Medical school symptoms and conditions

My daughter was put on Singulair 2 weeks ago after discovering she is allergic to 4 kinds of trees that are pollinating in the fall and a certain mold that grows in corn and bean fields. Everything was going well until she got an ear infection and was put on the antibiotic amoxicillin which she has used off and on when she's had ear infections over the years. She then broke out in the hives. She has never had the hives before. I'm guessing it could be a combination of the two drugs. Why aren't doctors aware of this before prescribing this medication?

Right after starting on Januvia, I began experiencing pain in my wrist at the location of a previous fracture. A few weeks later, I began experiencing pain in my elbow similar to 'tennis elbow'.

Today, I reread the literature accompanying my container of Januvia and noticed a reference to joint pain as a side effect.

I have been a Type 2 diabetic for 5+ years and Januvia has been the best drug yet for lowering blood sugar readings. One must be consistent with dosage and exercise is necessary--in my opinion--to get its maximum effect. Under those conditions, I have been able to reduce my daily Lantus dosage by half, results that allow me to overlook the side effect.

I have been taking 40mg lipitor for over 9 years now.

I have had back issues since an injury to one disc (L4?), and had microdiscectomy in 2001? Took about two years to actually get close to normal.

The last few years, I have had multiple issues with shoulder pain, wrist pain, elbow pain, lower back pain, Upper rump muscle pain , and now both hips are killing me (the shoulder, upper rump muscles and hips are by far the worst). And I am now so weak in my lower back muscles, that it feels like I will (and do) pull out my back.

I have seen NO many doctors I can't even name them all. I have had operations, multiple injections (cortisone) taken pain meds, etc. Nothing has helped and in the last year and a half, I have gotten steadily worse. To the point where I can't really do much of any activity. Sleeping at night is painful. Can't lie on left shoulder, and can't lie on either hip for more than a few minutes. If I fall asleep on my side, the pain wakes me up. When I try to walk, 80% of the time, I end up with a pain in my upper right rump (sacroiliac area), that I MUST sit down to get the intense pain to go away, which it does. But comes right back when I walk again.

I have had x-rays, MRIs etc, and never reveals all that much. Disc issues, yes. NOt much else.

Recently, I have begun to get a nasty clicking (catching) on my left jaw (joint?). Not really painful, but something definitely wrong. My dentist sent me to his Chiro. I went and liked him right away. I had gone to another chiro for years and I believe in them. But this one is the best I have seen.

Anyway, one of the FIRST things he suggested, was that it was POSSIBLE that the Lipitor is causing all of my problems. Put me on COQ10, and doing multiple adjustments and treatments. I will be seeing my regular doctor 5/26, and my chiro wants me to see if he will take me off lipitor and put me on Niaspan instead.

I guess my question is: Can Lipitor be fine with me for so long, and then in such a short period of time, turn me into a compete wreck from the pain and wasting away of my body/muscles? I've told doctors for over a year now that there is SOME connection as to all these issues and pain. One Doctor, of course, gave me the "you are getting old" bull. Yes, I am 56 yrs old. But I understand the process of getting old, vs the complete failing of ones body.

Also, IF it is the Lipitor, can it possible all go away? Or should I expect some damage forever?

One more thing, the last ortho I went to the other day for a second opinion, wants me to do a EMG, to see if there is muscle damage. I was not planning on doing it, but wonder now, should I? He was not doing it because of lipitor, as he never even talked about that to me. I had shoulder operation and have not had the results I feel I should have had.

I'm just in shock.
I can't believe that this sort of thing can go on.
My experience is all over this page. And the seven after it.

I graduated high school with a 99 GPA and was at the top of my class.
I was accepted to medical school along with my admission to college.
I started Yasmin at the same time.

All of a sudden I was getting classic migraines multiple times every month.
Soon, Yasmin became Yaz. Okay, fair enough, nurse says to switch, I'll switch. Yaz is said to be safer.

