Inhalers symptoms and conditions

I have been on Yasmin now since around 2004-2005.

I just recently started experiencing really severe mood swings, I would go so far as to say that I have become enraged over things that are so insignificant and that would normally would not bother me even on a bad day. This anger that usually starts right before my period made me start thinking that it might be from my birth control, even though it has only been an issue over the past six months. I have never in my life suffered from PMS, so this was very out of the ordinary for me, but I just assumed I was over stressed and ignored it.

I started looking up side effects of Yasmin, and came across this site which sent me into absolute shock.

Everything listed here by other people, I have experienced over the past four or five years. It all makes sense to me now after reading about other woman's experiences while taking this medication.

I started seeing a GI doctor in 2005 because of extreme diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, dizziness. They ran multiple tests and scans, I had an endoscopy and a colonoscopy which showed irritation. I've been on multiple medications for what they assume is IBS. I was also diagnosed that same year with asthma because of extreme shortness of breath. I am on asthma medication and inhalers because I get very short of breath with exercise which was never an issue in the past. I was 110 pounds, and healthy and active in 2005. I then started to gain weight, and at my heaviest I reached almost 180 lbs (and I am only 5ft 2in tall).

I have since lost weight, but can't seem to get below 140 lbs no matter how much I try. In March of this year I started having extreme pain in my right upper abdomen, and was told I had gallstones and needed to have my gallbladder removed.

It is just makes me so angry to know that no one is doing anything about this and this medication is still being prescribed to women. It angers me that my doctor's knew that I was on this medication and never once questioned that it may be the birth control making me sick. I don't even think the doctor's are aware themselves.

I have been on birth control since I was sixteen to help regulate my periods, and I am now twenty-eight. I have always had difficulty with the pill and have tried many different types of birth control medications. My doctor recommended Yasmin to me because they though I might have poly-cystic ovarian syndrome even though the tests never confirmed it. I will take my chances because I am not taking birth control ever again!

I was on Singulair while pregnant because my asthma got worse while pregnant. Postpartum I noticed my 2 month old breastfed baby was still sleeping way too much and very colicky. I tried cutting out dairy and other allergens but nothing made a difference. When I forgot to take my Singulair a couple days in a row, I noticed my mood was much improved and the anger/irritability went away. Finally, after noticing I was having vivid, bad dreams, I began to realize it might be all from the Singulair. I also had developed a stiff, tight neck and vision loss, which I now realize was also from being on Singulair.
I went off of it and must say, that was the worst week of my life. I never felt so horrible or out of control. Although I noticed the first few days, I was happy and feeling again (it made me emotionally numb) by the fourth day, I began having heart palpitations and bad headaches. I quickly got my thyroid levels checked and those were fine. Then I suddenly had severe panic attacks! I thought I was going crazy! This was mistakenly misdiagnosed as PPD, although I was never even depressed. I was given a script for Zoloft and took Ativan but that didn't take away the panic and the Zoloft seemed to make the panic worse!
I began researching and realized all of my symptoms were from Singulair withdrawals! Even my family noticed I became a mean and hateful person with this last pregnancy. This drug is an awful poison! I am slowly recovering and feeling better everyday. I'm using my fast acting inhaler for the time being. Instead of the therapy I thought I needed for PPD (mis dx'd obviously) I'm also using herbs to treat this homeopathically with a natural doctor since conventional ones still want to pass it off as something it is not due to ignorance that an asthma medicine can wreck this kind of havoc on a person! They just want to use more drugs to treat the side effects of another drug!
I am so angry I took this while pregnant and breastfeeding being told it was okay. It was not okay and I hope and pray there are no long term side effects to my child from this drug!

I have been on both the albuterol solution and the inhalers for over 20 years now and I have been diagnosed with copd have been intubated twice, and and have potassium problems along with blood clots. I found this specialist who told me that albuterol was causing the potassium problems and possibly the clots. I was told by my dr to use this medication 4 times a day not as needed. now it has destroyed my health and my life. be careful with albuterol and also prednisone please

My daughter was started on singulair at about the age of 3 (now 7) because her asthma was not being controlled ny inhalers and she also suffers from a lot of allergies. Her asthma has improved tremendously but i noticed that she became very short tempered and still can be (but i put this down to her age), also these last six months i have noticed three episodes of diarrhea (just for one day and nobody else has had this in the family). Just recently, and even more concerning she is starting to bruise very easy, all over the legs, so i called NHS Direct and was informed that Singulair can thin the blood making you bruise more easy. For me this is the last straw and have decided that my daughter has to come off these straight away and i am making an appointment for the GP first thing in the morning.

