Imagining things symptoms and conditions

I am so glad for everyone's post. I have read so many of your posts and had a lot of a ha moments. I was prescribed Avelox 400 in July 2009. After I took my last dose (10 days), I experienced severe joint pain in my knees, hips, neck, back, shoulders and elbow. Then it went to my fingers. I hurt so bad I couldn't open the door for my dog to go outside. The pain is not so bad anymore, but it is still there. When I get up from writing this I will have a hard time walking. I started loosing brushfuls of hair daily. I now have shortness of breathe. I cry at the weirdest times. I get upset, mad at the littlest things. I have a patch of skin on my back that is constantly irritated, like your shirt tag is rubbing against it but it is not near where my shirt tag is. My husband thinks I am crazy, he says there is nothing there. I started getting stabbing pains in my chest and back, for no reason at all. My mind is like Swiss cheese. I am tired a lot, I want to take several naps a day.
I took all of these things as a sign of getting older...before taking Avelox I felt and acted like a 30 something person now I feel and act like my dad and he is 75.....
I hope we all get to feeling the way we felt before Avelox!!!

I'm 29 yrs old and I was on Femcon about a year ago and everything went fine, so I thought. I was having a lot of symptoms after my pregnancy and I kept thinking it was because of my pregnancy that messed my body up. I quit taking the pill because I had no need to take it because I was separated. Within a few months of being off Femcon I was feeling "normal" again. I quit having the continual cold shakes at night and stomach cramps and nausea. At one point while taking Femcon I started wondering if something wasn't majorly wrong with me and I was dying and nobody cared. I would go to the doctor all the time and obviously I was just a hypercondriac who needed anxiety meds. I hate that stupid comment. I would tell them I am not that kind of person. I had never had a problem with anxiety or imagining things. I love life and people always saw that in me. Anyways, when I quit taking the Femcon I started living again. Well, recently I have started getting acne and I was told that a birth control pill would help with acne so I went to my OBGYN and she suggested that I try Femcon again. Well, at this time I still hadn't really put two and two together and didn't really know for sure that all my previous side affects was because of the Femcon so I decided to try it again. The first week I felt a little nauseous, no big deal so I kept taking it. The second week is when it all started again. I started having all my old symptoms of cold shakes, which are so uncontrollable and my whole body would have like convulsions. I was sick feeling all the time, my stomach was cramping up again. Oh, not to mention I was bleeding constantly. I stopped taking it immediately and it still took my body about a month to get over the symptoms but it is. I do not recommend anyone to take this pill. When I was younger I took many different kinds of pills and never had any symptoms like this. Now that I've been off of it for a little over a month my boobs still feel so sore, and no I'm not pregnant! I know every pill effects everyone differently but I feel like I lost a few years of my life going through all that I did because of some stupid birth control pill, Femcon.

ok ladies. THANKS! now I know I am not imagining things. I had Mirena inserted 9 days ago because I got tired of taking the pill. I have never had issues with the pill just wanted to try something new. Since having Mirena inserted I have had abdominal pain (not severe) just more like pressure on my left lower side. Which occasionally causes discomfort when I sit, walk or bend over. The pressure/discomfort almost feels similar to the discomfort I experienced when I had IBS years ago. In 2005 I had my Gall Bladder removed and since then IBS has disappeared and I have not had issues with IBS. But with Mirena...I have noticed that although I am regular..there is strenuous work (straining) involved (of which I have not had to do since having my Gall Bladder removed). In addition I am having this horrible smelly discharge of which I have never had before. And lastly I have noticed that my thighs are getting a little pudgy and my lower stomach is getting bigger. I feel bloated. Needless to say I am going to have this removed ASAP.

