Impulses symptoms and conditions

I've been on and off singulair for several years. I had a horrible bout of bronchitis that then triggered bronchial reactive disease and I now have allergic reactions to certain chemicals (some spray deodorants, etc.) Singulair worked so much better for me than advair, I was thrilled to be able to talk and breathe. As a teacher I would sometimes have to stop the lecture to get my breath again and drink some water if I inhaled the slightest amount of chalk dust or something.

After reading the comments on this website I am going to discontinue taking singulair. I used to be this skinny person and never, ever worried about my weight. At the age of 37 I had a rip-snortin' major depressive episode with insomnia that had me miss 3 days of sleep (this is on no medication of any kind) and panic attacks and suicidal thoughts and impulses that I'd never had before. Imipramine was my first prescribed med (in 1991) and worked like magic. It cheered me up, calmed me down and made me sleep. I went from 135 pounds to 155 pounds in just several months. I finally got switched to effexor and trazodone, but there's really not been much weight loss. I'd hover around 150-160, but then with singulair added in the last several years I am 170 lbs. I can't believe I am a fat person now and do not over eat. I can't go off my psychiatric medication because it runs in our family and if I taper off I am...uh...crazy. My insomnia is tenacious when I am without medication and then that makes depression and anxiety worse. I never want to have a panic attack again.

I just ran out of my singulair prescription about a week or two ago. I am breathing and speaking fairly normally and my husband and I now have to pay for our own health insurance which is exorbitant and I just didn't feel like renewing the prescription in order to save money. I was pondering my weight gain today and just decided to google singulair and weight gain and I just can't believe it.

I have also experienced hair loss, but my hair is so thick it still looks basically the same. My husband and I have noticed over the last several years that I lose lots of hair after I wash it and there is a mass of hair in the shower stall.

My memory may have been adversely affected by taking singulair. I thought it's just getting older. I am 55. It's been the last several years that I have started to have problems remembering things. I have always had to work with my husband in helping him remember things (it's been life long with him: he is an absent minded professor. He has a genius IQ, is an M.I.T. grad, is an excellent engineer and can't remember his mother's birthday, what plans we have for the week-end, no matter how major, etc. to save his life.) I feel like I am becoming more like my husband in being hopeless and helpless about remembering what's happening from one day to the next. It could very possibly be the singulair. There has been a marked difference in my memory over the last several years. It is embarrassing. I sub for the school district and once showed up on the wrong day at a school and another time didn't show up and they had to call me up and get me out of bed to go to work. I also teach piano and never used to forget who was coming when. Again, I don't know if I can blame this on singulair causing memory loss, but there would be times when someone would knock on the door and I'd be surprised to find a piano student standing there. I feel like I am getting Alzheimer's. My grandmother had it for 17 years. My mom has always been afraid of getting it but she is 80 and is just now starting to show signs of real forgetfulness. I explained to her what my lapses in memory are like and she is shocked to hear that they are similar to hers. My mind just will completely go blank. I will have this thought, get distracted, and just a moment later will struggle to remember the previous thought and there is just a void, peace, blankness, white screen in my mind. Maybe it is getting older, but maybe it's the singulair. Since I'm just recently off it I'm going to pay attention and see if my memory improves or if it is just old age.

Also, my joint problems have been nearly ruining my life the last several years. I don't know if this is exacerbated by my singulair use or not. Bursitis in the hips runs in my family like crazy. We re-sided and painted our house several years ago and my bursitis started to flare up and has been bad since then, but it's also about the time I started taking singulair. I had to quit a sales job this summer because my bursitis has become so bad. Sometimes I can hardly walk. It is nearly unbearable. I get cortisone injections every 6 months, but need it every 2 months. I wonder if my discontinuation of singulair will ease my joint pain? I'm going to track that as well.

For me: weight gain, hair loss, joint pain, some dizziness are possible side effects from singulair.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this site. I am never taking singulair again.

Well I've been on Yasmin for about 8 months, was on Tri-cyclen (Give me really bad IBS and I had massive stomach aches every morning), The Patch (I was on the patch for about a year to 2 years and I stopped because I got my period and it didn't stop for 2 months) and Alesse (I had a little bit of depression).
So, I'm 21 now and Have been taking birth control since I was 15, I got my period when I was 12 and it was always regular so I just took birth control not to have kids.

