Inadvertently symptoms and conditions

This website may not have saved my life, but it has certainly saved my sanity. Beginning in May 2007 I was prescribed Toprol XL for a supposed heart condition. I was instructed to begin with 50 mg per day and go to 100 mg per day after 10 days. Since I already had the 50 mg tablets, I simply started taking 2 of them together when I raised the dosage. On July 25 I ran out of the 50 mg tabs and filled a prescription for 100 mg tabs. Immediately upon starting the 100 mg tabs I began experiencing side effects which increased in severity daily. By Monday July 30 I was convinced I was losing my mind. Then I discovered this website, and read that many other people had suffered in the same way. What I have trouble grasping is why the same dosage had different effects. I tolerated the 100 mg/day dose just fine when taking 2 50 mg tabs, but the 100 mg was dreadful. I've checked the pills, and both the 50 mg and 100 mg are Astra-Zeneca products, not generic. The markings, shape and size are consistent with 100 mg tabs, so I haven't been inadvertently given an overdose. I immediately backed off the dosage, and am gradually going to reduce and stop the medication. I urge anyone who is having these problems not to stop at reporting them here, but also to contact Astra-Zeneca at www.astrazeneca.com, and to report them to the FDA's Medwatch website, www.fda.gov/medwatch. It may seem fruitless to contact Astra Zeneca, but they need to be made aware of these problems.

Fentynal patches (100 mcg) I have found to be an excellent pain control for my condition, and contrary to some poster's remarks, I do not feel the need for increasing amounts due to tolerance. The only problems I have had with them is that first, they fall off the body and I must always secure them with a good tape or a large, hard sticking band-aid. One inadvertently dropped off without my knowledge; my little dog got ahold of it and playing with it and chewing it created a fearful, frightening nightmare. It first caused her to vomit blood all over the house and furniture. She went into a seizure, foamed at the mouth, all the scary things that almost killed her. We called the vet in a panic until I found the raggedy patch with it's outlining paper patch I covered it with.(Thank goodness it was an older, used patch, so she recovered). But little children could also be victims of the same.
The other problem: my doctor warned not to wear to the beach as the release of the active substance doubles and could be very dangerous. I have found that in our hot Florida sun, in shorts, a long walk will give me a horrible, serious rash and hives. I'm not sure how dangerous this side effect is; but I know these patches are great in giving me a fairly pain free existence. So until I am told differently, I shall continue with the pain relieving patch, but be extremely vigilent with my little dog and the loss of patches.

I've had the lump in throat from lisinopril.

NOTE: I'm sharing information I've learned about myself in the hopes that it may steer someone else in the right direction. Use your own judgement. I'm a patient and a lisinopril sufferer, but not a doctor. Always consult your doctor (ha ha ha) before trying new medications or supplements!

There are three distinct causes that you may find difficult to believe, but I have experienced all of these mysef during a prolonged recovery from this poison - ah, I mean medicine. They do not necessarily happen all at the same time during the recovery.

1) Irritation of the upper air way in the throat because of the cough and the very small quantities of highly irritating very sticky stuff coming up. Helpful: zinc, selenium, beta glucan.

2) Irritation of the esophagus due to inadvertently swallowing that really sticky stuff. If this is the problem, you can solve it by never swallowing any of that sticky stuff. If you cough or even ahem, always spit it out. Try to cough into the sink in the morning; try to spit before eating anything. If this is the cause of the lump in the throat, then you will notice dramatic improvement using the (spiting) technique in about 3 days.

3) Thyroid being overworked due to insufficient nutrition (as it gets used up by the immune system when tackling the cough). The thyroid is at the base of the neck and when it is overworked it swells, usually mildly, and may feel like a streching sensation. The most likely problem here is selenium deficiency. If you are also having some shortness of breath, this is the most likely cause. Suggest trying 100mcg of selenium per day, possibly together with a kelp/iodine trace mineral supplement.

NOTE: I have had all three of these. I wish someone had told me about zinc, selenium and beta glucan much earlier.

Zinc is very soothing to the lungs and helpful for the immune system - I'd suggest around 25mg a day.

