Laxative symptoms and conditions

I started NuvaRing 3 weeks ago yesterday after having the Mirena IUD removed (kept in all 5 years). I removed it yesterday as planned. 1 week ago, I felt a terrible pain in my right side under my ribs. I started having very slight trouble breathing, pain when laughing or coughing, etc. I applied heat and the pain subsided over the weekend and I could breathe easily. On Monday, I decided it best to go to the doctor since I had trouble breathing, I didn't want to assume it was nothing. I went to a doc in the box (bad idea) and I was told that I had a swollen rib cage (the cartilage). I'm certain I was misdiagnosed because the dude didn't even do xrays, even after I explained that I had just started NuvaRing. I wanted them to be aware of everything. The doctor dismissed it.

On Tuesday night, I was in so much pain and my difficulty breathing was worsening that I cried myself to sleep. Wednesday I went to work and was in so much pain that I was in tears and headed to URGENT Care, as my primary care physician could not fit me in. They xrayed, ran a urinalysis, a CBC to check my white blood cells and found nothing except for a bit of what appeared to be constipation, though I have regular bowel movements. My white blood count was slightly elevated, but distributed normally. I was prescribed a laxative and Lortab for the pain, which was excruciating. The doctor told me to come back the next day (today) to retest my white blood count. It went down a tad, as I had taken the Nuvaring out yesterday evening. The doctor seemed puzzled, but gave me my CBC results and urinalysis just in case I developed a fever or an infection of some sort, but told me that she thinks I am having side effects from the NuvaRing. She asked me to not put it back in.

On a side note, I had called my OBGYN on Wednesday before I headed to Urgent Care and explained the situation and they advised me to remove the NuvaRing as well.

I'll have to bite the bullet and pop the daily bc, such as Ortho Lo.

So glad I found this site. I've only been using NR for 4 days now (started Sunday), but by Monday, I already knew that something was "off". By last night, the only thing I could contribute all my symptoms to was NR, thus why I went in search of answers. Thank you everyone for their stories ... I would have never known.

So what had me looking? First and foremost, my ankles are the size of tree trunks! They are so swollen, that you can not even distinguish between the ankle bones and the tendon in the back. Just this morning I shot out of bed due to a cramp when I was stretching myself awake.

I weigh myself every day, and normally at 6'1" I am 135-138. By Monday morning, I was 150.6, Tuesday 150.4 and so last night, I consume some water pills and a laxative ... at 149.8 ...

I am so tired, it's not even funny .... Monday night, I fell asleep when putting my son to bed at 8PM. Yet Tuesday at work, I couldn't keep my eyes open. My lunch was spend sleeping in the car. I just canceled a "lunch meeting" for today (Wednesday) as I predict I need to do the same thing again today. I can't seem to keep my eyes open.

My pants are tight, I have a slight headache, and my skin (especially my hands) are excessively dry. Last night in the shower, I actually looked to see if I had anything noticeable going on down there because I was so itchy and irritated in the vaginal area.

My doctor thought this would be really great for me, as I seem to bleed constantly ... taking the pill or not ... so their trying to get me on something that will help regulate it. I was so excited when she said it will be more direct since it is "right there", and to be honest, I've only had a spot of blood in the 4 days I've used it ... but is it worth it .... NO.

Good luck to everyone else ... this one is just not for me!

Incredibly painful gas. I only took 2 pills, one on Friday, woke up gassy but didn't connect the two, had an unpleasant trip to the washroom. I took another dose on Saturday and woke up with more gas Sunday morning. by Sunday afternoon i was in a lot of pain shooting through my abdomen, in my back and chest. it is now Tuesday and i missed work Monday and today because the only way i can relieve the pain is by laying down. when i wake up in the morning i'm fine and then it just gets worse by the minute. i can be up for a bit but then i need to lie down again. it feels like trapped gas. i have taken pepto bismol and oval and eaten prunes and nothing seems to help. also, i haven't had a bowel movement since Saturday and i don't feel like i need to, though i'm usually like clockwork, every morning after my coffee.
i called the pharmacy and they were of little help, i'm going to try a laxative today just to see if that helps move stuff if it's stuck, who knows.

