Obsessing symptoms and conditions

I feel somewhat reassured that it's a possibility that my memory loss is a side effect of lamictal. I was diagnosed with BP I and the medication has done wonders. I still get very depressed sometimes, but not as severe as it was without the med. I experience(d) rapid-cycling which I was told is less common for this disorder.
My short-term memory is horrible. Sometimes have trouble remembering conversations and even things that happened a short time ago. For example, I recently played a few games of pool with my son and on our way home, I couldn't recall whether or not I won any of the 3 games. It's pretty embarrassing and scary when someone "catches" you or notices that you have completely blanked. I have to write things down if I want to discuss them with my therapist, because I won't remember what my issues were within the last week or two. Sometimes, when someone asks me if I remember something, I act like I do, because I probably should remember it. Again, I feel like an idiot because I don't. At work, it's not too much of a problem, because I insist that everyone sends me a reminder email, so I have a task list to work from instead of recalling things from memory. I also get completely lost in my train of thought during conversations. I tend to go off in tangents and completely forget what point I was trying to make.
I also have trouble focusing and my mind is always because obsessing over some thought, usually something negative. I feel like I waste a lot of time doing unproductive thinking. I'm not sure if this is a symptom of the disorder of not.

My son started taking Singulair in Sept 08 when he was 22 months old. I never really gave it to him consistently, since it was just to help with his reoccurring ear infections. I noticed a little change in his behavior, but I thought it was the "terrible two's". I started giving it to him religiously at the beginning of Nov 08. He had his first meltdown on Nov 15. He was totally uncontrollable. I call it the "Exorcist" tantrum. I took him to the ER, but they told me nothing was wrong. (I did tell the ER all of the medications he was taking.) He started waking up in the middle of the night screaming. Each day, he got a little worse. Defiant, hateful, destructive, etc. He still isn't talking much, so he can't tell me what is going on. Christmas and New Year were horrible. We had NO idea that it could cause mood changes (that is putting it mildly). The pediatrician had no idea what could be causing the behavioral changes. He also started biting his fingernails and obsessing over little things, like the strings hanging off of his blanket.

We decided to take him off Singulair after double checking the side effects. We stopped a week ago, and the change is amazing. He is back to my great little boy. I am sooooo glad that we discovered this after only a few months. I cannot imagine living like that for years.

Two days after stopping the Singluair, I found this website: ******

As I read the different cases, I thought that it was exactly like my son. I was convinced it was the medicine. Each day that he gets better and better-like his normal self- I keep getting madder and madder that no one informed me about the possible side effect. The Dr. did not know nor the pharmacist.

Yesterday, I went to the FDA site to complain about the side effects. It just so happens that the FDA released a statement yesterday that they are still investigating the link between suicidality and Singulair.

We need to let everyone know, that if you are using Singulair, please pay attention to their child's behavior. Some people may be just fine, but others (like my son) are not fine.

Geodon - Weight Loss, Mania Anyone?
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I've been on Geodon for 5 wx & have lost 15 #'s. I usually weigh 130, now 115. looking anorexic, but my depression is a lot better now, I'm happy, first time in ovr a yr. nothing else could break the barrier except the Geodon, but it makes me manic, on top of already being manic…can't sleep. as I was about to crash & burn (thu), before I went running to the ER, i found my stash of 4 mg Risperdal that I just weened myself off of 3 mos ago, due to the long term side effects I was having (td, slurring, twitching, sexual dysfunction...). it took the edge off, til I can talk to the pdoc on tue.

like many of you, i’ve tried everything. i’m at my wit’s end. This bizarre combo seems to work for me. It puts a muzzle on the mania, allowing me a more hypomanic state where I can function & still feel really happy. although I’m going to try 40 vs 60 mg geodon. & try going down to 2 mg risperdal or try another a/p. adding the risperdal allowed me to sleep, along w/the lorazepam. but, I prefer not to be on risperdal

So, as of now…i'm on 60 mg geodon, 675 mg lithium, 4 mg risperdal & 1 mg lorazepam X 2/day.

has anyone else had this experience? Especially w/the mania & weight loss?

