I could live symptoms and conditions

I have been taking Topamax for approx. 8 months now - 50mg in the morning and 50mg in the evening. Was found to have a Cevernous Haemangeoma
on the front left temporal lobe which caused me to have Epileptic symptoms however never has full fits - just stroke like syptoms.

I have tried Epilim and all the other drugs. After taking Topmax i felt good for some time then the weight loss kicked in, some hair loss, pains in the right knee, tingling in the hands and under the feet. I could live with these however
i have been really battling of late with my urinary system. It is always as if i have a bladder infection, pain in the lower abdomen etc. Done scans etc. to check for stones - zero. Have decided to wean off Topamax and see if these
effects go away. The drug did wonders for my brain problem but the side effects have just gotten too much.

I thought this stuff was going to kill me! Sure I could live with the bad taste and the feeling like I was going to hurl, I could even handle the thrush. But then it started to effect my mind. It made me feel so ill. I had confusion, I would get disoriented. Then it got to the point my arms head and neck would have uncontrollable jerky movements. Then it messed with my speech. It was hard to get the words out. While trying to talk I would just start to cry, all the while my arms are flaring. Some thought I must have had a stroke. I looked like I had Parkinson Disease. I took this for about a total of 5 days. The first 2 days were okay, just felt pressure in my head behind my eyes and in my ears. By day three I felt like someone slipped me something bad. That was when the jerks and speech problems started. Once the medication was stopped, it was 72 hours later that the jerking movements stopped and I could speak normally. I was prescribed this for c-diff. The c-diff was a walk in the park compared to what this drug did to me. The doctor says those side effects can happen but it was VERY rare. I guess I was the rare one. So I say it is a VERY bad drug. But it is hard to say if I may have an underline condition that is not known and this drug just brought it to the surface. Either way I would avoid this like drug, that is just my opinion. I now know what hell must be like.

I have been on Ovcon 35 for 4 months. Put on it for continuous use to prevent endometriosis. I had minor symptoms before the pill. I experienced spotting and breakthrough bleeding most of the months for at least 2 weeks per month. I could live with that if I really had to , althought very annoying. I have had slowly progressing depression (including insomnia, irritability and memory loss)until finally I had a manic depressive episode where I had suicidal thoughts. It took 2 days for the "fog" to clear and to realize that it was the damn pill. I stopped it immediately, obviously this is not a side effect I care to deal with. Feeling better already!!

Well, if I would have had the chance to read such postings and experiences like these here 6 years ago, when I started taking this hellsent drug, without knowing, what I was doing to my body, I would have been very thankful. Ok, I don't know if I would have believed, that the same thing could happen to me, because I had been taking bcp for 5 years before Yasmin without ANY problems!!! But I definitely would have taken the chance and had thrown away the pill package as fast as I could have....

Nobody can say, how your body will react to a bcp, everybody's different. But believe me, there are better ways for bcp and even much better and more riskless pills than that one!!

The first years being on bcp at all (about 11 years ago) I didn't gain ANY weight, I was just about 110 lbs (55 kg in german weight), very slim and healthy. The weight gain after all startet about 4 or 5 years being on bcp very slowly year by year. Well, but still not in that way as under Yasmin!! I just gained about 10 pounds over about 5 years and I could live with that, because I still didn't look fat or plumper.

But seeing different photos of me during my "Yasmin-years" I can see, that every year taking it I started more looking like I was "pumped full" with water or anything else, even in my face and my neck. Everything on my body started looking like pudding. Just a very unnatural look and very unusual for me, like I was always very slim and never had any problems with my weight before!!

And nevertheless I still didn't look as bad as I'm doing now after getting off this hellsent drug. My weight went up 2 dress sizes (40 pounds!!!) within only 3 (!) months!!! I was so shocked, because I never had looked like this before.

Altogether I can say now, that taking bcps has made me go up the amount of 50 pounds in weight and never eating more than before or doing anything else different than before!! I don't have to tell you, that I'm no longer feeling like the old me.... and that just besides all the other health problems and not really living for about 3 years now, not to mention the 8 months since december last year, when I really thought, my life would end...!!! (And still not really back to normal after 8 months of not taking this poison!!! Well, 5 years of taking Yasmin have taken their tribute....)

So please don't only think twice but triple ore more about taking this Yasmin stuff any longer!!! It's not too late now to stop!!

Best wishes and take care!!

Silke

I've been on Yasmin for about six weeks, as an alternative to my long-time favorite, Ortho-Novum 7/7/7, which started giving me vaginal dryness at 41. The sexual problem cleared up instantly with Yasmin, such a big relief, so I felt I could live with the 2 1/2 weeks of breast tenderness I had the first month.

Now, in my second month, I am troubled with crippling insomnia. I have always been a poor sleeper, but this is really different, only 2-4 hours of sleep night after night for two weeks. I have tried various sleep patterns (with my history I'm pretty adept at manipulating my sleep), but nothing works. I really can't go on like this. No wonder sleep deprivation is often used as a torture device.

Other symptoms include unusual fearfulness (not quite physical anxiety attacks), irritability, weepiness, and foggy brain, amounting to loss of function so bad that I really worry about driving my kids around. My refrain has become, "Another lost day!" I thought all of those were triggered purely by the sleep problems, and I've been working up to asking my primary physician for sleeping pills, a first for me in all my years of being sleep-challenged. But after reading most of the posts on this site, I believe Yasmin may be causing those emotional problems directly.