16 days ago on Jan 17, 2009 by chris555, #16131
Sorry to disappoint you, but I have no vested interest in Merck or any other pharmaceutical company for that matter. What I have a vested interest in is providing some balance to those parents who come to this blog site and are scared to death. That is what happened to a very good friend of mine. After reading the posts here, she was so panicked she took her 12 year old off Singulair. A kid who had no problems on it by the way. A few days later my friends kid was rushed to the ER and almost died from an asthma attack. That is what I have a problem with. People here telling others the side effects will creep up, that kids should stop their medication right away, etc.

Reply 8 minutes ago on Feb 03, 2009 by concernedcitizen, #16701
To chris555:

Merck warns on it's Singulair website that Singulair is not an effective replacement for fast acting inhalers in the event of sudden symptoms. Originally when Singulair was developed it's purpose was to prevent damage and inflammation that is caused by excessive number of eosinophils in respiratory tissue. There is no evidence at all that Singulair is effective as the only treatment for asthma to prevent or treat acute asthma attacks. And, Merck makes this very clear in the warning notice.

The efficacy and safety of Singulair has a genetic component. That means that it is entirely possible that some people are not compatible with the way in which Singulair works. Adverse side effects are very possibly the result of compatibility problems.

Sadly, Merck has succumbed to the disease of "corporate greed." Meaning that they care more about profitability and the shareholders than they do about the patients. For this callousness, some day this corporation will suffer the punishment. Merck has always known that the cysLT1 receptor is a gene with more than several variations. If they told doctors to watch out for side effects due to genetic variations, then they wouldn't be able to sell this drug like it's harmless - cherry chewable - candy. The adverse side effects are real. Patients started reporting them immediately when the drug was released. Singulair is dangerous to people with gene variations and it causes unnatural biochemical events to take place.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
SINGULAIR will NOT replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. You should still have rescue medication available and continue to take your other asthma medications unless your doctor tells you to stop.

To get the real information in regards to what level of research that is going into this investigation is.go to the Institute for Safe medicine practices click on Quarter watch.
To people like chris555, I believe you are engaging people for sport and say very hurtful things,your day will come and it may just be in the unemployment line.I can only imagine that you must work for Merck or you would not feel so threatened by the good that has come from Parents advocating for their childrens safety.I want you to know, that all who knew our family and our child understand what took place and our reasons for trying to get the proper information where it should have been," on the label". When our child died no one knew about all the added side effects from post marketing reports,which is "a reliable way to track a drugs adverse events".Maybe you should do more research on the legitimate information of causal relationship. Don't be so afraid of a possible drop in revenue for the drug company that I believe you might be an employee of.K. M.

This drug has not been properly examined in clinical trials. I will gladly suffer with allergies rather than suffer from anxiety and panic attacks caused by Singulair. It may be beneficial to some people, but not to me. Never again, Singulair.

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.

I am 39, and was prescribed Asmanex 2BID in December of 2006 with the doctor telling me that once we got past the abnormally warm fall/winter that I could taper off. I have tried on multiple occasions, only to have a reactive airway and I resumed normal dosing. I researched this further after having severe side effects with lipitor, and I am a week into coming off the twisthaler. My plan is one dose for 2 weeks, a dose very other day for 2 weeks, then evaluate if I need to do 1 every third days. Weaning off this thing is ROUGH- feeling like crap. I did not realize the potential side effects on this one, and I did not realize that long term use of steriodal inhalers can thin tissue, etc. Right now I am experiencing a little discomfort at night, coughing and 'sticky airway' (it feels like someone is crumpling cellophane when I exhale) and strangely enough, tinnitus of all things. I have been EXHAUSTED and having lower GI issues. I am hoping that I will be able to persevere and get off this drug. Has anyone had similar experiences coming off Adviar, Singular, or any other type drug?

