Major health symptoms and conditions

Well I got my Mirena put in on April 29th 2009 and have been bleeding ever since and when I don't bleed for a couple hours I have an awful discharge and not to mention that I have gained 30 POUNDS IN FOUR MONTHS. I do watch what I eat and had my son in Feb of this year which I lost all my baby weight but now gained that plus some back! I have extreme back pain and cramping everyday and cramping not to mention I am now on happy pills because I have severe depression. I know for some people this works great but for the majority it causes major health problems...I am going to get it out my doctor wanted to check my thyroid but I do not think it is me I think it is the Mirena since 99% of the women on here could write my story and don't even know me!!!! I DON'T RECOMMEND MIRENA TO ANYONE!!!!!! KM. Ca

Since I have taken this medicine I have had elevated blood pressure, dizziness after extended periods of strenuous activity, and a continual groggy detached feeling. I am a young man and have never had any health problems and until I started reading some of the stories about others on this drug I believed there was a major health problem. I have also had trouble sleeping and resting when i do sleep which leads to irritation and the groggy, hazy feeling that I have.

My 54-year-old fit, social, successful husband was put on Singulair in January for newly diagnosed asthma. He developed a depression with anxiety, irrational fears, avoidance, mood swings and even one episode of suicidal thoughts out of nowhere. He saw a psychiatrist and a therapist, tried medications, yoga, a vacation, meditation, breathing exercises - everything! But he kept getting worse.

The day he was throwing patio furniture then sobbing uncontrollably was the day he realized he couldn't work in his condition. He negotiated a 60-day leave without pay. Even that didn't help. It was crazy. How could a man who managed hundreds of employees and a major health service system for 20 years suddenly be so paralyzed with fear that he couldn't walk down a beach or go into a Walgreen’s?

We found this site May 26th. He stopped the Singulair immediately. It has been 10 days and he is already 80-90% back to normal. Thank God.

Partly I am writing because it is so hard to read of parents' guilt that they "should have known" etc. Look, unlike a child, my husband is mature and very verbal; he is also a psychiatrist (!) with a capacity for self-examination and a language to describe his inner experience. And me, I'm a psychologist (!) trained in understanding people and I know him very well. And yet with all that training and skill and consultation and treatment, WE STILL COULDN’T FIGURE THIS OUT! So please, don't make yourself feel any worse with guilt. This is awful and tragic enough already.

I would add that the onset of mood and behavioral problems is so insidious that it is hard to connect the problems to the Singulair. Also, I suspect that children and adolescents are at greater risk because of their immature emotional developmental level. An adult l suspect may need some genetic or personal predisposition to mood disturbance, or stress, or both, to trigger these side effects. My husband had a depression episode 30 years ago and had recent traumas that certainly could have triggered the depression. But how treatment resistant that depression was, and those strange paralyzing fears and extreme anxiety – all that I blame squarely on the Singulair.

I have made a report to the FDA. I urge you to do the same.

As I read through these posts, I had mixed feelings between thinking they were a little too whiny (please, no offense) to too many memories sweeping back in.
Here is my story... I was on Yasmin for a few years, a few years ago, from ages 18-21. I am now 26. I'd always been active and in shape, no major health problems. At 19, I started to get weird leg pains, tingling and numbness. It got much much worse. Long story short, I had two herniated discs in my lower back which was causing pinched nerves. I had steroid injections localized to my herniations. At this point my adrenal gland stopped working, my face swelled up like a balloon and I lost a ton of weight. Eventually, I had surgery on my back, but went to specialist after specialist to figure out what was going on with my non functioning adrenal gland. We figured that somehow the steroids had gotten into my bloodstream, which doctor after doctor told me was next to impossible. They were ready to do a write up in a medical research journal about my case. Eventually my 3rd Endocronologist (sp?) FINALLY told me to get off Yasmin. Somehow, this small bit of information was missed. My adrenal gland eventually kicked back into shape, my bloating went away and I finally and slow got healthy again.
So... coming back to Yasmin. After reading this site and continuing research on the effects of an influx of potassium, all of my symptoms lead straight to this source. The potassium increase caused the face swelling, muscle spasms, possibly even the nerve weakness (Only speculating, could have caused the herniation.) , from what multiple web sites state.
I must say that this is all speculation; however, light bulbs have just gone off in my head.
I was considering getting back on Yasmin because I now live in Thailand and they offer this pill. I have been on the NuvaRing and I love it, but I cannot find it here. If Yasmin was the cause of what happened to my body or not, I will not take my chances. Most of the symptoms listed by other women are effects of increased potassium. Please research this fact to become more informed about what is happening with your body. It helped me. I hope my story will in effect, help someone else.
And, I'd love to hear if anyone else had something similarly severe...