PLZ HELP! QUEENIE

Thank god for the internet-I don't know what I would have done if I had to feel the way I did from taking Yasmin any longer without knowing why. I took Yasmin for two months. In the third week of my second month I suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks along with irrational fears and obsessing on random thoughts that wouldn't normally bother me. When I would somewhat calm down, I would then feel so depresses because I didn't know why I just couldn't go back to feeling like myself. I am a worry-er, I admit, but never to this extreme. I was so nervous, I had no appetite and the anxiety really began to take its toll on me physically. Now that I look back on it, I was more nervous than usual in my first month, I have lost my sex drive, I have had small dizzy spells and blurred vision, random pains in my left lower abdomen area, but I never put these all together. When I found not only this website, but tons others with women writing about all of these side effects, I already started feeling like myself again. It's been 4 days off the pill and I still get a little anxious, but nothing like it was last week. I can't wait for this stuff to get out of my system. I did take the pill at 7:45 every night and I do notice I'm more nervous in the morning when I get up and by late afternoon, I start to relax and feel more like myself. Synthetic hormones are not natural and I really feel like we shouldn't put this stuff in our bodies. We are messing with scary stuff. God only knows what would have happened if I had to endure any more of that physical and mental pain!

I am bipolar II and began taking Lamictal on top of my usual cocktail of Wellbutrin and Zyprexa following a suicide attempt. As everyone else has reported, it took a while to get up to a theraputic dosage; once I got there though, I felt the best I had in years (no exaggeration) - I literally felt completely freed from my illness. This freedom came at a cost, however. During my college days (I am a recent graduate) I was the top student in my department and routinely completed tremendous projects in unusually short amounts of time. Since reaching my current dosage of Lamictal, however, I have begun FAILING a Spanish course I am taking as I am both unable to retain anything I learn from studying (especially flash cards, which as everyone knows are the key to learning new vocabulary words) and, more importantly, feel no motivation to correct the situation. I am currently preparing to take two GREs as well as apply to eight graduate schools and have gone from obsessing over the issue to not caring whatsoever. I have also begun a new job recently and have extreme difficulty waking up each morning due to how exhausted I feel (it's notable that I didn't have this feeling upon switching to a large dose of Zyprexa.) My doctor has instructed me to lower the dose and monitor my mood accordingly to see if I can have positive psychological results with minimal side effects. I am upset about potentially having to give up the radical change in how I feel every day, but the side effects are just too severe (at the current dose, that is.) It still remains to be seen whether a lower dose will have sufficiently positive psychological effects with minimal side effects; I will make a followup post after this one once I can assess that.

Hello- I was Dx with Sarcoidosis in February, 2007. My lung specialist put me on 20mg Prednisone, increasing to 40mg within two weeks. My Sarcoid symptoms were from enlarged lymph- extreme trouble breathing, middle and lower back pain, kidney pain. Within a week of being at the 40mg level my heart rate and BP became so erratic that he had to start weaning me down. Initially I had extreme energy which felt good after suffering from fatigue but was short lived due to the cardiac problems.

The Prednisone has resolved much of my inflammation for the Sarcoid but I will not go on this again. I have been weaning now for over three weeks. Down under 5mg of Prednisone and it is almost unbearable. Each time I took a drop my mental symptoms became intolerable. Anxiety, extreme fatigue with extreme weakness, irrational thoughts, blurred vision. Within the last couple of days I could hardly get myself out of bed. My weight has increased steadily, bloating stomach, stiff joints, skin rash.

My biggest complaint is that doctors are not giving us enough information as to how this will affect from a negative side. Yes, it takes care of the inflammation but no one prepared me for these awful side effects and withdrawal symptoms. I feel like a nut case most of the time with no coping skills.

Well, I feel soooooo wierd. The panick attacks are gone, but I still feel nervous all of teh time- and I am obsessing over stupid things. I still don't feel like myself. It is so sad. I just want to feel the way I did before. I don't feel as connected to my boyfriend as I used because of all of my wierd thoughts. I have left my self think about so many wierd fears- that I don't know how to let it go. I guess my biggest fear is that it is me, not the Yasmin.

