Nurse practioner symptoms and conditions

FEMCON almost killed me.... or at least the nurse practioner.. i had written a post here before when the first two weeks of bleeding started... after that i waited and about a month after the heavy bleeding started again... i went back to the GYN and explained my problem, she couldn't even examine me because i was bleeding so much. the same nurse practioner told me to take two pills instead of one for two days and it would throw off my period and gave me a pack of new different pills.. i didn't start the new pack because by the end of the second night i almost drove myself to a hospital.... i thought i was going to die.... i had to sleep sitting down and took several trips to the bathroom to change my EXTRA LARGE OVERNIGHT (Always purple pads) pads.... the pain was unbearable where i walked really slow and would bleed nonstop.... a day later i decided to go to the hospital where they told me my hemoglobyn levels were at 8 and i needed a blood transfusion (really i had 2 because i couldnt stop bleeding after they had put liquid antibiotics in my blood) i was admitted and monitored with a heart rate monitor because from all the stress and being so weak i almost went into cardiac arrest by the time i reached the hospital...... it has been the worst experience in my life... i could go on about everything that happened those three days but just thinking about it makes me want to cry...... i hate my life

I was prescribed Paxil and started out at 10mg. then they gradually increased it up to 60 mg a day. Later on they added I think it was 200 mg of Wellbutrin. I was on Paxil for I think 2.5 to 3 yrs. What happened was I was so out of it I didn't know what day it was. The HMO would have to call me to remind me to come in that day for my doctor visits. I slept most of the time and was just worthless. I didn't care about anything much and didn't have the energy to do much of any thing. This was a drastic change in me and my family hung in there with all this. I actually drove which is not a good idea at all. But when they put you on this you don't realize how bad you are on this stuff and once you are on it for so long then you are either a captive at home not able to do anything or you try to take back some part of your life. You also can't just go off of it cold turkey at 60 mg. I tried and it got bad and went back on it. After I got really bad all I did really is drive to therapist appts or to nurse practitioner who managed the Paxil and Wellbutrin. After being on 60 mg of Paxil and Welbutrin for awhile/months and I was so out of it, that is when they said we need to back me off of it. I think it accumulates in your body and I think you can kind of have an overdose in a sense. They didn't really monitor it that well and took their sweet time recognizing it. But they didn't say anything about it. I think that is what happened to me but no one at the HMO said that. Instead they got me scared that I was going to run out of therapy sessions allowed while on Paxil and that is why they were going to back me off of Paxil. I guess another patient had that happen to her and they didn't want that to happen to me. I then say my therapist very rarely while I was backing off of the Paxil. She acted like I was ready to handle everything on my own. I had no idea that suicidal thoughts were in my future when backing off of this drug. But they sure knew it, a lawsuit in California had been filed the month after I started taking the drug and it was all about the lack of disclosure about the withdrawal issues. First I got off of Wellbutrin and then they slowly backed me off of Paxil. It was physically wrenching. Throwing up and diarrhea all at the same time. Painful is not the word. I have given birth to two kids and pneumonia and this was much worse! Chills, tremors, I felt sick all the time. This went on for months. When I talked to nurse practitioner they pretended that it was no big deal. I wasn't sure what was happening. I finally got pissed off about the whole thing and never called them back and they didn't follow up either. Not even therapist. They hoped I would go away quietly which I did. When you are in the throws of this and you know who did this to you, you really don't want any more of their harmful help. It took at least a year to feel better. There is this uneasy weird feeling and zinging noise that lingers for a long time. But my memory is a fraction of what it was. My short term memory is very difficult. I know that Paxil was responsible for this. How do I know? Well when you are on Paxil and if you have a recall on a bad incident and you start to emotionally react to it, Paxil will offset it by making you sleepy. It literally targets your emotional reactions and those thoughts connected to it. It tries to disconnect the feelings from the thoughts. These disconnects also disconnect your ability to remember other things. Even after I