Little voice symptoms and conditions

I started on 40mg of Celexa in 2002 for depression/anxiety. In 2006, my wife told me she "didn't think it was working anymore" and I should go talk to our doctor about switching. We talked and he switched me to Effexor. No, I'm not blaming him!
After dealing with the massive increase in sweating (at the time I was running a custom A/V installation business including new construction. It was nothing for me to change shirts, underwear and socks 2 or 3 times a day in the 100 deg summer heat!) gaining 40 lbs, watching my cholesterol shoot up to 290 and my bp to 160/120, I decided I'd had enough and went back 1 month ago to talk about quitting. He shrugged, asked why, gave me a scrip for 37.5's, told me to "take them for a couple weeks, then start lengthening the days in between". And "oh yeah, you'll probably feel a little crummy for a week or so after you stop completely".
A LITTLE CRUMMY???
The brain zaps are unbelievable and by far the worst symptom for me so far. Turn your head like you have a plate balanced up there or pay the consequences, right? I had a couple 37's left and that little voice kept telling me to "go ahead, take one, it's ok." I finally flushed the last 3 or 4 pills down the toilet today to prevent me going back at all. (It's ok folks, you won't end up drinking my pills. I'm on septic and way up on the side of a mountain far from any water table.) I can't believe all the data/opinions I've read today on "SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome". Truly unbelievable stuff. With God's grace and my family's support, I know I'll join the ranks of those that have been able to leave this rat poison behind me. One zap at a time, right? ;-)

I got my mine in February of last year after having my third child. For 3 months, it was fine. My periods did not get lighter (but I did not expect it to, no matter what BC I use, it does not). However, I found that I could not use a tampon for very long. SO, being the sport I figured that it would go away, so I switched to awful pads. Then at the end of the year, I noticed that I always felt like it is something down there and I look swollen. I searched around, but found nothing. To this day I feel like that when I stand for to long or sit for to long. I have also experienced ambivalence and laziness. My hair was shedding to the point I cut it off. My skin looks like I am 12. When I worked a job that required me to stand for 7 hours, I bleed like a stuck pig, and it was bright red. My feet swelled so bad I could not walk. Then recently, since I no longer work there, my periods have become brown and stinky. Until that little voice told me to look this thing up, I thought that I was crazy. Nevertheless, women's intuition is there for a reason. Get this; I don't even have sex because of the discharge.

Ladies,

God gave us all that "little voice inside" that we call a woman's intuition. LISTEN TO IT! Unfortunately, I did not when it came to choosing Mirena as my first and only choice of birth control since I was a young teen first experimenting with sex. Well now, I am a day away from my 31st birthday and have been married to my high-school sweetheart for ten-plus years. After two kids and a miscarriage of twins, I decided I just didn't want to go through pregnancy again. So, little ol' me decided to be hip and choose a form of birth control that allowed me to be free and not have to worry about the likes of condoms...or spermicide...or those wretched birth control pills. If only I knew back then what I know now, however.

I first got Mirena inserted the end of March 2007. Since then, my sex life with my husband suffered dramatically, because, first, I bled inconsistently (that is, I didn't know when my period was going to show up---every week, every two weeks, etc.); second, when my period did show up, it would last 8-11 days; and third, the wire attached to the device was painfully uncomfortable for my husband during sex to where we were limited to just a few positions, which made for a pretty mundane sex life.

From a health standpoint, like so many other posters, I suffered severe hair loss. It had gotten to the point where I literally had a receding hair line and had to wear very weird-looking bangs just to cover up my hair loss.

I stayed bloated and on edge from the anxiety I felt from feeling like the start of my period was just imminently hanging over my head, because it seemed as though I was always on it (because I did bleed more times times than not).

The weight gain was horrible. I always felt insatiably hungry and looked up one day and realized I was a size 16...and barely squeezing into my clothes. I went on a diet, which went fine. However, I ended up coming to a standstill even after increasing and intensifying my exercise and lowering my calorie intake even more than I had. NO ONE 'til the day I die will be able to convince me it wasn't Mirena's fault for causing the initial weight gain and later stagnating my progress to lose weight.

