Hormone replacement therapy symptoms and conditions

I started taking Lipitor in April 2009 and my Dr prescribed 10 mg per day. As I usually have negative reactions to medications I compromised & agreed to take it every other day. I am a healthy 56 year old woman and the only medication I take is hormone replacement therapy. I am also in pretty good shape physically. At the end of July I herniated two disc's in my lower back, the L6 & L7, after a day of normal yard work. I could not move for two days and experienced the worst pain of my life. At the time I did not make any connection between Lipitor and this event. The recovery was slow and painful. In Sept I also began to experience sharp pains in my thigh. I read the side effects again regarding Lipitor and determined that this drug is most likely the cause. I decided to stop taking the drug and after three to four weeks the thigh muscle pain disappeared and my back pain significant decreased. Just to make sure I was not imaging the whole thing I took Lipitor twice in the past week and my back pain symptoms returned and I experienced the muscle pain in my thigh again. I was so bad it woke me up. After reading more about Lipitor and the effect it is having on my quality of life I am done with this drug. Although it did reduce my cholesterol I will find another way to control the LDL's & HDL's.

Okay...this is amazing, cause I thought I was crazy but now I know all of us are!!!hahah...I had the Mirena put in in early October. I am perimenopausal and my hubby has a vasectomy. The docs encouraged it to help with my menopausal symptoms, primarily irregular cycles and cramping due to not bleeding - they said that was due to low progesterone and the Mirena would work wonders. I had it put in (very very painful - and this from a woman who gave birth, at home, two separate times with nothing but a midwife and some gentle massaging during the birthings!) and never stopped bleeding. Not once! I have gone through two boxes of tampons and three of pads. I have cramping all the time, and low back ache. I noticed that my bras felt really sore and enlarged (so did hubby) and they grew overnight. I gained three pounds and started crying at the time. The final insult: no sex drive. zippo. none at all. I also have terrible vagina odor which is, I know gross to admit, but a very new thing. I think that there are many women who simply cannot tolerate these hormones. Our bodies know what to do and I am going to brave the change without intervention. I went to see doctor today and, of course, she tried to talk me out of removal. She even had the nerve to say that it was good to have in, to protect my uterus, for eventual Hormone replacement therapy -as if I had ever mentioned that as an option? I looked at her and said, "take it out". Now I don' t know if this is imagination, but I swear the cramps have abated in the past several hours. I am still bleeding but feel hope for its ending. I would not recommend this to anyone and to those out there being told its value in managing menopausal symptoms, move on. It is not worth it - the change is change enough!

Wondering if anyone has noticed an increase in sun spots on their face? I'm 31 and wear SPF 30 on my face daily - but since I've started on Yasmin the sun spots seem to be getting worse daily (I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until my 40's). I haven't changed anything else in my daily routine - just curious is anyone else has noticed the same thing?

I'm a very healthy 53-year-old woman, with the exception of a recent onset of borderline hypertension. I've been on Lisinopril for approx. 2 months now; first 5 mg/day, then was advised by my doc to increase to 10 mg/day when BP didn't stay down. At first I just felt woozie and sleepy (on the 5 mg), but soon after I began to have a feeling of "fullness" and throbbing in my temple areas. Often times, a migraine would follow. These symptoms only worsened when the dosage was increased to 10 mg. Then, about 5-6 weeks into treatment, I began to have heartburn (which I've NEVER had in my life!), and a burning sensation in both upper arms. I treated with Tums, which seemed to help the heartburn, but the odd, burning feeling in my arms remained. It never occurred to me until now that the Lisinopril could be causing ALL of these symptoms. Since my hypertension is borderline, and I know it's most likely related to a recent weight gain (due to menopausal hormones, ughhh), I am going to wean myself off of this horrible drug and just commit to losing the 5-10 lbs. I need to lose. I will monitor my BP carefully in the interim, but having never been on any medication other than biodentical hormone replacement therapy this past year, I don't see the need to start now. I see now how easily people can innocently start out with one, simple issue and a prescription, and end up in worse condition and taking MORE medication to treat all the resulting side-effects! It becomes a vicious cycle.