I've been on Nuvaring for about two and a half weeks. I was previously on the patch and had done pretty well with, but I thought it was worth trying something new with a new doctor that I trusted. Or so I thought. I worry a lot about my health and I always feel like I may be imagining things, but I have noticed in the past two weeks a scary pain in my chest below my left breast that has been getting worse. It has been hard to sit certain ways, sleep on my side, and even breathing is sometimes uncomfortable. I am so glad I read this blog! I had a feeling the change had to do with the Nuvaring, but I have several other medical conditions that I didn't want to rule out either. I think this was it, I only hope it goes away. I also am breaking out like I did when I was sixteen overnight and I'm losing some hair in pretty much one spot directly in the front of my head. I have been extremely lethargic and very hungry. Also extra anxious and I don't want to go anywhere and do anything, even necessary things like going to the grocery store or the pharmacy or gas station. I can't function and I have to!! This thing is ruining me. I also can tell you all that I feel Nuvaring is damaging b/c I have been on anxiety medicine for years and have been fairly happy with it, but in the past two weeks I feel more nervous, shaky and uncomfortable in public, I also tend to cry easily and have been in just a pretty bad mood. It has been hard to just be happy, even when the situation is light hearted. I feel like Debbie Downer or something. I have also had gastric bypass surgery and cannot eat much and do not easily gain weight, but since the ring I have felt more appetite and feel like I may have gained a pound or two, which is rare for me. This ring is bad news, beware!

OH MY GOD!!!! I thought I might be imagining things. I was prescribed Levaquin and clyndamycin on December 15 2008 for a urinary tract infection that appeared to have gone systemic. After 2 days my right knee swelled up. I went back to the Dr the next day and he looked up both antibiotics in his little book and said the clyndamycin could cause joint swelling and pain. He told me to stop taking the clyndamycin and take 600 mg of ibuprofen for the joint paig. His little book said nothing about levaquin. Well I kept taking the levaquin and the pain spread literally to every joint in my body. I could not walk and had trouble even holding a coffee cup. The pain was unreal. I completed the 10 day course of the levequin as instructed. The joint pain was getting worse. I called the Dr. again and they did blood work to rule out arthritis and stuff like that. He put me on prednisone which has significantly helped with the pain. He said it may be a coincidence that I have developed arthritis and that it had nothing to do with the UTI. Well as I was watching TV last night I saw a lawyers commercial for a law suit against levaquin and cipro. Then today got on the internet and found this site. I am going to call the Dr. and tell him to update his little book he looked up the levaquin in. My fear is how long after you stop taking this poison does the joint pain end? I wish I would have known all of this sooner. I will never take this drug again.

Thank God for this website! I have learned much and appreciate your experiences so much!

I had the Mirina placed in May of 2008. I have endometriosis and had to come off the oral contraceptives due to migraines. The placing of the Mirina was somewhat painful, but all in all, it wasn't so bad that I look back and say it wasn't worth the pain. Just felt like a bad period, but it only lasted a short time. However, I am ready to GET IT OUT! I absolutely hate the way I feel on it. I did bleed for about 6 weeks, but it was mostly spotting, so not too bad, and I really didn't mind, knowing that my endometrium was thinning out. But, I began to get horrible nausea, so bad that I had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I felt like I could be pregnant. And, my boobs got really, really sore. So bad, that when I got out of bed, I felt the most pain. They felt like swollen water baloons (sorry for the lack of tact here). I also started to get my headaches back. They were not the typical MIGRAINES i had on teh oral contraceptives, but they were definitely there, and they were cyclic. I told my doctor about this, and she was extremely surprised. She said she has a Mirina and has absolutely no problems and loves it. I felt like I must be imagining things until I found this website. The worst for me is the nausea and the headaches. So, it will come out this Monday. I am a little frightened at what I will feel like afterwards, since I've read it can take the body some time to adjust. But, I did decide to "go organic" to try to rid my body of toxins. I don't know if it will help but I hope so. By the way, I want to pass on that if anyone has really bad periods (or endo), it does help to use Flaxseed Oil. It is pricey, and can be bought at a Natural Market like Whole Foods. It is refridgerated and I take 1 tsp per day. I noticed a decrease in my cramping. Just wanted to pass it on in case it might help someone out there.

Oh, forgot to mention, I am very moody on this Mirina. I snapped at work the other day and yelled at my boss. Very unlike me. I was so agitated and upset over something small. Been like that a lot.

God Bless!

Jackie

What exactly do we need for a class action suit, guys?

Side effects: Severe disorientation as if very drunk (vertigo, dizziness, feeling "out-of-body" or high), hallucinations (including feeling things crawling on me), overwhelming fatigue (as if I hadn't slept for days), muscle soreness (as if I'd exercised for hours), joint and tendon pain (especially in hands, wrists and ankles), insomnia, nausea (lost 8lbs in a few days), racing heartbeat, dehydration, ringing in ears, stomach cramps, yeast infection and spotting.