i got a bad sinus infection for the past month after starting lisinopril, on many meds for this, i switched from avapro to lisinopril as i wanted to join the walgreens plan for cheaper drugs, the doc put me on lisinopril instead after i sent him the walgreens list of available drugs that they use, the avapro was not on the list,, ive been to my ent and allergy doc for this sinuse thing that is well over a month now and getting better, but i have spent more $ for drugs to combat this infection that r not on the walgreens list over $300 spent out of pocket but with a discount for switching to the lisinopril from the avapro that ive been on for about a yr,, it was not worth it,, BUT my cardio doctor thinks it ws just a coincidence that i got the sinus infection about the same week that i started lisinopril, he asked me to tell my ent and allergy doc about this, the ent thinks i shld go back to the avapro if ii feel that it may have started the infection with the little cough, i have not talked to my allergy doc about it yet, has anyone felt they got these symptoms with lisinopril????? i am still taking it all thru this sinus thing, MRI and 2 inhalers and antibiotics, narcotic cough med, sinus wash and musilex r doing ok and on the mend, i have no other symptoms and on the 5 mg , what do u all think? and anyone else have a sinus thing going on when starting the lisinopril??? D.

I have used Advair 250 for a few years now and have noticed a few of the same symptoms as the other posters, but my main concern is whenever I go off the drug for too long my asthma gets drastically worse. I have become extremely dependent on this expensive drug that I can barely afford and I fear it is just weakening my health while only mildly suppressing my asthma. I feel stuck with this drug now. I feel like a slave to it. It's an awful feeling.

About two weeks after using Proair I have developed a constant feeling of a lump or clog in my throat. I also don't think it works as well as my other inhaler from Warrick. LETS THANK ALL THE GREEN PEOPLE WHO THINK WE ARE DESTROYING THE OZONE LAYER WITH OUR INHALERS..

i've been taking the 100/50 advair for years now. i have only ever taken one dose a day, frankly out of cheapness. i was unwilling to take anything that expensive twice a day! in the beginning of my asthma experience, i was also put on singulair but again, when i filled the prescription and saw how much it cost, i never refilled it (boy, am i grateful for that after reading what people have posted about it!)
i cough up lots of yellow glom from my lungs and i blow similar stuff from my nose. a CT scan showed my sinuses to be completely blocked with polyps and the doctors said that if i had the surgery, i could get off advair.
in dec of 2006, i had the surgery but within weeks of going without advair, my lungs were tight again and i couldn't breathe and had to do a week of prednisone to open things up. back to advair for maintenance, but this time the surgeon added 2 nasal sprays (veramyst & astelin) and other inhalers (ventolin & maxair), plus wanted me to go to an allergy doctor for immunology injections.
the surgeon also told me that polyps could grow back in a month after surgery! wish he had told me this before the surgery. i certainly knew that they could grow back but i figured i'd have a good 20 years! now i'm told that i need these 4 other medications, plus advair, plus allergy shots to keep my polyps from growing back!
i still have no sense of smell, i still sniff, cough up glom and have constant sinus infection, just like i did before having a $25,000 operation!
however, i don't take the other medication- just the advair once a day or once every other day.
i never thought i had any side effects until i started reading here. happily i have not gained weight. but a few years ago, i did notice a lot more hair in the shower drain. and my voice is often hoarse. i didn't connect this to advair use until i read people's complaints here.
i am determined to get off this crap!
i have a resistance pump to exercise my lungs and strengthen their capacity.
also trying a dry salt inhaler and various supplements.
this is a great site. we need to get all our complaints to the FDA- they have to stop allowing drug companies to profit while using us as unsuspecting guinea pigs

After reading all the side effects from Advair. I am glad I decided to wean myself off this horrible drug. My pulmonologist gave me a sample after I was diagnosed with asthma in March. Before I was diagnosed with asthma I had a severe bout of bronchitis followed by pneumonia. At first I felt much better using Advair, but then the horror kicked in. I experienced hoarseness and felt like I had an obstruction in my throat. I am not going into all of the side effects I experienced with this drug because it is a repeat of what people are saying on this website.

I stopped taking it two weeks ago. I am already noticing how much better I feel. The withdrawal has been difficult. I have no intention of taking this drug again. I plan on using alternative medicine in the future.

This drug must be taken off the market!!!!

I am a 47 year old female that has had asthma all of my life. I was wanting to stop taking Advair and looked up this website, boy am I glad I did. I have all of these side effects. I have been taking Advair 500/50 twice daily for 7 yrs. I have all of the side affects and more. I have experienced hair lose, depression ( I also take Wellburtin XL) since I have started the Advair, I have pain in my legs that make me feel older than I am. I have gain 40 lbs in the past 7 yrs. I now wear reading glasses because my vision is blurry. People always say my face looks rounder. I hate the drug. My doctor said the none of the side effects are caused for the Advair. As of yesterday I stopped taking the Advair. I have cut down my does slowly for the past 2 months. Can someone who has stopped the Adavir tell me what to expect now that I have stopped. Advair is a crazy drug and I refuse to keep taking it.

