Layman symptoms and conditions

Oh My Gosh - as I sit here with abdominal cramps typing my experience - I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I started taking Lisinopril in late April 2008. On May 2 I had severe abdominal cramps and massive vomiting for 8 hours. Finally got myself to ER after I sent my family on to our vacation (I joined 2 days later). The ER attributed it to food poisoning. Lo and behold, I had another "attack" on May 9th. Back to ER I went (my husband witnessed my attack and insisted I go). They took X-rays and MRI - found intestinal inflammation but didn't know why. My internest send me to gastro dr. Third attack hit on June 5th and gastro doctor sent me to major hospital ER. They, too, did MRI & blood work. Looked at gall bladder, pancreas, stomach, intestines, etc. They found intestinal inflammation. Gastro Dr. took more blood and did more test (CT, MRI, Colonoscopy, Endoscopy). He couldn't find anything so he sent me to rheumatologist. She did add'l blood work and genetic testing. She though I had an auto-immune disorder - like Mediterranean Familial Fever! Please...! But all her tests came back negative. She too had no answers, only treatment for symptoms - Colchicine and Prednisone. Yuk. After having my 8th debilitating attack yesterday (since May), I've had enough. I went to the Web and found this wonderful site - along with some others with helpful info. I don't have confirmation that the lisinopril is causing this - but it sure sounds like it. I am a 49 yr old female and I've had no "life changing" events in my life (except for this nastiness) and have been on no other meds. I find it interesting that out of all the doctors I've seen - and all knew of the lisinopril - that none suspected this as a side effect.

I am taking Wellbutrin and it has helped my depression and desire for drugs every day. I have bad ringing in my ears all the time but I can deal with that compared to the good it has done.. The problem is I'm a engineer which requires a lot of concentration that I have lost since I've been on Wellbutrin. I also have memory loss. I can't remember peoples names 2 minutes after they told me. I am a support engineer so I have to tallk to many people every day as well as typing cause and solution. I find myself having to read everything I type over again because I leave out words and sometimes what I type makes no sense at all. Wellbutrin has helped me so much but I think I will have to stop or lose my job. What a choice. Before I started taking Wellbutrin I never felt like I was in tune with the world. Smoking pot worked for me but we all know what the long term effect of that is. Codine also made me feel like I fit in. So Wellbutrin has fixed all those needs and feelings but I just hate the loss of memory, concentration, and ringing in my ears.

My mother was given this drug, Lisinopril, because the doctor decided she had high blood pressure after she went in for a bladder infection (she's had these all her life, every now & then). The doctor also prescribed Nitrofur (please avoid THAT one like the plague - she was on the couch for a week in stomach agony). We didn't put 2 and 2 together on what was really going on until yesterday. She was on Lisinpril for 3 months and every 2-3 weeks had an episode of extreme stomach spasms, bloating and fatigue. These episodes have lasted 3-5 days each, keeping her on the couch in agony. I researched the internet and found out that Lisinopril is made from SNAKE VENOM, can you believe? Turns out lots of people have reactions from this, including coughing. There was one woman who had the exact same things as my mom and wouldn't you know it, stopped using Lisinopril and the episodes went away. Turns out this is an allergic reaction, something they say is rare, BUT I think it depends how long you take it and how sensitive you are. So my mom immediately stopped taking it. What's happening inside is something they call gastrointestinal angioedema (in layman's terms, internal hives). If you experience coughing, the hives are in your throat. If you experience the stomach pains, the hives are all in your intestinal tract and very possible more areas internally. So then I looked up and found an excerpt from "One Earth Herbal Sourcebook" on Google and found the author had experienced something similar, using ayervedic (indian) herbs to fix the problem. I couldn't find where to buy ayervedic herbs, calling Whole Foods Market with no success. Well, all over the world there are healing herbs that do similar things. So I did find 2 that would work. Marshmallow (the herb, not the campfire kind) will help relieve swelling internally. There is another herb called Goldenseal (don't use it if you have very high blood pressure as it can cause a spike) that has antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Anyway, now you know what is going on inside - hives you can't see from snake venom. Take that to the doctors and see what they say. Maybe your just better off like we are to research yourself and find a natural answer from nature. I hope this can help others avoid the hell we've been through.

