June 13th
2007
5:19 PM
Hi! I am a 36 year old female and have been on this HORRIBLE HORRIBLE drug (prednisone) for 2 1/2 years now..... Hopkins doctors still arent sure exactly what i have. My immune system is attacking my liver so to speak. My body is basically looking at my liver like it doesnt belong and is attacking it with large multiple lesions that is eating it away... the good thing is that it hasnt interupted the functioning of it yet but is leaving horrible scar tissue. I have been in and out of the hospital 13 times, have had just about every test imangable, 12 liver biopsies and they STILL have NO clue! They are leaning towards Church Straus desease and Wegners but the weird thing is i have half symptoms of both. The first year they had me on 80 mgs of prednisone a day which had seemed to put me in remission for about 4 months and then they came back even worse so i was put back on the prednisone, 80 mgs a day AGAIN along with 100 cc's of Methotrexate, another not so nice drug... i had EVERY SINGLE BAD SIDE EFFECT OF BOTH DRUGS!! This second time around was ALOT WORSE for some reason!!! My body DID NOT LIKE IT!! Nausea, hair loss, moon face, gained 40 pounds (and i was in great shape, worked out, i am 5'4 and was 110 pds!), EVERYTHING was swollen, legs, ankles, arms, neck, face, had the camel hump, fingers and especially my belly!!! UGH!!! Have bone, muscle, and SEVERE joint pain! Kaliedescope vision, dry eyes and then had mucus discharge (kindof like pinkeye), headaches, intestinal problems.... VERY CONSTIPATED and then the opposite!!! I literally felt as if i had turned into a man in my behind!!! Sorry to be so gross but thats how bad it was!!! Jaw problems, teeth and gums as well, skin sensitivity and have little bumps all over my skin (kindof like tiny little moles), itchy, broke out with acne and pretty much NEVER had more than 1 pimple a month, had facial hair (VERY DISGUSTING!!!! HAD IT WAXED EVERY WEEK!!!!) and then on top of all of that the swelling of my liver not to mention the PAIN! I was recently in the hospital again with 12 new lesions, pneumonia, and 104 fever. My doctors said the Methotrexate was the cause and i was having a bad reaction to it so they now have me on 100mgs per day of Azathiroprine. I am now finally down to a maintenance dose of 5 mgs of prednisone cause my body was starting to reject that as well. I thank god that i am now down to that dose!!!! It as only been 2 wks and the withdrawl symptoms are horrible worse then they were but i know what is to come =) loosing all this fluid and all of the HORRIBLE side effects i listed above. I will have to be on the maintenance dose of 5mgs the rest of my life and can live with that cause when my body gets back to somewhat normal i wont even notice that im on this CRAP!! I will be on the high dose of Azathiroprine for a few years and then on a maintenance dose of that as well for the rest of my life to keep whatever this is that i have under control.... the scary thing is is that they arent even sure that all of these meds will even work...... im a guinea pig..... The only thing that i am on out of all 25 pills/meds that i take everyday that works is my pain meds. Oh and i also forgot to mention that i had to be put on some "HEAD CASE" medication (thats what i call it =) ) for depression. Its a low dose but it does seem to help... I am terrified of what the future holds but continue to be strong and have an amazing support team... my fiance and family =) I dont even want to think about how i would be without them. I go back on the 25th of this month for my MRI so please who ever reads this keep me in your prayers as for all of you are in mine. I feel for each and everyone of you that has to endure this horrible drug everyday and i hope that everything works out you. =)
Sue =)
-- By sue36 | Reply | (5) replies | Private Message me
January 3th
2007
2:11 PM
I started taking Topomax three weeks ago and have been feeling spacey, dopey and drowsy since. My sleep is interupted, my feet and legs are numb and tingely much of the time and I have a hrad time concentrating. My skin is very itchy, too. But, what disturbes me most are the postings about hair loss. My hair is thin and fine to begin with -- I can't stand to lose any hair. My doctor didn't warn me about this. Also, I've not lost any weight on the drug, although I did give up drinking sparkeling mineral water as the taste changed dramatically. I am about ready to ask to be taken off the drug, although I haven't had a single migraine since I started, and before I was getting 4 - 5 a week and they'd last 1 - 3 days (and some up to 8 days), so this is a big improvement.
-- By jeanmansen | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
January 7th
2006
10:03 PM
After being on this medication for a few months I experienced severe symptons of post nasal drip, coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, weight loss and hoarseness that interupted my sleep & quality of life. It took 2 months after quiting the medication to lower the symptoms and I am not yet over all of it. The doctors don't believe response is due to the medication, but I tested by elimination of each medication I was on, one by one, and stopping the Lisinopril was the only one that lowered the symptoms.
