New med symptoms and conditions

My doctor has upped me from 50 mg to 75 mg Toprol and i swear I am getting fatter by the day. Up until i was 55 i weighed 125 lbs now 5 years later i am 138 and cannot for the life of me shift it even 1 pound. Not only do i eat 6 to 9 fruits and vegetables a day, fish 4 times a week and chicken, no sugar in anything and do the 10,000 steps a day or treadmill. I probably eat and drink less and exercise more than i ever did and have never been so fat. Just out of interest I plugged in Toprol and found this site. I am going to go back to my doctor and ask her to change my medication.

Prescribed Bactrim for MRSA skin infection on my arm that I picked up at my local gym. Day 1 OK, Day 2 severe headache at the base of my skull. Day 3 continued headache, general nausea, gas. Day 4 I began to develop a low grade fever and dizziness. Almost passed out after walking just a half mile. Still a severe headache, weakness. Day 5 Headache, consistent fever of 103, chills and muscle aches, light hives visible, weakness, unable to sleep. Day 6 early am, couldn't sleep all night, went to the ER with the worst muscle aches and fever I have ever had. Hives now very clear and pronounced all over my torso. I was tested for the flu. Said it was not, but was a viral infection that was attacking my muscles. Muscle breakdown found in both blood and urine samples. ER physician changed medication to Clindamycin HCL. Told to stop Bactrim, but thought what I had was viral, not a reaction to the Bactrim. I continues to feel bad for a couple more days, but hives started to reduce, fever diminished and started to feel halfway human after being off Bactrim for a couple of days. Still not 100%. New med has it's issues too (have to take every 6 hours, can't lay down after taking it) and a nasty taste in mouth and stomach upset, loose stool. After 5 days of new med went back to my doctor. A secondary infection had set up in the Staph area. The fungal infection needed a different med. Now is 4 weeks later, after finishing all meds, still have an infection. Blood cultures taken to see if the infection is the staph or fungal. I have lost 8lb, have no taste buds, loose stool, severe stomach cramps/burning (now taking Activia to put back good bacteria in my stomach...no one told me to do this before!!). If Staph not gone, need IV antibiotic for a month. I am 50 year old female, but note I had taken this in my 30's without any problems. You can develop an allergic reaction to medicines previously OK for you. Beware of Bactrim. It kicked my behind!

How is everyone having such bad effects if it just came out 2 weeks ago? i always take ortho lo and they just handed me this new pill....im really concerned...

Provigil so far and made some inhancements in my life. i am diagnosed as:A Narcoleptic\Insomniac,W/Apnea. At this time i am a stay at home mom. //very good for me and my family. b4 the Provigil i couldn't stay awake, sometimes i looked awake, but i surely wasn't((( T H E R E))). nOW I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SOME HYPERSENSITIVY I'M EXPERIANCEING. things like hearing things, and also seeing stuff moving around.
And what's with the horrible, nasty taste of peroxide in my mouth. This comes on after about 1 hour @100mg dose in the AM and progressively gets worse as the day wears on, then comes the 2nd dose 100mg. By this time I feel as if I'm foaming at the mouth. My mouth has sort of like a foam with a strong peroxide flavor. It's horrible. HOW can i get rid of the taste? Should i be looking for a new med?

I have been taking Januvia for 1 1/2 months and I have the worst case of acne. I have never had an issue in my life. I have white heads all over my face. I am a 50 yr old woman who has always had a clean clear complexion. I am beside myself and hate looking in the mirror or even going out. I am literally cover in tiny l bumps similar to "baby acne" or millia. People who know me right away remark about what is going on with my face. I am convinced it is related as it started after 3 days on the new med. I had an allergic reaction to "glucafase" (?).
Any one have a similar experience? . ...