Time goes by... I'm irritable, I've lost my sex drive, I'm dragging myself out of bed in the morning if I get to classes at all, but I miss lots of them.
My GPA falls from a 4.0 to a 3.6.

I had to come home last semester because of how sick I was. Nurse says that the doctor wants me off Yaz because of the risk of classic migraines.

Liver enzymes were screwed up - fatty liver at 20?? - and cholesterol is backwards. My heart races a lot, too.
My anxiety is out of control and I'm depressed for the first time in my life.

I've been off Yaz since November of 2008 and still haven't had a period.
Additionally, I still haven't MET my gynecologist, despite asking repeatedly if I can see her.

Now she's ruled out PCOS and all other causes and wants me to "jump start" my period with more synthetic hormones.
This feels so wrong.

I have IBS, nausea, back pain, and abdomen pain. This is all just too much. I'm disillusioned with the medical field now and am having a hard time accepting that I wanted to put myself in a position in which I'd have to either perpetuate the problem or fight it. It doesn't make sense.

There needs to be a lawsuit, and now.

took lipitor and erythromycin and now have neuropathy

RECENTLY STATED TAKING METOPROLOL 1 WEEK AGO. I AM BEGINNING TO HALLUCINATE,HAVE SEVERE HEADACHE, NAUSEA AND LACK OF APPETITE. I AM EXTREMELY TIRED AND PRETTY MUCH SICK OF TAKING THIS DRUG ALONG WITH THE OTHER ONE I TAKE. SOME DOCTORS NEED TO GO BACK TO MEDICAL SCHOOL AND REDUE THEIR TESTING.

I started Yaz November 2007 since my periods were heavy and I had really bad cramps. I am a medical student and I was starting my surgery rotation so I thought I couldn't deal with the cramps during surgery, so that is why I started. It seemed great at first I had no appetite, my weight has been stable. I read a lot of different books saying hormones shouldn't be taken since it isn't natural and it will cause weight gain etc. One thing for sure is that the distribution of my fat has changed, now I have more belly weight (like the other person who mentioned the yaz roll), more weight in my arms and a little more in my breasts and less in my legs. I have been contemplating for a long time if I should stop taking it also because I am someone with A LOT of scalp hair and I noticed that I lost A LOT of it while on Yaz (but could it also be from the stress of medical school?). My life has been crazy, my father died in September. I cant differentiate if I am crazy/sad/moody bc of my life circumstances or bc of the pill because sometimes I do feel like I am over reacting. I wonder too if I stop the pill if my fat will redistribute again. I am so unsure what to do. I have also noticed that I cannot wear contacts for a long time, sometimes I get debilitating headaches where I cant even lift my head.