got off of Paxil I noticed that I would get sleepy when I thought of stressful things. It has taken me about three years and I am talking better and can remember many more words. I talked very simply for so long since I couldn't recall basic conversation. It targets emotional responses and I got to a point where I was really numb about a lot of stuff due to the constant tapping down by Paxil. I feel like it disconnected those connectors to your brain that talk to each other. My family made jokes about me and how simple I got and how I couldn't remember anything. They are worried that I have alzheimers disease or will get at this rate. I could not work on Paxil at those high doses I was on and while I was withdrawing. I found that afterwards my memory was so bad that I missed so many simple things that I would have never missed before. I am concerned that my memory lapse will cause a big mistake that may hurt someone. I was out of work for so long. I volunteered to keep myself busy until I got too bad. It would keep me busy. I also noticed that while on Paxil I was uninhibited and said things that hurt folks and I was unable to monitor myself like normal and couldn't determine what was not appropriate to say all the time. I had an emotional disconnect to myself but also to others. This hurt some folks and cost me a job. My memory is so bad that I have to write down important things if I really want to refer to it again. I also have given up on going back to school. I couldn't test well at all. I can not remember what I did 5 minutes ago let alone a chapter I have read. I am only 52 now and I feel so much older due to this. I suffer from Fibromyalgia and IBS. I was so upset with my doctors at HMO since they didn't warn me of the withdrawals. When they put me on Paxil I was adamant about not taking an addictive drug. My family has had a history of addiction and I was not going there. I know how bad it can get. Paxil's withdrawals is very much like the withdrawals that addicts go through. I was devastated by not only how doped up I was on Paxil but also all time I wasted on it and with the year just trying to withdraw from it. Then the time just trying to get some of my memory back to function. I am mad that there is no way I could go back to school to better myself. I am mad that no one warned me of any of this and if they would have I wouldn't have taken it. How many of you would take a drug knowing that you memory would be messed up? Not many. Certainly not me. My daughters know what a tyrant I am about drugs and alcohol. This is not something I would have opted for if the whole truth were known. They certainly don't warn you that your memory will be like swiss cheese afterwards. No one in my family has had such memory loss. No alzheimers disease. In fact quite the opposite is the case. My grandmothers were very clear at older age, so menopause can not be a big factor and beside this happened before menopause. Also grandfathers and father were very clear getting older. My family noticed a definite change while I was on and after Paxil. The irony was that when I started to go back to HMO for regular care which took me a long time to trust them enough for them to do even that, someone at HMO had put in my automated chart that I was allergic to Paxil. They won't say who put it in either. I was not allergic to it but they are now saying that I had a bad reaction. But what I say is after seeing so many "bad reactions" on websites like this I am convinced that this is more than isolated cases but rather the norm of what happens to patients who take it. HMO doesn't want to admit wrong doing. Paxil seems to have kept a lid on it. Besides how do you measure a bad memory and how do you prove it after the fact? You are getting older and who is to say it isn't genetic. But I was on it for maybe 2.5-3 years. I was so out of it I don't remember how long I was on it. I also was suicidal when coming off of it. I even called a crisis line since I couldn't trust the HMO. I was irrational. For those of you still on it I think you are doing more harm than good. I don't believe all the facts have come out about the side affects from these types drugs. Who would be doing the studies? Certainly not he drug companies, FDA is a joke and if you think the attorney generals are doing much think again. Yeah a couple states like CA an NY they did settle on suits about suicide for kids but they settled quietly. The doctors who prescribe these drugs also are in a catch 22 like my HMO. They don't want to be linked in this and will avoid it too. What attorneys can afford to go up against all those high powered attorneys for those loaded drug companies? Not many. No one is actually dying from this and that is another reason there won't be much done on this either. Fortunately today we can hook up online and share our stories and this is the first step in documenting what is really happening to patients.