So, the major symptom I've been having is depression (anxiety), I feel like I'm bi-bolar. I feel lonely all the time when I shouldn’t be because I’m not alone. Yesterday I had a horrible fight with my b/f for no reason at all. After I calmed down I realized I had accused him of something that wasn’t even plausible and told him several times I was going to kill myself, and I had huge impulses to cut myself like I did when I was depressed at 15. I thought about all this and was like wtf, this isn’t right, this isn’t me. I loved life before and now I just don’t care about anything, don’t want to do anything ever. I don’t even get excited for stuff I used to love.

The second symptom is impulsion and paranoia; My b/f is the sweetest guy ever and has never given me a reason to think he’s doing anything to hurt me but I continue to hurt his feelings by accusing him of stuff he would never even think I’m doing and I think I’m pushing him away. I was never ever like this. I quit smoking about a year ago and don’t need it at all anymore. I see my b/f a lot and I get more than enough time to spend with him, well the other week he wanted to stay home and play some video games alone, well I wouldn’t take no for an answer and ended up going, buying smokes and smoking a lot. I don’t get upset like that.

I’ve been crying at least twice a week for no reason or the stupidest reasons. Before I would cry for a reason when something upset me but I now feel like I’m always on the verge of tears and was never like this before, songs that shouldn’t make people cry make my eyes water. I’m always thinking about myself and woe is me and then I cry about that. It’s stupid I never did that before and don’t want to do it now.

I was 115 lbs from when I was 14 until I was 20 and now that I’ve been on Jasmin I’m 130lbs and look like I gained the weight in my stomach because I’m bloated all the time. It was a very unhealthy weight gain and if this was my only symptom I would be alright with it but it’s not.

I’ve also noticed having frequent urination. It sucks when you’re getting intimate and you have to stop in the middle to make sure you use the washroom so it doesn’t hurt if it pushes on your bladder. Sometimes it feels like every ½ to 1 hour I have to pee, other times it’s more like 4 hours or something more normal.

Well, I’m going to the doctor this week, to switch pills, I’ve been thinking about going on Seasonale or Tri-cyclen Lo, I trust my doctors opinion and will ask him what he thinks, if nothing works I’ll just go off birth control all together and use a condom.

My 3 yr old son has been taking Singular for about 1 1/2 years. He has been diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis. That dx came after an upper endoscopy. From about 10 months until starting Singular he vomited after every meal. Eventually had failure to thrive. He was on the Singular about 1 wk when he stopped vomiting. I am scared to take him off this med because it seems to work for him (with decreasing the vomiting). It doesn't actually decrease the eosinophils in his esophagus but somehow stops him from vomiting.He is a more difficult child but it is all we have really ever known from him. By difficult I mean- overly emotional, has trouble controlling impulses, occasionally mean. Does anyone have insight?

I am replying to my first post here yesterday....So today I didn't give my 3 yr old son the singulair and do not plan on it ever again! I have to say though...I am very very concerned. I think tonight I truly saw one of the bad behavioral side effects :( He got upset over something so small. Said he didn't love any of us, he didn't want Chinese which is his favorite! He didn't want to do any of the things that we gave him options on that he normally would jump right up to do! This devastated me! I right away thought to myself is this going to get worse before it gets better? He is still complaining of back pain which I know that will take some time. He punched a little boy just before dinner in the neck. He walked out of the neighbors house to go home and usually I have to carry him out. This is seriously scaring me! I'm not sure what to do ? My fiance, his father, doesn't understand and started to yell at him for his behavior. (We don't get much time to talk and when I try to his dad just says he is ok but I know, deep down he isn't) I am the one with him everyday at home taking care of him. I am now being more patient with this behavior when normally I would lose patience and punish him with time outs. Do I continue to do time outs?
Why should I punish him when its not all him ? This is so unfair :( I mean, he is a boy and yes he acts like one. Doesn't share at times, hits sometimes, he is a or was a normal 3 year old boy. His dad will follow my footsteps on this as he see's how I handle things but I'm a little witty on how to handle it now. At this point I am babying my baby! I will tell him when things he does is not right but I'm at the point now that I don't want to send him to preschool! Do I inform the teachers? Can someone give me some words? Its just hard because he is my oldest and is only 3 so not only am I learning to deal with regular behaviors, I now have to understand how to cope and deal with this until its over. Thank you in advance very much for any help and advice!!!!

