Parking lot symptoms and conditions

I suddenly had high blood pressure. I was put on a heart monitor for 21 days because I was experiencing frequent palpitations. I was given 25 mg Metoprolol ER the genic for Toprol XL on June 6, 2008. I had the usual symptoms extreme fatigue, headache, constipation,swelling, weight gain for the first month. I am 59 yrs. old.
The second month I started to have horrible nightmares, and headaches that would not go away. On Aug.12 while driving home I started to hear voices, had blurred vision and hallucinations. I was driving fast and screaming to make the voices stop.. I ended up in a parking lot. I was crying and for a minute I had a bit of reality. I called the cardiologist office and told the nurse what was going on. She said to immediately stop the meds because I was having a rare serious side effect. I sat crying for awhile and was able to call a friend to pick me up. I stayed at home for 4 days. The entire time my hands shook and my headache was horrible. It was one week before I was able to function properly.
I called my pharmacist and she told me that this drug affects the central nervous system. 2 % of 100,000 people have this side effect. I told her that it was not written on my paper with the prescription. She said that because it is so rare they do not have put it on. She printed out the side effects for me from her web site. A site that is only accessible to pharmacists or Dr.'s. My Dr. wants me to try Cardizeim now and I do not want to because I am afraid. I told him that the BP was down to normal but he still wanted to because of the palpitations. I was given the option of the Cardiziem or seeing and Electrical Man at the Cardiology office. As of yet I have not taken the Cardiziem. This is the first time I have read this web site and I hope that this information may help someone. I finally feel good again except for the rapid heart beat and glad to be alive.

I am a 55-year old woman. I was first diagnosed with paroxysmal svt at age 7. It has never been much of a problem, but as I have aged, I have worried enough about it to make sure my doctors are all aware of the condition. I have had many ekgs, echos, worn a holter monitor, had every kind of stress test, but it wasn't until April that the svt was actually seen on an ekg. My internist freaked out, wanted to put me on Toprol immediately, but I resisted, since I knew that my irregular heartbeat could be back to normal by the time I reached the parking lot. I did heed her urging to see a cardiologist (two in fact), which led to an ep study, with the hope of a radio frequency ablation on August 5. I have been taking a full strength aspirin since April to decrease the slight risk of stroke during an svt episode. The ep study showed that the electrical problems in my heart were in places that made an ablation too risky, so nothing was done, but the doctor advised me to try Toprol (25 mg) for a month "and see how I liked it." I had my first dose in the hospital on Tuesday, August 5, and proceeded to take it as prescribed. By Thursday afternoon, I felt oddly on the verge of tears. On Friday, both of my knees were hurting, by Saturday evening, I was in bed feeling like I had the flu. Every joint in my body was aching. Sunday morning, I felt even worse. I found this website and decided to stop taking the medication at that point. Today, Thursday, August 14, is the first time I have felt vaguely like my usual healthy self. After stopping the medication, I had 2 episodes of svt, lasting about 10 hours each. I have had excruciating stomach cramps, headache, inability to sleep, depression. This is after taking it for 5 days!! My heart (no pun) goes out to those of you who suffered for months on the drug and then even more months off of it. I know it helps many people, my mother included, but thank goodness that those of us who have a bad experience have a place to realize that we're not crazy.

Hi all! I am not sure this is a new side effect, but it certainly hasn't been the most pleasant one. I have had ZERO sex drive.

I had a baby in early Feb 08, had the Mirena inserted Apr 08. I thought my lack of interest was just being tired from dealing with the baby or frustration with learning how to be a mom and wife. Hubby and I had a little tiff over me not wanting to, again the other night, when it hit me. While plenty of the times I was tired or frustrated, more often than not, I truly just had NO interest. I would think, yeah, I could but I don't want to. This did not happen until after the mirena.