I have been taking 200 mg. of Lamictal (now Lamotrigine) for 5 years. I have had cognitive issues for probably about three years at least. Memory loss, sudden loss of flow in conversation, completely forgetting words and the spelling issue which was previously impeccable. It's embarrassing and frightening. I can't get through ANY given day without losing my belongings over and over again. I feel disabled (seriously) and I jokingly tell people I need an "aide". The scariest thing was last week I was going to return an item to the store and COMPLETELY forgot my PIN # for my debit card. I have been using the card nearly daily for a year and a half!!! It panicked me but I thought of course I would remember it later. NOT!!! Never again, it's gone!!! That's when I decided to search the internet for "severe memory loss" and came upon this blog. I didn't even think of the Lamictal. And I pride myself on my thorough research!!! Certainly the doctor never mentioned this side effect and I just gave it up to being 49!!! A little early for Alzheimer's!!!

The funny thing is I have also had skin problems (acne) for the first time in my life the past couple of years with it really getting bad last summer. I weaned myself off the Lamictal b/c I had read it could cause acne (another thing the doctor never told me). Well, I was completely weaned and omg, the mood issues were severe!!! So reluctantly I titrated back up to the 200 mg dose and immediately my mood was stabilized.

I don't know what the h--- to do, but something needs to change. The memory thing is terrifying!!! No wonder I am having so many problems with my job!!!

Maybe a new med, maybe not . . . My main issue was severe depression (both situational and chronic) which Lamictal seemed to stabilize. Do the benefits outweigh the side effects??? I think NOT . . .

FRUSTRATED IN MICHIGAN :(

I have been on NR for 15months. I liked it for a few months, but then it hit the fan. My face broke out with huge painful cysts and welts, the scars will always be there. I started to gradually gain weight (135lbs to 210lbs). My Dr told me that it was not NR over and over again. I trusted her (she was wrong). My sex life ENDED! I started to have Phsyco PMS Symptoms. Also my sleep was messed up. A mild head ache for months at a time. eventually my cysts started to spread. I stopped it even tho she told me not to. and since i have lost a lot of weight. Im down to 180lbs and i have not changed my diet at all. that was a month and a half ago. If you are having these problems STOP TAKING IT! its a new med and the doctors don't know all the side effects yet. Stop Before you end up like a 22yo with terrible stretch marks and scars all over for the rest of my life. Yazz is Wonderful. I might add.

I started lisinopril 2 weeks ago for hypertension and yesterday developed swelling to my abdomen and left upper leg that it is tight over my knee and difficult to bend. I know it is a side effect to this new med since I usually swell a little on my right knee from overuse after I had a meniscus repair a few years ago and if it was from too much sitting or standing the right knee would have been the first to swell. It is too bad that this side effect developed as the medication really helped my blood pressure initially but now I feel so bloated.

Wow to the 10 year old story above. I'm on here because my 10 year old started Advair back in Sept for a nagging nighttime cough, asthma associated. Then his grades started to tank. He has aced his SOL's in math/science, but, this year has a D in Math! Today when we met with his teacher and found out he had been 'daydreaming' and seemingly 'asleep' in class, thanks teach for letting us know before now, we finally put it together, the new med. So, he has complained about being tired and having some sleepless nights. We put our kids to bed at 8:30pm and we don't run them to death with sports, etc. We couldn't figure it out. But, I can tell you, beginning tonight, no more Advair for him. We'll see by next week if this was the problem. Scary that this isn't rated as a 'side effect' of the med.

I was placed on Pred. in November for vasculitis. I was given 20mg for about 7 days, then cortisone for several days, with great results. Then the vasculitis came back, to nip it in the bud, the doctor gave me 10 mg of Pred. which I took for 5 days, no step down. Now I have a very irritated tongue... red, inflamed, hard to eat, burns constantly. This is the only new med I have taken in months, so it has to be the Pred.

I took Lisinopril for five months. The dose was increased from 10mg to 40 mg per day. At my request my doctor switched me to Amlodipine Besylate. With Lisinopril I was tired all the time and had Abnormal hair loss. Within a week, after the switch, I was back to normal.
My daughter experienced the same thing. She was switched to Amlodipine
and is back to normal. It may take a while for the hair that was lost to come back in.

