Life threatening symptoms and conditions

I am 25 and I have endometriosis, and every side effect of yasmin that you all have is what i have been experiencing with endometriosis, the only difference is that i have a perfectly normal cycle, its either 28 - 30 days no more no less but still i'm not getting pregnant. I started taking Yasmin about a week ago and to date i have no symptoms. I think what happens is that we search online for information about these medication and what we read freaks us out and we start making our bodies believe that we have these symptoms, in-fact we are constantly looking out for these symptoms. when i read up on endometriosis i wanted to become pregnant so bad for the first time and i would make my self feel pregnant because i would go to these endo forums and read peoples symptoms who got pregnant with endo and i would find myself looking for those symptoms and then my body tricks me into thinking i have all the symptoms they describe on the endo sites and at the end of the 28 days my period arrives in full force as usual. but i schedule my self to take yasmin around my lunch time where i guarantee i will have a bite and i notice that with any pills if you do not eat while taking it, it can cause nausea, headaches. I know that it is very possible for people to get side effects from these medications, but i think we need to relax a little and take our minds off them and put our trust in God and let him take charge, pray everyday, and i don't mean pray for your problems, i mean give God thanks everyday for what he has done in your life and for waking you up because God already knows your problems, he just wants you to show acknowledgement for all he has done. This is the path that i am trying to take to overcome my endometriosis and just hope that one day he will look deep in my soul and help me and women just like me with menstrual issues, and help me and my husband to concieve our first child. the only side effect i am looking forward to while on Yasmin is falling pregnant at some point (you know how some people mistakingly fall pregnant on BCP's well i am looking forward to that) (smile)

I was a 2:42 marathoner. I used a synthetic varnish containing isocyanates, pentanedione, organic solvents, in one 7-hour session; the company-recommended respirator did not in fact prevent transmission: Severe chemically- induced asthma, plus neuropathy, plus, plus.

I've used Advair 500/50 for six years. There have been many diverse effects from the chemical exposure; I'd not questioned any being Advair side effects. But the raised blood pressure was not initial, and certainly not a priori. Diminished hearing, diminished eyesight, anxiety. Again, not to lump in, but these questions are new for me. But the point I'd like to bring before this group is this: In August I was diagnosed with ehlichiosis , and was prescribed 28 days on doxycycline. They recommend eliminating many possible antagonists to the doxycycline. My respiratory capacity had been continually diminishing. My ongoing physician said this was to be expected and recommended only the next more powerful steroid. Not a good solution. Before all this I was strong; repaired myself. In the absence of constructive answers, wondering if the Advair was weakening me, making me dependent, I quit the Advair as well on beginning the doxycycline. Today is eleven days post-doxycycline. Eight days ago there began with increasing severity, a terrible wracking deep cough producing dark yellow mucus. Painful. No fever. Grevious throat from the wracking, but I question whether this is a cold or infection. It's just in my lungs. Maybe it's as though I've thrown off an epithelial coating. These past two days the quantity of deep yellow mucus is not as ready, but the wracking and coughing is more severe. And my lung capacity, my respiratory capacity, is frighteningly diminished. Until these past two days I'd considered this an infection, especially post-doxy. But it doesn't feel like an infection. And I'm scared. Is this because I quit the Advair abruptly after long regular use? Have any of you had a similar experience. Can you discuss the effects of abruptly discontinuing Advair. Have you stayed off it. What's happened to your respiratory capacity. Have you any professional studies, trials or experience to recommend. Thanks.

I am a 56 year old female who was very active ranching, balng hay taking care of irrigation etc. 3 years ago I had pain in my left arm and my heart was racing went to the E.R. where they did a 12 lead ekg. Could not find anything wrong other than my blood pressure was up to 160/90 they gave me ToprolXl 100 mg and told me to see my primary care physcian. Which I did. He continued the medication.

Since that time I have complained to all of the symtoms I have seen on this site. With one exception. Two months ago I was watching TV and had double vision. It only lasted for a few seconds but noticed the next day my peripheral vision was gone. I made an appt with an opthomologist and he spent 3 hours with me and recommended an MRI which was conducted some 2 weeks later. I was referred to a neurologist who ran a lot of blood work. My first batch of blood work showed a raging inflamation. They started testing for MS, lymes, lupus etc. Last week i met with my neurologist for the follow up blood work report. Everything is normal he says but by the way you have myathenia gravis. You get double vision again you call me I will give you medicine. Like I am a two year old.