I was very active prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy and even after pregnancy (pre-Mirena). Heck, the baby wasn't even sleeping through the night then! He has for months and I still wanted nothing. I don't think I realized it was a possible side-effect. The pamphlets say - "this is not a complete list, please see your health professional"

As soon as I realized it, I called my OB to have it removed. They had a cancellation and I was able to get right in. After reading some of your posts, I am beginning to wonder if the fog I have been in can be attributed more to that as well. Time will tell.

I know this is a not support group, but I am having mine out Wednesday via day surgery (see my other posts). If I do not feel significantly better shortly thereafter I think I may admit myself into a hospital for the mentally ill. 80% kidding. Please someone send me a line who has had it out and how you now feel. Aussiegirl did a while back and I appreciate it. Any other good news is welcome. I feel horrible.

I was just placed on Cellecept last week- 500 Mg 4 times a day-
for my autoimmune muscular myopathy- I was a body builder 6 months ago- now I can barely make it across the Target parking lot.
I am sure the myopathy is Statin induced as I was on Lipitor-)rather than Prednisone as my doctor said less side effects.
He said I should see improvement in about 6 weeks- is any body taking Cellcept for autoimmune disease?
Thank you.
PS; So far- side effects seem to be weakness- more shakiness-

My mother started taking Ambien CR around a year ago about this time last summer. Almost immediately I noticed a severe change in her mood and demeanor. She started experiencing tremendous mood swings, delusions, paranoid and aggressive thoughts, sleepwalking, eating and others activities while asleep and waking up not remembering a thing. In a matter of 4 months she had totally lost the ability to think or care for herself. Her house was about to be foreclosed on because she hadn't paid any of her bills in 4 months! Not only that she had been throwing away all of he mail and business information so even when I tried to take over the finances I couldn't because there was no paper work left to find anywhere in the house. To top it all off she was going through the process of preparing for a surgery on her back that she had been waiting for almost a year.
The surgery was supposed to last a few hours and then she would have to stay in the hospital for 1 week for recovery and then do a couple more weeks of rehabilitation. By this point though she had been taking the Ambien every night for about 5 months and at 2am about twelve hours after surgery I received a call from the hospital saying that my mother was catching a cab home from the hospital and had signed herself out against doctors advice. They also told me that she was having paranoid delusions that people were watching her from the parking lot of the hospital and that the hospital was trying to overly drug her up. My mother confirmed these statements as the security guard handed her the phone to try to have me persuade her to stay.
She couldn't remember anything or do anything and her delusions were getting worse. One evening it got to the point where the delusions combined with her back pain sent her by ambulance into the emergency room. While going thru intake she couldn't even answer basic questions like her name and age with out prompting from me to have her answer. This brought up a huge response from the intake nurse who asked if the only reason for the visit was back pain or if something else was wrong. She was then transported to a crisis center for an evalutation, which made her mood severely extreme she became verbally aggressive defensive and paranoid. Before the crisis center could even complete an evaluation they had to come and ask me about her basic medical history because she couldn't even correctly give them that information.
After they finished the evaluation they came to the conclusion that my 49 year old mother either had schizophrenia or dementia! These two mental disabilities do not just manifest themselves in people who them and their families have no history. The interviewer, staff, and doctors were at a complete loss and had no idea what was going on or creating my mother’s mood swings and bizarre behavior. They tried to threaten her to get her to sign herself inpatient saying that if she had come back again she would not have a choice but that didn't work. State law requires that only a person that is harm to himself or herself or someone else can be admitted into an impatient crisis ward and since she had made no such threat nothing could be done.
I started to talk to her doctors finding out that they were noticing the came bizarre behaviors that were not present before and accumulating a list of medications that she was on. After fully investigating the possibility of a drug interaction between the medications and the possibility that she was experiencing psychosis and finding out that that again was not the cause I became even more discouraged and frantic. Then I started to talk to some of the students at my college and found out that they were also experiencing the same problems either in their own lives or with their loved ones the only commonality between the collections of people I talked to that were experiencing the same problems was the drug Ambien. I immediately called my mothers doctor and he advised me that must be source of the problem and for her to stop taking the medicine. It took about 2months for my mothers’ mental state to return to normal but it has taken over a year and a bankruptcy to clear away the damage that Ambien had created in her life.

