Liver biopsy symptoms and conditions

DIDN'T WORK AT ALL & HAD BAD SIDE EFFECTS! This didn't help my severe 'painful red bumps' kind of acne. In January 08 the dermatologist put me on solodyn 1x daily, Rosaderm face wash, & Atralin topical gel, both 2x daily. Eventually she switched me from atralin to RetinA, b/c the atralin wasn't strong enough. I have many health problems, but the last few years I have been feeling absolutely awful- constant body & joint aches, constant fatigue, & mood swings due to the pain. It got so much worse in Jan 08. My doctor & I had been talking fibro for a long time, but she diagnosed me in early March 08. She suspected fibro, as well as an autoimmune disease (when your body attacks your own tissues by mistake) due to a massively high ANA (anti-nuclear antibody) count on a blood test, so she referred me to a pediatric rheumatologist (there aren't many) b/c I was under 21 at the time. The rheumatologist diagnosed me with myofascial pain, which is very similar to fibro. She explained, "It's the exact same pain as fibromyalgia, except it moves all around instead of staying in certain points." Then she told me something shocking: SOLODYN CAN CREATE CONSTANT FATIGUE, BODY PAIN, AND OTHER FIBROMYALGIA-LIKE SYMPTOMS!!! IT ALSO MAKES A PERSONS ANA COUNT SOAR, WHICH CAN BE SEEN IN BLOOD TESTS!!! So she told me to go off the Solodyn right away, which I did gladly because it had been weeks & it hadn't helped my acne. She told me to watch for changes in my myofascial pain/fibro symptoms. After about 1 week my muscle & joint aches started to lessen. Obviously the Solodyn had increased this pain. The weird thing is, after about 3 days after stopping Solodyn, my acne improved. It was almost like Solodyn was preventing my acne from going away! When the results from my next blood test came back, my ANA (anti nuclear antibody) count had dropped but it was still high, indicating an autoimmune disease. It appeared Solodyn had raised my ANA count to a level even higher then it normally was!! It turned out I did have an autoimmune disease, but my rheumatologist told me she's seen teens who take Solodyn & have an elevated ANA count b/c of it. Then they have to run hundreds of tests b/c they think they have some disease that they actually don't have. When they stop taking Solodyn, their blood tests normalize, & then it proves don't really have an autoimmune disease. But by that time they've gone thru dozens of unnecessary tests, not to mention the stress & worry of thinking they might have a disease that may potentially be life threatening. They wasted time, money, and sleepless nights, all because solodyn screwed up their blood tests!!

I am generally classed as an active, happy and positive person, loving life.... but the last 4 months have been a blinking nightmare....
It seems we all pretty much have the same symptoms, horrid shoulder pain, muscle soreness, spasms, feet and generally feeling like "what the??" is where we are all at..horrid thoughts of MS? Motor Neurons, Parkinsons, etc. all sorts of possible sinister problems.
I too have stopped taking Lipitor only a week ago (and I only started back in October 2008 after "arguing with my doctor for many years not wanting to take it...and i didn't even know about the horror side effects, i just thought it was totally unnatural to strip the body of something almost totally,).. within 2 months I started showing signs of chronic neck C5/6/7 and left shoulder. Maybe I had injured myself once before and suffered pinched nerves, but the pain eventually went, but this is not normal or should I say usual...... I have constant buzzing of left thumb/forefinger and hand and my right leg. NEVER NEVER have I suffered from this type of symptom before in my entire 50 years... Even some days when the spasms are at their worst I get an itchy nose and tingling lips. The scariest symptom of a white flash in my left eye convinced me...So fed up with it and after stumbling on all the negative comments and side effects with this drug I made to decision to take control of my own life. It is too uncanny....As I said, it's only a week now free of Lipitor, I have increased my Vitamin C intake and making sure I take a Mega Multivitamin daily too. There is some interesting reading in various websites of Vitamin C vs Statins...