I have researched myasthenia and the one thing you dont want to do is be on a beta blocker or a calcium channel blocker, as both of these will aggravate the condition. I called him to ask that he change my blood pressure medication. He says I wont do that. My primary care physcian is no longer in practice with the original medical group and has left the area. I saw him only 2 weeks ago and nothing was mentioned. The point is folks Don't trust anyone. Oh and by the way the side effects you are seeing mimic myasthenia gravis. Now no one knows what causes it for sure. Stress is a factor. But if you have not been tested get yourself tested. I may not even have this disease but I am getting off this medication and I am going to find out for sure what in the heck is going on. By the way I have seen a cardiologist last month without a referral because I wanted answers and he says there is absolutely nothing wrong with my heart...so why was I put on this medication? Heaven help us all.

This e-mail is an update of my July 11 post. I gotta tell you, I feel like a million bucks compared to when I was taking lisinopril. I quit taking it, monitored my bp and went to my doctor to confirm with him that what I was doing was ok. I didn't have extremely high bp anyway. I think it went up when I visited the doc so I was diagnosed with pre-hypertension (white coat syndrome). Anyway, nearly all my side effects are gone. No more coughing and gagging, no more achy-crampy feelings....sleeping like a baby! Feeling so much better motivated me to get a tread mill again. Life's a crap shoot so unless I've got something life threatening going on...I'm not taking medicines anymore. My bp has been good even though I've been off the stuff only 2.5 weeks. Also, my memory and vision has improved remarkablely. I'm on the mend from this experience and caution everyone to PAY ATTENTION to side effects! Who knew some of this crap could make you think you're dying? I'm going to go the diet and exercise route.....learned my lesson. :)

My dad had an anaphylactic reaction to avelox. Twenty minutes after taking the medication he became flushed and itchy. His face swelled. My dad is a physician and knew that he was having a reaction to the drug but did not know how severe it was. He had a nurse administer a depo medrol shot when in fact it should have been epinepherine. He ended up turning blue and passing out several times until oxygen could be administered. These events took place in his office. When he was in this state of shock, his collegues gave him an EKG and evidence of heart ischemia was recorded. His blood pressure dropped drastically. He was rushed to a hospital where they gave him benedryl and steroids. Thankfully he has recovered without any tissue damage to his heart or brain. Even though he had this reaction, he still feels that avelox is a great drug and that his reaction although extremely life threatening is rare. 1 in 30,000 people will develop this adverse reaction to avelox.

I took prednisone at 60mg/day for a week for inflammation that would not go away. I didn't sleep for 5 straight nights and was too anxious to eat anything. I became psychotic after a few days and would seriously worry that the sun wasn't going to come up that day and the world was going to end. I became so depressed that all I could do was cry. It took serious energy to do anything...even showering or walking to the bathroom. Since this short episode I have not been the same. I am now being treated for clinical depression with 2 types of antidepressants. I would recommend taking prednisone at a much lower dose (say 10mg/day) for treating non-life threatening problems to avoid the psychological side effects.

Everyone who is experiencing muscle weakness or muscle pain should discuss this immediately with their doctor.
It may be the beginning of "rhabdomyolysis" a serious life-threatening side effect of Zocor.
Toxic-mediated rhabdomyolysis may result from prescription and nonprescription medications, including Zocor.
Rhabdomyolysis is the breakdown of muscle fibers with leakage of potentially toxic cellular contents into the systemic circulation.
A Guest Nurse

I have been taking toprol for almost 2 months and have experienced most of the side effects mentioned here. I have myasthenia gravis and after severe allergic reactions to many medications. After trying several different meds for hypertension, my doctor prescribed 25 mg of topral.

The strange headaches and dizziness began immediately as well as fatigue, blurred vision and body heat totally unlike hot flashes. Feels like i am on fire when i touch my flesh.

The toprol affected my muscles almost as bad as lisinopril causing breathing difficulties and weakness in my leg and neck muscles to the point where i had to stay in bed for most of the day.