Yes, kenalog has many side effects with SOME people. I'm both a patient that takes kenalog and a third year medical student. I've been receiving kenalog injections twice a year during allergy season for the past 5 years. All I can say is THANK GOD. I can deal with a itchy/running nose, the sneezing, and the itchy eyes. What I cannot deal with are the asthma symptoms that act up whenever my allergies do. I get little enough sleep as is, what I do get doesn't need to be interrupted by waking up not being able to breath.
What must be realized here is that however many posts are on this and like sites, the people who suffer from the side effects are in the minority. For most patients this drug provides great relief with little to no side effects.
For those who said that their doctors did not tell them what they were being given, or warned about the side effects, yes, those physicians should have warned their patients about the possible side effects. HOWEVER, it is also YOUR responsibility as a patient to ASK what you are being given, and what the possible side effects are. Never let anyone just stick a needle in your butt without asking what the heck they're doing first. I'm not defending those physicians that don't tell the patient what they're doing; they are in the wrong. But they see tons of patients very day, most of it route. And many patients lack the knowledge to ask what they are being given, and what might happen from it. Even if the physician took the time to explain, a lot of people wouldn't understand or simply don't care. Don't be one of those patients. Ask your PCP: what is this drug? what does it do? what are the possible side effects? what percentage of patients experience these side effects?. Take some responsibility for yourselves.

Ok ladies...day two since removal. Still no major relief of symptoms...but I did start a period...pretty moderate flow. I'm exhausted and my emotions are all over the place. (I have cried about 4 different times today...and yes I've been at work for most of it. Nice.)

I found a posting on here earlier...can't remember whose it was (Sorry!) about checking out a site from "nerdnuggets" where it posted a product monograph which is the informative packet released by Bayer Corp. in Canada. If you can find that posting, do it! Pull it up and print it out...it's a 46 page description of the medication. Page 10 specifies all of these side effects...even the tendinitis I've been treated for! Page 33 lists the absorption and distribution of the medicine into our bodies and specifically discusses how the medicine becomes systemic in our bloodstream within 15 minutes of insertion! So what I did was printed out several copies, attached letters, and sent it out to all my doctors and specialists, including my EX-gynecologist asking him to use the information to educate not only himself, but his staff as well so they do not grossly discount another patient's side-effects they way they did mine. Keep in mind that this information is not readily available to us here in the US...this is a Canadian report.

Hence my other phone call made today to attorney Justin Wikin (out of Florida I believe...thank you, Amayaa, for this info) at 850-916-7450 regarding a possible class action suit. They took my story down and recorded names of all my physicians and told me I should hear back from them within 7-10 days.

In the report, I also found how it is excreted form your body once removed. It has a half life of about 20 hours. Layman's terms: After 20 hours, or approximately one day, only about 50% remains in your body. The next day, 50% of that is removed, leaving about 25% in your system. (So: Day 3, you should only have about 12% left, Day 4 = 6%, Day 5 = 3%, Day 6 = 1%.) Realistically, every day should get better and better...and I should start feeling some major relief when, after about 1 week, all this is out of my system.

Good luck to us all and for those of you who are having the same problems with their doctors as I have been...print out that report! (Plus, it's fun to see the look on their faces when you show them a medical report that they cannot dispute!)

Concerned Citizen; I just went to Singulair.com and the website is quite good. Any practitioner would know to look at the product PI which is right there and the pharmacokinetics section tells you how it works. Put your glasses on.

OK. This is a really weird one. I was taking doxy for a 'suspected' case of Lyme (I won't even go there for this post! Its a whole other story) .I was prescribed 200mgs per day, but all the Lyme patients i spoke with said you had to take a lot more. Just to be "on the safe side" I upped the dosage to 300mgs a day, (the lowest dosage sanctioned by the experienced Lyme docs at ilads.org,) administered 8 hours apart. Four days after upping the dosage I was sitting on the couch when my left wrist felt numb, then my left side of my face momentarily went a little numb. At the same time i got really dizzy and faint. I felt really strange, like everything seemed unreal and glistening. I was rushed to the Er and 4 hours and $3000 worth of tests later (I have a $5000 deductible) I was discharged given the diagnosis of a TIA (mini stroke) meaning all the tests were negative and that's what they guessed. The thing is, I'm only 52, look 44 (objectively) am not overweight, don't smoke , exercise regularly and have low blood pressure. There is no history whatsoever of heart disease in my family. The only risk factor is elevated cholesterol. The point is, I'm a relatively low risk for stroke. My own doctor saw me a few days later. I still was dizzy and out of it. TIA symptons resolve thenselves in 24 hours He was certain I had not had a stroke and thought that all these symptoms could possibly have been caused by aside effect of doxycycline, intracranial hypertension, or in layman's terms, pressure on the brain. Yow...I stopped taking the stuff for a day and a half and felt almost normal. My doc thought i should take one a day and after a couple of days go up to the 200mg suggested dosage, but when I took just one last night, I woke up with similar symptoms, although not quite as pronounced as before. They persisted all day,gradually dropping off.

I have now stopped taking the stuff and am beginning to feel a little better. I have never had a negative reaction to antibiotics before, but after this I will be very reticent to try then again, unless I am dying or something. I am finished with doxy. All in all, a nasty and very expensive experience. (unless of course, I really DID have a TIA!)