Mental acuity symptoms and conditions

PSSAT (and all others suffering) -

Your side effects will NOT go away in a few days.

I was told the same thing after taking JUST ONE pill of Avelox in early February. I was not able to sleep or eat for a month. I was not able to work (my mental acuity was "off"). I lost 15 lbs and wound up in the ER with extreme insomnia/anxiety a month later, after repeatedly asking my doctors if the Avelox caused this and not getting a straight answer (why would they say "yes" when they prescribed it?).

A psychiatrist confirmed Avelox did it. He has seen other patients with the same problem.

Do not take Avelox unless no other meds (Ceftin and Augmentin) work. I've suggested friends & family to put it on their medication allergy lists.

My advice for recovery:

-If you are having anxiety, insomnia, crazy dreams, etc. after taking even one dose of Avelox, STOP TAKING IT, and get in to see a psychiatrist ASAP.

-They will prescribe an anti-psychotic or anti-depressant medication to help you sleep and increase the seratonin and/or dopamine levels in your brain.

-If you think you can recover without medication, you are wrong. I suffered needlessly for a month.

-Acupuncture, exercise, and yoga are great - you should do all three, but if someone leads you to believe it will "heal" you, they're wrong. Avelox is a hardcore drug that damaged your biochemistry - it requires another hardcore med to reverse the damage.

Get on a med like Seroquel, and ease yourself into taking it (take 1/4 or 1/2 tab the first night and work up as needed)...within a few days, you should feel like your old self again.

Prescribed Avelox after previous antibiotic could not clear up sinusitis. Avelox cleared it up within three days, but I feel worse now. Extreme agitation/anxiety, tremors, twitches, no appetite, boughts of depression, dizzy, lack of coordination, accelerated heart rate, leg shake, cold extremities, very strange, vivid dreams. Doctor told me to stop taking and side effects should clear up in a few days ( I hope). This is nuts. I feel like I am going insane. I could not go to work for three days due to side effects.

Aug, 22th, 2007

on Aug 4th I was diagnosed with a chronic sinusitis. My doctor wasn't available, so I went to an urgent care facility (what someone might call a doctor in a box), who prescribed Bactrim, telling me that "this will clear up any infection". (12 days worth, or 25 pills).

After living with the side effects, I can understand why!

The first few days on the medication I was a bit out of it. My mental acuity was off and I was feeling sluggish and constantly tired. half way though my first week I would break out in cold sweats and my face would go pale, I would feel as if I just swam the english channel, under water. Out of breath, muscle aches, and just plain tired. by day 6 I was not only feeling tired, but was feeling an uncomfortable tingle under my skin, and by day 10 was experiencing a heavy pain in my chest, and sharp abdominal spasms.

At one point I thought I might be having a heart attack.

I ran an internet search for side effects of the Bactrim, (and possibly if it reacted badly with pseudoephedrin), and found your site. I guess I'm lucky I didn't have as bad a side effect as others. (I'm setting up a visit to my doctor to have tests run on my internal organs, just to make sure).

After reading how the sulfates are used, the nearest thing I can think of is that the sulfates get into the blood, and then irritates everything the blood "touches", which gives you the skin on fire / crawling effect, and why my chest hurt so much. All that blood uses the heart as it's central local. Anything effecting the blood, would also effect that muscle.

It's been days since taking my last Bactrim (SMZ/TMP DS 800-160), and the pain in my chest hasn't gotten any better. My energy levels are returning but I'm still not able to concentrate on anything for very long, my skin still crawls, and I have reoccurring cold sweats.

Sometimes the cure is worse then the illness. I would much rather have had the sinus infection, then be leveled in this manner.

This is a nightmare. I have been on Lamictal 200 mg, tab in morning, for approx. 5 months. About 3 1/2 months ago I started getting muscles aches and weakness, muscle overuse problems, fluid retention ( like 12 pounds), stayed in a trance with very little short term memory. Thought it was everything but this medicine....I am an avid athelite, yes, even at 51. So, I blamed myself for not slowing down. Quick exercising totally, for 2 months, iced 3 times a day on leg muscles. Finally after making it to the summer without a mental breakdown, I went to the emergency room and a new internist to get checked out. Blood work, thyroid, hormones,ok.... Really don't care what they think , I can not walk, it hurts like hell. The Dr. did tell me to get off Lamictal....ok 7th day and I have some relief but it is not complete. Called manufactures, interesting, yes- these are side effects!!! But the studies are limited. Listen , unless you have seizures, get off this medicine... you read the full disclosure of side effects and then search yourself......It can ba a huge FOOOOOPA.....And you are the fool that will end up holdling the bag, not the manufacturer. Hopefully I will get better. Right now , I just trying to stay calm.

I've been on the drug approximately a month, and in addition to increased fatigue and a mild intermittant cough, it seems to have exacerbated perimenopause symptoms, particularly ones connected to mental acuity. Has anyone else experienced this? Any recommendations for an alternative hbp medication that is still available in generic form?

It is my 10th and final day of Levaquin 500mg qd. I began taking it for sinusitis that became pharyngitis/laryngitis. Since beginning the drug, I have experienced decreased mental acuity, lightheadedness, food and drinks taste salty, extremely bizarre & lucid dreams -- sometimes 5-6 per night that I can remember or at least can remember how strange they were. Also, I have experienced everything from diarrhea to complete cessation of BM, bloating, and extreme nausea.

Side effect of Levaquin - numbness in the back of my brain, loss of balance, mental acuity is terribly effected, loss of appetite, need more sleep, personality changes, numbness of fingers and hands, speech affected, vision affected - I think that I was lucky to be taking benedryl during the time, but was also taking theophylline and aspirin - doctor should never have given me this drug. I should never have swallowed it in the first place. Was 500mg for only 3 days but was enough to make me crazy and I stopped it. Doctor has yet to respond to my complaints and his nurse only offered me another drug - which I refused. I feel like I am living in another time and space - not a normal space. I am keeping the fluids going to try to flush it out of my system. What a raging nightmare this is. I will email anyone who emails me at ******about this drug.

I WAA DIAGNOSED WITH HYPOTHYROIDISM 3 MONTHS AGO AND WAS PLACED ON LEVOXYL. PRIOR TO TREATMENT I WAS EXPERIENCEING MUSCLE FATIGUE, OVERALL FATIGUE, WEIGHT GAIN, SHORTNESS OF BREATH, JOINT PAIN AND LOSS OF MENTAL ACUITY. SINCE TAKING THE DRUG, I FEEL MY MY MENTAL CAPACITY IS BACK AND A LOT OF MY FATIGUE IS GONE, HOWEVER, I AM RETAINING HUGE AMOUNTS OF FLUID EVEN WITH A DIURETIC, DRY SKIN, HAIR LOSS AND MOST RECENTLY A RASH WHICH STARTED ON THE FRONT OF MY CALVES AND IS NOW ON MY NECK, ABDOMEN.

Poor recall of names, loss of mental acuity. Later, dizziness, light-headedness and some nausea. Music seemed very annoying and loud

Dealing with a dr.-confirmed sinus infection, I attributed the dizziness, reduced mental acuity, iffy physical dexterity, and a tremor in my hand when I brought food to my mouth to the medications I was taking for the infection. Yesterday, I developed a severe muscle cramp in my calf, and when I mentioned it to a friend, she pointed out that it might be the Lipitor. I came to this site for information, discovering many similar stories. So I decided to add my input. I took myself off it today and am looking into Cholesten LDL.