I have been on Levoxyl for years. Have experienced all the side affects this medication has and then some more! My hair loss and thinning, depression, bone aches, headaches, fatigue, and much more...finally I asked the doctor is there was anything else out there in the market which had less side effects....there is a natural product which has been in the market for many years called Armour Thyroid (*******). All I know is that if I continued to take Levoxyl, I will most likely end up in bed for life...I am only 43 yrs old and would like to have at least "normal" energy for my age. There is NO reason I should feel a lot older and I know for a fact it is the medication. I have only been taking Armour Thyroid for just a few days but will report my well being in about the next 30 days. Since I was on 100mg of Levoxyl a day, am taking two grains of 30 mg a day for a total of 60 mg of Armour a day. In about 25 days I go for blood work to check levels, so far I experience a bit of nausea right after I take the "new" medication but it does not last all day. Hopefully, this new med will give me my LIFE back! Thanks for reading.

I have been on Remeron for last month, the first week was wonderful. I fell asleep for 12hrs the first night. The following nights of the first week were great, I slept like I hadn't in years. The third week it started to all crash down on me. I couldn't sleep, my legs felt like I had bugs crawling all over me, I kept my poor husband up all night, getting up and down, kicking and turning all night. I then started realizing I was angry over nothing. My mother is very sick and will not get better (one of the reason I started Remeron in the first place) and I am noticing I am irritated if she needs something or just calls to say hello. I don't want to talk to anyone, not my friends, husband or even my children. My son is a diabetic and I told my doctor if I took any medicine it couldn't just knock me out, I had to be coherent enough to take care of his needs. The medicine didn't bother me the first couple weeks. The third week, I would forget how much insulin to give him, and that is a scary feeling if you gave your son the right amount of medicine. I would think after I gave him his medicine, did I give him the right amount or am I going to make him go into shock. I also have gained weight, I have never liked sweets and that is all I think about. I go to dr. this week, hopefully she will find a new med that won't make me forget everything, want to be such a hag to everyone, and help with those crazy leg tingles. I was on 15 mgs to start out on, I even took an extra one the other night because of the leg tingles, and it made it worse. So I took an over the counter sleep aid and I finally fell asleep at 4:00 in morning. I am so glad I found the site, I thought I was losing my mind. Thank You to all of you, you have helped me tremendously.

This site is great! I developed a cold 2 months ago that turned into this severe bout of sore throat and bronchitis symptoms. I do have allergies and take otc meds. Because I was having such trouble breathing my doctor gave me 2 weeks worth of singulair. I'm also on several other meds to try and clear up this bronchitis, but the singulair is the only "new" med, as I have taken the other meds in the past. I noticed last week that I was breaking out in hives. Itching all over and especially on the left side of my face. At first I just thought I'm falling apart, but then I began wondering if it could be the singulair. Thanks to the comments here I'm stopping singulair. Doctors, as well intentioned as they are, really don't know about most of the meds they prescribe. And it is irresponsible for any of them to just say "no it's not the medication", when they really don't know. That's why the internet is such a great tool!

I was on lisinipril for 10 months. I have never felt so terrible in my whole life!!!! I am 34 years old and this was my first BP med. I had dizziness, bloating, 20 lb. weight gain, tiredness, pain in my arms, back and neck. I could barely eat yet I gained weight???? I had nausea and even vomited at times. I had anxiety, depression and my hands would shake. The symptoms would come and go so I figured this is how I have to live my life. So I tried to deal with it. I had to quit 2 jobs because of the dizziness and finally thank god found this website. After reading everyone else symptoms and knew I wasn't alone--- I decided to go to the Doctor's and get on a new med. I am now on norvac and I do not have a single side effect! All the symptoms of that poison are gone and I have never felt better!!!!!!! Get off lisinipril- It is not in your head-THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE REAL!