-- By ssaundersmcmanis | Reply | Private Message me
December 10th
2004
7:19 PM
PLEASE READ: I have read all the captions regarding the use of Ultracet and the group can or could be broke down specifically into two groups. Those with Chronic Pain and those with Pain. The ultracet probably will not work well for those that experience just enough pain and see relief from an uncomfortable feeling. On the other hand, I for instance, have been in almost constant pain after having a benign tumor removed from the interior of my spinal cord 01/23/1994. The tumor had itty bitty fingers that wrapped itself or entertwined into my cord. It was removed but unfortunately, the area affected "between my shoulder blades" somehow interupted a nerve that runs under my right arm pit down tricep area of my arm to my elbow. The pain is described as a hornets sting where you actually feel the insect pumping venom into you. On a good day, the pulse of pain accurs about 2-3 times a minute. While on a bad day the pulse of pain occurs about every 2-3 seconds. I went over 10 years trying stimulation, physical rehab (5) jogging ect.. Where I have tried everything you can imagine to remove this pain, in Aug of 2003, I elected to use narcotics. I went a year on lortab and decided to stop. It was a bad 3 days but I survived it. My doctor then put me on ultracet about 6 months ago and I really like it. I take enough to make my pain stop, I dont care if its 4 of 10. I've had all the pain I can take. I am a Policeman and have been for 24 years. I dont like the idea to being addicted to ultracet, but it could be a lot worse. Those of us in the category of Chronic Pain must come face to face with the realization that addiction is a major result of our treatment. IM SORRY, but thats just the truth. Im willing to deal with it at this point because like I said, I just cant take the pain anymore. Like I said before, I went 10 years before taking pain medications because I was a Police officer and I had to work and raise 3 kids. Well, Im ready to retire now and all my kids are gone. I hope I havent bored anyone but I just wanted my Chronic Pain people to know, IT"S OKAY to be addicted. IT's NOT GREAT, BUT, IT's OKAY. Use your medication as your doctor prescribes it and remind him that you want kidney and liver check up's about ever quarter. That should prevent you from damaging your vital organs. PeAcE...
-- By srepoort | Reply | Private Message me
June 1th
2003
10:45 PM
I was perscribed 500 mg. Levaquin after Amoxoxillin didn't end an ear infection. I only took one pill. Within a couple hours I had diarhea that stopped after two hours only to return the next morning after eating breakfast. The diarhea persisted throughout the day while I only drank clear pops and water. I had terrible cramping as well. I called my clinic and was told these are normal side effects and to take some Immodium for diarhea and Tums to calm my stomach. Then 24 hours after taking one dose of Levaquin, I began vomiting violently. After several hours of this, I began to have bloody stool and my husband called the on-call doctor. He perscribed Phenergan for nausea and vomiting and lots of liquid. I dosed on an off all night interupted by trips to the bathroom. The vomiting finally stopped the next evening and the diarhea the next morning.
I was not warned of the side effects or given alternative treatments. This was three days of living hell!!!
AJ
Topamax (1) PredniSONE (1) Wellbutrin (1) Ultracet (1) Lisinopril (1) Levaquin (1)
October 17th
2008
8:30 PM
I've been on Welbutrin for about six months, along with Zoloft. I had tried it because of the lack of motivation and the lithergy I was feeling (I suspect) as a result of the Zoloft. I came across this site after a search for memory loss connected with Welbutrin. I believe I'm having that problem. I don't seem to have the quick grasp of words I did. In a phone conversation today, I could not remember a certain medical term that I have been using rather frequently over the past six months. There are some other cases, but that incident put me on the trail of memory loss research. I actually suspected that it was the Ambien I had been taking for sleep (I have not completely ruled that drug out). But all the posts here seem to indicate that the welbutrin could be at fault.
I'm on 150mg, twice daily. However, in the morning, I will actually take one and a half pills (225mg) to get me going. I have noticed CONSIDERABLE jitters, hand tremors, enough that if I'm doing delicate work of some type, I have difficulty continuing ti complete the task. At the 225mg, I do seem to become over amped a bit, but it improves my motivation. A St. Johns Wart capsule will usually calm that, but you see the problem of one drug, helping one problem, but causing another, so you take a third! I have tried numerous other antidepressants and they all caused more side effects than they were worth.
Celexa cause an eventual complete lack of ANY motivation! Plus SERIOUS sexual side effects. Zoloft has been the best with the least side effects and I have always returned to it. But the sleepiness can just be extreme with me.
I have run out of Welbutrin and the result is return of the lithergy. I also believe that the Welbutrin may be causing my occasional up tick in anger. Possibly spreading the dosage will help. Not mixing it with caffiene may also help because caffiene can make me explosive if I don't limit my intake to about a cup of coffee. Most of you know that Zoloft, Prozac and the like increase the available seritonin in your brain, a calming neurotransmitter. Welbutrin increases the available norepinephrine, a stimulating neurotransmitter, akin to adrenalin. (Research for yourselves those facts, remember, I posting this because of a problem with MEMORY! :) So it makes perfect sense that people can become overstimulated with Welbutrin. The memory aspects of it, I don't yet understand. I'm going to experiment with dosage reduction and possibly replacing the Welbutrin with the amino acid L-phenylalanine. I hope this little post can help some of you as much as the other posts here have helped me!
Burt
-- By burtbrown_100 | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me