Pharmaceutical companies symptoms and conditions

Hello everyone. I am a 40 year old female and have been on Toprol XL 50 mg. for about 6 years now. In the beginning I was taking Toprol, then because my prescription plan wanted to switch I am on Metoprolol. I was prescribed this after a stress test because my heart rate did not go down as quickly as the cardiologist wanted it. If only I knew what I did now, I would never have started it. HELLO!! I weighed 200 lbs. at the time and was a couch potato. What did he expect? Of course my heart rate wasn't going to go down being so out of shape. I am so angry that I was prescribed this drug for such a stupid reason. I am also on meds to lower my blood sugar and high blood pressure. I know that all of my problems are due to my weight and so I've made a decision to seriously change my diet so I can get off of all of this crap. I currently weigh 217 lbs. But as you all know, being on Toprol, it's so hard to lose weight. I want off of this crap as soon as possible. Can any one of you guys who has gotten themselves off of this medication please send me some information as to how you got off of Toprol XL? My doctor is a real moron who works solely for pharmaceutical companies so I refuse to go to him. I will be changing doctors soon.

DOESN'T ANYONE REALLY READ THESE POSTS????? Please don't take anymore of this poison.
Send in a medwatch report by going to www.fda.gov. That is the only thing that might help save others from this horrible nightmare.
I'm going on 5 years since I was poisoned by levaquin. I still have the effects of that horrible poison.
Tell everyone you know not to take it.
Change doctors. Find one that reads and knows what to give for a virus and isn't looking for kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies.
Go to www.fqvictims.org and you will find some helpful hints to help you through this.

Both my Mom & I had come down with the flu and our doctor gave us each 6 day sample of Avelox. I became severely depressed & anxious telling the neighbor I felt a doom & gloom in the air. I just googled Avelox and anxiety and depression and found this site. I just asked my Mom if she felt depressed while on it and she said yes but could not put her finger on why. I also experienced bad back pain. I will never take this drug again. There is nothing wrong with the tried and true drugs that have been time-tested. Again, this proves to me the pharmaceutical companies along with the doctors they wine & dine try to push the latest fad drug as they make the most amount of money on it. The drugs that have been around for decades do not make them the money that the new ones do. FDA should be ashamed for allowing these drugs to be passed onto the consumer so easily.

i have had my mirena for about 1 1/2 months now, and so far i love it, i have had the spotting for the first month which doesn't bother me and now my period is on and i do have very bad diarrhea which im sure is associated with the period more than the mirena itself. haven't had any lack of sex drive in fact i 've wanted to have more sex, and i haven't' been irritable or anything else, so some of the side effects i believe everyone is having may be made up, think about it if you read over and over and over again how bad the mirena is your going to begin to feel that way i know if i tell myself that my arm hurts all day long then eventually it feels like it hurts..neways all im saying is relax stop reading these scary ass posts and do something to take your mind off of it, i know 3 other people who have the mirena that live down the road from me and NONE of them have had any of these problems...ladies i think you are just trying to find something to blame it on...

I am a 39 year old mother of two teenager daughters. I had my original Mirena inserted in July, 2002 due to extreme bleeding for many months. I would bleed for about 24 days out of every month and felt horrible. As I was only 32 years old at the time, my GYN did not want to perform a hysterectomy and suggested the Mirena. I bled for a couple of months after insertion, but shortly thereafter I had no bleeding and have had no period ever since. This is the side effect that is fantastic!

Shortly after having the Mirena inserted, my marriage fell apart and I was feeling very depressed, EXTREMELY EXHAUSTED and overall "crappy". I assumed that this was all due to my life circumstances. I gained significant weight in my mid-section, I had (and still have) constant headaches, I am always still very very tired, am dizzy, fuzzy-minded, blurred vision, achey, etc. etc. etc. I never once thought about the Mirena being the cause of any of these symptoms.

My doctor has checked my bloodwork numerous time to ensure my iron levels, etc. were okay as well as my thyroid - every time the results were normal so I thought it must all be in my head and all be due to me being somewhat depressed, etc. due to my marital breakdown.

I had my 2nd Mirena put in in December, 2009 as the first one was in for the full 5 years. It was a little painful getting it taken out and the new one put in, but for me the pain was worth it to continue to be period-free for another 5 years!

Recently I have been experiencing hot flashes and night sweats so I asked my doctor if I could be going through menopause. She ordered bloodwork to check my hormones and informed me last week that yes, in fact I am quite far into menopause!!! (remember, age 39)! Because I have not had a period in almost 6 years, I did have the early warning signs of menopause such as missed or irregular periods.

I wondered why I would be going through it so early so googled "Mirena and early menopause" which brought me to this site. When I started reading all the side effects, I wondered if it was maybe the Mirena that cause a lot my problems over the years and it wasn't in fact the dissolving of my marriage and change in life circumstances.

I now have to decide what to do. My doctor stated that I should (because of my young age) go on Hormone Replacement for quality of life. (I am close to my decision and believe that HRT is beneficial for me) - hopefully this will help with the terrible symptoms of menopause I have been having.

