Neuralgia symptoms and conditions

Hi all.

I just discovered this website, and reading all these comments makes me want to comment also. I, too, am on Lisinopril and am suffering many of the side effects mentioned here.

I'm a 54-year old male, and have had high blood pressure since around 1998-99. Nothing really controls it, although I've had episodic success from time to time. I lost a lot of my hearing last year due to a BP-related disorder called "hydrops" (my right ear particularly), and my eyesight has declined from 20/20 to "mediocre" in record time (although it's been largely stable now for 5 years).

Really, everything bad started when the medications began in 2002. For example, I now have Type II diabetes, almost certainly as a result of the diuretic I was prescribed from 2002-2007. I could also tell horror stories about clonidine, Toprol, Accupril, and others.

Latest event: I ended up in the hospital ER last Wednesday for what seemed like a minor stroke. I am now suspecting the Lisinopril because the symptoms so mimic much of what folks describe here. I've never had the bad cough, but the joint aches are awful. As for the stroke (actually, a TIA -- Transient Ischemic Attack) -- we'll know for sure after the MRI tomorrow, but my regular doc and the neurologist suspect it was NOT a TIA. Then I see descriptions here of tingling, neuralgia, and other symptoms identical to what happened to me!

Sadly, I don't have any simple answers to share. I've tried to cut all sodium from my diet, and I know that's helped. I am now trying a device called the Zona Plus (******), some $300 but possibly worth it. I used it for 90 days in 2007, then gave up and went to a no-salt diet ... and my BP dropped like a stone. I thought diet would do it all, but I was wrong. I should have continued using the Zona. So now I've started a new trial of it. We'll see what 60-90 days on it PLUS a low-sodium diet can do.

There's another device called the Resperate which is also kind of spendy. Anyone tried it and had success?

I'll be seeing my doctor this week or early next, and asking him to get me off the Lisinopril. But what to replace it with? Any ideas will be welcome.

I can't even get up to go to church. I feel so weak and so sick. I have been off this awful stuff for 2 days and still feel so ill, I can't function. i just want to throw up. I have no support and no help whatsoever. How can this be happening. Will I make it through this horrific feeling. I can't do anything, not even eat. My whole body feels like someone has punched it all over. I don't know if I can hang in there. Please post, post, post.

I started taking doxycycline hyclate 100mg twice daily for 10 days for a respiratory infection. After about 7 days I started noticing tingling in my hands and feet and feeling like I was being misted with water on my arms. The tingling became worse and is now very painful in my hands but more so in my toes. It is especially worse at night when your trying to go to sleep.
It feels like the nerves in my hands and feet are raw and going crazy. Nothing relieves the pain. I took my last pill this morning and will never take this medication again.

I want to know if anyone has experienced severe joint pain while on Doxy. I was prescribed this med on a Monday. I (like an idiot) doubled up on my first dose Monday evening because I know you can do that with other antibiotics to jump start the process. What can I say? I don't like being sick. Well....Tuesday morning, I took my 2nd dose and went to work. Very soon after taking the second dose, I broke out into a very itchy rash all over my back that soon spread to other parts of my body. I called my doctor and was immediately taken off the Doxy and prescribed Augmentin. Later that night, I began aching all over. I woke up in severe pain throughout all of my joints, and was in a terrible mood.....obviously. As the day progressed, the pain continued, but seemed to be moving randomly about my joints. My ankles would hurt for a while, then my arms, the my shoulders, etc. That night, I took a Benadryl (still itching from the rash a little), some ibuprofen, and went to bed. I woke up feeling a lot better. A lot less pain in most of my joints. It was a good day. However, today, Friday, I am still in some pretty bad pain in my hands. Anyone else have a similar experience??????