I was started on Topamax late 2007 after a week long migraine that did not respond to my usual migraine medication, Relpax 40mg and Xanax 1mg and I needed the second dose 2 hours later. I was given samples of Topamax 25 mg with a schedule to slowly increase the dose. The first 3 days I noticed an improvement in my migraine. By the 4th day, I started coughing. As I increased the dosage of Topamax, my coughing got worse and more frequently. I had to return to the doctor a week later for the cough. I thought I had been exposed to bronchitis because I had worked in the church nursery.
However, the doctor heard a wheeze with my cough and stated I had asthma. This came as quite a surprise because I have never had any lung problems or asthma problems and I am 52 years old. I was referred to a pulmonologist who put me on 2 inhalers (one steroid, one rescue inhaler, nebulizer treatments, chest x-ray, Oxygen to be used a night.
I was still having severe coughing spells every time I moved or tried to talk. I would have to run to the bathroom every time I started to cough because the coughing was so violent that I experienced severe urinary incontinence every time I coughed. I checked the internet and with my pharmacist, both stated that developing a cough was very common with Topamax. After learning this, I slowly reduced the Topamax until I could stop using it. As I was reducing the Topamax, my cough started to decrease. When I mentioned to my doctor about my problems with Topamax, he stated that Topamax did not have any respiratory side effects. I had a brochure from his office for Topamax that stated Topamax should be used with caution with people with lung or asthma problems.
I am now taking 800mg of Magnesium, CoEnzyme 100mg, and Vitamin B 2 100mg twice a day as a preventative. These supplements were prescribed by my neurologist. Since starting these supplements, my number of migraines has decreased.
Kay/redpoppies

My 13 year old son has been on sigulair now for several years. I only give it to him during the school year. I have come to realize taht every fall when I restart it he complains of severe stomach aches. As well we have noticed a him morphing into a defiant, easily angered young man. Totally out of character for him. I have now taken him off and will hopefully be able to contro; his asthma with inhalers. No more singulair for us

I am a 63 year old male that has COPD and a few days ago my doctor prescribed ADVAIR. A lady that works with my wife recently lost her husband to a heart attach and he was also on ADVAIR. Another worker overheard the conversation and said that he had recently lost his father to a heart attach who was also on ADVAIR.

Think I will stick with the inhalers and skip the ADVAIR.

Thanks all.

Roy

it is so good to see this! I can't believe I am not the only one suffering with Singulair. I developed what I thought was just bronchitis, and my new doctor put me on a cocktail of respiratory meds... 2 inhalers, antibiotics, steriods, and singulair. Well, I finished the course of antibiotics, and am feeling better. I stopped using one inhaler, because it made my hands shake uncontrollably (I was assured by my doc this was normal). I stopped using the other, because I thought it was making my head feel foggy and making me moody. The only medications I am currently taking are Cymbalta for my panic disorder, and Singulair.

I have been on the Cymbalta for long enough to know that I do not suffer side effects from that (unless I miss a dose). But lately I have been more moody, emotional, snippy, and having almost daily panic attacks! I can't concentrate on a thing, my mind almost feels detached. I also suffer periods of numbness in the left side of my face.

After reading this site and everyone else's stories, I am not taking Singulair any longer! Hopefully some of these effects subside. And now I know to never let my son take it, either. I am so angry with my doctor for not warning me about these effects, not taking into consideration that I already have an anxiety disorder, and just brushing off my concerns!

I am diagnosed with COPD. On March14, 2008, I visited my pulmonologist due to having a bacterial infection in the lungs and nose. I was given a script for Levaguin 750 mg for 7 days. After my first dose, my feet felt like they were on fire. I spoke with the pharmacist and he said it could be a side effect. I finished the meds with a lot of trepidation, feeling uneasy and anxious. However my large toes began to have a tingling sensation, which I reported to my PCP and he said to keep a check on it. I just came from my PCP today, July 8,2008 and now, in addition to my lung problem, I have peripheral neurophathy, involving all my toes and also my hands. This medicine is dangerous, as looking back at the time after I took this medicine, I was seriously considering ending it all! I will never take any medication in the future until I research it thoroughly. I trust my PCP and I trusted my pulmonologist, but I feel the pulmonologist should have informed me of the possible bad sich effects. Be careful out there!!!