Be so careful coming off of these drugs. Give yourself plenty of time to get normal. Make sure you are seeing a therapist you can trust and is trustworthy. It takes an alcoholic about a year to rid their bodies of the toxins that have built up in their tissues. I do believe that is also true of Paxil. Be kind to yourself and get good support while doing so. It can be a very lonely physcially and mentally anguishing time. Think of yourself like someone who has had a brain injury or stroke. You need to practice to get things to reconnected as best as possible considering. You will never be like before you took Paxil but with time and patience and hard work it can get better or you can develop ways to compensate or work around or cope with such memory loss. Financially this can be devastating and it was for us. The loss of income and finally a bankruptcy. We paid dearly for taking this drug. It can be very frustrating and you have to look long term. I think it is very easy and cheap for HMO's to pass out pills rather than schedule needed appointments for therapist and other alternatives. Before they started to take me off of Paxil I was warned by my HMO that I had exceeded my number of appts allotted for a 2 or 3 yr period. So I may end up without any therapy while on Paxil. That is the reason why they decided to back me off. I had apparently used something like 32 appts in two or three years and I was getting close to not being able to have any for a long while. This was interesting approach since by then they knew that suicide was linked with Paxil. They will put you on Paxil and they will leave you high and dry without at therapist if you actually use one regularly and use up a normal amount of visits. I have very little compassion for HMOs. What was amazing was listening to the nurse practitioner tell me if these drugs don't work there are lots of other ones we can use. These are the easy going drug pushers of today and they prescribe these drugs without much thought. They make it cheap and easy and they will swear to your face they aren't addictive but are basing it on very little research. They regurgitate what ever the drug companies tell them. The cost cutting with HMO's is almost frightening. I also have problems sleeping too. I wonder if the drug messes up your serotonin levels since it does make you sleepy so much of the time and when you are off of it the brain is fried from all that artificial serotonin that it no longer knows how to manufacturer it well. I think that is what maybe causing my Fibromyalgia since this is a condition where you muscles never repair themselves at night due to lack of sleep is one theory. I was always a deep sleeper before all of this. I think there maybe a connection.
Finally depression. When you can't remember what you did 5 minutes ago or simple things it gets more than frustrating, you get depressed at how limited you are now. The pain from the fibromyalgia is constant and that too is depressing. I wish someone could put together the data on this to prove the link to memory loss and how it has affected our serotonin levels.
The only way you can stop companies is to sue them. Government won't do it really. A class action suit might work.

I have been on Toprol -XL Metoprolol ER 100 MG, I have been on for about 2 mos. Not quite sure have to check dr records. I have had Weight gain about 20 lbs, headaches, swelling of ankles and feet,shortness of Breath, a horrible feeling of not being able to catch or take my breath, fear anxiety, stomach pains, depression, vivid dreams, waking up and not being able to sleep, tossng and turning until 4am. could feel heart beating fast but subtle. numbing in my hands and fingers lack of motivation. I have been going to a nurse practioner who is helping me to wean off of this drug. It has changed me I ave never been ill in my life except for the common cold. and having babies. There is really nothing wrong with my heart according to tests they have run, My Blood pressure was high and they were trying to get it under control, tried other meds and then went to this. It has been a horrible experience especially when you just learned you have HBP and then you get all these terrible side effects from the medicine that is suppose to be saving your life or help save it. I do not know how I will do with weaning But i will sure try and keep you posted. I am a little nervous about being weaned off, but hopefully I can find something natural to help me out. This is literally been poison to my Body ******

I started the Nuvaring just about 5 weeks ago. I thought everything was going well. Two days before the "4th week", I was put on antibiotics and despite the doctor's reassurance, I used additional bc while on the medication. On the 29TH day of the cycle, I spotted some, but never really had a "period." My body told me I was (normal lower back pain, light cramping etc) except this time, I experienced a piercing headache along with it. Less than 24 hours later, the spotting was done. I asked the nurse practioner what was going on and the response was "the nuvaring can make your periods lighter". I told her "it's not lighter, it's not there!" I followed the directions precisely, used back up protection while on other medication and to top it all off, I've had a headache for days. This is not a normal occurrence for me. I haven't been depressed in well over a decade and all of a sudden, I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. I've noticed a very pronounced drop in my libido, too. These side effects are not worth the "convenience" of this form of bc. I will be taking a pregnancy test (to make sure and for my own piece of mind) and then finding another type of protection. I can't believe a bc would LOWER my sex drive this much. Between the mood swings and the lowered libido, the Nuvaring seems to do more harm than good for me.