I got sick on 1/21 I went to the doctor, I was starting to see yellow phlegm every morning for the past 3 days. The next day I was really messed up. My chest started to hurt and I was all congested, accompanied by lots of phlegm and loss of appetite. I called the doctor and she ordered amoxicillin because it works better for me. She wanted to order zpack, but I was reluctant because in the past I have gotten yeast infections from taking it. I felt worst with the asthma, chest congestion that I just wanted immediate relief. By the 3rd day, my throat irritation began, so I went to the emergency room. They order zpack and prednisone and as a precaution gave me a pill for a yeast infection. I started both meds and by the 4th day, the chest congestion was clearing and it was the first day I started feeling a bit better. I went back to the doctor, but I went back and still needed a treatment in the office. I was making a turn for the best. I finished the zpack on Friday and by Saturday, I was noticing a tinge of pain in my left side on Saturday. By Sunday, this pain was constant and stabbing accompanied by a yeast infection. The pill did not clear it up completely yet. Monday, the pain on my left side was unbearable, so I took a Tylenol which had no effect. So I went to the Emergency Room again and now they did an exam, touched my side and ran a ct scan, chest xray and blood test.

Get this, the results showed that I have gallstones on the right which were not causing my pain, a UTI and possibly passed a kidney stone. They gave me morphine and a nausea pill. Ultimately, they said they do not know what was causing my pain, so they gave me levaquin for the UTI and hydrocodine for the pain. I know the UTI came from not drinking enough fluids, but I would like to know where this pain is coming from. For Tuesday and Wednesday after leaving the ER, I could not use the bathroom with a bowel movement. I took a laxative today and used it fine this afternoon, Now my right ear feels like I have to swallow to open it. but the pain is still there and without the hydrocodine, it is unbearable. I have never had gallstone, kidney stones or pain like this. I called the doctor today and will see the doctor on Friday. This pain is unbearable, but the chest congestion, throat irritation are all gone. Why are the side effects so severe for a medication that seems to heal immediately.

My now 17 year old daughter was prescribed Yaz back on 7/12/07. Since then she has had an extreme problem with constipation. She has been to the doctors several times, and is now seeing a gastrointestinal specialist because she can only have a bowel movement if she takes a laxative. The pediatric doctor had her on miralax from April to October trying to get this problem under control. It has not worked. We are seeing the specialist and they are running her through a battery of tests, which will now possible include a colonoscopy (at 17 !!!!). She has been extremely moody and aggravated - which I attributed to her age of course. She is no longer extremely athletic, she doesn't really do a lot. She is not the same person, definitely is a homebody now - never going out hardly with friends,etc. She has also had a 20 pound weight gain and for a tiny girl, this has had a huge effect on her. I have watched all of this, and never really thought about the yaz connection until today when a friend sent me this email with a link to this site:
******

that is when I got scared thinking maybe her problems were all caused by yaz. of course her acne cleared up, but her periods are still irregular and spotty. has anyone else experienced the bowel problems???