And, yes, there was a change in my personality. I went from a laid-back, independent, self-sufficient woman to one who was totally clingy, overbearing, and extremely jealous. But then, I turned into the worst person I had ever seen myself becoming: I then turned into a woman who just wanted to be by herself. And so, I was one phone call away from hiring a divorce attorney and leaving my husband and kids, because I just couldn't handle my every day life as it was. I did not know what was going on with me; I just knew I found myself having a total change of heart about everything in my life, even though my life was a pretty dang good one, according to all of my friends and family and even people on the street who would observe how well my husband treated me.

Enough was enough, and I finally had Mirena taken out Friday, July 11, 2008, at approximately 11:00 AM!

My life has totally changed.

No lies. No embellishments. No exaggerations. I lost three pounds by that Tuesday, July 15. So, my efforts to reach my weight loss goal don't seem so futile now. Furthermore, my husband and I are as happy together as we were back when we were in high school; and, I can't even imagine not having the kids and him in my life. Oh, and my hair.... I no longer have a receding hair line. It's still going through that annoying growing-out phase, but at least it exists again!!!

Looking back, particularly at some of these posts, something told me I was in for a nightmare come to life when my doctor was amazed at how I felt hardly any pain while he inserted Mirena. And even now how he and his nurse act totally shocked and surprised at all of the problems that I had while using Mirena just sickens me to the point of wanting to punch something. These medical professionals know. They get very nice perks for being in cahoots with these drug representatives and manufacturers by going along with making us, the patients, guinea pigs. Such low-life scum! I am hurt and totally pissed off by the whole thing. But still, I am thankful my life has returned to normal since having Mirena taken out.

Nevertheless, be warned! Mirena is a steep, pricey sentence on one's life. So, you'd better be prepared.

My son 10, has been on Singulair since he was 4 yrs old for Asthma and allergies. His last dose was 3/26/08. He has always been my emotional child, he is 2yrs older than this younger brother. Some of his side effects included headaches, stomaches, leg cramps, emotional breakdowns, major mood swings, crying outbursts over small situations, night sweats, lack of motivation, weight gain, ADHD, wishing he were dead and the list goes on. His younger brother has always been involved in sports but he was always too afraid he would get hurt. This medication has robbed my 10 yr old son from 6 yrs of his childhood. Since he has been off Singulair he feels motivated and looks forward to joining the football team his younger brother plays for. I look forward to meeting this new young man who for so long has been hiding behind this so called allergy medicine. I am so thankful to know that my son can look forward to a bright future without these side effects. God Bless you all who are going through this as well.

Guest 20077 I feel your pain. Yasmin messed with my head so much I felt I was crazy too!! But I listened to that little voice inside me that told me your not crazy its the medication. I hoped and prayed that voice was right, but I had my doubts many times. Thank goodness I have a supportive family as well because the depression got soooo bad and the physical symptoms play on top of it and I just hoped the world would end so I wouldnt have to deal with it anymore. Even when I stopped the Yasmin the depression continued and more physical side effects on top of that... But after a couple of months of stopping the poison, I swear I felt a heavy cloud lift from my brain and I felt better emotionally. I am 4 months post yasmin and occasionally I get down, mostly from the physical effects still lingering, but it is NOTHING like what I was feeling before. I was in a dangerous state of mind looking back and the doctors I went to see told me I needed to be on antidepressants as well, but being in the medical field myself I didnt want to add side effects on top of side effects, and I was pissed too because they didnt want to fix the problem, they just look at you and go, oh your depressed, lets put you on antidepressants! Time is money next patient please. Oh and by the way all my labs came back normal too, though I thought for sure I had a hypothyroid. I think this drug is BAD news. I had same symptoms as you, anxiety, didnt want to do anything or go anywhere, MOOD SWINGS, didnt want to be left alone, i think even some sleep problems, but mornings were horrible i didnt want to even get out of bed and hoped it was all just a bad nightmare. I would say talk to your doctor about what you can do about the pain, and tell the one who put you on yasmin about the depression and sleeplessness, because that is a side effect they would have you stop taking yasmin for. (depression.) Know that you are not alone. Write me and let me know what happens, K. I hope this helps cause you sound desperate! BitterRN