BUT it would really be nice to read any comments of people who have recovered from these rotten symptoms and what sort of time frame it took to get over them. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for us all. Some indication of Recovery period is probably our greatest "want to know"... and also...when will i be able to enjoy cycling again. Thank you to everyone for the input and may our strength be returned, not only physically but spiritually as well. :-)

I am a 36 year old woman living in hell for 3 months now.

In early October of last year I was admitted to the Hospital with diagnosed bronchitis a possible pneumonia. I was given Avelox which is a member of the Fluoroquinolone drug family. At the time I was in sever distress, could not breath, and was extremely weak from the infection. I stayed in the hospital for 6 days while they gave me Avelox along with various other meds to treat my symptoms and was released after finally getting a clear chest x-ray. The drug had done its job. But it was a week later that hell started. I was re-admitted to the same hospital with sever abdominal pain. They told me that I had hepatitis due to a reaction from the Avelox. My Dr. Also suspected I could have Wilsons Disease so he prescribed a liver biopsy, to say the very least this was a painful procedure. The biopsy came back negative and the liver function began to return to normal just as the pain everywhere else began.

joint and muscle pain
headaches
insomnia
uncontrollable twitching
arm and leg numbness
neck pain/spasms
a mass on my left breast (further diagnosed after mammogram, CT and Biopsy as a side effect to the Avelox)

My internist, Rheumatologist and the liver specialist all suspect “Post infection pain syndrom”.

However, after hearing now 3 separate times from 3 seperate Dr's about the possible side effect of Avelox I did a little research and every single one of my “symptoms” are on the lists of dangerous side effects for this drug. Now none of my Dr.s can tell me if I will ever get rid of the pain I am in. None of them seem to be able to do ANYTHING but treat my symptoms. By treating the symptoms all they can do is pain management which means pain killers. I simply can not function day to day with most pain killers so I am forced to live with the pain.

More drugs than I have ever taken, Dr.s visits, time off work, stress and a standard of living that simply put is not living, not to mention the tremendous outlay of cash...to say the least I am frustrated.

I am a 54 year old male who was prescribed bactrim by his ENT for a staff infection. I was taking 3 pills per day after each meal. I had no past health issues and never have been hospitalized. On my 8th day of Bactrim, I had major head pain, pain so severe i was vomiting, and lost 20 pounds. I woke up the next day Jaundice. I took a blood test and my alt hit 800, ast hit 500, bilirubin was 6.5, blood in my urine. Now, 5 months later and of course, off the drug since mid-July, my level alt level is still 240 and ast 140. These levels are way too high, and now need a liver biopsy. My GI doctor tells me unlikely that this was bactrim induced, right! Please, I never had a problem until taking this medication, and now who knows if my liver will ever return to normal and what other health issues will now take place.

I think Fosamax KILLED MY MOTHER. My mon was previously healthy with no known medical problems. No hypertension, no high cholesterol, no diabetes...nothing. She was taking Fosamax for osteoporosis prevention. She developed an acute liver failure. There was no viral, bacterial, or cancer linked to this sudden onset of liver failure. She received a liver biopsy and within one week was dead from bleeding from the biopsy site. I have recently found some journal articles linking Fosamax to acute liver failure. MY HEART IS BROKEN. Do not take this drug without doing in depth research on its side effects and discontinue it immediately if any side effects occur. God Bless.

I am 54, I was diagnosed with diabetes type l in 2003. I started showing high cholesterol levels about 2 years ago. When it reached 280 I was prescribed Lipitor 10 mg at first after no improvement it was increased to 20mg. I was very much against this. I have problems with muscle pain, and dizziness.
I checked into an alternative from a doctor who is an MD but prefers natural solutions if possible. I stopped the Lipitor without the knowledge of my primary physician and started taking fish oil 3600mg daily in the evening.
9 weeks later both my cholesterol and triglycerides were normal. I told him about the fish oil, but he wanted me to continue the Lipitor, because diabetics should be on some type of statin medication to help protect the heart. I have visited a couple of sites and haven't anyone talking about liver function problems. I have had an ultra sound for my liver which showed some problems, I am still waiting on some of the tests to return. I also have an appointment to schedule a liver biopsy. When reading my first lab results his first words were." Your results are uncommonly abnormal, stop taking the Lipitor, I am going down and get an ultra sound set up for you." "You might be thinking it could be the diabetes causing this. My diabetes is completely under control, and haven't tested high sugar levels since first diagnosed. I don't drink or smoke. I would like to know if others have had problems with liver function tests being abnormal. Please everyone remember my doctors first response to the abnormal tests stop the Lipitor immediately, it wasn't let's run some other tests to see the cause, because you need the Lipitor as protection for your heart. This medication works in the liver which we only have one of, and it is an extremely vital organ for maintaining health on several levels.