I went on Prednisone for only 3 days as treatment to a bad allergic reaction to antibiotics. I ended up in the ER for treatment of the allergic reaction and they gave me a pred IV. They put me on 80 mg tablets, which I was supposed to take for 5 days, but there was no tapering off called for by the doc. I only took it for 3 days and started bad abdominal cramps and a bad taste in my mouth. Everything tasted extremely salty--and still does almost a week later. After I was off the drug for a day or two I started bad cramping in my chest, trouble breathing even though they said my lungs were clear, and really bad anxiety, which I've never had before. I freaked out while I was driving and had to pull into a parking lot for over an hour, and still had bad anxiety trying to drive home. I felt like I was drowning and had labored breathing. It's been almost a week and I still have muscle cramping in my chest, but it's starting to subside if I stay calm. I now have headaches and am weak generally, but am starting to come out of it, I think. I don't think the docs wanted to admit that lot of this was due to the pred; it is a serious drug that should not be taken lightly. I never knew there could be such extreme side effects to a drug. I am sorry to hear that many of you have had similar experiences, but it does give me some comfort to know that these effects were real and not due to some psychosomatic problem.

My husband took Ambien for about 4 months when he was experiencing severe insomnia. (He would go days without being able to sleep!) The Ambien majorly messed with his head!! The best way to describe it is that it made him STUPID! Its so sad, but true. He couldnt think!! his head was foggy. Do not confuse this with him being sleepy. It was NOT sleepyness, or drowsiness. It was his thought process. the brain itself! Simple things became hard to do. He'd forget EVERYTHING!!

The straw that broke the camels back was when he almost got in 2 SERIOUS car accidents. One day on his way to work he was pulling out of a gas station right into traffic. He said he didnt even look! he just drove without thinking!!! By the grace of GOD alone did he not kill someone or get killed himself!! Then the last time, where I put my foot down... My husband went to make a left turn into a store parking lot... but he was in the right hand lane!!! So he turned right into the left lane of traffic and we got t-boned by another woman. THANK GOD it was at slow speeds. Both lanes just started off from a red light, so we were all going less than 20 mph. But the accident was almost hard to believe! If i wasnt there I would have never believed he would do such a STUPID thing!!!!!! Both incidents were within the same week!!

At work that week too he locked himself out of the one office and had to call his boss to come let him in.... (thought there was a problem with his key) the problem was he had the deadbolt locked! It never even dawned on him to unlock that part too!! Now mind you he's been employed here for 3 years! He's been in and out of this door a million times!

My husband is a brilliant man!!! Went to college for Civil Engineering, is a math wizard, among many other things! He has a squeaky clean driving record! This isnt a case of him just being an idiot on his own merits. This medicine was seriously messing with his head!!!!! he said he felt like he had no control over his mind. He had no "quick" thinking!

I called his doctor to ask if it was the Ambien CR or possibly another medication (he takes meds for blood pressure) and the doctor said to stop the Ambien because that was the newest medication. Within a week of stopping it, my husband got his mind back!! It was night and day!!!

This is the worst medication and I will not be surprised if its pulled from the market! Its one thing to give someone a headache, or maybe make them gain a little weight. These things arent dangerous. But when it messes with critical thinking and thought processes....this is DANGEROUS!! I have no doubt in my mind my husband would have ended up killing himself in a car accident if he didnt stop that medication when he did!