Meanwhile, just 3 pounds of weight gain has caused me to go up a full pants size (it's ALL on my belly, basically overnight), and I hate to think where that is heading. I do have somewhat increased appetite some days, but I've increased my exercise sufficiently, which is a struggle in this state of sleeplessness. Yes, I know that growing belly fat is part of being over 40, but I'm very aware of and careful about my diet and exercise and this undeserved weight/belly surge does coincide with starting Yasmin.

Two questions:

Has anyone gained weight BOTH on and when going off Yasmin? I've read both situations, but from the same person?

Has anyone had insomnia early on with Yasmin that went away after a couple more months of continued Yasmin use? Can those of you who have also had this kind of serious insomnia, and who have discontinued Yasmin, report on how long the insomnia specifically took to subside?

I've just made an appointment with my gyn for a couple of days from now. I just want a different pill or no pill--I don't intend to let him talk me into continuing on Yasmin over my increasingly serious concerns. However, if others on this site have had experiences like mine that then got better, that would be more persuasive.

The only side effect that doctors officially recognize is the cough. Some doctors will try to convince you that you can live with the cough, which is such bad advice.

The cough is a sign that your body is not happy with the med. It took me about 2 weeks to get the cough. It is the first symtom I had. I wish I'd stopped right away when I got it, but it was so mild at first and the doctors convinced me I could live with it. Once I had the cough, it very slowly kept getting worse over a period of the next 2 weeks, though I would have still considered it liveable. But then other side effects that the doctors don't acknowledge started happening. Eventually it was these other side effects that made me stop taking the drug. But the cough was the first symptom that my body didn't like this med.

Since it's the only one the doctors know about, it's the one to complain about. So if you get the cough: start complaining about the cough right away - immediately, the first day you get it. Tell them that you associate the cough with taking the drug. If they don't switch you off right away and it gets any worse at all, complain that the cough is getting worse and worse and tell them you can't live with the lisinopril, and tell them before it harms your lungs and energy levels, or you develop other symptoms.

I have learned that it is up to the patient to complain about drug side effects. The doctors will never diagnose it on their own. They must be trained to consider new conditions as new conditions, and never as side effects. It is important to them to never put it in the patient's head that a symptom is or could be a drug side effect. They don't want to mess with patients who are actually taking a drug and getting some benefit from it. Compliance (getting the patient to take a drug every time, on time) is a big problem. And, of course, experimenting by taking a patient off a drug might make them question the drug. So they would rather experiment by adding more drugs than to put the idea in your head that it might be a side effect of one you're alread taking.

Therefore you, the patient, must make the association yourself, and complain about the drug's side effects. And you have to complain about a side effect they already know of, or they will flatly reject the idea that the drug is doing any harm. Even when you do they will try to get you to live with it. Once they have you living with it, they not follow up with you to see if it gets any worse, and, you'll probably also be less likely to complain about it again if it does. This is a bad situation. And maybe you can live with it at first, but the first side effect appearing is a bad sign and if, after complaining, you agreed to live with it, if it gets any worse at all you need to bring it back to their attention, quickly, and let them know things have changed and it's time to stop living with the side effect.

After 3 weeks of taking tapazloe I developed Very severe joint pain. It felt like I was paralized. Then after 2 days it would attach a different joint. Scarest thing I ever had to experience and I have had 2 children via c section. Worst part is that the dr said that it wasn't the meds so I continued taking them!

I was prescribed 250/50 Advair, twice a day. Within several days it was noticably helping my breathing. Right away the side effects I had were a dry, raspy throat and hoarseness, which I could live with. Then I got continual sores on my mouth and tongue dispite rinsing after the Advair. I was still thinking I could live with that since I was breathing so much better. I had a lot of indigestion and was constipated, which I was still thinking I could probably live with. BUT after about 2 months of taking the Advair I was noticing a lot of joint pain; most noticable in my fingers, thumbs, wrists and hip. That scared me so I started researching the harder to find effects of taking Advair. I finally decided the cure wasn't worth the unknown damage it was inflicting on my body, so I quit taking it. I just stopped - no bad side effects from stopping it abrubtly, and the joint pain decreased pretty fast. I've been off it for about a month now; can't breathe as well but my fingers and wrists and hips don't hurt anymore and the sores in my mouth have gone away as well as the heartburn and constipation. I think it's a pretty scary drug that's prescribed way too frequently and way too fast without enough research.

I have been taking 30 mg. of oxy., 3X daily for over 2.5 yrs. I hate this stuff but I don't believe I could live through the back pain without it. I have severe constipation problems, weak/tired all the time, and my stomach is a mess. I can't eat anything like I use to, nor does the food taste as good. I would like to get off this stuff but the withdrawals are so bad that I sweet, my nerves are shot, and I really get angry at the slightes things. What can a person do? Your comments are appreciated.

I have been on Zocor (20mg) for about 40 days. I am an active, 33 year old male. I have a very balanced diet, and am not overweight, and an ex smoker. Unfortunately, my cholesterol is high. (at one time, it was 289 as a vegetarian).
After 40 days, I was rechecked, and the cholesterol went from 249 to 169. Tri's went down to 140 from 200... HDL and LDL are now in the good range. There is no evidence of liver or muscle damage.
Here's the problem. I'm severly fatigued. I can't get out of bed in the morning, even after getting a full nights rest. I feel "depressed" although I don't know if it is just because I'm tired. I quit smoking a week before starting Zocor, so I"m not sure if the lack of nicotine is contributing to the malaise.
I've had some
The doctor is taking me off of Zocor for a month, to see if things improve.
I could live with the fatigue if it would eventually go away, because Zocor has done what it's intended to do....