Maddening symptoms and conditions

I took increasing amounts of Niaspan for a number of years and experienced the flushing that even at its worst soon passed each time. But earlier this year, while on 1000 mg, I suddenly experienced terrible itching after showering, even after taking cool showers. It was maddening, as sometimes after a shower, there was no side-effect. When it reached the point one day that I had hives, I stopped Niaspan. I have been off the medication for about 4 months. Two weeks ago, I started up again at 500mg. I have been ok with no flushing. Today, after a cool shower, I experienced a bout of severe itching on my legs. I don't know what to do. I can't tolerate the itching but my HDL has already gone lower than before. Any ideas?

I'm glad to know that there are other women out there with similar problems as me. I recently became engaged, sexually active and with that, became a new user of the Ring. It was reccomended to me by two family member s who love it and would never go back to all the other methods they'd tried in the past. I, however, am not as lucky as they are. I put it in on the first day of my period, as directed. My period lasted about 8 days when it usually lasts five and I had brown spotting for the rest of the month. Intercourse became very painful for me from the get-go. It was like a burning sensation and it was horrible enough that my fiance and I have not done it for two weeks. I went in to my gyno and she said I had a yeast infection and that the Ring was healthy for the vagina because the vagina LIKES the hormones in it and that the Ring should improve the atmosphere in the vagina, if anything. So, I've had two UTI's and a yeast infection since putting it in, bleeding after intercourse, maddening headaches, cramps, ACNE (which it is suppose to clear up), and severe mood swings. But, my doc won't switch me to the pill because she thinks that my body will adjust. I guess I'll just give it some more time and, if it doesn't straighten up within another couple of weeks, I'll demand something else because this just is not working for me as I had hoped it would!

Angry? Depressed? You can't believe how much I feel this way.
I am absolutely convinced now that this is what happened to me.
I am 54.

That first week that the ER doctor got me on Levaquin for the flu and bronchitis ( and no other medicine ) is when these entire body attacks and failures ( pain, weakness, and almost every other symptom you all have realted here, began. I had an abulance take me back to the ER as these were so bad and were so different from anything I had been experiencing with the flu and bronchitis the 3 or 4 days preceding taking Levaquin and having these attacks start within one or two days of taking this. At the ER they just check basically your vitals and when these checked out they kept giving me sedatives to stop the shaking and saying they didn't think anything was wrong with me except anxiety! Couldn't they have ONCE asked what medication I was on and at LEAST considered the possibility that maybe I was having a bad reaction to this? And IT WAS THE ONLY MEDICINE I WAS ON!

Now, I am going to have to present my beliefs again to my doctors, who when I barely mentioned this possibility the last time I saw them cut off the conversation as if I was talking about flying saucers!
If I was a doctor...one of the first things I would do is go back to when all this first started and looked at what medicine I was taking at the time. And if I saw that there was only "one" powerful drug entering my body at this time and just looked at the potential side ffects listed in their brochures...I would have suspected that this was probably a bad reaction to this!
But I can't even get them to consider this logical reflection. IT is just maddening, insane...that they won't even consider this possibility. And in the mean time, six months later I have lost my job, my legs, I still have every symprtom I had the first wek to either worse or improving levels and I am so depressed and scared that this might be permenet damage. It looks like with the new Republican shutting down on the little persons ability to sue the big corpoartions that thousands of law firms don'tt even want to consider taking something like this on. What they want are absolute fool proof cases that even a jury of Drug Company CEO's couldn't vote against.

I am going public with this and I am telling you this IS THE ONLY WAY any of us will ever get any recognition and chance at some compensatory justice here. I have already e-mailed vanity Fair. I have contacted Parade Magazine. I have left an e-mail message with well know A.P.Health issue correspondent Linda A. Johnson. I just came across this site last week and it has answered so many of my questions. But all of you. All of us, must start writing to everyone, congres people, newspapers, magazine and anyone else you can think of. I am convinced that we are the vistims of not only a terrifically poisonous damaging drug that is damaging way more people than anyone is acknowledging and in much greater ways, but we are up against a machine of extremely powerful self interest corp[orations and the individuals who own the majority interest in them but also compromised medical doctors and other health care professionals connected to this; pharmacies etc.

I'm 26 and was diagnosed with HYPOTHYROIDISM in Oct 2005. I was put on LEVOTHYROXINE. At firt I felt sick to my stomach, and then started having really bad head akes. My MD lowered my dose and I felt like a new person. Had more energy than my 4 year old. I have had some site effects such as HEART PALPITATIONS, MILD DEPRESSION, UNABLE TO CONCENTRATE, FATIGUE AND SPACED OUT FEELINGS! But the one site effect that I have not seen anyone talk about is "RINGING OF THE EARS!!!!!!" PLEASE IF ANY ONE IS HAVE THE RINGING OF THE EARS...LET ME KNOW, IT IS DRIVING MY @&*!%#^ CRAZY. My MD says its ANXIETY! Give me a break pal, I know my body good enough to know when im NOT anxious. Also my sex drive is flat lined. Please email me if you have these same site effects.. Bless you all

Lowi~ Washington

I was prescribed this drug for a UTI. Today is my last day on it and I am so grateful. Not only have I been depressed and had trouble sleeping, I have been peeing every five minutes. It's maddening. In the future I will choose the 7 day drug and not this stuff.