The drug immediately made me sick but I thought it was just the sinus infection, and unfortunately kept on taking it. The side effects were actually worse AFTER I stopped taking it (I got much worse before I got better).

If you're on this stuff, STOP IMMEDIATELY. If you're scared and experiencing side effects as I did, PLEASE KNOW that they are real (you're not imagining things) but they WILL go away. Listen to your body, rest as much as you can, and drink plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of fluids. Despite the nausea, eat SOMETHING (toast, bananas, applesauce).

This is a 24-hour drug, so (verified by my pharmacist) due to its half life, it takes a MINIMUM of four days to leave your system. I only started feeling non-drugged a full 7 days after I stopped taking it. The fatigue lingered (kind of like getting over the worst bout of flu EVER) but now it's slowly going away, too. This stuff was an overwhelming blow to my physical health (I've NEVER been this sick), but I'm getting better. YOU WILL, TOO!

I'm 42 and have 2 children. I had Mirena fitted end April 08 after a recommendation from a friend. A month later I noticed joint pain in my left thumb which over the weeks and months spread to all my fingers, then my hips and finally general stiffness all over. I was training for a 5K at the time and just put this down to post running achiness. I didn't initially connect this to Mirena, I just worried that I was showing signs of arthritis and went to see my GP. No mention of Mirena from her but she just did some tests to see if it could be viral or some form of rheumatism. All results came back negative which was a relief but nothing more was suggested as to why I was having these problems. (which for someone who rarely visits a doctor made me feel as if I was going mad and imagining things) It didn't improve - I was also getting palpitations from time to time so after googling mirena and joint pain I was surprised (and a bit relieved) to find many blogs about this problem, mainly in the US (I live in the UK). Went back to doctor at local family planning clinic who told me yes mirena could cause some arthritic symptoms but she was noticeably reluctant to concede that this was causing my problems. I was urged to keep the Mirena and see a rheumatologist first.

I got the distinct impression that the professionals I spoke to are going to extreme lengths not to say for certain that this device can cause serious and debilitating arthritic pain in many cases.

I have an appointment to see a rheumatologist and I decided to have the mirena removed 5 days ago. I'm hoping the joint pain will go. But am worried this IUS may have triggered something in my system that may not go away.

EVERYONE PLEASE READ!!!! GARDASIL HAS DESTROYED MY LIFE! I am 24 years old and a year and a half ago I was graduating college and planning to be a professional dancer and go to law school...I was perfectly healthy and energetic! In February of 2007 I received my first Gardasil shot. After a few days I started to feel as though I had a Urinary Tract Infection and was also feeling more tired than usual. The doctor gave me an antibiotic and sent me on my way.

In May of 2007 I received my second Gardasil shot and yet again, a few days later I started to feel like I was getting another Urinary Tract Infection. I went to the doctor numerous times between the second and third shot...all for bladder and urinary tract pain. For months I was on different antibiotics and they were not making the pain go away. After visiting a number of urologists, I found out that the urine cultures had all been coming back negative - showing no sign of an infection, so the antibiotics were pointless. All tests that I had run, both blood and urine came back normal. It is not standard procedure for a doctor to call you if your test results come back normal, but there was clearly something wrong, so I searched for a urologist who would believe me that I wasn't making up the pain I was in.

In August 2007, I had a cystoscopy done (they took a scope and went into the bladder to look in the bladder wall) and they concluded that I have an incurable bladder disease called Interstitial Cystitis. This is a condition where there becomes a defect in the bladder wall causing it not to have the protective mucus layer inside of it. The pictures of inside my bladder show red, raw skin, obviously showing the severity of my case of it.

There is no evidence as to what causes Interstitial Cystitis, and there is no proven successful way of treating it. The initial signs are exactly the same as a Urinary Tract Infection (painful bladder spasms, painful urination, body aches and back pain). The main difference is the fact that it is not an infection. There are thousands of people with Interstitial Cystitis who are misdiagnosed as having chronic Urinary Tract Infections.

I received my third Gardasil shot in October of 2007 and that is when EVERYTHING fell apart. The bladder pain became constant and there has not been one minute in a day since that shot I have not been in unbearable pain. This is when everything else in my body began to crash down as well. The other health problems and side effects from the Gardasil that I am having are constant sore throat, vicious migraines, vision changes, back pain, body aches, joint pain, sinus problems, vomiting, constipation, dizziness...I could keep going on forever!