I am a 39 year old man with peripheral neuropathy and migraines. When I was diagnosed 3 years ago, the pain in my right leg was horrible and headaches daily. My Dr. put me on Topamax and I was so happy, it seemed to help but one night( about three weeks into it) I went to bed and awoke in the morning legally blind. Topamax was stopped that day but it took 4 months ( and changing the prescription in my glasses 3 times) for my vision to return to 20/20. The doctors tell me I was lucky as some people have perminate lens damage from the optical pressure change.
My doctor said I could not take any thing in that class of medications as it would probably have the same effect on me. So he decided to put me on Cymbalta for the neuropathy. He said it was being tested as a possible use for neuropathy but had not been proven. It works great for the pain and oddly my migraines have gone down to about two a month.

Update and a question:

I posted about a week ago about some of the side effects I was experiencing from lisinopril:

-lightheadedness (including one fainting spell)
-some discomfort and tightness in my chest
-difficulty breathing (when this happened, I would force myself to breathe deeply and usually found that I was breathing OK ... just felt like I wasn't always getting enough air)
-feelings of panic
-muscle pain in back and neck
-diarrhea

I stopped taking it a little over week ago and my doctor wants to start me on diovan. After my experience with lisinopril, I want to wait a little while before starting a new med.

So my question is, how long does it take to get lisinopril completely out of your system?

I've felt some of the same side effects recently (slight dizziness, some discomfort in back and chest area). But that was after working in the Texas sun for a couple of hours in the morning. (I've heard that lots of sweating and dehydration can increase some of the side effects of lisinopril.)

Can anyone tell me your experiences after getting off lisinopril?

OK guys, I have been reading all your side effects for a couple of weeks now, and finally decided to jump into this pot! You will not believe this, but I have been on Diovan 80 mg twice a day along with a couple of other blood pressure medications. It's been about 2 years, maybe a little less, and for the past 10-12 months, I have complained to my doctor that my joints and muscles ache so much that I feel like a 100 year old person. I also have has every side effect mentioned on the 9 pages listed here with all of you. I have had every test imaginable for artery's/veins/muscles/joints/sleeplessness/hair loss/weight gain/swollen ankles...you name it, I've been tested for it. They can find nothing wrong with me at all. NOTHING! I'm sure they feel that it's all in my head, since I've been quite sensitive to a lot of meds. in the past!

I am usually very active and run around like a crazy woman most of the time, but I was absolutely walking like I'd been hit by a truck. I went to my doctor with all of the complaints listed under Diovan printed out, and believe me, she took notice. We stopped Diovan that night and I started on a couple of new meds. that have absolutely no side effects. It will be two weeks this coming Wednesday (June 4) and I am almost a new person. I'd say, about 98% pain free. I actually felt relief after being off for about 5 days. It's getting better day by day. I actually feel that this stuff was killing me slowly. Get off asap!
By the way, I tried to look up the new meds, and they are so new that I can't find anything. For me, they are an answer to prayer.

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

I've been on Lyrica 75mg 2x/day for Fibromyalgia for 1 1/2 wks. I was on Neurontin for 4 years before trying this new med. The side effect that I'm hoping goes away soon, is around 3-4AM every night that I take Lyrica I wake up to pee and when I lay back down when I close my eyes the room spins like crazy. It's exactly like a night drinking in college but I haven't touch any alcohol in months. The 1st few days that sensation did not go away until the afternoon, but now it's usually gone by the time I wake up to go to work around 7AM. Hopefully it'll just keeping shorter in duration. Other than that side-effect it does quite a good job controlling FM pain.

I've been on Synthroid for 8 months after gaining 10 pounds in two months. The symptoms started to appear when my Mom was very ill. Doctor said it was caused by stress and started me on 25 mcg of Synthroid. My reading at that time was 5.56. I had blood work done every 4 weeks,and the numbers are going down (1.8 last reading), but so is the quantity of my hair, which I see all over my white tile. My weight hasn't budged even though I am dieting. My doctor upped me to 100 mcgs. My blood work is not good - low white count, low lymphocytes, borderline anemic. Mom died, and I didn't get any better. I feel sick all the time and it's difficult for my husband to understand how bad I feel. I've tried to get my doctor to prescrive Armour, but he doesn't even return my phone calls. When I see him in the office, he keeps telling me it takes time. I hate living this way and want to stop the pills completely.