The side effects are: ******

Everyone has explained the exact symptoms as listed on these two websites. The Mirena website will not list these and the IUD is not marketed as such because let's face it, no one would use it, but if you study actual drug websites and the scientific facts of what the drug does , then you would not be surprised that your hair is falling out , your butt is getting big and you have no sex drive. These are "less serious side effects". But when we were all approached with the device, no one ever said "hey, it makes you cramp up and have strange tingling sensations in your extremities, accompanied by joint pain, but what the heck, it’s good for 5 years!" Pretty sure you would have said ..."huh? That doesn’t sound good to me”.

The hormone released in the IUD is levonorgestrel a synthetic, biologically active progestin. Progestins are hormones, an imbalance in hormones cause the same crappy side effects that you are having. This is why people feel better then they have the device removed, because you body goes back to making the correct hormone balance customized for YOU. Progestin is prescribed for male and female alike, guess what I’m not male!

I'm pretty sure that this "synthetic progestin”, is messing with my normal hormone creation. Although Dr's may disagree, I’m seeing a connection here.

So mine was inserted due to irregular periods , I had no other complaints and yes, now I have the weight gain , depression , join pain , etc ... but, I did go to a hormone specialist 1 year later , who did a hormone panel and found out that my hormones are out of whack ...due to the device?, or pre-device insertion? I have no idea, but now I am on hormone replacement therapy and guess what, symptoms are gone.

So my advice is this, if you just had a baby, had sudden period changes, or any medical reason why this evil thing was prescribed, or maybe, you were just fine and had this IUD inserted for birth control purposes and now all of a sudden you could care less about sex and taking this thing out for a test drive. PLEASE demand that your doctor due a blood test to determine your hormone or thyroid level to see if it is out of balance.

If you young, they won’t believe you, if your older or just had a baby, you have a better chance. But please explain , hey it’s just a simple blood test , if it comes back normal , hey the Dr is right, your crazy ,so move on to plan B which is taking the thing out, or If your right then 5 years of birth control is a great thing WITH corrected hormone levels.

HRT makes this uterine parasitic device much more manageable for me. The IUD did stop my heaving bleeding , abnormal periods and sever cramps for which I suffered for years , and I don’t want to take it out because I do not want to endure that same pain , so try a little estrogen , progesterone, testosterone , DHEA cocktail it worked for me and I hope it will work for someone who is have the same issue.

I’m a 52 year old female diagnosed with bi-lateral pulmonary embolisms three months ago. I’ve been on Warfarin for those three months. The reason I’m searching this blog is because I experience chills at about 4:00 am every morning. It’s interesting to hear of others having the same issue. However, I have not experienced other side effects mentioned: weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, headaches, depression... One thing that I’ve not read about here is the actual physical effects from the embolisms. I do experience shortness of breath and fatigue but I attribute it to the healing process that is occurring in my lungs. I have a wonderful doctor that told me that the road to recovery will not be easy and there will be some set-backs along the way. She listened to my concerns about shortness of breath and prescribed a couple of inhalers that I use to make my breathing more productive. She told me me to exercise “gently” to help my blood circulate to aid the healing that needs to take place. I admit that it’s hard to exercise when I’m not feeling my best but the benefits are worth it. I’m now feeling better than I’ve felt in three months. I also reduced my calorie intake knowing that with my limited activity my metabolism would slow down and weight gain would be a risk. So I ask the people writing in with side effects to look at their situation honestly and see what changes they could make to help their bodies heal. Those with PE and DVT, are you exercising? Are you overweight and need to alter your eating habits? Do you still smoke? We need to take responsibility for our health. I am a healthy, active, non-smoker. My PE’s are probably the result of starting Hormone Replacement Therapy four months prior to my PE’s. I have no other risk factors. Once I’m off Warfarin my doctor will run blood tests to see if I have other clotting factors, meanwhile I’m doing all that I can to help my body heal. I wish everyone here well and hope that your health improves.

