Paralysis symptoms and conditions

Prednisone has messed up my head. I had Bells Palsy (which is paralysis of one half of the face) and can be very scary. I have had some depression before but this stuff made me fall off the face of the earth. I went from someone in control and quite happy to the absolute pits. The depression was quite severe and sudden and I had no ability to stop the downward spiral. It has played havoc with my life. In its defense, it cleared the Bell's Palsy up very quickly but the grief it has caused me through my altered mind state wasn't worth it. Insomnia (eg - no sleep for 6 nights straight) was a trigger and then the mood swings took over and then bang....full blown depression and an inability to focus, work properly or function. I am now on the road to recovery but it has been a pretty turbulent 2 months. Be very careful with this drug....very, very careful.

How long did it take for the migraines and dizziness/vertigo to go away after removal? I can't keep missing 3 days of work here and there b/c I'm unable to walk, drive, or leave a dark room despite medication?????

Glad I stumbled on this website. I started NR in April. All seemed well. I spotted most of the 1st month pretty heavily but that's not unusual for me starting BC. A number of vague symptoms began creeping up on me and I decided to stop it last week to see if it could be related to NR since many of the symptoms appeared or worsened after starting it. Sudden hot flashes that lead to panic attacks, feeling like I was as close to fainting you can get without hitting the floor. At first that was once a month but then became more frequent until lately it's been everyday! No fun to say the least! vision changes, waves of severe nausea and dizziness in the past week...I've had it. And it's even been out for a week. I hope the effects wear off ASAP. appreciate all the comments on this forum. makes me feel less alone

After 5 days of Singulair I acquired Churg-Strauss Syndrome which made my lower legs paralyzed, I acquired Drop Foot, right hand paralysis and Vasculitis. It is a debilitating illness.

All symptoms of MS for two years, including transient paralysis and seizures!

When i STOPPED taking zoloft (i think i skipped a couple nights by accident) i had the most horrible nightmares i've ever had, and they were quite vivid, 4 nights in a row and i had a great deal of trouble sleeping (mainly due to the nightmares). when i awoke, or thought i was awake, i experienced sleep paralysis for the first time in my life. so, ragtopbaby, you are not alone it seems. my doctor wasn't concerned, but she said it generally happens as a side effect of taking it; she said nothing of withdrawal syndrome, but at that point i had not realized i wasn't taking it (i might have been so tired at night i just was forgetting). however, even before i missed a few doses, some noted that i was acting almost too happy, like i was manic. occasionally this also led to difficulty sleeping but for the most part it was just quite clear that the medicine was working very well.

During the three weeks I was using 150 mg. Wellbutrin, ringing in the ears gradually increased, mild headaches on top of my head, occasional light spasms around my mouth, constipation, and bladder problems. My sleep was unaffected, and my depression did not lift. My dose was increased to 300 mg, and by the fourth day, I was having serious facial spasms, intense headaches, louder and constant ringing in the ears, almost 'round-the-clock wakefulness, anxiety, difficulty thinking and completing sentences, pounding heart, amplification of sounds, jitters and quaking. I felt like a car, perpetually idling so roughly that all my parts were about to rattle right off the chassis. On the fifth day I took nothing. I've had some chills, a little nausea, headache, neck-ache (Isn't that weird?!) and some ringing, but at a lower volume that's hardly noticeable. This is the fourth day with no Wellbutrin, and I haven't had facial spasms at all in the past couple of days, have less nausea, and the very funky smell produced in my urine from the second week I was on the meds has calmed down. If I'm still in a depression it's been overshadowed by the most awful side effects I could have imagined. It felt like the spector of death was overtaking my body by day four of that 300 mg. dose. I had been on a hefty dose of Zoloft daily for almost ten years and never experienced anything unpleasant other than weight gain, my reason for trying to switch meds because I couldn't quit putting on weight no matter what. I am going to try SAM-e, and suggest that anyone looking for a natural alternative, with the prospect of few and insignificant side effects, do an online search. Whether I find success with the SAM-e, or if it falls short of what I need, I'll post here to let you know what happens. A month ago I thought the depression was the end of the world; I think the cure was worse than the disease.

In 2006 at the age of 38 after 4 years on Yasmin I had a mini-stroke. I am writing a non-fiction memoir about my experience and am very interested in hearing from anyone who has had a bad experience with Yasmin (or indeed, any other hormonal contraceptive.) I invite you to have your story included in my book. I am particularly interested in incidences of blood clot and of course, stroke, plus any withdrawal symptoms experienced from the drug. Please email me at ****** including your full name, age, location, a brief gynecological history, and the main facts of your experience. Thanks!!