I'm not 100% certain that Alesse has been causing my major health issues recently, but after going through all other tests, my doctor has suggested I stop taking it. I pray that it is the answer.
I have been on Alesse for two years, (this past Aug 2007) but it was last March that I really noticed some of the typical impacts. Moodiness, lack of a sex drive (which I missed) and then the dreaded splotches. I had these dark type of circles appear on the top of my cheeks, which appeared overnight. I soon found out that any type of birth control can cause these to appear. Great. Just great. Then I had spotting between periods, which wouldn't be so bad except they came along with those tiny tummy cramps. This didn't add much fun to my current IBS issues.
I'm diabetic (but have been for 30+ years) so it never impacted me regarding blood sugars etc.
Then along came May. I had a bad bought with IBS one morning then I had the panic attack hit at the very same time. I've never hypervenatlated before so I had no idea what was going on other than I felt like I was dying, at home, and alone. For the first time ever, I called 911 and took an ambulance trip to Emerg. After being there for a few hours, they didn't find anything and I had calmed down. Since then, I've been experiencing on different levels from '1 - 10':
- small tremors through my neck and should areas (they can worsen to the point that others can see me shake)
- burning sensation in the same area
- numbness in my jaw / face area
- fullness in my right ear
- lightheaded but not *dizzy* as if I'm going to faint
- overall not feeling right as if my head is detached
- weakness in lower body and legs
- numbness in right leg and foot (not all the time, it comes and goes)
- panic attacks when my digestive system kicks in
- lack of an appetite
- nausea (sometimes)
- a few other items which I am too tired to think of....

When I try to sleep, as soon as I feel like I'm about to doze off, I have the symptoms flood over me big time and I'm 'shaken' awake. I can also been in a deep sleep, having a pleasant dream, when if feels like someone has grabbed the back of my neck/shoulders and has shaken me violently awake. I have to sit right up and bring my knees up to my chest and try to relax myself. Sometimes I stay awake all night.

I have every test you can imagine since May, as this is ongoing with no relief. I have had a head MRI (made my tremor and head detachment feeling worse), Spine MRI, Chest CT Scan (bad reaction to the dye), colonoscopy (I'm convinced my IBS triggers the symptoms to be worse), heart monitor, blood test for thyroid (one of the first things since I'm diabetic), along with many other blood test. I have two in for Mercury and Lead poisoning, but the results aren't back yet. More and more I'm starting to believe that it's all attached to the birthcontrol, although I've been on it in the past without issues, and this time around it was just over a year and a half when these symptoms all kicked in.
If this is all caused by the bc, I will be very relieved as this has been causing me a lot of grief. Thankfully I am able to work from home on my laptop, otherwise I would be out of a job. Getting up, showered and out the door is impossible. I had one good day last weekend where I was able to go out with my very supportive and adoring boyfriend, and we fed a few squirrels in a park. It's taken away my summer so far.
I'll come back to post an update if I find that stopping Alesse has helped any.
I wish everyone well!!!!
Stacey

I have had a serious headache for about the last 3 weeks but it isn't a normal headache. My shoulder and neck hurt and I have an odd shooting pain in the right side of the back of my head and it radiates to the front. I have had jumpy limbs and heart palpatations. The headaches are a concern because I have major health anxiety on top of regular anxiety so of course I am frightened that it is a brain tumor. Any one having or has had headaches like this I would appreciate any responses. Thanks.

I have been taking Lisinopril for about 1 year now because of high blood pressure. I believe that my case is due to genetic reasons, but from reading these posts, it seems like I am going to aggressively seek natural methods in loweirng my blood pressure as an alternative. I have experienced most of the side effects listed in all of these posts including: dry cough many times throughout the year, increased sensitivity to allergies (Never had any allergies before taking Lisinopril), shortness of breath, chest pain daily, respiritory problems, upper most of the time, lightheadedness, fatigue, lack of motivation in workouts and cardio workout, heart palpitations, irregular heart beat, feelings of anxiety during heart related sensations, and I am only 29. I have never had any major health issues and truly believe that Lisinopril is making me older and less healthy feeling than I should feel. I regularly workout but lately have felt useless in the gym and run out of energy very quickly. After reading the many posts here, I am very relieved to know that my heart and lung sensations are due to a drug and not a mysterious illness. I am going to go off the drug and evaluate my side effects and blood pressure. Hopefully I can get back to a normal life and feeling healthy again because I have many years ahead of me and have 3 children that I would really love to raise and see become successful. I have found when I do have the cough that taking claritin d gets rid of the cough in two days, but never did I suspect blood pressure medicine. As with many of the new medications, you can treat your ailment, but you will also gain 20 other problems that you didn't have before. Is it worth it? I believe not. I would trust in god and rely on healthy living to take care of yourselves. Be careful of big corporations greed because it will lead you to an early grave!!!!!

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

My doctor prescribed me Yasmin, but I wanted to do research before I began the pill. One of the reason's my doctor prescribed it to me was to 'regulate' my mood swings. This web site totally contradicts everything that the doctor had told me. I am terrified of taking this pill now. He would not prescribe me an anti-depreeant like Zoloft because I wanted to be on the pill anyways, and he said that Yasmin should work for pregnancy prevention as well as balance my hormones. I don't have any idea about what to do now. If there is anyone that has the same weight and body type as me with the same mild mood swings and iritablity as me (very mild)prior to beginning Yasmin and have been taking Yasmin for quite a while.....then please write with your experiences. It would really help me out in my decision. I know that everyone's bodies and hormone levels/balances are different...so most will have different effects from the same medication; but, for the most part, if Yasmin only creates negative side effects in everyone that I speak with then I will reconsider taking this medication. (I would also like any positive side effects of Yasmin as well) Thank you! * weight= 111 lbs.
* height= 5'5
* breast size= 34D to DD (depends on time
of month)
* mood= normally happy/bubbly with mild
mood swings where I will get unhappy
and irritable for no reason.
* No major health issues/concerns