62 year old male. After one month of taking it, my doctor raised me from 50 mg Metoprolol to 100 mg. No side effects until the dosage was raised. Then immediately got a traveling toothache, going from one tooth to another, culminating in an extreme earache. Had many of the symptoms mentioned in this forum, including short term memory loss resulting in my first auto accident in 40 years--a parking lot collision which was my fault. My doctor refused to ascribe any side effects to the drug except headache ; but I was told by local pharmacists that doubling the dose was too drastic and that my symptoms were typical. Had some rebound after stopping on my own a week ago, but pretty much back to normal, and the side effects are gone. I've tried other BP meds and am convinced that modern medicine just doesn't do it. Am looking into natural alternatives.

My 16 year old son took Levaquin 6 months ago and had a bad reaction to it. His symptoms were severe muscle weakness (he would get exhausted walking from the parking lot to a store and back, severe joint pain (in thumbs, wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles), dizziness (he felt like the room was moving away from him and would lose balance), and headaches (a severe pressure in the back of his head that was constant and then shooting pains in his his head that would come and go for no reason). I should say he was in top shape before this and wrestling in the 125 pound category. He took Levaquin to prevent an infection after sinus surgery.

Now 6 months later, his joint pain is completely gone except for his knees. They still hurt when he does squats and they are not good enough for him to go back to wrestling, but he can walk around pain free. His dizziness is also gone as well as his muscle weakness. His headaches are still there and still constant, but not as bad as they once were; however, he has had them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 months. He is on Lyrica which has helped make the headaches subside.

I have taken him to more than 16 medical doctors of all specialties, had multiple MRIs, CT Scans, blood tests, spinal tap, and an MRA. All come back negative. Thankfully, despite all of this, he still remains happy and positive that he will once again be 100% healthy; it will take lots of time, but he will get better. I know the first three symptoms (joint pain, dizziness, weakness) are clearly Levaquin related, but I haven't heard much about the headaches from people. Anyone else out there that has suffered from a constant headache after Levaquin? I REALLY want to hear about headaches from others!!!!

By the way, we have filed a medwatch already. I also know that Levaquin is not approved for anyone under 18 years old and he never needed such a powerful drug to prevent an infection, but there is nothing I can do about that now except to warn others. One of his UCLA doctors wants to write a case study on him to make this more known to others and I am helping him with that.

If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask. If you have had a headache from Levaquin, please let me know where in the head the pain was, if it is constant, what it feels like (pressure, shooting, throbbing), how long you have had it, and what, if anything, helped. THANKS.

I took Levaquin the first time (that I know of and remember) in Dec 2006..probably for bronchitis or pneumonia. I started having strange symptoms, headaches, achy body, etc but chalked it all up to being sick. I have since taken in 4 more times - even after talking to my Dr about the strange things that were happening to me. I just realized by reading everything online that all of these things are more than just me being out of shape...I have had about 75% of the problems associated with this drug, but simply thought I was getting older, out of shape and ill. The headaches are the worst, the sharp pains that radiate through my skull at any given time for no apparent reason and the constant radiating pain coming from my shoulders, the funny vision issues that happen off and on, the incredible pain in my jaw that leads to what I call a 'pulled muscle' in the right side of my jaw, the severe pain in my muscles, mostly in my feet and shoulders but has now started in my wrists, taste of metal, night sweats are ridiculous! and I have started missing my period with this dose of Levaquin, however the new lower back pain that I am feeling is about 10 times worse than that of meses cramps, the sharp shooting pains in muscles sometimes happen in my arms, legs and knees. The very odd feeling of having a bruise when I touch any part of my body to scratch or rub it....the pain is extreme. I have made about 100 excuses for each of these things that I have experienced over the last year and a half and now I feel that I can probably blame it all on Levaquin, I have a doctor's appointment with a new doctor Thursday and am hoping she/he can provide some relief of some of these issues. Please make sure all your loved ones know not to take this drug!