My story is very sadly similiar to enough's story

I have also been following these posts since the story broke
My son is 11 yrs old has been on singulair for almost 1 yr now for allergies after suffering a SI that lasted over 2 months

He was dx'd with ADHD & ODD at age 4 & they have been trying to rule out bipolar for the last few yrs But Can't, so he has been on a ton of meds!!!
I have noticed that this last year has been worse though & he almost had to be admitted numerous times within this past year We kept switching the ADHD meds & trying Bipolar meds nothing seemed to work, So last friday night (almost 1 wk ago) the day I heard about this, I stopped the singulair But he also started a new bipolar med the same day & HE IS A NEW KID!!! so now I'm stuck with the terrible task to find out if it's a combo of stopping the singulair & the new med working or stopping the singulair & maybe he doesnt even need the new med? IDK right now BUT I DO know that Something is working!!! So I have decided that next Friday put him back on the singulair for a few days to see what happens?? we talked about it & he knows I will not punish him for anything he does while he is on it I just NEED to know if this med Made him worse!!!!!! That way I can take some kind of action here, I just would like to know why the heck would they put a kid who already has mental health issues on a med that could make those issues WORSE????
I'm positive that singulair did not cause his probs since they started way b4 him being on this med But I have a gut feeling that singulair has made his probs 10X worse!!

his S/A's have been the same as e/o has already described

itching (which I know for a fact was from singulair b/c that is gone now)
mood swings
crying
angry
crabby
irritable
violent
not sleeping well (even worse than what he had already)
aches & pains everywhere

I always dismissed the complaints or assumed it was one of his other meds causing them, I never ever in a million years would of thought it was the singulair!!!!

I held off on posting b/c I wanted to see if taking him off would work?? IDK for sure yet but I will come back in a week or so & let u all know

I'll pray for all the familes involved in this I'm still kind of shocked by it all but felt the need to share my story also

(I tried posting yesterday guess it didnt work??)

My 9 yo daughter has been off and on Singulair for several years trying to get her athsma and allergies regulated. She has been put on zyrtec, and claritin and it has been a constant battle with her. She has been in and out of children's mental health facilities 3 times in the past year and has been diagnosed as having ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder), Mood Disorder, Depression, Severe ADHD, Bi-Polar as well as ADO (Adjustment Disorder) and emotional disorder, just to name some of the diagnosis she has had. SHE IS ONLY NINE YEARS OLD. Due to ALL these other diagnosis, she has been on and off so many different medications that I cannot help but wonder if some of these diagnosis are due to her taking the Singulair. When she was taking the SINGULAIR, she could not sleep at night, she complained about her stomach hurting all the time, she was very angry, emotional, and cried very easily for no reason at all. I have not given her any SINGULAIR since I first heard about all this stuff two days ago and can already see a difference. The fact that these people are doing this to our children infuriates me and something needs to be done!!!!!!!!

I've been on Effexor XR (75mg at night and 37.5 in the morning) for a few years now and have had excellent results. I also been on other antidepressants and had similar luck, but after a few years of taking the others, they seemed to "wear out".

As I read your problems you've experienced with Effexor, I think that maybe you need to try some other meds--that Effexor isn't the right choice for you, not all anti-depressants work the same way. Also, anti-depressants take time to kick in--from one month to six months and then level out. One SUPER side effect of Effexor is if you're suffering hot flashes from peri or full blown menopause, at the right dosage, Effexor (and some other anti depressants) will stop the flashes--a God send in my eyes.

The one thing I did want to share is you should NEVER go off any anti-depressant cold turkey. You should wean off slowly or the results can be VERY uncomfortable. Also realize that it will take a few months for your brain chemicals to come down to were they were before the anti depressant kicked in.

I think more of you should talk to your doctor about what is going on while you're taking Effexor and make some changes. Maybe a higher or lower dose might help--if that doesn't work, then try a new med. If your doctor isn't listening or trying to help you make changes or if she tells you to stop taking an antidepressant cold turkey--get a new doctor.

shaking, sweats