I have tried all of the conventional treatment for Interstitial Cystitis and have gotten NO relief from the pain and other side effects. The doctors didn't know what to do, so they put me on OxyContin and a diet consisting of no acidic foods. That has now posed its own set of problems seeing as now my body is addicted to the narcotic, and I have gone from 5'6'' 125lbs to 100lbs over the course of a year due to the diet. I am extremely malnourished and have to take B12 vitamin shots once a week due to the severe anemia. I am 24 years old, and feel like I am 100. I can not live a normal life, I am going to lose my job from numerous absences, I lost my fiancé and am not able to have an intimate relationship anymore, I am extremely depressed, I have to have my family clean my apartment because I am too sick to do it, I can not do social activities because I am too tired and in pain. This vaccine has DESTROYED my life! I am desperately seeking out someone else who is having bladder problems due to the Gardasil so that I can contact an attorney. This needs to be OFF the market a soon as possible so that it does not run any other lives! Gardasil has caused some deaths, but in my mind, I'd rather die than live with the pain I am having. I did notice there are some posts regarding girls getting urinary tract infections... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have your urine cultured because there is a good chance it may be Interstitial Cystitis!

I am desperately looking for someone who is having some of these symptoms so that I can go to a lawyer and get something going before things like this happen: Numerous states are pushing to make it mandatory that girls receive the vaccine before they enter the 6th grade. We can not let this happen! We all need to stick together and somehow fight this and get out lives back!

Let me know if you are IN - and also what you thought about my post!

You can email me at ******

Bless All of You!

*~Amber~*

My Mirena Removal....
So i posted here a few weeks ago after I found this site. I had EVERY side effect listed and was so freaked out that i immediately made an appointment for removal.
For those of you reading and wondering what the removal is like..
Well, NOTHING like the insertion. I was so so nervous and it was over before we actually started. The DR was surprised that i was back in his office to have this removed. He then proceeded to do an ultrasound to be sure it was placed properly before removal. And yes, all was OK on the position of it. I explained to him my reasons and he looked at me like he had never heard this before. I honestly can not imagine with all the women he sees that NONE of them have complained. But...as I was getting dressed afterwards, I took a good look in his office. There was Mirena literature ALL over the place. In fact, that was the ONLY thing he was advertising. Not to mention...they made me pay up front with the insertion back in Nivember...billed my insurance and I still have yet to receive my reimbursement. Oh yeah, and that...they charge more than the actual Mirena costs, then they bill your insurance for the price they know they will pay and the DR then makes about $150 profit. Nice.
Ok, back to my side effects post Mirena. The removal was not painful at all. I did spot for about a week- nothing too heavy but it was clotty and def there.
A couple of days after the removal it felt like I was coming out of my skin something terrible. I figured this was my body adjusting to the lack of hormones. I also had some headaches.
It has now been 2 weeks and the spotting has disappeared. I also can see the bloating of my stomach is starting to go away. It looked like I was about 4 mos preggo while I was on it. I also have an increased sex drive. And sleep-- well let me tell you, I have not slept this good in a very long time. I am actually sleeping more than 6 hours now and the night sweats have also discontinued.
I can't believe EVERY time I come to this site and look up Mirena ALL the people that have posted their experience as being negative. Yet, the DR looks at me like I am crazy! I have been seeing him for years and I have never complained about something like this. I really am so happy that I have it out and wish I would have done my research on this prior to insertion (which was one of the most painful things ever!)
So..for those of you out there that are either contemplating having it inserted...I say NO WAY. And for those of you out there that are nervous about the removal or not sure..I SAY YES, DO IT! For our bodies to be reacting this way, it is clear to me that it should not be inside of us. Listen to your bodies...they really do speak to you and let you know when something is not right. Forget about the DR saying it is safe or he has not heard of any of these side effects...YOU be the judge.
Good luck! And I promise it gets better once you get that lil' demon out!
Mona

Give anyone really bad nightmares? This happens every time I take them.

