Kitchen table symptoms and conditions

I was diagnosed with my first case of bronchitis at 41 in August. I am female and was diagnosed with diverticulitis in July, for which I was given dual antibiotics for 10 days. I thought those side effects were bad, but I am beginning to believe PREDNISONE is worse!

I took a 12 day declining dose regimine, prescribed 3 days after I started a zpack for bronchitis that was worsening, not getting better. I had the rapid heartbeat at times, but really no effects.

My effects begin AFTER finishing the course of PREDNISONE a week ago. Two days ago, I broke out with tiny pimples all over my jawline. The next morning , they were covering my upper chest, neck, cheeks, temple and forehead. They are still there today and worse. They look horrible. I've never had acne in my life and I am supposed to be doing job interviews now. Looks like they'll have to wait. It's embarrassing. Makeup does not cover at all--it's almost like bad hives, there are so many I can't count. I have researched this and it's called steriod-induced acne and I suppose I'm going to have to go out and get some face wash with salicylic acid and some benzyl peroxide or something!

My second bothersome symptom, which started yesterday, is headache. I have never had headaches in my life. The pain started around 4pm when I would move my head, turn my head, look down or up or simply swallow. The pain was directly in the back of my head at the base of the skull. It migrated then behind my eyes and cheekbones. It lasted all night
and whenever I would sit up (not sleeping well either, awoke four times last night) or stand up--boom--there was the pain. Thankfully it lasted 12 hours and for about three hours now I've had really bad pain behind my eyes and cheeks. I took a couple advil just now. I am guessing these are the headaches Prednisone is famous for.

The third symptom has been sweating. Like crazy. Two days after finishing my dose, I would sit at kitchen table and just POUR sweat. Same thing this morning at breakfast. This seems to be a morning occurrence. Thank goodness I am job hunting now. I could not work with these symptoms.

My fourth symptom isn't so bothersome but is sensitivity to sunlight and blurry vision. I noticed the blurry vision once starting the Prednisone.

How long will these last? There are so many side effects you all have shared I wonder if anyone will even see this. I don't see acne, but a google search revealed a dermatologist causing acne after Prednisone the steroid-induced acne referenced above.

For reference, I will NEVER take Prednisone again. How easily I've forgotten the mood swings. The best part of Prednisone for me was it healed my bronchitis in about 10 days. The worst? The constant, epic dreams that lasted all night and involved constant problem-solving. I'm a lucid dreamer, but these weren't lucid. The themes were tied to daily life, something ridiculous I had heard on tv, and went on and on--almost psychotic. No nightmare quality--just very unpleasant and downright odd.

I will tell my doctor that under no circumstance will I take this drug again. I'm asking friends to recommend detox programs. I guess I should go to a steam room and exercise and sweat a lot, but the pain behind my eyes and my tiredness (oh yeah, forgot to mention that at 3pm each day I'm hit with terrible exhaustion) prevent me from doing that, or job hunting, or going to job interviews.

This better resolve this weekend. Being sick is no fun, but side effects from drugs shouldn't be worse. Apparently many people are sensitive to this drug!

My daughter started taking YAZ birth control August 2007 and was starting her second year of college. Everything in her life was going well, she loved her choice of college, had a wonderful boyfriend, was excited to live in her sororiety house, had wonderful friends, and was always one of the most focused individuals I knew. She was home for the Thanksgiving holiday and the night before I was to drive her back to school, she broke down at the kitchen table and said she can't pretend anymore, that she is not happy and doesn't know what is wrong with her. I took her to the doctor and she was treated with Effexor for depression. After 4 weeks there was no change, she fell into a deeper depression and they doubled her dose of Effexor. Still no change. I started looking on the internet and found that one of the side effects of Yaz was depression. I told her to immediately stop taking it. Two days after she stopped the pill we had an appointment with a psychiatrist. I told him that this was the first day I saw some improvement and that I thought it was related to her stopping YAZ. He disregarded my statement and didn't feel that was the case. He didn't like Effexor because he said that it was "a bear to get off of". He titrated her dose down by half and introduced Wellbutrin into her system. Two days later she overdosed on pills. She couldn't bear how bad she felt. I remember it like it was yesterday, she stood in the corner of the hosital and cried, "How did I get to this point, how did this happen to me?" I knew then that it was the pills. After her release from the hosital they handed her a prescription for Lexipro. I was advised by ALL of the PROFESSIONALS that she needed to take this antidepressent because she will definitely have a relapse.