I've been on Lamictal 200mg for a couple of months and let me tell you, I haven't had a f^@#!&g good night sleep since! I am a 33 y.o. male with Bipolar Disorder (hate that label) and I have a "slight" case of paranoia. The drug has allowed me to refrain from acting out on certain impulses, but not suicidal tendencies. OK... now I do have fully functioning parts (one in particular) which worked fine before this drug (you see where I'm going with this?). It SUCKS!!! Let's just say that there are certain things I'd rather not have happen prematurely (I am not laughing). I do happen to be great in that particular category, yet this strips me of any natural ability to fully indulge in such activities. Uuggghhhh... Give me my mojo back or just shoot me!

In 2001 my daughter started Singular for about 3 years to treat what the doctors said was childhood asthma. After being on the medication for a few months she started having nightmares and was terrified about going to sleep. Unfortunately, I did not relate this to the medication. We did extensive research on the Singular before starting her on the med.. No- where did we find anxiety, nightmares, or impulsiveness as a side effect. Two years into the med we brought my daughter to see a psychologist because of the nightmares, who diagnosed her with anxiety and impulsiveness. We didn't medicate her for either; however, we did use behavior modification. Although the behavior modification helped slightly with the impulsiveness, it did not do anything for the fear she endured when it became nighttime. She would not go to sleep in fear of the nightmares until pure exhaustion hit. After being on the med for 3 years it stopped working so we took her off. A few weeks after being off a friend asked if my daughter was still on Singular because the FDA just came out with information about it causing vivid dreams that could cause anxiety that Merck seemed to have held back as a side effect. A few months of being off the med and the nightmares went away. Unfortunately, she was on the med for so long and because she was so young I don't know if this caused any long term effects such as the anxiety and impulsiveness that has now became part of her personality. Being 3 years old and taking it for 3 years how can that not make an impact on a child's personality. They are learning things at that age about themselves and the way they rationalize things. Fortunately, she is extremely intelligent and hopefully as she grows older she will mature enough to deal with the anxiety and impulses.

Hi, I take Effexor, and have experienced many of the negative effects described here, however, my personal depression was such before I began that for me it was life-saving. During those periods when I've taken breaks from Effexor, withdrawal wasn't pleasant, nor was it quite as bad as some have experienced (I didn't get the brain-freezes or violent impulses). However, I did find an excellent post in another forum about tapering off, so I am cutting and pasting it here. (fyi, if you take 150s rather than 75s -- I take 150s -- you can use a similar schedule to open the capsules and shake a bit out rather than completely eliminating a dose):

In Response To: Re: New to Effexor (Sharon)

I'have been taking Effexor since one year and a half ( I take 225 mg per day). Before taking it, I was so worrying and panic that I could'nt do anything. It took me about 6 months before seeing a change in my mind. Now, I am very happy and I don't worry about everything anymore. It is a very good medication for me, though it decreases libido. I am reducing Effexor since two months this way : first week : after 7 days, I escape one pill (75 mg); then after 6 days, I escape one other pill and then after 5 days, one other, and so on. I wait about 2 weeks before beginning again for another 75 mg. It is the best way to get off of the med because if I try to stop suddenly, its horrible. Its the only disadvantage of this drug. I hope these comments will help you.

Hello.

I have been taking topamax for bipolar II disorder. The first week or so, I experienced some very unpleasant side effects. I would become very disoriented while driving and get lost in locations that had previously been very familiar to me. I would also lose track of my thought process mid-sentence. An avid runner, I was unable to exercise for about a week. However, these side-effects have since subsided. I do experience a decrease in appetite, which is fine for now, but I'll have to see how that pans out in the future.

One thing I'd like to point out is that I would imagine topamax to be very unpleasant for somebody who does not have a mood disorder. I feel that it truely restrains my impulses (I suffer from impulse control disorder), and it has worked wonders for me in terms of my mental illness. I believe that topamax is a great alternative to some of the other medications for bipolar disorder in terms of weight gain. On the other hand, I think that those who do not require psychiatric attention would be better off with a drug that does not serve as a mood stabilizer.

That's just my opinion. Good luck!

I've been taking Levaquin for 2 days now and have experienced all sorts of issues. Lack of sleep, horrible nightmares (when I finally do sleep), Rectal bleeding, head pain, nausea, hair loss, vomitting, memory lapses, vomitting, memory lapses, black feces, dyslexia, narcistic impulses, hypothermia, sudden urges to watch mtv and a craving for tea biscuits. Seriously, this medicine is horrible and you should avoid it at all costs.