Wow... I'm glad I stumbled upon this site. I'm 24 years old and had been on NuvaRing for the last 2 1/2 years. I had used the pill until then since I was 16 to regulate my horrible periods, but I decided to switch when I got married because I was always forgetting to take the pill and since I was starting medical school a few months later, we didn't want to become pregnant at that point in our lives (and with NuvaRing I was much more likely to forget it once a month compared to everyday!).
I was always very happy with NuvaRing: my periods stayed regular and manageable, which was all I expected from BC. But oddly, over the next year I gradually developed symptoms which greatly affected my life (and my new marriage): VERY tired & exhausted all the time, horrible IBS symptoms, an aching pain throughout my body, especially in my hips/lower back and shoulders, inability to get a good night's sleep from this aching, HUGE weight gain (25 lbs in 2 years - can't shed it no matter what I do between gym/diet... Dr. doesn't understand of course), NO sex drive, and worst of all, when we did have sex it was very painful. It was horrible. I keep seeing my primary and he insisted it was from medical school & the stress. Being a rational person in med school, I understood the logic in that, but I still felt like it was more... I've always been a "busy" person, and with the increase in symptoms I gradually let other activities go in my life, leaving the only thing left to be med school; to be honest, it was the "least stressed" and most "health conscious" I'd felt in a while. But when we kept going back in my history, it all seemed to start right after I got married / around the time I started med school. So to him it always made the most sense that med school/stress was the cause of it all (of course, I never put 2 and 2 together that it's the same time I started NuvaRing!)
It became so bad I finally took a year off from medical school to spend time to figure it out. After seeing LOTS of specialists and getting lots of tests, the best anyone could come up with was Fibromyalgia. So, I took steps to feel better w/o drugs (water therapy, massage therapy, etc). I didn't like the idea of a synthetic chemical fixing something that doesn't have an exact known cause (drugs can be dangerous when not well studied - as I'm sure you're figuring out), so that's why I went the holistic route. But it never really got 100% better but it was good enough that when my leave of absence was finished, I was thankfully well enough to return to medical school a few months ago.
Oddly enough, in that time off, my husband and I had a lot of time to think about our future, and we've happily decided to try to get pregnant! So a month ago, I stopped NuvaRing. And ironically (I'm sure you can guess where this is going), things have improved over the last 2-3 weeks: I've had lots of energy, and while I still get tired, I feel like it's the "normal" kind of tired, the kind someone in med school should have (not total complete exhaustion like I used to). And wow, the sex drive... we've gone from once every 2-3 weeks (if that) to 2-3 times per week at least (or more! which seems huge for us after what we've been through!).... and the best part, no pain during sex... for anyone knows what I'm talking about, as I've seen in other posts, that's a huge and wonderful improvement!
I always kind of thought NuvaRing might be the problem (I even asked my gyno about it when I had my annual exam during that year off... she said no, most likely not of course)... it was just this odd suspicion, but I have access to all the med journals I want, and when I looked it up, I couldn't ever find any studies that reported these kind of symptoms, so I kept looking for another answer.
So, for anyone who is experiencing these symptoms and others similar to the ones others have posted, I highly recommend you consider NuvaRing as a possible cause. Everyone's different and everyone reacts differently to the same drug. Also, keep in mind lots of other things can cause these symptoms (such as thyroid or anemia issues) so definitely see your doctor about these things first, but if all of that comes out clear, consider giving yourself a break from NuvaRing, and if things improve, at least you'll have your answer finally! Drugs have lots of effects that aren't life-threatening and therefore usually go unstudied (and therefore unreported), but when this many people report similar possible side effects on a post , it's definitely worth considering!

The reason is when you stop taking the Lipitor, and your symptoms don't go away is this: Lipitor cause hearing loss, which is what causes the Tinnitus! I have been having severe tinnitus for months now, seen all kinds of Dr.s who didn't have a clue. And I finally went to the House Ear Clinic, and they told me what it was, but they didn't know how I got it. I got Tinnitus a few months after my Dr. upped my dose. It's taken me this long to put the puzzle together. The Physician's Desk Reference lists hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness as side effects of Lipitor. I am appalled that not one Dr. asked me what kind of medication I was taking!

I am a 60 year old male. I have been on high dose Niacin for more than 12 years. 2 years ago I started taking the combination drug, Advicor. (Lipitor and Niacin) Up until this point, there were no side affects with the Niacin other than occasional flushing. Since starting on the Advicor I have noticed a gradual weakening of muscles, and occasional joint pain. I have recently increased my exercise, thinking this was part of the aging process. I have not worked out consistently for 2 years. I have not noticed much improvement in my conditioning in the past 3 weeks, and have in fact noticed my quadriceps feel as though there is a buildup of lactic acid. I also notice my heart rate does not climb very high before my perceived exertion is above 50%. I did a fitness evaluation today at the health club I go to. The trainer mentioned that he hears the same thing from a lot of people who are on Lipitor. He went on to say, there heart rate is usually 20 bpm lower when on the drug. I am going to be talking with my physician to see about getting off Advicor and going back to just the Niacin. I will increase my exercise and more closely watch my diet. I want to thank the folks who have posted.