Toprol is a beta blocker and can sometimes cause difficulties for myasthenics but i was told that once i had been taking the medication for awhile the side effects would likely disappear.

Well they got worse and last night i had a myasthenic crisis and will be talking to my doctor about a different medication.

The problem with prescriptions is that most doctors dont have time to monitor their patients on new prescriptions and insurance doesnt support medication education for preventative maintenance so meds end up sometimes putting patients in life threatening situations.

There has to be a solution.

For Allie; I'm a middle aged male who has had asthma all my life. During my mid thirties it suddenly got very suddenly worse to the point of being life threatening. I had been treated all my life by many doctors as being allegic to rye grasses & chicken feathers. They also said that cold weather was a trigger. I wasn't getting exposed to these triggers & it was getting worse day by day. More visits to the doctor, who told me that it was because I was living in an area high in pollens. This dr introduced me to prednisolone & had me on it every day for 4 years. There was no improvement in my condition (i was actually getting worse & preparing myself for a short life) & the solone created a whole new range of health issues for me. Finally, I found a specialist who discovered the problem. I'm allergic to silicilates (i think that's how you spell it?) & sulphates. I removed them from my diet & my condition improved rapidly. It took me a further 2 years to wean off the solone without rebound! My point is; keep looking for the trigger/s until you find them all. If a doctor tells you it's one thing & removing that trigger dosen't fix it, keep looking! I'm sure that I am allergic to rye grasses & chook feathers, but not near as allergic as I am to tomato paste & wine. I mow lawns for a living these days & live a perfectly healthy life. My asthma is completely under control. So much for pollens & rye grasses putting me in intensive care!

Guest 37371-

A decrease/change in vaginal lubrication is a change with oral-contraceptives. See a couple of entries below your entry on side effects of Yasmin. Many women have complained of loss of libido on Yasmin. Given how many other problems women here and on the new site in the UK have experienced, I cannot reccommend Yasmin or its sister pill Yaz at all as they have created very serious problems for many women including myself. I personally would recommend getting off it and finding a more traditional pill, or off the hormones altogether if you can and practice a more natural/non-hormonal method.

Yasmin generally helps women with acne which it did with me so you are experiencing sounds unusual. Another reason on top of many others to get off of it.

Look 2-3 entries below your entry and read the insert that comes with Yasmin-if you are experiencing chills and fever like symptoms-you should contact your Doctor immediately. This is not normal. Many women have had this happen actually-Yasmin and Yaz have some terrible life threatening and very serious health effects.

So, I'd say get off of it. Check the U.K site Flowerbabies set up. you'll see what kinds of problems Yasmin is creating.

I have been on Yasmin for a little less then a month. Since I have been on it my husband and I haven't not had sex, not once!! Before Yasmin we had a great sex life and now it's like, what's sex?? I have pimples the size of dimes that are nasty and I break out all the time. I gained probably about five pounds in less then a month. I get cold chills and fever-like symptoms and I really hate it so far. My husband just hates that we never have sex anymore. Is loss of sex drive one of the symptoms? I was reading about it and I guess my other ones are normal, but I read nothing about loss of sex drive. I'm 20 and a newly wed...I should want i should want to do it every day!!

I got a kenalog injection 5 months ago.I am still having terrible periods but atleast not 2 or 3 a month anymore,they just last 7 to 10 days now ,very heavy with spotting after.How long will this last?I also have atrophy that keeps getting bigger and deeper.I will need to get Sculptra injections wich are very expensive and only a temporary fix.Like so many others I have also had other side effects,acne,hair loss and growth,headache,cramps,ect...Hopefully none of us will get any of the life threatening side effects like blood clots.I got the boxed insert from Brystol Meyers and it lists all of the side effects that the doctors failed to tell us about.You can call 1 800 321-1335 and get a copy mailed or faxed to you.