I am wondering if having the Mirena inserted had any part in accelerating my body into menopause. I am thinking of having it removed before starting HRT because even though the doctor told me that there is a very low hormone dosage in the Mirena, I don't want to over-do it with hormones as that could cause me even more problems. It would be amazing if I had it removed that I would feel the way I used to feel back 6 years ago (minus the husband)

FYI, before I had the Mirena inserted the first time I read and re-read the pamphlet which contained all the possible side effects, etc. But, as I stated above, my life changed dramatically very shortly after insertion so it never occurred to me that some of my problems may be related to the Mirena.

If this device does accelerate a woman's body into menopause, this should be well publicized as it would be tragic for young women who use this as a form of contraception early in their life to only find out later that they are no longer able to conceive due to their body going though "the change".

oh please your all a bunch of whiners. I don't understand that when people get something medically new that they seem to blame every little thing on it!!! seriously!!! if it were so bad it would not be on the market..... i have had it for two years.....a little cramping in the beginning which is NORMAL and as STATED on the side effects list. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND that these are listed because they DO AND HAVE happened to other people. That is why they are listed! NOW if you died, got cancer, pregnant or what have you then you can bitch. BUT PLEASE don't complain about the LISTED side effects. it is a wonderful product and it does just as it claims. yea the cramping sucks....the spotting is a pain.....men can feel it during intercourse and yes sometimes they can bump it and hurt you. also it causes cysts to grow on your ovaries which can sometimes require surgery. it can also grow outside your uterine wall at time. and it can fall out. all kinds of things can happen that are LISTED. what i would recommend people should do BEFORE they leap into bed with a new contraceptive is RESEARCH the SIDE EFFECTS BEFORE you decide you want it or not. its simple read the damn sheet and decide if you can live with the side effects. maybe one....or all...or none. THEN DECIDE.

Hello... I started taking Levothyroxine last July for slight hypothyroidism. I felt great for the first 6-7 months, but then in January the problems started for me. I was getting severe anxiety which the doctor said was stress and he also thought I was depressed. I knew I wasn't, but he put me on Ativan and Prozac. The week I took prozac was the worst week of my life. I thought the effects I had were from the prozac, but now I know now it was my thyroid spiking, which the doctor never checked my levels during this period. My heart rate doubled, I had insomnia, was gagging, sick, felt like my body was on speed and wanted to die. I was prescribed a beta blocker for my anxiety previously which I had never taken, but decided to take when my heart was racing, which helped me feel a bit better for the week, but I knew something was wrong. I had this happen again recently for about a week (and I was on nothing but levothyroxine). I know what anxiety is and I have never had anxiety or depression my whole life until these episodes that happen when taking this medication. By the time I went to the doctor to get labs done, I had been feeling a bit better and he said my levels were fine. I am now wondering if it's side effects from the meds or if it is spikes in my levels making me hyperthyroid instead. All I know is that I cannot live like this!! I have a 3 yr old and I need to be happy and healthy like I used to be before this medication... no more heart racing, racing thoughts, anxiety, and insomnia. Please help!!

I see there are 2,150 postings on this website for Lisinopril side effects. Out of the 2 pages of postings I have read I have only seen 2 post that gave positive feedback regarding this drug. I am scared to read anymore postings this is sickening me more and more to know that peoples lives are being altered in such a way.THIS DRUG IS AWFULLLLL!! IT IS RUINING PEOPLES LIVES! Something needs to be done about this.The pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars off this drug and it's making people sicker than they were before they started taking this.I wish I would have known of this site before I started taking this drug now I have things going on with me that may be irreversible. I stopped taking Lisinopril 1 1/2 months ago and am still having awful complications.This drug isn't just affecting pregnant women and infants, it's affecting thousands of people.While I love children and am very sympathetic my life along with everyone else on this site and everywhere else in the worlds life is beneficial. I mean a lot to my loved ones and so do all of you, with that being said something needs to be done. This drug needs to be reported to the FDA we need to ban together and do something does someone have to DIE for something to be done about this drug?! Until something is done other people will be affected by this drug and maybe by the time they read these post it will be too late for them.

I am going on my third month of using the NuvaRing. I have experience almost all of the symptoms that everyone is listing. I was wondering if there is anyone that has used NuvaRing and the side effects eventually went away. My doctor told me they should only last for about 3 months but according to a lot of people they don't go away. I am really not sure what to do because I am not ready for a child yet but at the same time I can not take much more of these side effects.