I have severe allergies and cronic sinusitis... like a lot of people on here I have taken all the allergy drugs they make for the past 9 years... Ive had tons of procedures done and sinus surgery last Feb '08. Nothing helps. Ive taken oral steriods many times but recently my new ENT decided to give me a Kenalog shot in Sept. Nothing was explained to me other than it was a steroid. The nurse put it in my left shoulder. I have had all the symptoms people are describing on here except the indent. I have been progressively getting sicker and feeling worse and worse over the past few months. I feel like I could go to bed and just stay there. Now this past Monday he gave me another Kenalog shot in my left shoulder. I heard something on a tv show that it causes depression so I jumped on this site and feel sick about all the messages I have read about people's terrible side effects. I feel like my doctor who I trusted let me down. I am so worried that my shoulder is going to have a big grey dent like everyone is describing on here. I am just so tired of being ill.

Hello everyone, I did a posting on Sept 27th will my adverse reaction to levaquin. Well, I did a lot of research as to how to help with the side effects. In addition, I discussed the side effects with a friend in medical school to see what he could come up with. I did not even bother going back to my doctor because from many stories that is just a waste of time.

Anyway, its been about 3 weeks and my side effects have gotten much better. Not totally gone...but much, much better. Everything was from my local drug store.

Here is what I did:
Do a colon cleanse or detox regimine right away. Get as much of this stuff out of your system as possible.

Fish oil LIQUID FORM one teaspoon a day (yuck...but do it!)

Bromelain to help with the joint inflammation

Glucosamine to help with joint repair. I got both a pill form as well as liquid. I used this product by Drinkables called Liquid Joint Care Dietary Supplement. Anything in liquid form absorbs quicker.

I also had to resort to getting a sleep aid for the insomnia, you need to get good sleep somehow to help your body repair.

Last but not least, and I know it sounds strange. One small shot of clear vodka a day. It's an old Russian remedy...I guess it has a cleansing effect on the body.

Anyway, somehow all of this really did help. Good Luck!

I have read many posts about Adderall XR side effects, and wondered if anyone has found another medicine that works better for them. My 12 year old daughter is taking 20mg/day of Adderall XR. It definitely helps her tremendously in focusing at school, but the side effects are just too much. (she has huge mood swings, verbal tics, compulsive hair plucking, etc.) We need an alternative ASAP. If you have something else that you recommend, please let me know. Thanks!

I just got a very condescending private message from a doctor on this site who said that while my articles from Europe are very helpful that I don't know what I am talking about and that I could mislead the public. Then I see how many parents and patients got a condescending attitude from their own doctors.

Well the public has been mislead but it is not my fault. I don't see any experts in this field stepping up to the plate to acknowledge that these side effects exist, have been reported by authorities in other countries, and that these experts are interested in learning why they are happening. This is an extremely widely prescribed medication that involves the lives of millions.

Merck's research director was quoted as saying that they know of no mechanisms by which these side effects could be related to psychiatric adverse drug reactions. That was a flat out LIE. So what if I quoted you a research article from China that was very complicated and yes, could possibly be misinterpreted by somebody? I just needed to give you an example. The only expert so far that had the guts to give you a truthful statement was Dr. J. Douglas Bremner. Thankfully, he corrected a misunderstanding about saying that it was "unclear."

I hope that we will all hang in there and something will be said by somebody, anybody on this site that will make the FDA listen and investigate Singulair (montelukast) all the way back to the very original studies done in test tubes not on people. And, then take a new look at it from the standpoint of what we now know about human genetics. I guess I will keep repeating myself about one size does not fit all.

I would also PRAY that all clinical studies on Singulair (montelukast) would be suspended until the FDA decides why these side effects occur. And that they would issue a statement to doctors to make conservative decisions regarding treatment with Singulair until the results of the investigation have been reported.