Hi Ladies,
I've had the mirena in for about 3 1/2 years. I have in the past recommended it. About 4 months after it was put in, I had no periods and according to my ob/gyn, this was absolutely normal for the mirena. I loved it, having 4 children, who has time for a period. I have always struggled with my weight and I've always been able to control it, but recently within the last year it has gone way up. I started exercising my butt off and dieting, I'm finding very difficult to lose weight. Only losing an pound or two just to gain it plus two the following month. I am 39 years old and my GP keeps telling me that once I hit 40, it would be more difficult for me to lose weight. Out of pure desperation, last Friday, I decided to look up the side effects of the mirena . (Cuz you know my ob/gyn said "there wasn't any side effects except the initial cramping. and absolutely no weight gain like the pill.") I would of never thought that it had so many side effects! ... And I've experienced almost everyone. I blew off most of my symptoms due to high blood pressure, which runs in my family, and the stresses of work, two teenagers, a 5 yr old and a 4year old. I would say if I had to pin point when the symptom started, it would be about 2 years ago. All those years of insomnia, anxiety attacks, dizziness, head aches, bloating, weight gain and yes even depression, that I was prescribe prozac for, could be due to the mirena. I immediately made a doctors appointment to get in removed. Well, that was this Monday and the Nurse Practioner couldn't find the strings. Two ultrasounds later, I still have it in and am waiting the "what are they going to do now, and my next appointment this Friday." I Just want this thing out and wish I never got it in the first place!!"

Hi, i have had Mirena for over two years and only recently have started to experience really bad cramping and spotting. I am so incredibly bloated, i look like im in early stages of pregnancy! I have gained about 20 pounds since in the time ive had it and ive had problems with my joints. I was beginning to think i had arthritis, im only 25 years old! I didnt realize that was also a side effect until i started reading more about it. Well Friday, i went in to my doctor's office to have it removed. Unfortunately my doctor was not in so i was seen by the nurse practioner and she could not find it!!! she said it most likely travelled upward to where she cant see or reach it. She poked around for about 20 minutes before finally giving up and saying, sorry i just cant get it. So im scheduled for an ultrasound this wednesday to find its exact location and hopefully getting it out of there. Im so worried because i have read about other women having to get it surgically removed. Has this happened to anyone else?

My doctor started me on Lipitor over a year ago. I started having muscle pain in my shoulders but didn't equate it to the meds until I was watching television one day and a Lipitor commercial came on. It said that some people experience muscle pain.....I thought HALLELUEH THAT'S WHAT IT IS.....I stopped talking the meds and went to see my doctor who immediately changed my meds to Zocor.....guess what? The same thing happened. Went to see her again and she switched to Crestor.....same thing happened....so I started doing my own research and was amazed at what I learned and bewildered as to why my doctor was acting like I was some whining baby.

No problem, I say to myself and stopped the meds. That was last November, in January I had my yearly physical and blood tests were ordered for me in December......guess what.....my triglycerides were still high so my doctor orders Antara. It didn't say "cor" anything so I'm thinking it's not the same stuff. No, it wasn't the same stuff it was WORSE!! Within three weeks I was crying I was in so much pain. I called her and got her nurse practitioner who says that my doctor said to stop taking the pills and the pain will go away. I call back and say, "you don't understand, I can't sleep, I can't move, I can't function the pain is so bad." After several calls back and forth, and let me tell you I NEVER call my doctor unless something is incredibly wrong and that is less than rarely. Well, my doctors partner tells the nurse practioner that they will not prescribe narcotics for me. WHAT? Who asked for narcotics? I needed relief from this pain.....I would have gone for amputation!!!

So I change docs...more blood work.....high triglycerides, I refuse to take any statins. She says she has something for me that will not cause muscle pain and hands me samples of Welchol.....this one took less than a week for increased muscle pain...again I wanted to trust, but guess what i learned when I went to the Welchol site? The first side effect listed? Muscle pain.

Called the new doctors office to let them know that I was experiencing pain again and was told to stop the Welchol (which I had already done) and take Red Yeast Rice and have bloodwork done in 3 to 6 months and come back to see her. Oh no! Not without research and guess what? A side effect of Red Yeast Rice? Muscle pain.