My daughter chose NOT to take any more medications. We both KNOW that it was the YAZ that started the depression and the other antidepressents just put her over the edge. It took several months to get her life back together. We pursued counselling to make sure she was equipped with good coping skills for stress before attempting to go back to school. She missed 5 weeks of school and we knew that she had alot of catching up to do and the counselling helped her get through.

It has now been almost 1 year since that incident and she is back to her old self again. NO MORE BIRTH CONTROL AND NO MORE ANTIDEPRESSANTS. I'm not against any of these medications, however, I don't feel that health care professionals equip these young girls with enough information about side effects. Depression is listed way down on the list of side effects. If her gyn would have warned her that depression was a side effect, we may have never gone down that dark frightening road and if the psychiatrist would have taken into consideration that it could have been the birth control pill things could have been different. I also work for 4 pediatricians and none of them were aware that birth control can cause depression. I am now noticing that there are mother's calling our office because their daughters are depressed and as I am looking at their charts, I see they are on birth control. I have to wonder how widespread is this epidemic and how many young woman may have been diagnosed with clinical depression when the cause could be birth control. I know that at my daughters last well visit she was asked if she was taking any medication and she said no, she didn't realize that the pill was medication. Professionals need to be more specific when asking teenagers and yound adults questions.

I hope that this helps someone else out there to understand what could be causing their depression.

I have been on Loestrin24 since March 2008 and have been hospitalized once, in the emergency room once and suffering since. About two weeks after I started taking Loestrin24 in March 2008, I had what they thought was a TIA or, a "mini-stroke" and was put in the hospital. I was seeing a rainbow-like aura, had a splitting headache (for only about 30 minutes), became extremely confused, my blood pressure jumped up to 168/93 (stage 2 hypertension) and I couldn't speak for a few hours. Of course, they hospitalized me, ran all kinds of tests and found there to be no medical reason for a mini-stroke and the neurologist cleared me so, I was sent home with no mention of the fact that it could be the Loestrin24 that was causing it and, yes, my husband did tell them I was taking it. Two months later, I was back in the emergency room with the same symptoms. However, this time I recognized the symptoms as the same ones I'd had before and we immediately headed to the hospital. I was not hospitalized this time and the ER doctor said it was a migraine (there's a migraine that causes stroke-like symptoms) and that it's possible it could be the Loestrin24. Well, I'm taking the birth control pill because I have incredibly painful periods and was trying to be able to live a normal life. Without the birth control pill, I literally have to plan my life around my periods. So, not wanting to believe it was the Loestrin24, I continued to take it because, I hadn't had a period since I started taking it. That, alone, was worth it for me. But, last night while watching TV with my husband, the worst symptom hit me. It was like someone took a sledge hammer and slammed me in the forehead with it! I was wracked with such pain in my head that my hands flew to my forehead and I was screaming/crying. My head hurt so badly that I was would not have been surprised if I was actually bleeding from my eyes and ears. This morning, I'm still having the ringing in my ears and I could sleep for hours. I have contacted both my ob/gyn and my family physician and both of them said to stop taking it immediately.

Also, like I've read in several postings here, my sex drive is completely gone. And, when I do give in to my husband and have sex, my heart feels like I'm going to have a heart attack. The sudden splitting headache has actually come on during sex, too!

I certainly do not want to go back to the debilitating pain of my periods but, I can't live like this, either!