I just had my first child almost 3 months ago, and I wanted to get on Yaz because I heard that helped with depression and heavy periods, which I experienced before I had my baby. My Dr said that I couldn't go on Yaz because I was breastfeeding, but that Mirena helped with those things and lasted for five years, and explained the other conveniences of it. So I had it put in at the end of November. I took 800 mg of ibuprofen on the advice of the doctor before I went in, and the insertion was hardly painful at all. I experienced some light cramping for about 10 minutes, and then some stronger cramping that night after the pain relievers had worn off. I had light spotting for a week and then my period started, a full blown period, heavy flow and mood swings, not quite as bad cramping as usual, but enough to make me nauseous once or twice. Today is the 10th day of my period. This morning I woke suddenly with a severe pain in my lower right abdomen, that pierced through to my back and radiated down my thigh and leg. I immediately took 5 ibuprofen (more than I took before the insertion), and the pain wore off after approx. 30 minutes, (I wasn't exactly watching the clock, I was busy writhing in pain on the bed and crying). I have also had several mood swings in the last few weeks but I thought it had to do with my fiance and the baby, we have been fighting anyway. So later when I got up I searched the Internet for side effects I found this site and read all of the posts, and now I am frightened that I will develop more side effects. I just hope I don't start imagining things, the mind is very powerful. Let's all wish each other luck with this. I am starting to think maybe I should get this thing removed and just use the pill or condoms. Good luck to us all.

I am taking Topomax for migraines. I always start everything at a really LOW dose since I have a lot of probs with side effects. Started at 15 mg and went right away to 30mg (15mg twice daily) the second week because I was dying from headaches. The other antidepressants prescribed for constant daily headache prevention all of a sudden weren't working. I didn't want to take my abortive med for migraines every day (Amerge) so I was curious if Topomax might help my daily headache pain. Possibly my daily headaches had become migraines... so hard to tell one from the other anymore. I teach exercise for a living and so much of my headache pain is exercise induced. I found that while on topomax, all of a sudden 2 Advil would take away a headache I would get after exercising which never happened before. I would take two Advil before doing some of my hardest exercise to prevent a headache and for the most part that worked too... and that never worked before. I had tried all kinds of NSAID's before and after exercise at the advice of my neurologist to no avail. I did have one diffuse headache yesterday that might have been a true migraine and I took Amerge because Advil didn't help. I have been on the 30 mg two week now. But, now the downside. Since on the 30mg I feel like my chest is heavy a lot of time when I do water exercise... I am exhausted a lot doing my usual routines... I feel edgy, can't sleep well at night. I HAVE to have a two hour nap after teaching in the morning or I can't function mentally or physically. I sleep well for that nap time. Seems like I have thermoregulation problems. I teach water exercise and if the water is a little cold it bothers me and it never used to. Then in the pool awhile I feel hot. Same when I sleep.. I need a lot of covers, then I throw them off. Then they are on again. No I am not menopausal yet. My brain is hazy on topomax as well. I take bellydance lessons and sometimes I realize I can't remember what my teacher just told me. Now people reading this, don't think that just because this happens to me, it will happen to you. I know people who LOVE topomax with zero side effects. They don't tend to write in to posting boards. Also, sometimes side effects go away. Be patient if you want to give topomax a shot. I am thinking I am going to go back to 15 mg again... and see how I tolerate that. Because I teach exercise, the hardest thing is to feel the heaviness in the chest and the lack of ambition. This is not me. It is great not to have the headache pain, but I don't know if this is the drug for me. I was excited about the "losing weight " side effect , and I could see how skinny people who lose their appetite easily might be affected, but it takes a lot to stop me from eating LOL darn! I did read in another chat some poor chap had sinisitis for months and took TONS of antibiotics before finding out Topomax gives sinisitis type side effects in a small amount of people. So if you get sinisitis, don't take antibiotics before checking out if topomax is the culprit.

My heart goes out to every person out there trying to find the magic bullet for their headache, siezures, whatever... ADVICE.. .start with SMALL doses... you may be able to get used to side effects if you work up slowly in ALL drugs. In many drugs that didn't come in small doses, I took out 3/4 of what was inside just to get a mini dose. Ask your doc if you can mix one capsule or one pounded up tab of your med with juice and store it in the referigerator. You can drink say 1/8 cup a day of the juice to get 1/8 of a capsule. It is a lot easier than chopping up a tab into eighths. Also ask your doc about childrens doses that come in liquids with droppers. Topomax makes taking smaller doses easy with the sprinkles.. you are encouraged to open the capsule and sprinkle as little as you want on food. Good luck all. L.