It has been 4 months since I stopped taking the Antara and took Welchol for a week in that 4 months. Sometimes my shoulders/neck and arms don't hurt too much. Unfortunately most times they do. Both doctors insist that the pain cannot be from the drugs because the drugs have left my body. The new doctor said I probably have myolgia just because I'm 52 and that it's just a coincidence that it happened while taken the drugs but then goes on to agree that I must be "sensitive" to statins. Both doctors treat me like I'm stupid and nuts all balled up in one. I am frustrated and in pain most of the time. I have been trying to find out how long to expect this pain and am dismayed to learn that it can be years or never go away.

Yes I have high triglycerides (so does my mother and she experiences the same kind of pain so refused to take statins) and I've been warned that not taking statins could cause pancreatitis and/or heart problems. My question to that is - "then my choice is chance the heart stuff or live an incredibly painful life?"

I'll take my chances and pray for the best because right now my quality of life stinks!!

My husband is in Nepal right now with a sinus infection. His doc gave him Avelox to take with him 'just in case'. So, with the blessing of the nurse practioner via phone, he took the Avelox. He called me in tears. I've been married for 7 years and believe me, my husband is never 'in tears'...he experienced an initial, intense flush on nausea and then became panicked, hyperventilating, paranoid, dizzy, and weak. I thought he was having a complete nervous breakdown. Then, the more I thought about it...it somewhat echoed a reaction that I had in the past to epinephrine...at the dentists office I was given a beta blocker with epinephrine in it, and immediately began to feel extreme panic, tears, shakiness, shortness of breath yada yada...and I'm someone who really could care less about the dentist. So. it turns out I'm "epi-sensitive" - anyway, upon recalling this...I mentioned to husband that perhaps he is not going insane, and instead is a having a reaction to the Avelox. So I checked online and am blown away by all of the horror stories. WTF? Why is this even being prescribed to people???? Why aren't we getting together a major class action lawsuit? I am just enraged. I called the emergency line to the doc's office...got a different doc, who said he never would have prescribed this antibiotic for sinus/ear infection.
WTF?!
That is specifically what is was prescribed for!!!
He said to take a benadryl and monitor symptoms - and that if there was ANY swelling to get to a hospital, pronto.
Spread the word! We are being experimented on with this drug.
What a nightmare.

Well to let everyone know who is reading this site, if you have a Mirena GET IT OUT ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!! Just three weeks ago I had the mirena in for a year and a half and about three month after having it put in I began to lose weight rapidly over a 6-7 month period I had lost over 40 pounds was having diarrhea, hair loss, hands trembling, pulse rate above 120 at resting and night sweats. I had been to over 5 doctors including my GYN and none of them thought that it was related to the Mirena. I had started having excruciating pain in my right lower pelvic area and had been to see my GYN over 5 times in a month and a half and he just kept saying it was cysts on my ovary. I finally came to the point of despair. I could not stand the pain anymore and called the GYN office and saw a nurse practitioner who took out my Mirena and did an ultrasound and come to find out I was 7-8 weeks pregnant with my fallopian tube about to rupture and I was about to bleed to death I was taken to surgery within 2 hours and I had to have my right fallopian tube removed. I hope NO one has to get to this point. If you have the Mirena and you are experiencing any unusual side effects have it removed. YOU know your body better than anyone! SO PLEASE DO NOT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just an update about the class action suit discussed previously, and Aamaya had provided us with the Florida attorney, Justin Wikin: I got a letter in the mail yesterday stating that they would not be pursuing suit against them. They said that they deal mainly with wrongful death cases and it does not mean that the case does not have merit, just that it is not their specialty. I will be doing some research here locally in Ohio to see if I can locate a practice to pursue this. If anyone comes up with something, please let us all know.

Perforated Uterus, Pelvic Infection
The Mirena IUD perforated my uterus, and was found inside my abdominal cavity, completely outside of my uterus. The nurse practioner who inserted the IUD at Planned Parenthood, insisted everything was fine. She did not know she perforated my uterus. After a week of internal bleeding, I ended up in the ER. I had emergency surgery to remove the IUD, and to repair my uterus. I had complications form the surgery, and had to be readmitted to the hospital. Six months after the surgery, a pelvic infection resulted. I urge anyone considering the Mirena IUD to consider the very serious consequences to your life as well as future fertility.