I am 43 yr old woman and have been on simvastatin on and off for the past 3yrs, it's only since coming across this website that I have actually managed to find a connection between this awful drug and a whole heap of medical problems. The most recent course made me so ill that I thought I had an incurable illness that no one could diagnose, at times I have been in so much pain I thought I was going to die. It started with severe knee pain, I have a little arthritis in the knee but doctors were baffled at why it would hurt so much as x-rays on knees and hips were ok. I ended up having an operation to cut a ligament, that was over a year ago and had been in crippling pain ever-since. Also; foggy head, headaches everyday lasting all day, pain in jaw, shoulders, neck, swollen throat, incredible limb swelling, numbness all down right side, kidney problems, weakness in muscles, aching hips and legs, itching, insomnia, to name a few. I complained to my doctor when I was prescribed 50mg of this poison because as soon as I took it, I immediately felt ill and collapsed from terrible weakness, couldn't even lift a feather. They reduced it to 20mg, and I blindly kept taking it, in the meantime, my leg function was worsening, my back was killing me, I couldn't sleep because of the unbelievable burning in my shoulders, hip, neck and legs, everything hurt so much. I have been in tears from the pain and frustration of not knowing what was happening to me, painkillers, even high potency prescriptions just didn't work. I was a healthy gym-going person with a slightly high cholesterol reading, and suddenly, I was almost crippled, unable to function or look after my family, couldn't even handle simple chores that I had done a thousand times before, couldn't think, speak well, do crosswords, it was unbelievable. I have had ECG's, heart stress tests, been to and fro to doctors, hospitals, specialists, even seen an osteopath with these pains, they must have thought I was a hypochondriac! Finally, I insisted on an MRI on my thigh as it had changed shape as there was a lot of muscle wasting in both my right arm and thigh, and so much pain. A lump had also appeared and was really worrying me. The doctor tried to fob me off and said it was a fat lump, I argued that if it was fat it wouldn't hurt so damn much, so the result of the MRI is that I have a tumor which is getting bigger. If I find out that this is a result of the medication, the gates of hell will open.
I took myself off this lethal stuff immediately as soon as I realized there was a connection between it and my debilitating condition, though it's too late to save my 12 yr relationship, that went down the tubes because I just couldn't function well, oh, and my job. and any chance of working after being ill for so long.
I have been off it just a few days but already I feel almost human again. I know it'll be a while before I can see a marked difference and do some of the things I used to be able to do like walk the dog!! but I am furious with my doctor's and have written a letter of complaint, and have told them that I would rather take my chances with god and be a happy person than ever trust them again. I am in no doubt whatsoever that this drug has ruined the last 3 years of my life and probably caused irreversible damage to my leg muscles. Why take a pill because the doctor said so??NEVER AGAIN from now on everything will be checked via websites like this, I am so disgusted that instead of helping me, my own doctor just prescribed other medications I need not have had because of this pill when all he had to do was take me off it. I find it hard to believe that they don't know of these side effects, or pretend not to, how can they not make the connection?? Absolutely furious. I am in worse health now than I ever was, there should be a serious health warning before this is given to anyone, and the first port of call for any complaints should be the doctors who prescribe them instead of offering alternative solutions. This is a time bomb waiting to explode.

I have been on Singulair for nine years and I thank Merck for discovering and manufacturing it. I also thank my doctor for prescribing it to me. I have my life back! I had asthma so bad I was on high dose inhaled steroids and Albuterol. I had a nebulizer on my kitchen table and a drawer full of Albuterol in my refrigerator. Like clock work I would wake up wheezing and gasping for air and have to administer myself a treatment at 4 am every morning. I would try to exercise and I would wheeze and cough. I then went on Singulair and my nebulizer has been in the basement for at least 9 years, I have the drawer back in my refrigerator too. I exercise now and even ran my first race last summer without needing an inhaler. Thank God for Singulair. I am not going to die from my asthma.

There are so few choices to treat asthma and allergies and all the medications have problems like an FDA black box warning for increased death on Salmeterol(I stopped taking that) which is in Advair and emotional disturbances with steroids and increased suicide risk with Zyrtec which is now over the counter.