Let your body heal from child birth before you get Mirena, that is my opinion. I didn't get Mirena until my son was over a year old and i haven't had any crazy side effects, at first the bleeding and spotting for about a month and then my period stopped. i love it so far and reading some of these comments i realized the common theme in them is that many of the women have had problems got the Mirena right after having their child. i really think your body needs time to process all the hormone changes and get back to normal before you add birth control to the mix.

Exhaustion, joint pain, headache, ankle swelling, shortness of breath, persistent (cold) sores in my nose…

I am 52 years old and have taken Lisinopril for approximately 7-8 months. During the past two weeks, the majority of my joints have suddenly begun to ache. My fingers, especially index fingers, and one wrist are extremely uncomfortable. Other than the side effects listed in the comments on these pages, has anyone lost their eye brows? Sounds crazy doesn’t it but I first thought it was a side effect of hormone replacement therapy. I gradually stopped taking the HRT (ugh!) but continued to lose my eyebrows and now I notice my eyelashes are thinning. After trips to two dermatologists, neither had an explanation and both denied the HRT drug would cause the hair loss. I was and am extremely frustrated. I am not sure what made me research side effects for Lisinopril again but I finally saw something on an internet site saying that ONE percent of people could suffer hair loss. I’m sure my doc will be disappointed that I want off this medication. The only meds I take regularly are Lisinopril and Dyzaide (low dose). I have taken the Dyzaide for several years.

My wife started on 6.25 dosage for her inability to sleep properly. It helped her sleep. However, the 6.25 stopped being responsive and her MD prescribed her a higher dosage. Once she started taking the higher dosage, her thought process was impaired and had extreme pressure headaches along the head, face and neck. Her mind was so screwed up that she started to have suicidal thoughts and intense feelings of fear that she would start to have panic attacks. I do not know how these drugs get FDA approved. Went to a naturopath who did a hormone test and found that her hormones were unbalanced. Went on bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and she is herself again. She is also able to sleep properly.

Hi...I'm glad I found this sight! I don't recommend Lupron; I think its bad side effects outweigh its good ones.

I only took one 3-month shot of Lupron in July of '07. I had horrible hot flashes...which I was told to expect, but the vaginal dryness, lack of sex drive, weight gain, breast changes, vaginal dysfunction, and, I believe the high blood pressure I now have is associated with this drug. I actually started looking for side effects online because my blood pressure has been elevated ever since taking Lupron. It is now January '08, and I still don't feel normal!

I lost my job, my family, my dog, I'm dying, THANKS YASMIN...good lord some people on here are blaming every *** problem on the pill, come on now...going from a size 2 to a size 12, UMMM HELLO...how long would you let yourself gain that much weight, before STOPPING the pill??? Good lord..I understand that the pill isn't right for everyone, but it amazes me how long people continue to take something that isn't doing them any good.

I am a 53 years old female diagnosed with diabetis for about 5 years, now. Currently, I take 1500 mg of metformin to treat the diabetis. A year ago this month, my bp went up to 164/88. That's when my doctor put me on 5 mg of lisnopril. The 5 mg dosage brought my bp down to about 140/84, it never went down to 120/80, even after using for one year. I can say that since I've been on this medication, I have been extremely fatigue. Several times I told my doctor about the tireness and that I thought it was due to the Lisinopril. She just sort of disregarded my complaint. She said that what I was feeling was due to menopause and the diabetis. About three weeks ago my bp went up to 171/88, so she decided that it was time to increase the dosage to 10 mg and to put me on hormone replacement therapy to reduce the fatigue. I told her that I didn't want the 10 mg of Lisinopril because I believed my fatigue was due to it. She insisted that it was best for me and that HRT would help.

Well, what I've done was decrease the dosage to about 2.5 mg on my own. And what I notice was that my energy level seems to be returning. I been feeling better and my goal is to start taking the 2.5 mg every other day until I can completely stop taking this stuff.