A grateful thank you to Adele and Oldcarpetcleaner-
I am so sorry that you having such problems- but it is reassuring to know that I am alone-
I am going to the U of Miami Liver Institute next week- and I will ask about CO-Q10; I have had a muscle biopsy-and I will make every effort not to have a liver biopsy-
I will try to find out what the time frame is for muscular pains- weakness-
even AFTER discontinuing Lipitor.
The bizarre thing -for me- is that the pain and weakness travel- not always in the same spot- but almost always reamin in my buttocks. The reason I ignored it for a couple of monthes as I was so actively doing squats aand weights- and thought it was the exercise. This drug seems to have had bad consequences for so many otherwise- previously healthy people.I will repost after I attend the liver Institute- -by the way- finding a true Liver Hepatologist- (NOT a gastroenterologist- they have liver and I have to travel to Miami . Good luck everybody.

My mom-in-law has had asthma since she was a child. She had lots of trouble with wheezing, etc. She tried the natural solution: RespirActin as an adult a few years back and said that it took care of her wheezing for good. She is a nurse and did her research on this first.
I am going to try this with my son after I do a little research and talk to some natural health product experts.
I will let you all know how it works!!

I have just been told by a doctor,after LOTS of tests and a liver biopsy, that the nuva ring has possibly caused knodules on my liver and has caused my liver to enlarge. Has anyone else has liver problems as a result of the ring?

I have been on lipitor for close to 10 years - in the beginning I did not know of any serious side effect but over the past 2-3 years, I have had all the symptoms that have been mentioned in this website. I visited my endocrinologist yesterday and told her that I was going off lipitor. I had my gGt levels checked about a month ago and they were high. She said it had nothing to do with lipitor, but I am not convinced. My gastroenterologist has suggested I have a liver biopsy but did not stress that it was absolutely imperative. He left that up to me - well, who in the world is going to have an invasive procedure unless the doctor says you have to. I chose not to but I will have the gGt levels checked every 3 months to be sure they have not elevated. I have muscle weakness, muscle pain, changes in my skin, pain, sleepless and restless nights; and memory loss. I had no idea that so many others experienced the same thing. I am pretty sure I will stay off lipitor, but I keep thinking of Bill Clinton when he went off lipitor and wound up having bypass surgery. I am not a fan of pills of any kind and I wish I had never gone on lipitor. I have 4 sisters, 3 of whom have high cholesterol. Of the 4 of us who have high cholesterol, 2 of us have been on lipitor or some other statin drug and have the same problems - we can't even keep up with the 2 that have never taken lipitor and I am the youngest.

my husband started taking zocor the first part of july.by the second week he started having problems with his feet swelling if he was on them anytime at all. by the third week he ended up in the hospitial because of nausia and vomiting. his drs. ran every test they could think of..they decided he had a stomach virus! i kept telling them this did not start till he started taking zocor. week and half later he back in the hospital for another week stay..same results...more tests..more deniles that the zocor had anything to do with it...meanwhile.. my husband continues to swell all over..developes tremors etc. they said his bicarb levels were off, put him on bicarb tabs. a week after that he goes back to the hospitial again,new dr. from group is on call...i pitch a fit..that he was not coming out till they had a definite reason for all this or else!!!
turns out his heart dr. that put him on zocor had also doubled his niacin...and now my husband has hypititis c as the result of this. so all you folks who have had pains in your right side...nausea..vomiting..swelling..might want to get a liver scan and liver biopsy to make sure that your dr. isn't hiding this little fact from you.