I'm on 50 mgs of Topamax, and it's really fuckin" me up man. Listen to this crrraaaazzzzzy ass story. My Mom took me to MCV (Virginia's State funded Hospital) on Monday, August 28th to pick up my seizure medicine and she dropped me off in front of the Gateway building and told me to go in and wait for her while she went and parked the car. No big deal. Nothing I couldn't handle. I've done this before I started the Topamax. Yeah, right........Well, I went in and sat down for a minute then got up (before she got there), crossed the street over to the pharmacy and got my meds. Crazy thing too was I got on the elevator and went up to the 3rd floor, thinking that I was supposed to meet mom up there. After I started walking down the hall I finally realized I was supposed to have waited for mom in the Gateway building before got my meds. So I got back on the elevator and went back down to the pharmacy and back over to the Gateway building and found her. I thought she was gonna be mad, but she wasn't. Anyway, on the way out of the Gateway building I almost walked out in front of a moving ambulance.
I am like a walking zombie. I have been on Lamictal (anti-epileptic) but the Neurologist is slowly building me up on the Topamax, another anti-epileptic, so that I can quit the Lamictal altogether cuz she's worried about a rash I have developed. Lamictal is known to cause life threatening rashes. She doesn't want me to quit the Lamictal until the Topamax is completely at 200mgs in my system for fear I would have a seizure. So for the time being I will be a zombie without an appetite. I barely eat anything. I'm always thirsty though. And driving.......HA! Forget that! I don't even WANT to try it. I might kill myself or someone else and/or end up lost somewhere. Wouldn't that be a bitch!
I'm willing to see this thing through though. I'm tough and think I can handle it.

Yes, it is 3:40am and I too am up searching the internet to find out which medication is giving me insomnia! Looks like it's Geodon! I started with 40mg at bedtime for one month and they just upped my dose to 80mg at bedtime. My main problem has been sweating! As a 30 year young female living in sunny California (100 degress plus) it isn't to attractive to have a sweating problem. I am miserable! My eyes are so dilated and dry my husband actually asked me if I was using drugs (ha ha ha) and I am getting "trails" off things and small hallucinations if I wake up in the middle of the night (like a washcloth crawled away on the counter). I have trouble swallowing, am restless and anxious. I feel the symptoms worsened with the increasing dosage. But I guess this is better than the Zyprexa when I gained 30lbs in two weeks! I'm gonna give this drug a chance, hoping the sweat thing will get better with time. I've been playing this medication game long enough to know that unless the side effects are life threatening to stick with it and give it time. I have read many places that if you have stiffness and shuffling walk to stop the drug immediately and I saw a couple posts that were having that problem. It's on the manufacturers website; stop the drug immediately!

I was put on Prozac in 1998 for a life-threatening bout with major depression. I also was diagnosed with panic disorder. Before Prozac, my dr. had tried Paxil (terrible dizziness), then imipramine (hallucinations). Prozac was the 3rd and final drug tried, and I am so glad it exists. All my life I felt like I was living in some terrible shadow. On Prozac, my life has become much better. I must add that the Prozac was in conjunction with a year and a half of seeing a psychologist. I do not recommend that ANYONE go on an antidepressant without conjunctive therapy. I am still on a 20mg/day dosage of Prozac because I battle with depressive episodes now and then. Although the terrible shadow still floats around out there, I don't feel oppressed by it any more. I know there are many bad things said about Prozac, but my experiences with it are positive.

I'm 45 and I took Levaquin last Sept 2005 for a sinus infection. Within a day I started having strange side effects including heart racing, terrible insomnia, nightmares and anxiety feelings. After 2 or 3 sleepless nights and thinking I was crazy (like how could these side effects be coming from an antibiotic??), I got on the internet and read about other's similar experiences, and worse. I stopped taking Levaquin immediately, but not before awful knee pain started. It's now May, and my knees and right arch are so painful and I have a very hard time with normal activities. I'm not overweight so that is not causing my knee problems. There ought to be a class action lawsuit, I agree. Just saw my MD who ran lupus tests due to my knee joint swelling (kind of passed off my Levaquin concerns except to say they did find cartiliage damage in rabbit tests). Fortunately lupus tests were all negative as was knee xray. There's a lot I can't do due to the pain. I'm angry, and wondering when this will clear up! Don't take Levaquin unless it's life threatening!!

Hi, this is guest 21606 reporting back about a month after finishing 6 weeks of levaquin. The good news is the prostatitus is cured.

For the most part the muscle pain has dissipated although I still have an occasional twinge. It is sometimes hard to sort out what is a drug interaction and what is normal muscle pain, when I am sick everything hurts. None the less, the peculiar pain I associate with use of levaquin did not happen until after about 10 days of taking the drug, steadily increased for a few days, remained steadily painful until a few days after I stopped taking it, then gradually diminished. Although it is possible the muscle pain was coincidental, I doubt it.