Hi, my name is Hannah and I am a senior in college. At the age of 19, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I was a sophmore in college at the time, had a job, and was a completely HEALTHY girl. I have been living with the disease for two year now, and my doctors still can't come up with the cause for my seizures. Recently my sister called me to ask if I had received the gardasil shot, because on CNN talk radio that people were starting to think that the garasil shot might be linked to paralysis,seizures, and even death. I immediately called my OBGYN to ask the dates in which I had received my shots. My first dose was given on Oct.17, 2006. I had my first set of seizures on Nov. 24, 2006. WOW...I was in shock. I feel like I now have an answer for the cause of my illness. I talked to my Neurologist about this and he said we will have to wait until more research is done. I am convinced that Gardasil was the reason for my epilepsy. I am so sad to think that other girls are going in to receive a vaccine that is suppose to help their lives, and instead they could have crippling side effects that never go away. I can no longer drive, I had to choose between school and a job, and now I have to plan my day around taking my medicine. All because a drug company wanted to make some money before their completely researched their product.

I am 38 years old and was on Yasmin for 3 years to control ovarian cysts that kept bursting. It kept good control of my acne, but I had no sex drive, horrible facial hair, no vaginal lubrication, and extreme pain during sex especially climax. Finally, 2.5 years ago, I suffered from right-side paralysis which ended up sending me to the hospital. My potassium levels were so low that my I was suffering from neuorlogical problems that they initially thought I was having a stroke at the hospital. Taking potassium did not keep my potassium levels up while still taking Yasmin, so I finally went off it. The literature does mention that one may suffer from low potassium, but even taking supplements did not allow me to keep my potassium levels up enough. I am getting an IUD put in place on Thursday and hopefully this will take its place well enough!

choking, paralysis of gag reflex: reflux activity increase, sleep loss

numbness in hands, sometimes sooo bad it hurts and wakes me up in the middle of the night. Anyone else have this expierence?

Ambien 4 yrs Ambien CR 1yr memory loss, I don't sleep very long. Sometimes I will close my eyes and I can't move or speak, headache. I don't know how long it last. I can hear whats is going on around me, but I can't call out for help. depression.

My mother has been taking Lipitor for four or five years. We moved and the new doctor increased her to 80 mg. He also put her on Zetia. Mother is 86 and weighs barely 100 pounds. This past year her short term memory started getting worse,more so than normal for her age, according to doctors. I was also noticing cognitive problems. She went through a battery of tests. She did not have alzeimers and nothing could be pinpointed other than she was worse than normal for her age as I already stated. Then this last week of the year, her muscles all over her body started hurted and feeling very sore. Then she started have lots of trouble walking, getting in her car, etc. It was so bad so quickly that I became extremely alarmed. My sister mentioned Lipitor and I started the research. I talked to two pharmacists, since we could not reach the doctor. They were both alarmed at the symtoms I described. We stopped both medications three days ago and she is already improving. I now believe that even the memory problems and other things that were gradual were because of the Lipitor. (the pharmacists did tell us it would be okay to stop both for the time being.) I was ready to take mother to the emergency room. That is how bad she had gotten is such a short time. I watched her and talked with her. She was very discouraged at the rate of decline in her walking. It was as if paralysis was setting in. I believe she would have been in a wheelchair soon had we not stopped the Lipitor. We are going to try some natural things to keep her cholesterol down. The quality of life is important too. This has been very scary for us but we are hopeful as she is already experiencing some improvement. We do understand that it can take time to get back and at her age that is expected. Being an elderly person though does not justify that all of these symtoms were 'just' her age. She has always been very active and alert and could outdo me (and my sisters) on most days! I will check this site often for comments and stories of others on this drug. Thank you for the help to those of you that I read your stories and good luck to you that are having difficulties.

I took Yasmin for the last 2.5 years. Over time, I came to recognize major side effects that I am still very concerned about to include: Popping of eardrums. Exhaustion. Sensation of paralysis following taking it and lying down. Constant running to the bathroom to urinate (due to droperinone which acts as a diuretic), developed heart murmur and pain across my chest (squeezing sensations). Major change in vision in the right eye within 6 months. Painful pressure in both ears due to this pills increase of potassium in your body. Ears would pop for two hours after I took the pill.

I have been off of Yasmin for 2 months, initially went onto its sister/cousin Yaz and felt just as terrible so I went off of that as well.

