Per se symptoms and conditions

I started taking Lisinopril for my bp about 2 1/2 months ago and even though it did lower my bp, I started having strange side-effects. It started out with drowsiness throughout the day, no matter how much sleep I got. And, waking up feeling drowsy even after 8-10 hours of sleep. Then, I started getting strange aches and pains throughout my body, like I was getting over a stomach flu. My asthma also flared up and I started having to use my inhaler for the first time in almost 15 years (usually I just need it after exercise.) The side-effects continued to get worse over the next months with increased fatigue, drowsiness, coughing, anxiety, muscle aches, poor concentration, feeling like my nerves were "shot," headache, weakness, tightness in my lungs, numbness in my hands and feet, and just plain feeling bad.
I made an appointment to see my doctor because I thought there was something seriously wrong with me. It crossed my mind that I might be feeling this way because of the Lisinopril. I stumbled across this website and after reading everyone's testimonials, I decided to stop the Lisinopril. I haven't taken it in 3 1/2 days, and I am already feeling much better. I would rather try a more holistic approach to lowering my bp then taking Lisinopril.
I hope this helps someone else out there who might be going through the same thing.

It's been a year since I discontinued taking Yasmin. To recap, my problems with Yasmin were heavy, extended periods (longer than 7 days); moodiness/irritability; hemmorhaging; extensive bleeding (2 1/2 months); hair loss. I discontinued the Yasmin during the 2 1/2 month bleeding cycle. It took another month and a shot of Depo-Provera to stop the bleeding. Even then, my next period lasted 2 1/2 weeks. Before Yasmin, I had regular but heavy periods. At least I knew what to expect!

Since then, my periods are somewhat better. They last only 5 - 7 days now, but they are still somewhat irregular. Sometimes they'll come every 4 - 5 weeks, sometimes after 3 weeks or as long as 6 weeks. The cramps are the worst tho! I had a relatively "normal" period in July that started on the 14th and stopped on the 20th. It's now Aug 6th and I'm on day 2 of another period, only 2 1/2 weeks later. I'm not cramping per se, but I have a feeling of pressure in my lower abdomen and shooting pains down my right leg. Oh joy! My hair has started to grow back in, but it's all coming in silver-grey. Ah well, that's what Ms. Clairol is for.

I'd like to thank the makers of Yasmin as well as the medical "professionals" who push this "hell in a pill" on the unsuspecting public in order to get kickbacks as well as "perks". Thank you for screwing up my reproductive system. Thank you for causing me even more pain than I was already in. Thank you for ignoring my calls for help when I consistently and constantly told you that something didn't feel right when I was on this concoction. Thank you for continuing to lie to the general public when you say there are very few side effects with this pill. Will it take someone dying from this pill for you to acknowledge that it bad medicine? Lord knows I came close to it!

I have had asthma all my life. Over the last couple of years I had been relying more and more on inhalers to the point where I was going through two and three cartridges in a week's time. Singulair was what my doctor prescribed along with Flovent, an inhaled steroid. I have to admit, I avoided the Flovent, because I hate the idea of steroids.

At any rate, I have started to have very wierd dreams. They are not nightmares per se, but they definitely are not what I would call restful sleep. I am seeing other side effects here and I am hoping that this won't happen to me. I have only been on it for about three weeks now and for the first time I can actually exercise or sleep through the night without having to hit an inhaler four and five times a night.

I have been reading the posts with great interest, and as a frequent prednisone flyer, I have a Canadian perspective that may or may not be helpful. (Please be patient as typing and prednisone don't mix with me :>)

But back to the point. During my years of prednisone useage, I have always been told that long term prednisone use shuts down the adrenal glands, not enhances it. Which is why after a period of two weeks,(the time it take for them to shut down approximately, continued use of prednisone takes over what the adrenal glands formally did. (ie. regulate metabolism, and provides resistance to stress; ie. temperature extremes, high altitudes, bleeding, infection, surgery, trauma, dental work and good old stress. It also has the bonus of raising blood pressure if and when a body needs it.) A lot of the side effects I have read come from the prednisone directly, and indirectly from non-functioning adrenal glands. Furthermore, we are told it takes roughly a year (sometimes longer), for full adrenal gland function to come back, and why, if during this time you do need surgery, dental work, or get an infection, or in an accident, it is not uncommon to have to go back on the prednisone until the 'stress' is fixed. The symptoms of low pressure (feeling faint, sweating, dizzy etc.) is usually the first sign that the adrenal glands are not working at full capacity yet.

Knowing all of that, I sincerely wish I had known that if one is depressed, anxious or suffering from panic attacks prednisone compounds the emotional problems greatly. Or
simply creates them as side effects. If you have existing psychological difficulties, sleeping 2 hours in 24, massive, unpredictable mood swings, (for me it was not so much mood
'swings' per se, more like bad, worse, and would someone please put me out of my misery.) For me, I know prednisone turns me into a 'speedfreak'. I can't sit still, can't talk, walk or smoke fast enough. I was very lucky after a stressful last year, and taking 50 mgs of predisone for 4 months, when I finally crashed, I spent 6 weeks in a psych ward basically to
contain me until I had been weaned off of the prednisone. (Ironically enough, it was a year ago tomorrow when I was hopitalized.)

So today I started taking 50 mgs of prednisone, and can already feel my heart and pulse rate excelerating. Fortunately, I no longer have the emotional distress, but during this summer I developed edema (45 pounds in a month), and high blood pressure. Both the doctor who prescribed it and the pharmacist who fill it assured me prednisone does not affect either. It only took about a minute and a half on the 'net to find out that wasn't true, (Everyone who already knew that feel free to giggle and roll your eyes a bit) after spending months working on getting the edema/HBP under 'reasonable' control. (At this point, I eat pizza and my eyes go blurry.) In closing I would be curious if any other readers have edema and/or high blood pressure before taking prednisone, and if/how much/in what way your experience has been in mixing the two.

Thank you.