When I told my Urologist about the muscle pain he looked at me like I was from some other planet, like how could I possibly be so dumb, my family doctor also gave me a look, copped an attitude, and suggested I have sciatica. I don't quite understand this attitude, although the official side effects do not include muscle pain there are sure a lot of anectodal reports including my mom who credits levaquin with saving her life but had muscle pain for more than a month after completing her treatment.

Meanwhile keep in mind this is a very mysterious and powerful drug whose actions and interactions are not completely understood. If you are considering taking levaquin for anything less than a life threatening infection I suggest you think twice and try something else instead.

Good night all

Peter

I have not read these page until this morning. I was looking specifically for advair/singular combination side effects. I became somewhat suspicious of the possible side effects of these medicines some time ago. After reading these postings, I now think I know where the conditions I have experienced come from. I would advise everyone, especially those who have life-threatening asthma or restrictive breathing disease, to see their physicians before stopping medications. As for me, I have weaned myself off of all advair/singular/broncho meds and it has made all the difference. I keep my emergency inhaler with me at all times as I live in the country with outdoor work, dogs, cats and other critters, but to me, the side effects I experience for my particular condition (not as serious as others have) were not worth the dangers (high BP, weight gain, muscle join pain, breathlessness, irritability. And to Trie, your posting could have been mine. I am now taking massive doses of CS (common sense) and E (exercise) and lots and lots of H2O. Good luck to all of you.

Wow, what a web site!

A male, I have been on Zestril/Lisinopril for 11 years and no other drugs. I have had most of the mentioned side effects periodically at some time during that period but I noticed them mostly after 5 years of use.

After reading many comments, I panicked! I must get off this drug. I don't like taking drugs because I worry about the many unknowns. Maybe I should live with high blood pressure and tough it out until I am hand fed in a wheel chair.

Then I remembered the psychology professor who asked everyone in the class what day they were born. Next class he handed out a horoscope to everyone. Most, if not all in the class exhibited surprise at how close to the truth he was about them.

Then he said pass your horoscope to the person on the left. It turned out they were all the same horoscope. People read into general comments their own experiences.

If you look at the side effects mentioned in this web site you will see they are all general and can be caused by and associated with many things. I have family and friends who are not on lisinopril, but tell me they have the same symptoms.

Those of you who have nurses or doctors for friends must surely have heard about how, as they learned about diseases and symptoms, they felt for sure they had the desease. This is a common feeling among medical undergraduates.

As a non-doctor, my understanding is that high blood pressure is not normally, immediately life threatening. It does damage over time to your organs.

So if you suspect side effects, advise your doctor and stop taking them for a month or two and see if your problems subside.

I have tried this and have been unable to conclusively determine a side effect. Perhaps this is because my perceived side effects seem to change with the seasons, climate and time.

Perhaps I would feel different if there had been a strong and relatively immediate reaction to the drug, but much of what I read suggests to me that people have other issues and problems, not a side-effect.

Hey Hill!!

You wrote:
< to take any hormonal bcp ever again in my life!!!

All the best to you!!

Silke

Hi Chrissy,

I know exactly how u feel....I have had these AM I DYING issues for the past 6mths before i linked them to they Yasmin and i am still soooo worried that something is wrong with me nut 6weeks post Yasmin it does not seem as bad but still comes and goies but thinking back itis an improvement of the month that i stopped yasmin and i was having my husband ring me everymorning at 7am as ithought that if i died in my sleep at least the kids could tell their dad if ithey couldnt wake me as each night i was sure this would be it for me ...that i had some serious life threatening disease or i was on the verge of a massive heart attack and all these symptoms were the warning signs of my heart stopping.
I am still internally thinking hey high blodd pressure must be bad but seeing on the posts the women that write that they had high blood pressure also post yamin gives me reassurance that they were alive when they wrote that so hey i am gonna make it ( see another negative yamin effect).
this site has saved my life and i am always here now also for anyone whom needs me... it reminds me a little of pay it forward the ones before me found hope here , i found hope from them and maybe i can help another...