A Hearing Aide doctor actually told me that oral contraceptives have been known for a long time to be "odo-toxic". Which means-toxic to the inner ear. How come prescribing Gynecologists, Doctors and pharmacists don't know this?

The synthethic hormone in YASMIN AND YAZ -dirosperone increases potassium levels in the body. Inner ear is composed of a potassium and sodium fluid. An inbalance in this fluid would likely cause pressure in the ear. I had to learn the majority of this information from people other than the prescribing doctor, an RN or the pharmacist.

After doing exhaustive research this evening and reading people's entries-TAKE NOTE! Please READ UP ON HYPERKALEMIA prior to taking Yasmin or YAZ OR ANY PILL WITH THE SYNTHETIC dirosperonone. It causes increased potassium levels. Have your potassium level checked before you start this pill! I just read up on all of this tonight for the last 4 hours and this is really really serious. I think that I may have discovered that this may have been what has caused the squeezing sensations I have had in my chest for the last six months. I also had pressure and developed a heart murmur. Both of these symptoms as well as fatigue and paralysis are linked to hyperkalemia and can lead to heart attack/failure. Two resources to check: one is a letter from Health and Human Services written to one of the pharmaceutical companies who makes Yasmin-with notification that they must discontinue their advertisments because they are mis-leading in a dangerous way. If you google Yasmin and Health and Human Services, the letter should come up. I am going to try and paste a portion of it in here because I think that this is so critically important. I read through all these women's entries and I just think we are a bunch of ginny pigs and some of this is life threatening. Not the prescribing doctor, the RN or the pharmacist responded to my concerns. The RN thought it was anxiety which I've read in the last few months, women are often told-discounted because women are supposed to be "stressed". I found a great article a couple of months ago about how most women's symptoms are discounted so you have got to take personal responsibility for your health and making informed educated decisions about these things beyond responding to advertisements. Berlex, one of the pharmaceuticals-basically looking at a 1.8 billion dollar industry-our pharmaceutical industry is our number one revenue industry. Check out: eMedicine Alert-Hyperkalmia.

After reading the above stories, I now wonder if lisinopril is causing some of my symptoms of fatigue & strange muscle pain. I've been on 10mg/day of lisinopril for about a year. It got worse after I had anesthesia to remove a mole on my hip on June 1, 2006. I then got almost "paralysis" with extreme loss of energy and pain, especially in the left shoulder and right foot/calf/knee. I wonder if the combination of lisinopril with anesthesia caused this loss of energy. Before the surgery on 6-1-06, I could run perhaps 15-18 mph, getting a pulse of 140-147. After the surgery (I was told no heavy exercise for about 9 days afterwards), I would run at full blast, hitting a maximum of maybe 7 mph, and it was if my legs were in molasses and I could barely get my pulse up to 110! After nearly 2 months since the surgery, I can get my pulse up to 147 or so, but still have some "muscle" disturbance issues where I feel "constrained." If this does not go away soon, I'll lose another 10 pounds and stop the lisinopril!

My wife died from the effects of Mivacron during minor surgery to have a pin removed from her arm. The Mivacron caused paralysis for several hours after the surgery. A few days later she developed an unknown hepatitus. Then her liver failed and a few days later (on Christmas 2005) she was brain dead. The Dr.'s took her off life support on New Years Eve.

The death certificate lists the causes of death as
1. Acute Liver Failure
2. Hepatic Encephalopathy
3. Probable Reaction To Anesthetic Agent (Mivacron)

Still haven't got a complete pathology report. Pathologist indicates cause of death as "chronic liver failure".

She was 60 years old, in very good health. non-smoker and didn't use alcohol.

If anyone has had anything similiar happen please email me

I am 43 years old and I have been taking Yasmin for 4 months to regulate an irregular period. Two weeks ago I went to the Dr. becuase it felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn't get a good breath of air. My Dr. decided my symptons didn't add up and sent me to the ER. There they found after a blood test that my blood was clotting. They did a MRI immediately and found two very large clots in my lungs as well as numerous clots throughout my lungs (multiple pulminay emboli). I was rushed from the military hospital to a downtown ICU who then rushed me to a teaching hospital because my condition was so severe. After 4 days I went home and I am now on Coumadin to thin my blood. Tests are being run to determine where the clots are coming from. No clots were found in my legs; it appears the clots are acute and out of nowhere filled my lungs. I am out of breath most of the time and get tired easily. A week prior to noticing my chest heaviness I had severe stomach pains. The day I came home from the hospital I threw away my Yasmin. The Dr.'s are unclear if Yasmin is the cause, I do not have a history of clots in my family. I have been told if no other tests can determine what caused the clots, then they will assume Yasmin was the cause. I know have to worry about paralysis, stroke, etc..

