentioned not taking these pills anymore, but she has resisted. I'm hopeful with some research and some more first hand accounts, that I can convince her to give this a try and possibly save our marriage.

Thanks to any and all who can help.

I went off of Yasmin in Feb 2006 and in May my hair started shedding like crazy. It's still going on but is starting to decrease. Has anyone else experience post-Yasmin or bcp hair shedding and do you have any hopeful stories about it growing back. I could use some happy stories. Thanks so much, Kat

lorio377-
I'm so sorry you are so sad! I too am 32 and had to stop taking Yasmin b/c of possible clot. I was taken off mid-pack June 7th. I know everyone is different, but my skin/hair have gone from borderline dry to more the greasy side, and I actually even had face breakouts. I tease I'm a teenager again! I'm adjusting my skin/hair care products, but have had many women reassure me that skin more on the greasy side will stave of wrinkles as I age. :-) I wouldn't say I noticed my hair thinning on Yasmin but it definitely was more brittle and broke more. I was very emotional at first after Yasmin and still have my days, but after 2 months I feel like I'm starting to stabilize. And thanks for the eye twitch notice, yet another effect I didn't even know was likely a Yasmin thing. I bet you will notice as you feel better all the 'stuff' you didn't realize were due at least in part to Yasmin, too. Please hang in there, I am very hopeful as the days and weeks go by your WILL feel better!

Today is my 11th day Yasmin free.

Last week was the week of migraines. Fairly bad, but haven't had one since Friday, so it's looking good.

I have been feeling a little more emotional than usual, but on the plus side my interest in sex is returning.

Felling hopeful and that's good. :)

The face and hand tingling caught my eye. I was taken off Yasmin last week after being hospitalized with decreased bloodflow to my hand - the reason was vasospasm in my hand with a possible clot, and my fingers were turning cold and blue! Turns out bcp's can cause vasoconstriction and blood clots. (fyi - I'm 32, healthy and have never smoked) All three specialists I saw felt the bcp was the main culprit. Off 1 week and my hand is getting better with, you guessed it, another medication. After reading about the side effects I realized my headaches, muscle soreness, face and arm tingling, and bouts of depression could all be due to Yasmin. It really explains so much of my vague health problems I have battled for so long. I'm a mess right now, but am hopeful I'll come out better than ever! If anyone has tips on getting through the "withdrawal" from Yasmin, please share!

Silke
These hormones are responsible for tissue, skin, and muscle regeneration. I would not be suprised if thats what caused your muscle fatigue. Recently, I have tried to start to work out again and I have found that I lost a lot of muscle strength through out this whole episode. I had a lot of jaw aching/pain on and off the yasmin. You know the muscles around your jaw, mine would often be aching. I thought it was stress from the whole episode, but at the time I remember thinking it was strange because it didnt feel like I was clenching my jaw. It just ached. It even did it some this evening. My skin still feels sensitive and I have been getting big pimple like bumps around my hairline and on my neck, I was getting them a lot in my scalp, now it seems to have moved down. They arent really like pimples because they dont form a white head and pop like pimples, they seem to resolve quicker and go away without breaking the skin, thank god. I think it is the oil glands coming back? I dont know. Anyway are you still experiencing side effects besides the muscle aches/fatigue? I am still hopeful to make sense out of this whole nightmare. Trying to get the Dr.s to help is hopeless at times. The key is finding a good one I think. Let me know what you think of the website. I found it informative.
I dont know if they have labs that can test for saliva in Germany. The company is based in Oregon and then they contract out the testing to a facility closest to you. I will try to find out if this is done overseas as well if you are interested. look forward to hearing from you!
Take care,
Bitter RN