I have sat here for almost 2 hours reading about all the horrible side effects from Lisinopril, much of the time with tears rolling down my cheeks. I am a 47-year old woman who was prescribed this drug about 5 months ago. My Dr. told me that the most common side effect was a dry cough. Shortly after, I did develop a cough, but was certain it was due to allergies (although my friends with allergies weren't coughing their lungs out). Like another person in this forum, I began obsessing about what could be causing the cough. I changed my sheets more often, began vacuuming more. I even considered purchasing a Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air purifier. I also tend to be a worrier, and over the past couple of weeks, I have thought of my dad, who died of lung cancer 2 years ago. Could I have it too, even though I never smoked? I have also noticed a feeling of significant sadness. I attributed that to grieving my youngest son getting ready to go off to college. Now I'm not so sure. I seem to cry at the drop of a hat.

I am so grateful I searched the web for "Lisinopril and coughing". Your comments have helped me to feel a little less anxious about the really scary thoughts I've been having, and have encouraged me to call my Dr. and have my meds changed. I have to admit that the drug did lower my blood pressure, but it's not worth it! I'm exhausted by lack of sleep! I also plan on buying my own bp monitor, because when I go to the Dr.'s, I always have "white coat" syndrome, and my bp reads high. After I sit for a minute, and my exam is done, they take it again, and it has lowered.

Good luck to all of you, and again, thanks for all your wisdom!

First of all, thank God I found this web site. I have been on Yasmin since July of 2004 because my doctor thought it would have less side effects. The second month was rough, but then it seemed better for a couple of months. The past three months have been steadily getting worse. I made an appointment with a counselor, because I thought I was losing my mind. I was anxious and worried constantly about everything, couldn't focus on work, couldn't sleep through the night because my mind was going in circles. I obsessed over crazy things like why my boyfriend didn't call when I thought he should and then worried and questioned everything to the point that I made him have second thoughts about us. Who would want to make a lifetime commitment to someone that is such a mess. I had lots of headaches and fatigue too. The really scary part is that it came on so gradually that I didn't even realize it could be the pill until this month when I took the first pill in the pack and had a horrible day. I was anxious and couldn't turn my brain off. I decided to look into things and found this site. I just wish I had found it months ago. Hopefully I can repair the damage done to my relationship and help someone else avoid the same horrible experience. I have been off of Yasmin for one week now, and can't believe the difference. I am not completely back, but at least I feel sane and was able to enjoy the weekend with my boyfriend instead of obsessing about what could be wrong. Beware, the first few days are rough. Night sweats and sleeplessness get bad, but now I am sleeping again. I have never written to anything like this, but it helped me so much to see that it wasn't me, I had to do the same for someone else.

Well, I just happend to stumble along this site. I am 30 in 3 weeks, I have been on Yasmin for approx 3-4 mos. I am in my 4th month of the pill now. I have been on bc pills before. I was on Orthotricyclen for 6 years, went off because I was not in a relationship, then tried that again, ended up putting on weight, then being switched to Mircette which I also put weight on with and now, I am on Yasmin. I heard Yasmin was supposed to be this great new bc pill (not too much weight gain). Let me tell you, out of all the pills i have been on in the past, this one takes the cake. My breasts have gotten sooo big. I was already a 32dd, I am a now full 32F. Had to go buy new bras 2/$90. I have absolutely no sexual desire, not even by myself. Then, I feel like a cow. I feel like the weight gain is going to be neverending. I always want to eat (especially sweets). I am obsessing about my weight. Also, I have major mood swings when I am at work, no patience for anyone. (That could be related to me going off Wellbutrin XL).

Also, I do not know if you girls out there know this but, due to the fact that Yasmin has a different progesterone in it, do you know that in the pamphelet that comes with the pak of pills says to go for a blood test after the 1st month to get your potassium level checked for your kidneys. My doctor never told me that. I have a boyfriend with Kidney failure who is on dialysis so I am very up on all this. To me, that just does not sound good. Time for me to make a switch. I am going to try Ortho Tricyclen Lo. We will see how that works out. Well, my advice, I do not like this pill, especially b/c of the kidney affect it has raising potassium levels. One day I hope to donate my kidney to my boyfriend, not lose function of my own. Good luck to whoever comes to this site for advice and making their own decision.