I've been on antidepressants for 9 years (I'm 19) and I've tried many; a Buspar side effect is by far, the worst side effect I've ever had to any drug, and I've never been allergic to any medications. About 15 minutes after I had my first dose of this medication (about 30 mg) I experienced tingling and slight numbing and paralysis on one side of my face. please be careful, and stop taking this if you have any strange or immediate side effects.

Paralyzed diaphragm after kenalog injection=January 2005 I woke up after sleeping crooked on my couch with a stiff neck.After 5 days the neck spasm was still there so I went to Urgent Care and got a Kenalog 40 with Marcaine shot at the base of my neck.My neck felt better but I noticed my breathing was labored.(I am a swim instructor and am VERY aware of my breathing)After seeing a Pulmonologist and having EVERY diagnostic test done, there was no other explanation for the paralysis.Pulmonologist blamed it on the shot also said could be "idiopathic". The phrenic nerve(which controls diaphragm) runs from the neck down to the diaphragm. Lawyer said he couldn't find enough cases/examples to justify this as a case. The uncanny timingAND location of the kenalog shot with my paralysis is very freaky.Has this happened to anyone? Thank you for reading this.

After reading the post by guest 12715, I did a search on symptoms of low potassium and this is what I found

Weakness, tiredness, or cramping in arm or leg muscles, sometimes severe enough to cause inability to move arms or legs due to weakness (much like a paralysis)
Tingling or numbness
Nausea or vomiting
Abdominal cramping, bloating
Constipation
Palpitations (feeling your heart beat irregularly)
Passing large amounts of urine or feeling very thirsty most of the time
Fainting due to low blood pressure
Abnormal psychological behavior (depression, psychosis, delirium), confusion, or seeing or hearing things (hallucinations)

Sounds like the list of symptoms some of us are experiencing.
Since Yasmin contains a diuretic and diuretics are a cause of low potassium this kind of makes sense. Might be worth getting it checked out. I have been off Yasmin for 6 weeks now and I'm still experiencing nausea, tiredness, abdominal bloating and thirst.

I've been on Lipitor @ 20 grams for several years. Because of arterio diseases, my doctor upped me to 40 grams. Within a week I began to have a series of near seizure like episodes wherein my right leg collapsed. This lasted only seconds then within a minute a second such seizure. I had four such incidents then it stopped for 10 days, then the same thing again. Additionally, I have had the right hand go rather spastic on two occasions.There was no paralysis involved. Because I had cardioangioplasty and a stent inserted at the beginning of August, I thought it might be an after effect. This was discounted by my cardiologist. In early July, my left carotid artery totally occluded. My vascular surgeon was puzzled as to why this happened because a year ago testing showed only 25% stenosis, but doesn't see any relationship to what may be neuro problems. Today I took an EEG prior to seeing my neuro doctor tomorrow. Only because I overheard a man and his wife talking at the hospital yesterday, did the magic words come out about his having the exact same symptoms as I have encountered. I'd never said a word about my experiences until I heard him. His cardiologist had taken him off Lipitor. Additionally, he noted a reddening of my skin low on my forehead and recently I've had difficulty with pustules breakout on my head. This gentleman had the same trouble. All interesting. I've been at the Internet all day.
My son in law went on Lipitor a few months ago. Like me, he's a big guy. My daughter told me he is encountering difficulty with his middle ear. Anyone know anything about this potential side effect. Lejacle

hoarseness-lost voice;difficulty swallowing;unilateral vocal fold paralysis

RE: Spitting up blood

This is a BAD side-effect (although it's the first I've heard about it as connected to Neurontin) and you need to see your doctor immediately! Blood coming-out where it's not supposed to be is a sign of a broken blood vessel somewhere( you need to be ready to tell your doctor -- or call 911 -- about quantity of blood, frequency and timing of blood flow.) If it's from the head-area it could be from a small stroke. Facial numbness is also a symptom of a small stroke, serious as a heart-attack. Are you having trouble talking, walking, or paralysis in any limbs? CALL YOUR DOCTOR -- preferably the one who prescribed the Neurontin...tell him/her it's an emergency.

The facial numbness could very well be connected to nerve-damage in the herniated disc, but it's more frequently a sign of stroke, nerve damage from clots, etc...

Sometimes pain is a survival characteristic...it tells us something is wrong in the body. Good luck. JanK, Neurontin userid, certified Master's level counselor and First Aid practitioner