Can Statins Cause Chronic Low-Grade Myopathy?
Statins (hydroxymethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase
inhibitors) are highly effective drugs for reducing serum
cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.
Clinical trials have shown that they also reduce risk for
coronary heart disease events, coronary procedures, and
stroke by about one third (1). Millions of people in the
United States and worldwide are being treated with statins.
In clinical trials and in clinical practice, statins have proved
to be remarkably safe.
The one notable side effect of statin therapy is myopathy.
A small fraction of patients who are treated with
statins will develop severe myopathy (2). In the worst cases,
severe myoglobinuria, acute renal failure, and even death
can occur. The incidence of severe myopathy is low, perhaps
1 in 1000 patients (2). Predisposing factors for severe
myopathy appear to include advanced age, relatively low
body weight, female sex, certain medications, use of multiple
medications, multisystem disease, and acute illnesses
or major surgery (3). If statins were avoided or used in low
doses in these circumstances, it is likely that the incidence
of severe myopathy could be greatly reduced.
Less severe forms of myopathy undoubtedly occur. In
some patients, fatigue and muscle pain and weakness develop
with moderately high serum creatine kinase levels
but not acute renal failure. In these cases, the myopathy
resolves when statin therapy is discontinued.
Still more patients report various muscle symptoms—
fatigue, pain, and muscle weakness—but have normal creatine
kinase levels. These symptoms probably are unrelated
to statin therapy in many patients. In middle-aged and
older people, muscle, joint, and tendon symptoms are very
common. Naturally, if a patient takes a medication that is
believed to produce muscle problems, symptoms are often
attributed to the medication. On the other hand, the major
controlled clinical trials have not detected a higher prevalence
of muscle symptoms during statin therapy versus placebo
(1). This failure of detection has generally led clinical
trialists to conclude that statin-associated myopathy with
normal creatine kinase levels essentially does not exist or
that, if it does exist, it cannot be detected above the “background
noise” of muscle symptoms in the general clinicaltrial
population.
Many physicians in clinical practice nonetheless believe
that they can identify a subset of statin-treated patients
who have a unique set of statin-related muscle symptoms.
Some patients clearly relate the onset of muscle
symptoms to initiation of statin therapy. These symptoms
may abate after discontinuation of therapy, only to reappear
when statin therapy is restarted. The number of such
patients is not large, and thus it may have been impossible
to identify them in large clinical trials.
In this issue, Phillips and colleagues (4) report on a set
of studies in four patients who had muscle symptoms during
statin therapy that resolved during placebo use. Quantitatively
measured muscle weakness also resolved during
placebo use. Muscle biopsies were performed in three patients
during statin therapy and then during placebo use.
Several pathologic changes were seen on biopsy specimens
obtained during statin therapy: increased lipid content of
mitochondria, fibers that did not stain for cytochrome oxidase
activity, and ragged red fibers. The authors suggest
that these patients had statin-associated myopathy with
normal serum creatine kinase levels.
Despite the study’s small size, we cannot dismiss these
observations as random variation in muscle structure.
However, these highly suggestive results are clearly preliminary.
The number of patients was small, and all appropriate
controls were not used. Nonetheless, this study is novel
because it used quantitative measures of muscle strength
and muscle biopsy to address the question of myopathy
with normal creatine kinase levels during statin therapy.
To be confirmed, the current data would have to be
extended to many more patients in whom muscle symptoms
are closely correlated with statin use. Reproducibility
of symptoms during therapy and symptom resolution after
discontinuation of statin therapy would be necessary. A
definitive study would have to be carefully designed and
executed. It would need to be double-blinded and placebocontrolled
and include sufficient numbers of patients to
provide a valid statistical comparison. In addition, investigators
would have to carefully consider the appropriate
selection of patients. The development of a registry of candidate
patients at multiple sites could facilitate a multicenter
study.
Is a carefully controlled, sizable study of this type
worth the investment of time and effort? To date, no evidence
indicates that prolonged statin therapy leads to permanent
muscle damage or progressive myopathy in patients
with normal creatine kinase levels. Controlled
clinical trials attest to the general safety of statins, and
symptomatic side effects appear to be limited to a relatively
small proportion of treated patients. In addition, no therapy
prevents or treats statin-induced myopathy, short of
withholding the drug. On the other hand, statins are being
prescribed to millions of people, and are usually continued
throughout the patient’s lifetime. It is certain that statins
cause myopathy in some patients. For these reasons, a valid
argument can be made for a more extensive study of lowgrade
myopathy in patients treated with statins.
In the meantime, physicians should recognize the great
benefit of statin therapy in high-risk patients and their
documented safety for most patients. For high-risk persons,
the proven efficacy for preventing cardiovascular disease
outweighs the unlikely possibility of permanent muscle
damage. Phillips and colleagues’ preliminary results
certainly do not provide adequate information on the spec-
Editorial
www.annals.org 1 October 2002 Annals of Internal Medicine Volume 137 • Number 7 617
trum, scope, or prognosis of myopathy with normal creatine
kinase levels during statin therapy. For these reasons,
prescription of statins for eligible patients should continue
despite the current results. Moreover, before discontinuing
therapy, physicians should carefully evaluate any patient
receiving statins who reports muscle symptoms. In most
cases, the symptoms will be found not to be consistent
with chronic myopathy, and often they will not be related
temporally to statin treatment. High-risk patients in particular
should not be deprived of major cardiovascular risk
reduction just because they display symptoms not clearly
documented to be closely related to statin therapy.
Despite these comments, the actions of statin on muscle
metabolism and structure deserve further investigation
to clarify the confusing area of low-grade myopathy apparently
associated with statin use in a few patients.
Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Dallas, TX 75390-9052
Current Author Address: Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD, Center for
Human Nutrition and the Departments of Clinical Nutrition and Internal
Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas,
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Y3.206, Dallas, TX 75390-9052.
Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: Honoraria (from Merck &
Co.; Pfizer, Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb; and Bayer); Grants (from Merck
& Co. and Pfizer, Inc.)
Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:617-618.
References
1. Executive Summary of The Third Report of The National Cholesterol Education
Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, And Treatment
of High Blood Cholesterol In Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). JAMA. 2001;
285:2486-97.
2. Staffa JA, Chang J, Green L. Cerivastatin and reports of fatal rhabdomyolysis
. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:539-40.
3. Pasternak RC, Smith SC, Bairey-Merz CN, Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Lenfant
C. ACC/AHA/NHLBI clinical advisory on the use and safety of statins (1)
(2). J Am Coll Cardiol. 2002;40:567-72.
4. Phillips PS, Haas RH, Bannykh S, Hathaway S, Gray NL, Kimura BJ, et al.
Statin-associated myopathy with normal creatine kinase levels. The Scripps Mercy
Clinical Research Center. Ann Intern Med. 2002;137:581-5.
© 2002 American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal
Medicine
Editorial Statins and Low-Grade Myopathy
618 1 October 2002 Annals of Internal Medicine Volume 137 • Number 7 www.annals.org