I do feel sorry for Cody's parents. It must be tragic to lose a child. My heart does go out to them. However looking rationally at this story, there seems to be a whole side missing. The news story did not mention anything about Cody's past history on the news. Did he ever have signs of depression? Was there an interview with his doctor? Was he having problems with friends at school? Was he into any drugs or adolescent games? Teenage boys also have the highest rate of suicide, medicines aside.

With all due respect, I never saw any of Cody’s friends or teachers be interviewed. Maybe this did happen and I missed this but I watched the news cast videos. Could there be more to this story that is purposefully being edited out or just not asked?

I never believe the media fully. They are very irresponsible and inaccurate at times.
If you read the product information of any drug including aspirin you would never want to take it. The truth is that many times the benefits of drugs out weigh the risks. I know I will keep taking my Singulair because I do not want to die of asthma sucking on inhalers like my mother did.

I was put on Lipitor in 2004 and didn't realize what was happening to me-I thought I was just getting old. (I'm now 66) I went from a very active person to one who struggled to get out of the car and my entire body ached. I was constantly tired, I had trouble putting thoughts together. I would sit at the kitchen table and cry because I felt so awful. I started losing my balance and falling down. In one of my falls in December 2006 I injured my left hip. I went to a chiropractor to see if he could help relieve the pain in my hip. While going over my symptoms and medications he pointed out that the Lipitor I'm taking could cause most of my symptoms. He suggested I call my doctor and talk to her. I did and she said that Lipitor could cause severe muscle aches-she wanted to do a blood test and said that I could just go off the Lipitor. My blood test was normal. That was in March 2007 and I have been off the Lipitor since. The fatigue and muscle aches have gone away. I still have the hip pain (bursitis) and have been going to physical therapy for that. My memory is improving but I still have to concentrate, repeat names and write things down trying to remember. I'm trying to lose weight (most of it gained around my middle). I go to the gym and exercise to try to build my muscle strength. I'm not tired all the time, I've read that the symptoms can last a long time and sometimes may never go away. I've been told by the doctor that if my cholesterol is up at my next visit that she wants me to go back on Lipitor. She also said that if it had been the Lipitor, the symptoms would have gone away right after I went off the Lipitor. I will absolutely refuse to go on any Statin-I cannot take the chance of feeling so badly again.

I took Levaquin for 2 months. The first few weeks no problems, then I started having pain in my bones lower legs, When I went to get some food from the fridge, I could not crouch to reach the bottom shelf anymore, then knees hurt like hell, my hips, lower back, cant stand up, chills all the time, but I thought it was from my prostate infection maybe it spread or something, or maybe I was being silly, maybe it's the cold weather? so I ignored it.

Then I sprained both my ankles, one week after each other. Then that only added to my pain, I was walking like a 100 year old man, limping on both sides. Everything I did some part of my body hurt.

Now I know what old age is like.

I had something wich I thought was a heart attack twice, my chest felt really tight, like a car was on it, I thouhgt I was gonna die, it lasted about 15 munites the first time, I crwled from the kitchen table to the couch, and about 5 minuts the ssecond time. I thught I'm getting old and gonna die soon.

Then I started feeling pain in my butt (laugh) for real, my thigh muscles felt like I just ran a marathon, my whole body felt like I been hit by a train.

By palms are numb, my thumb is numb, I can hardly type this post right now cause I cant use my left hand that much anylonger (and I'm left handed). I cant turn my head anymore because my neck hurts. I feel like I'm dieing.

After reading this post, what happenned to poeple on Levaquin for only a few days, and I was on it for two months! oh my god!!

I start to get strange headaches, not really bad ones, but strange hard pain like feeling. My vision is also going, I can see clearly from each eye seleratly, but when I use both eyes at the same time it's blurry, strange, its as if my brain cant use both eyes at the same time anymore.

My body feels really bad as if I'm 100 years old. I wonder if maybe I have prostate cancer, and it spread really fast all over my body, or it's the levaquin that's doing it? I sent for the AMAS kit that test for cancer because I know somethings wrong with me. I hope its the levaquin and not cancer!