I took 750mg Levaquin for 5 days for a sinus infection and after the 2nd day had a horrible headache, nausea, dizziness, insomnia, muscle aches and metal taste in mouth. At first I thought I was getting the flu or that it was from the sinus infection. After taking the 5th pill and not feeling any better, I found these postings which explains everything. My doctor did not tell me anything about the side effects. It is 3 days after I took the last pill and I am still suffering from severe headaches, dizziness and some nausea. Do not take this medication unless you absolutely have to. I do not normally have any side effects to medication and am not on any other meds. I just hope the headaches go away because I am having to miss work as a result and not able to give attention to my family. My fear is that the headaches won't go away. One posting said that her daughter's headaches went away after 6 days...I can only hope at this point. Terrible drug and shame on the doctor for not warning patients. Try other antibiotics first before you take it.

I really thought I was going to like this form of birth control until I actually used it. I have tried it for about 9 months now and every month have had so much trouble keeping it in. It is so embarrassing when you are just walking in a parking lot and feel something drop out of the leg of you jeans and see your birth control laying on the ground. It was also very uncomfortable because I felt it every second that it was in. I do not recommend this type of birth control unless you intend on shoving it back up into your body every 5 minutes.

I took Yaz for 7 days. In that amount of time, I began experience the most horrific symptoms I have experienced in my life. They included: chest pains, nausea, vomiting, arm pain, and the feeling of imminent death (these caused me to go to the emergency room since they are classic heart attack symptoms for a woman); leg and arm weakness; lethargy; migrane; panic attacks; severe insomnia, diarrhea, and vision problems that caused my contact lens perscription to change and night time vision had profound halos when driving, etc. I was literally unable to stomach any normal food portions I was so nauseous. I normally run 3 miles and could not even make it to the gym for weeks. I was afraid to stay home alone with my 4 year-old and 17 month-old for fear something would happen to me while they were in my care. At the ER they found low potassium levels (which makes no sense given Yaz has a potassium sparring diuretic component). In another blood test, I had elevated iron, which I have never had previously.

I am 35 and have been on bcp's periodically for 12-15 years. I have never had any of these symptoms prior to this experience. I have never had anxiety, depression, or any other underlying health condition. I immediately stopped taking the pills once I made the connection. So far, my recovery has been slow, but at least it is improving. I resent that my ob/gyn and internist both said that the pill would be out of my system in 24 hours. The effects are clearly long lasting (I am approximately 7 weeks off of Yaz).

Finally, my eye doctor, of all people, said that he has seen and heard of people having problems similar to mine and that it was understandable that I would have anxiety when I felt like I was dying from a heart attack. No one perscribing this medication bothered to tell me of the diuretic component or any component that was going to affect depression. I am attorney and have always thrived under pressure, not turned into a panic attack ridden mess like this medication caused.

As for the previous post who stated these are common symptoms described by women, at 35, I know the difference between my normal body function and the hell that began when I started taking Yaz. Unless you have experienced this, then you clearly would not understand. I appreciate that Yaz and Yasmin have worked well for some, but that clearly has not been my personal experience. So, I write this not to discourage someone who has had a positive experience, but to provide support for anyone else who has suffered like I have.

I' m a 49 year old female. I took this nasty drug for just two days to try to control chronic pain of fibromyalgia. The first day I was ok. The second day I was on my way to work when I felt a severe attack of diarrhea. I didn't make it to work. I pulled into a parking lot and before I could get to a bathroom I lost complete control of my sphincter muscle and messed all over myself. In the meantime I was projectile vomiting. My heart was racing and I felt like I was going to die. The only thing that kept me from calling 911 on my cell phone was the embarrassment of having soiled myself! It was one of the most frightening and horrible experiences of my life!

i was on seroquel for 2 count tnem 2 days and my heart would pound and ache and my muscles would twitch and ache like i had run for 5 miles, nothing was ever so scary and i was always hungry, i mean i gained 3 pds in 2 days. I am quiting this crap, at this rate i would be dead in no time welcome back anxiety at least i'll be able to feel that. Oh and also horrible horrible action dreams.