Today, I noticed that my arms felt a little heavy like and my heart seems to flutter a bit. I would like to hear from some of you that stopped taking Lisinopril, what were some of the symptoms that you experienced and for how long. I know that getting off a med can be dangerous, but staying on them can be just as dangerous, too.

I've been on levoxyl for approximately 10 years thinking the side effects were from my hysterectomy 6 years ago and being on hormone replacement therapy. I am irritable, agitated, unable to stay asleep, having more and more trouble recalling people I've met through work and retaining information. Family and friends have teased me. It's getting worse. My most bothersome side effect is that every night while after falling asleep, I've been awakened by extreme hot feelings like I'm on fire inside, not the same as hot flashes experienced by menopause. I'm hungry all the time feeling like I can't stop eating, luckily, not gaining much weight but picking on food as much as possible. I'm waiting for a phone call from my doctor to see how to stop using levoxyl and what I'll have to replace it with.

I am a 30 year old woman of 2. I have just started my second round of Lupron. The first one wasn't so bad, I had some hair loss, lack of sex drive and mood swings. I knew this could happen before I took the drug. I did get relief while on the drug.
I took the entire 6 months worth, and when I was finished I started my period again within 2 months. It was worse than before, if thats possible. My doctor refuses to do surgery and said it is safe to stay on the drug "indefinatly" with hormone replacement therapy.
I have just had my second shot on round two, this time the hot flashes are so bad I couldn't sleep, my hair is falling out in huge clumps, mood swings were horrible and sex drive was a thing of the past. However I find when I take the low dose hormones I do feel better, it helps with the hot flashes, mood swings and sex drive, somewhat. The only other thing I have noticed this time is my breasts are getting slightly smaller. I think these are small prices to pay for the pain to be gone.
I am undecided as to what I am going to do for the future, but I will proceed with caution after reading your stories. Thank you for sharing.

I've been taking Synthroid (Levothyroxine) for about 17 YEARS. I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease, and opted for the radioactive iodine. After two years of trying to control the disease with PTU (which has serious bone marrow depletion side effects) I decided to go for the one thing I knew would work. Of course, the treatment with the radioactive iodine is very tough to estimate, and I went from hyperactive to hypoactive. As a result, I'll take 200mcg (0.2mg) for life.

I think it's important to understand that Synthroid is not a drug. It is a hormone. When you take Synthroid, you're engaging in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). You really won't experience side effects from the hormone, but you will experience problems if the amount of hormone is not within a "normal" range. Too much or too little will be a problem for anyone. What's critical here is to take the hormone at the same time every day (without food -- calcium will block its absorption), and monitor your hormone level frequently to establish a solid baseline.

The hormone will take days, or even weeks to reach its peak, and the duration is variable. BECAUSE IT'S A HORMONE, TAKING MORE OR LESS THAN IS NECESSARY WILL PRODUCE UNDESIRABLE RESULTS. Any "side effects" are really the result of improper dosing.

Having said all of that, I've never had a problem with Synthroid -- once my optimal level was determined. I worked closely with my MD and together decided that I was best at the upper side of "normal." I've made only one change in the 17 years, and that was to increase the dose.

Here's something to consider: If it weren't for this hormone, and the science behind HRT, I probably would have died years ago.

Started on Lipitor 10 mg 6/16/03 Thought only side effect to watch for was liver problem. Noticed muscle pain (and I mean SEVERE muscle pain--could not sleep because of it and literally crying every day. I blamed it on the fact that I'd gone off hormone replacement therapy.) in late August/early Sept, but didn't associate it with Lipitor until a friend mentioned he'd had problems. I stopped taking it right away and saw my doctor. She tested me for rheumatoid arthritis (came back negative). I've been off it for little over a month. Some days I think I'm getting better and other days aren't so good. The big question I have is: How long before I will be "normal" again?

Well i have been loosing weight in my breast also... and still having awful headaches....and i am very hungry too i am supposed to get some hormone replacement therapy also so we will see .... i had my 3rd shot monday.....