Selenium is very good for the immune system, and well known for its use by the immune system in chemical detox. I'd suggest 100-150mcg per day. Selenium is also used by thyriod system (in the thyroid itself as well as at the receptor cites all over the body), so if the immune system runs the body low on this one, then the thyroid system suffers. Combined with already damaged lungs, this causes shortness of breath. For the thyriod, selenium works best with iodine and boron, and make sure to get enough calcium and magnesium too.

Beta glucan is a powerful immune system stimulator. I wouldn't use it until I was taking both zinc and selenium for around 2 weeks because there is no point in stimulating the immune system if it doesn't have the nutrition it needs to detox. I have discovered that taking it for 1-2 days is sufficient to be helpful, and I'm concerned about overstimulating the immune system, so I only take it intermittently. I take 200mg twice a day for 2 days, or, 200mg three times the first day, then once the second day.

Products: I like Country Life Target Mins Zinc - comes in 50mg, which is too much for long term usage, so I split into 1/4s and take one or two 1/4s a day. I like Country Life yeast-based selenium - comes in 200mcg, I split to 1/4s and take 1/4 w/ lunch and 1/2 w/ dinner. I also like Country Life Kelp Trace mineral supplement. Beta glucan, I like Solgar's 200mg tablets.

Also recommend vit-c, vit-e, multimineral, vit-b, etc... also note that for weak stomach feeling, manganese can be helpful.

I've been taking Ace inhibitors for several years. Started with captopril, another whose name I don't remember caused marked depression (the others did not), and finally lisinopril. All caused the cough, which went away after taking it for a few months, and starts up again if I stop taking for a while and then resume. Other symptoms I attribute to ace inhibitors in general are a lack of libido, headaches, dizziness, and dramatic, but gradual, hair loss. (I am female.) At one point either the ordering dr or the pharmacy inadvertently doubled my dose from 10 to 20 mg(and I didn't catch the error for quite some time - weeks or months.) When I finally did catch the error, it explained my increased cough, headaches and dizziness, and severe postural hypotension. (I'm up and down a lot at work, and I felt I would almost black out when changing position.) I'm diabetic, and take it to prevent kidney damage. My blood pressure is borderline, and sometimes higher. Unfortunately, the ace inhibitor at 10 mg doesn't seem to lower my blood pressure enough.

Since June 2004, I took Advair after a very bad asthma attack when I was hospitalized.
Last month, I stopped taking Advair during a week vacation when I inadvertently forgot it at home. Since my asthma didn't return, I decided to try living without it. That's when I started having stomach cramps. I made the connection to Advair last night when I realized that my problems started after I stopped taking Advair. Thanks to this website, I realized that the side-effects, which I thought was just life, was coming from Advair:
- weight gain despite working out 5 days a week. Even though I did my regular leg stretches, my joints felt very tight. Sometimes after working out, I felt dizzy or close to vomiting. I thought this was due to excessive training so I cut down the days and switched my workout. But it didn't matter, I am now unable to workout regularly because of the daily stomach cramps.
- severe leg cramps after biking and kayaking
- if I sat down too long, my feet got bloated like I had been riding an airplane
- Insomnia
- heart palpitations
- dry and flaky skin
- an open wound from a slight burn that is taking a long time to heal
- joint pains at night that are only relieved by lying in a hot tub for half the night
I'm hoping that these side effects will go away eventually as the Advair drug gets out of my system.

Thank you for this site. I've been having really bad stomach aches and joint pains for a month now. I didn't connect it to Advair until I realized that the pains started after I inadvertently stopped taking Advair while on vacation.

Its been a year since I stopped taking the lisinopril, which I took for thee months. Though there is improvment every few months, I still cough like a smoker. My lungs frequently ache; my chest is often sore - this was the worst about 9 months after quitting. The cough got worse for a while after I quit the lisinopril, for about 4 months, before it started getting better. Also, by inadvertently swallowing that sticky stuff that's being coughed up all the time, it caused severe irritation of the throat and stomach.

The cough wasn't really that bad (yet) while I was still on the "med", and I stopped taking it because the other side effects were mounting. My doctor told me these other side effects were all psychological, and prescribed paxil for them. I tried it for 2 days and realized that it wasn't for me. As I got worse and worse, I finally figured out it was the lisinopril and quit on my own.

I too had severe, and continue to have some lingering problems with the lack of stamina. I find that a steady supply of calcium seem to help with this. Also occasionally some iron, and a good B-vitamin.

I feel for this community. As always, best of luck to all!