hey lisa,

your welcome, i know what its like to be so scared and feel alone.... i am constantly thinking that i have some deadly disease or somethng life threatening wrong with me.... im only 23!! dying is the last thing i wanna be worried about.... this week is the week leading up to my period and it hasnt been a good one...
i actually for the past couple of days have got these really weird feelings on the left side of my head.. kinda like little cramps ya know... they come and go...
HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS????? PLS LET ME KNOW!!!
i really hope you get better soon and i hope all these postings get through to all the girls who look at this website....
YASMIN HAS RUINED A PART OF MY LIFE! but i wont let it ruin it for other girls...

lots of luck
chrissy xoxo

Severe itching & tinglling all over body. Been 5 months & just getting less severe. Exhausted feeling some days. Have to sometimes take naps to build back strength. Intense, sharp pain in both shoulders. Especially in right shoulder. Ex-rays show nothing. May be tendon repture. Will be taking MRI. Pain in right side of neck generating up skull to middle of skull. I believe this drug affects the nerves in your body. After 5 months of researching the after effects I (& those allergic to Quinolones) should only take this drug if life threatening. Not all are allergic to this drug but if you are you will be sorry you ever took it. I certainly am.

I'm a 38 y/o male with a somewhat different outlook on taking my Singulair and my chronic asthma. I've been on it for about 8 months and had the strange dreams, have the horrible aches and put on a good 10 pounds. I have the mild depression too and yes, I attribute the side effects to Singulair. Prior to this, I took allegra nightly w/ albuterol everythime I had an attack. The allegra had it's own side effects: max of 4-6 hours sleep nightly, irritable, couldn't concentrate at work, loss of appetite. Most people before going on singulair are using a pill like Allegra that inhibits appetite so when they go on Singulair, they drop the speedy drug and boom, here comes the appetite. Anyway, for me I prefer the Singulair, aches and all. I take a couple Advil on the achy days and no pain. I don't wake up with the life threatening asthma attacks and I don't have the life threatening asthma attacks when I least expect them like when I'm hiking 30 miles from the nearest hospital. I agree that Singulair is probably not a good answer to seasonal allergies especially in children that are experiencing severe sdie effects, but for everyone screaming lawsuit here do what most people do when a medication doesn't work for them or their child and TRY SOMETHING NEW! TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR! DIRECT YOUR DOCTOR TO THIS DISCUSSION BOARD!

For children with severe asthma, my guess is that Singulair can be a good drug and I think because it is so new, we need to make our doctors aware of all the side effects we feel so they can tell new patients what to look for or so they know what to listen for.

I'd rather breathe!!!

Have been taking Prednisone since January for a severe eye problem. Since there was a strong possibility that I could go blind, I had to take it. So far, I've only gained about 10-12 pounds...but keeping the pounds away has been tough! I'm now down to 7.5 mgm alternating with 5 mgm daily and my appetite has decreased, thankfully. All of my weight has accumulated from the waist up....which is typical. I continue to be bothered with hot flashes that come on suddenly and disappear within a few minutes. Eating a banana a day has eliminated the muscle cramps. Also, cutting back on salt helps the ankle/leg swelling. When I was on 60-30 mgm/day, I lost ALL sense of TASTE and SMELL! You'd think that would help with the appetite...but no! (One day, I ate six apples...as fast as I could!) Taste and smell is slowly returning.
Here's my two cents worth: 1. Prednisone is a powerful drug...don't mess around with it. If you stop taking it without tapering, you could place yourself in a life-threatening situation. 2. If Prednisone is precribed for you for an extended period of time, GET A SECOND OPINION. It is always possible that a newer, safer drug is available that your doctor may not be aware of. 3. Use the internet for finding the latest research pertaining your condition. Take copies of your findings to your health care providers. Be convinced that Prednisone is your only option.

My best to you all.....Mary

After being given Levaquin IV for gastrointestinal illness, I experienced sleeplessness ( 4 days and nights without sleeping), disorientation, anorexia ( I still cannot eat five months later); heartbeat irregularities that became life-threatening; phantom odor which has made my life miserable.
I told doctors going in at the hospital that I have a to-date undiagnosed neurological problem ( two neurologists say " possible MS" ), and the doctor who gave me the Levaquin told me not to tell him that I had neurological problems.