I am a 38 year old male suffering from a combination of occipital neuralgia and migraines. For 20 years, until a year ago, i would endure pain that was only manageable with narcotic pain relievers (imagine all the gamut of such kind). I would have neck and head aches typically 3-4 times a week, accompanied by vomiting, dizziness which would put me to bed for the entire day. Work and family suffered in magnitude comparable to my own suffering. So then I finally saw my GP for that. The pain meds went up the roof, imitrex, maxalt was added to the equation with only marginal side effect. I saw a neurologist. He had me do an MRI and put me on Topamax starting from 25 mg, which I upped to 200 mg within 6 weeks. Past the initial side effects, the headaches subsided, the frequency reduced and i was able to enjoy weeks at a time with no episodes. Stayed at 200 mg for 5 months. In the meantime, the MRI came back positive for some brain inflammation. False positive they said, does not fit the clinical picture. Second MRI, same positive, this time proceeded with LP, which was negative. Third, MRI still positive; making the neurologist uncomfortable. While dealing with MRI results, the topomax had yielded positive results as far as pain management was concerned. But little by little I noticed that I was becoming more irritable, more impatient and more forgetful. Someone would have to remind me of something several times before it would even register in my mind. I empathize will all the posts that mention feeling like having Alzheimer's. I didn't care in the meantime. As long as I didn't have to deal with the pain it was ok with me. But the situation became worst and worst. I couldn't concentrate on anything, the mere task of remembering to do something was insurmountable. I would wake in the middle of the night and find myself staring at the bathroom mirror for no reason. I would have terrible panic attacks which i control with valium. But yet i continued on with topamax convincing myself and being convinced by other people around me that i just had a "personality disorder". Finally, work begun to suffer. I was loosing track of meetings, deadlines and when this happens someone knocks on your door (boss) telling you that something just doesn't click, something just doesn't feel like a personality quirk. Other people playing doctor would slap on my face that i just had ADD, that I should take something for that and get on with my life. But something was wrong. Pain or dizziness or lack of concentration etc are all electrochemical processes in your brain. It turns out that topamax was helping my headaches but it was not slowly deteriorating other cognitive abilities. Finally, the neurologist decided I should wean of the topamax, stepping down from 200 - 150 and then we go to 100 and so on. I dread the re-occurrence of the headaches. I am waiting for them to happen again at some point as I drop the dosage. But in the end of the day, I'd rather be in pain and in control of my life rather pain free and absent minded.

Ok.. I've been Neurontin for three or four years up to 800 mg 5 times a day for glossopharyngeal neuralgia (extreme Pain in one of the cranial nerves in the throat) any way when the symptoms go into remission i back off from tacking the drug... Since this is my third time coming off I have really tried to pay attention to the feelings and sensations surrounding sided effects.. The biggest thing that I have noticed is more of an emotional problem. the drug seems to make everything OK.. or mountains seem like mole hills. my first time I came off, I had a hard time sleeping and would find myself crying over nothing... I just couldn't cope with my own mind. I feel like the drug subdued everything, The fog or haze it puts you in sorta makes the whole world a wonderful place. I have lost my sex drive and have a hard time working now.. I'm going off it again slowly and am having a hard time completely letting go because it has kept me from being depressed.. I feel more depressed when coming off neuronton than I did on it. I believe long time use of the drug is some what emotionally addictive.. Just be prepared to feel your emotions again once you are off.

I've been taking 150mg of topamax a day for the last 10 months for trigeminal neuralgia. I haven't found any improvement in terms of appetite or memory in this time. Side-effects haven't lessened at all. Tingling in feet and hands, emotional instability including anger and grief, cognitive impairment in terms of slowed though-processes, spelling problems, and general intellectual functioning haven't improved with time. It seems as though I'm still walking in a haze all day long. I can pass ridiculous amounts of time by just staring into space and thinking about nothing. It scares me sometimes but it's taken away a lot of the pain and has allowed me some sort of normality. I'm 28, I want to live and work and build something for myself. So, for now, it's a trade-off .... side-effects vs life with pain or jumping off a balcony with my hands in my pockets some night when I can't take it anymore. It all comes down to the degree of debilitation that your particular disorder imposes and your ability to deal with it. I couldn't physically handle the pain or isolation anymore so I opted for the side-effects. I just wonder what the long-term implications of Topamax will turn out to be in five or 10 or 20 years from now.

I started taking Zamadol SR last night and after about 6 hrs I was feeling anxious and jumpy. Any loud noise was making me jump and I have been feeling really aware of every noise and feeling 'scared'. The medication has numbed the pain i was feeling (neuralgia) but Im not sure that I should bee feeling so confused and nervous???

Is a side effects of this drug anxiety or mood swings or temper? I have noticed some impatiens lately but I try to control it. I take 600mg 3 times a day so far and probably need more. I have neuralgia of some kind.

Initially I was fine when taking Kadian w/several morphine sulfate tabs for breakthrough pain. Was also taking 5 MG Valium since being treated for chronic nerve neuralgia I've had for over 20 years. Felt wonderful until my prescription for Valium ran out and I did not get refilled. I did not know the Valium was counteracting the negative side effects. When off Valium, horrendous headaches returned with extensive negative side effects,such as tremors, nervousness, voice quivering--that persisted over 1 month off of Valium; well past stage of withdrawal from Valium!

After taking 200 mg a day for 5 months I developed hives on my stomach and love handles. The itching is driving me nuts. Anyone else have this and could it be kidney damage at this low dose?