I hope that nobody thinks that I am trying to mislead anyone. The answers are either unknown or being hidden by Merck. How would I know the answers? I don't work for Merck. How many other people are out there trying to translate articles in foreign languages to see what's going on? American doctors are calling Merck and being assured that there is nothing to these claims.

I wonder how many experts there are that just don't want to be another Jeffrey Wigand or don't know what is wrong?

I know that I am ranting but somebody should do it.

I have been on Celexa for a little over a week for panic attacks/anxiety. The first 2 days I took it I felt like I was in a dream, light headed, tingly, pretty much just intensifying my problems in the first place so I stopped taking Celexa for a few days.. then I spoke with my doctor and she said to try taking it at night instead of the morning. So I began taking Celexa at bedtime. I didn't have much side effects except for a little trouble sleeping, but I actually was starting to feel "better", for about 4 days I was feeling really well and resuming normal activities. Then out of nowhere on that 4th day in the evening I got a really bad panic attack, and for the past 3 days since I've been feeling high anxiety and panic again. I don't understand, because I really felt like I was getting better. I told my doctor what has been happening and all she said was that its normal to have set backs and to continue the Celexa. I'm also taking Ativan to help control the anxiety until the Celexa "kicks in", but in the past few days nothing has been seeming to help. Has anyone experienced this? Is it because I've only been on Celexa for a week? I feel like I am going crazy being back in this lightheaded fog.

This is all very interesting, but it's all anecdotal! Can you PROVE that Singulair is responsible for all this stuff?

What other meds are you all taking? In what doses? Under what conditions? Do you have a family history of ? Are you under stress? Or are at least SOME of you just hypochondriacs who, reading this stuff, say to yourself, "Say, I get headaches -- sure, it's gotta be the Singulair!" C'mon, now -- hair loss?!

I've been taking Singulair for over 10 months, and if I'd been as damaged as you all, I think I'd know it.

Without rigourous medical studies to show what is REALLY going on, you lot are just gossipping.

This site is obviously trolling for a class-action suit.

I have read, with great interest, all the postings about the side-effects of Advair, as I havae suffered none of them. I have had severe asthma for the past 19 years. Only, after starting on 500/50 Advair Diskus, have I done so well. I went through all the testing at National Jewish Hospital, Denver, UT Southwest Medical School, Dallas, TX and only after starting the Advair 500/50, have I been able to be off the prednisone. I have only been on prednisone two times in the past 2 and 1/2 years - great for me and my past history.

I am sorry for those who have experienced side-effects as I truly believe that Advair has saved my life. I have not been hospitalized nor suffered severe attacks since being on Advair since starting it in 2002.

Bobbie ***
Glen Rose, TX

The ignorance of our guest M.D., doesn't surprise me at all. Maybe is an arogance acquired in medical school. We are just dumb patients, is that it??? We couldn't possible know anything. . . right??

While there may be the odd person who "coincidently" acquires a health problem, the vast majority here are more than likely correct about the association of the med with their adverse event. Just check the PDR.

Neither the ER, nor the M.D.'s I see thought what I had was a side effect of Levaquin. So, I printed an article out and took it to them, and asked that they share it with their colleagues. I don't expect the docs to "know everything", but when a bizarre symptom suddenly appears in a very healthy person, they should stop and think about it, and check their PDR.

I am a single mom, and it is devastating to have problems with my hands (peripheral neuropathy). This showed up after only 3 doses. I took a fourth dose and pretty much lost all use of my hands. (some in my feet too, and a slight area in my face). Still the M.D's didn't think it was the levaquin, and advised I continue taking it over the weekend. That's when I did my own research, and took it to them. Since stopping the med, my hands are somewhat better, but still not 100%. The fact the they got better after stopping, pretty clearly implicates levaquin.

My advice to everyone. Don't count on M.D's to know. It is tragic that so many people are getting switched to another antibiotic from the SAME family of meds after their initial adverse event! Stay away from quinolones if you can!!