Is heart racing one of the side effects? I have problems with edema which are worsened by Singulair and Zyrtec. Vivid Night terrors depression, anxiety are standard also made worse. Headaches extremely high blood pressure and nausea. I have been off the singulair for a month. I am Zyrtec Free as well.
I too will rely on my inhalers. This drug should not ever be prescribed for children.

Albuterol HFA is literally killing me.

I have had asthma all my life and I know how to manage it very well. 8 weeks ago I came down with a chest cold which aggravated my asthma. So I started using the new inhalers... 8 weeks, three different antibiotics, and two HFA inhalers later, I'm barely keeping from being hospitalized... lungs are filled with brown crap.... blew out a major blood vessel in my eye from the coughing yesterday... now have fiull-blown pneumonia....

....and I just figured out that it is indeed the propellant is killing me. I found one of my old CFC inhalers, used it, and instantly feel much MUCH better. There's no doubt.

I am very very angry, and very very ill...

OMG....

My son is 5 years old. He was put on Singulair in August following a case of pnemonia. He has asthma. I found it worked well since I was barely using inhalers anymore. His eczema was even getting better. So I was happy with the medication. He also seemed to be getting more agitated with us. At least three times a day he would have an outburst towards his brother or us, like he was going to punch or hit us. Then I would say "why are you mad at me" and he would say "I'm not mad, I'm frustrated" and then burst in tears. He was getting a lot of time outs. Then two months ago he started saying "this is not a good day" or "this is a sad day". I was wondering if singulair was to blame, but it wasn't until I heard concerns from other moms. I took him off it as an experiment and noticed the next day was without his outbursts. Then I just never gave him anymore...and I am relieved to say he is as "normal" as I remember him before Singulair!!! He also was unable to get to sleep easily on Singulair, sometimes 1, 2 and even three hours to get to sleep. Now he is out in 20 minutes if not less. I haven't talked to the Doctor yet. I have noticed his eczema is flaring up again and he has used his inhaler this week (although he has a cold). I think I can deal with that without Singulair and the problems I am suspicious come from it's use.

I was given a 10 day dose of LEVAQUIN for a mild bronchitis/respiratory ailment on Jan. 29, 2008. I took 1 500mg pill for the full ten days. Three days after I stopped taking this medication, I experienced incredibly painful swelling in both knees. I could barely walk, and couldn't bend my knees. I was scared, upset, and in absolute misery. I spent a week literally throwing myself backwards onto chairs. It was unbelievable. When I could finally get to my normal health care provider 5 days later, she immediately identified the culprit as the Levaquin I had taken. She said she knew it to cause people's tendons to burst. It was obvious since it was both knees that it was not an injury and I never had any other problem with my legs. I am, or shall I say I was an avid walker. I was told to see an orthopedic doctor if I had not improved in one week. I had not improved in a week. The orthopedic doctor sent me for an MRI which showed irreversible, permanent cartilage damage in my left knee. The right knee he didn't MRI at the time, saying he could determine what he needed to know from the one knee and would only be able to do corrective surgery on my knees in 6 week intervals. This horrible drug has permanently altered my way of life. I was a 53 year old active, ambulatory adult who would walk miles a day. Two months later, I still have constant knee pain, cannot stand for long periods of time without leaning on something and can no longer kneel, etc. I can only walk around a bit and if I'm on my feet for long periods of time I experience knee, ankle pain and swelling. I sent a report to the FDA who obviously cares nothing about this situation, since I'm not the only unsuspecting person to have this happen. I've been studying this drug now and there was evidence in animal clinical trials of joint and tendon damage, To me it would have been no different an experience if someone had come up and hit me with a baseball bat across both knees. I am permanently damaged from Levaquin. I think it's criminal this drug is given to younger ambulatory adults at all.

After reading more posts and comments to others re: SINGULAIR and discussion of side effects of steroids - I am really scared as you could all imagine! Do I need to look for any side effects from the flovent and albuterol? What should Iook for? I am so not the paranoid type but am quickly becoming more now b/c I don't want my son to suffer anymore. I know predisone long term but what about the flovent which is a steroid? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!