About eight to ten years ago i had a violent reaction to lactaid. I had taken it numerous time before with no problems and then I woke up one morning - had a bowl of cereal and a lactaid pill - within the hour I was experiencing severe stomach pain along with vomiting and diarrhea. I thought it might have been due to the fact that i had had very little to eat the day before and only a bowl of cereal that morning with the extra strength pill.

the following weekend i was brave enough to try it again with some ice cream at night (this time i had a full stomach from dinner). BIG mistake - this time it was worse - the stomach pain was out of this world (i have a high pain threshold but this had me in the fetal position) and i couldnt leave the toilet and trash can for a few hours. My girlfriend was scared and called one of those nurse hot lines. they told her to coat my stomach with some kaopectate - which seemed to help. I checked the bottle of lactaid - and the expiration date had passed - so i threw it away and swore off of lactaid pills. fortunately they came out with the lactaid milk!

Fast forward to now - never touched the stuff again. well the other day I was out of lactaid milk and my wife (yes the same girlfriend) had picked up some samples of lactaid pills at a trade show - so I guess with the passage of time - I forgot how painful and miserable the other experiences had been - so i took the pill. Nothing happened!

Last night i decide to take another one because i had a craving for ice cream (had been awhile!). I figured it was ok since i had no reaction a week ago. Well sure enough - within the hour I was on the floor in severe stomach pain - followed by vomiting and diarrhea. This time we had kaopectate in the house - so i started taking it - well i just threw it right back up.

This episode lasted about an hour and a half this time. There was a metallic taste in my mouth about the third time i vomited, and the fifth and final time, there was puddle of yellow liquid that came out at the end.

After numerous decadron shots, I finally went on a prednisone dose pak last week. All this started after falling and pulling a muscle in my side.

My 1st side effect was this wonderful feeling/energy after day #2. If I would have been up to it, I would have cleaned my entire house and still hunted for something to clean. I told someone I felt 20 years old and may feel 15 after finishing the pak. No such luck.

2 nights ago, I couldn't stop feeding my face. This went on for about 3 hours. I ate everything edible that I could find, even going as far as pouring italian dressing all over a chicken breast and gulping it down, yucky.

Today, I'm miserable. My stomach feels 10x's bigger than usual, and I feel so bloated/full even though I've not eaten much today. I actually took a laxative thinking this might help the fullness feeling.......no such luck.

I've never taken this. The extent of my medications is Crestor 10 mg 2x week. I'm an LPN in a busy doctors office, so I know what's going on with my body.

I'm hoping this fullness feeling will go away without any complications. I'm off work tomorrow, so it will be tuesday before I can report my side effects.

Doctor prescribed it for me, as a laxative. It gave me horrible gas and bloating. Had to stop using it.

Hello all: how are you? I am from Dominican Republic, and I use levothyroxine and the brand name is 'SYNOX' which is about the same as LEVOXYL. Well let me tell u my story. I have been on levothyroxine for about 2 years the doctor first put me on 0.1 Milligrams and i felt ok at first but then i have been feeling very hungry, anxious, and i haven't been able to concentrate on my books that i have to read for university.
I have been decreasing the dosage, and now i am on 0.025 Milligrams which is about 1/4 of the original dose (0.1 milligrams) I would like to go off levothyroxine because my TSH, T3, T4 have been in the normal range anyways.
Even though i have a slow metabolism, which is one of the first causes for me to go to an endocrinologist doctor, i think i can manage my weight with exercise, although i retain water easy. But like u, i would like to go off this medicine. I also get tired easy, but u know the thing about levothyroxine is that it leads to diahreah too it's a sort of laxative that u take so that's one of the bad effects of it too,

Thanx and I woudl appreciate your comments

Juan ***

I have been using bisacodyl laxatives for over a dozen years. Unfortunately due to the tolerance I my body has developed for this medication, I am often required to use between ten and fifteen tablets per dosage -- and I need to use them every night or morning. Since nearly the outset of my using this laxative, I have suffered from severe, intense, INTOLERABLE cramping of a degree I have never experienced with any other medication or from any other product. The cramps and pain are so severe that it is difficult for me to even put it into words. The pain emanates from just below my breast bone, in the center of my ribcage. It is so debilitating that the ONLY way that I can achieve even a slight degree of relief is to ball up a pillow or some similar object and place it directly where the pain is centered. The intensity can last anywhere from fifteen minutes up to and beyond an hour. It's made me late for work, for school, and is often accompanied by nausea, cold sweats and vomiting. I am seeking out others who have experienced these side effects after using this product to see what alternatives exist for me, and also to see how they might alleviate some of the pain. It is without question the most hideous, horrific pain I have ever experienced. Any thoughts?