When I started taking Geodon and had the charming side-effect of "urge incontinence"--meaning when you feel the urge to pee you can't control yourself long enough to get to the toilet--my psychiatrist immediately went up dramatically on the dosage. I want to say it was from 80mg to 120mg. The problem completely went away.

Later when I was taking 2 doses a day and getting so sleepy at work that I had to go out to the car in the parking lot for an hour nap, this psychiatrist FINALLY (after I lost the job) suggested that I take the whole 120mg at bedtime. I've not had to take a mid-morning nap since.

I have been taking Geodon for 2 years now. I have tried on 5 or 6 occasions to taper it off. I do fine for the first 3 weeks or so, then I begin feeling worthless, as though I'd better achieve something notable fast so I won't feel so bad. I rely on Geodon to allow me to work and take care of my college-age kids. Otherwise I'm in bed flipping channels compulsively to distract myself from how I feel.

I guess that on balance I'm grateful for the drug. Check with me when tardive dyskinesia sets in!

I just came home from 3 hours in our local hospital, being treated for the side effects of Levaquin. I had an appointment with a local urologist this morning--just to ensure I had nothing wrong with my urinary tract. I didn't.
But after the examination the nurse told me to take an antibiotic pill that she'd put on the counter for me. Just to prevent any possible future infection as a result of the exam. I am in excellent health--have been all my life. I don't take any medications and never have. But I took this little inocuous green pill. And drove a few hundred yards across their parking lot to our local mall. I started coughing as soon as I got out of the car--by the time I had walked about 5 minutes I felt weak and strange and since I couldn't find a place to sit down in the mall I made it back to my car for fresh cold air and water. The longer I sat there the worse I felt--and my face started to go numb. My chest felt like it had a brick in it. I can't tell you how scared I was. I was afraid to drive even the few yards back to the doctor's office but knew I couldn't walk there. When I walked into their office they immediately said I needed to go to the emergency room of the hospital and they drove me there. They started an IV drip of Benadryl immediately, but the Dr. wondered if the symptoms fit with a drug reaction so he ran an EKG, etc. All negative. Meanwhile I was slowly losing my voice. And about 1 1/2 hours after taking the little green pill I couldn't talk at all. The nurses said it was Levaquin, which I'd never heard of--a "new" and "good" antiobiotic.

I have never in my life been allergic to anything--plants, food, animals--anything. And yet this one little pill felt like I was dying. I think it's criminal that medications aren't monitored more closely. I doubt that doctors even know the side effects of them before they prescribe. When I got home and looked in the mirror, I looked like a totally different person--my cheeks and glands are so swollen--my voice is still hoarse. I feel that I'm lucky I'm alive.

The first day of taking this medication, I had violent dreams during the night. The second day, as I driving to work my stomach started churning. When I got to the parking lot at work, I choked back vomitting. During the day, I could not hold anything in my hands without uncontrollable shaking. I'll stop taking the medication and notify my doctor ASAP.

I have only been on Yasmin for one week and I kept telling my husband I feel as if I am in my first trimester of pregnancy. I have been lightheaded, dizzy, i hace had nausea, heart burn, my hands feel numb, fatigue, my arms felt like there were bruises and there was nothing there and over all horrible. I have just had an emergency D&C done last Wed night and the doc wanted me to take the pill to help regulate my cycle again. But I would rather bleed every day then to go throough this. My last straw came when I was leaving the grocery store with my 5 year old and almost past out in the parking lot. I was so dizzy, I could not even walk, the dizziness then made me extremely nauseated and it was all I could do to find my cell and call my husband to come and get me. If this had happened while I was driving, God Help Me. I probably would have wrecked. I have called my doc and she wants me try another BCP, but I am a little gun shy. HAS ANYONE HAD ANY GOOD LUCK WITH OTHER BCP'S? Please post it on the site.........I agree with other people, get off this pill