I too was a Yasmin guinea pig. Guess the drug companies had my OB/GYN conviced that Yasmin was the latest, greatest thing 2 years ago. I had been diagnosed with polycystic ovaries and had all the lousy stuff that accompanies it, such as horrible skin and hirsutism and was told Yasmin was the best bc pill available to alleviate my symptoms. At first I thought it was great, I lost quite a bit of weight, which was always hard to keep off with the Orhto-Tri Cyclen. My skin improved as well. But after 3 months, I would get a yeast infection every single month, always the Friday before my period started! And I am someone who very rarely has had a yeast infection. Then I noticed my hair was falling out by the root, I had to constantly sweep it from my bathroom floor! The last straw was when I nearly had somekind of a mental breakdown after ongoing extreme depression. I didn't know what the heck was going on and two doctors that I talked to just shrugged me off. I finally made the connection when I got my precription filled at a different pharmacy and read the new drug info regarding the side effects. These included hair loss, yeast infections and emotional problems. Why this wasn't included in the drug info when I initially had the Rx filled is maddening, perhaps when the drug was new these side effects were not known. I am bitter about being subjected to the effects of this new drug, bitter about all the hair I lost but grateful I stopped in time before I committed suicide, which I felt very close to doing! I am now back on the Ortho Tri-Cyclen, which isn't ideal, but not nearly as dangerous as the evil Yasmin. To this day I don't think my doctors believe me because the drug companies have them under their spell and maybe the kickbacks are just too tempting. I am glad this website exists to warn others not to take it!

I took Levaquin back in late July/early August for a bout with pneumonia. I am a 35 year old male with no major health problems, and in fact, I had been in very good health up until the pneunonia, which I am still at a loss to explain!

Anyway. I experienced a lot of things others have made reference to in this thread, including incredible anxiety, hallucinations, psychotic reactions, etc. I didn't know until much later that it was probably from this damn drug.

Now, I have read some posts and see that GLANDS are affected by this drug. I have had what the LAST ENT doctor I saw proposed was a reactive lymph gland. Since I have had it for, oh, 2 months and have no infection, I highly doubt it is reactive to an infection. So the light buld went off above my head and I am thinking that perhaps the Levaquin may be behind this MADDENING symptom that has rendered me without a strong voice and robs me of vocal power.

I used to sing, even with a friend's band, and although I never beat the hell out of my voice, reherasals were for hours. I may have been hoarse for a half day but I NEVER had a problem recovering and NEVER had a pain like this.

My vocla chords have been examined, I have had a CT of head and neck and been poked, prodded, diagnosed with anything from NOTHING to tonsiloliths (tonsil stones - yeah right, tonsil stones), but here I am, 3 months after I finished my course of Levaquin, still unable to do what I used to love.

If anyone else out there has a similar problem, I'd be glad to hear it so I can at least feel vindicated somewhat.

Thanks all.

Nick

"Maybe you people need to realize that just because you have a symptom, and it happened after you took a drug, the two aren't necessarily related. Take my word for it, I'm an M.D."

Take your word for it? I go to UCLA for my medical care. I must have seen about 4 different doctors there who are unable to diagnose what I have. I told them that after starting Trimox, 5 days later I had severe pins and needles in my lower right leg. They switched me to Levaquin and that made it worse. Then muscle twitching started. They too said that "it's NOT the Levaquin!" all right then, "what's causing the pins and needles and muscle twitches" I asked these doctors who's word I'm supposed to be taking. All their answers were "I don't know...". BRILLIANT. 4 doctors at UCLA say it's not the Levaquin, BUT cannot give me a viable explanation as to what's causing them. Ironically, within 4 days of stopping the Levaquin (because a pharmacist said that it was indeed a rare side effect from the drug) the pins and needles subsided. Hmmm, what could it have been?!? Maybe if the doctor gave an intelligent response when presenting them with our symptoms, they could say something other than "I don't know what could be causing that" and just passing the symptom by like it doesn't mean anything, we'd be more apt to 'take their word for it'. The words "I'm an M.D." are not synonymous with the words "I Am God". I will always question a doctor's word. It's my responsibility because it's MY health that they may be misdiagnosing. This arrogant attitude of Dr.'s is really getting tiresome. WE hire doctors to work for US. WE do not work for the doctors. WE pay THEM. They act like it's the other way around. Doctors have to stop dropping the ball and start investigating the symptoms instead of just shrugging them off with "Oh, that's just age". It's maddening!! ...-Dave