I am in shock and so glad that I came to this website. I have been taking simvastatin for about 5 months now and this morning I decided to do a web search with the words simvastatin and headaches. Everyday I for the last two months I have been asking myself why am I having these terrible headache. My Doctor did a CT scan, I had my eyes tested, I had my hearing tested, my blood tested and everything comes back good. I realized that I have to do something about this problem myself because my doctor prescribed another pill for the headache and that's that. Today I did not take the medication and I will not be taking it again. The symptoms that everyone described are so real to me but the headaches were the worst. I have to thank you all for posting this information. I now feel that I will get my life back.
Thanks verdul1

Except for having high cholesterol (310), I'm a 29 yr old healthy active female, very petite and weigh 98lbs. My mother has had a quadruple bypass and 4 stents at the age of 54, high cholesterol is just hereditary in my family. My doctor put me on 40 mg of zocor. The first week taking zocor I started feeling strange, a little soar here and there and very tired at times, also I have become very forgetful. It's been almost 2 months now and I have severe pain in my legs. First it was the right leg and now both legs, the pain starts at my lower back all the way down to my cav. I have a burning painful feeling sometimes numbing feeling, its driving me crazy!!!! I can't stand for too long cause I feel tons of pressure on my lower back pushing down my legs, It feels like my sciatic nerve. I went to my doctor and he said he is 95% sure that this is from the zocor medication, he told me to stop it right away. This is my first day without it, I know I need to do something to prevent what happen to my mother, I'm on a strict healthy diet, staying away from all fatty cholesterol filled foods, but there has to be a better way then taking statin drugs! If anyone has some ideas of what kind of alternative meds I can take, please help.

About a month ago I was given Levaquin, for Pneumonia. After about 5 days my face and neck swelled up, Then came the Prednisone at the hospital. I have never in my 38 years not been able to control my own body. I do take Zoloft,and Xanax for anxiety. No one said I would have a problem walking (legs are not working properly) eating,sleeping, Buzzing in my head. Unable to lift my 3 year old let alone care for her, I get extremely fatigued easily. My Husband has missed a week of work, and if your like us....NOT GOOD. Even trying to type is hard I must look at every letter, It's like I REALLY have to think to make my body move.My kidneys feel like balloons in my back when I lay down,Uncontrollable crying. I can't believe this has happened. We have been going through this the whole month of May.Is anyone able to control the shakes? Even my head is shaking??? I suppose if I had tried hard drugs ever, this might be what it's like. I Pray someone can help me. I am so afraid of what is happening to my body. By the way, when they put me on the Prednisone they did not give me a taper... Had to see another Doctor for that. So as I sit here today, hands shaking, head shaking, knees feeling to loose to walk on them, Hard to breathe, or even to think the way I could a month ago. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME...

Started Lisinopril eight weeks ago and took it for three weeks. I suffered the consistent cough. However the worst was the altered taste. It is worse than just metallic, it is bitter and food taste can change mid-meal. The problem started after the first week taking the medication and has not gone away even though I am five weeks since the last dose. I am concerned as to how long it takes this side effect to go away.

Has anyone been in contact with any doctors, hospitals, or researchers who are willing to recognize that Singulair targets a receptor CysLT1, with known genetic variations? As you know, I have been posting that I know of researchers who are doing work about how the genetic variations can determine the efficacy of Singulair. If genetic variations cause differences in efficacy, then, of course, these variations can also cause unpleasant to very serious side effects. These seems to be some kind of disconnect. How can the genetic component be recognized in the area of efficacy and ignored in the area of adverse drug reactions?

I have been on Lipitor for five weeks. I can't believe how awful I feel. I ache all over. I my arms and elbows are sore; I have had pins and needles in my hands; charley horse like spasms in my calves (mostly at night); sharp knife like pains in my upper thighs; even my teeth hurt. I am a 46 year old female – I can’t believe this. I have made an appointment with my doctor as I have to get off this drug. I have experienced some blurred vision and hearing impairment too. If I hadn’t of found this website – I truly would have thought I was a bit crazy….
I have never had any symptoms like this before and never thought of myself as an old lady - but that is what I feel like. It is unbelievable.
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I had the Mirena put in 6 months ago. Since that time I have experienced waves of nausea, heart palpitations, excessive weight gain, depression, moody, foggy thinking, no sex drive, continual bleeding and more aches and pains than I can shake a stick at.
I spent 5 hrs in the hospital yesterday after having heart palpitations and thinking I was going to die. I have a heart time breathing as well.
I asked my ob/gyn to remove it but she talked me out of it. I finally had enough and don't care about those with "well meaning" advice. I'm getting it taken out tomorrow and tell every women I know stay as far from the Mirena as possible.
I'm so glad there are these sites to share experiences with other women, it makes you feel as those you aren't alone. The pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable for what the Mirena has done to women.

I have to comment..... look at how many entries there are showing side effects.. so many people have the same symptoms. does this not open the eyes of others to accept that it can be a real problem to some people, admittedly not all, but it obviously doesn't agree with all of us. I could not believe my ears the other week when the local GP said that it's rare there are side effects, then 4 hours later a DR. in a hospital emergency department stated that statin drugs are very common for muscle problems, in particular one named brand (need I say more??) Couldn't wipe the smile off my face after hearing someone finally admitting it..
Come on professional people, start listening and accepting that people do know their own bodies and can see and feel so many vast changes in their day to day activities. Maybe guide people to a better understanding of diet and lifestyle before dishing out meds. so quickly. Give us some credit......some of us exercise regularly, we want to live healthy too and all this has done is put a stop to that luxury.
I have to add, I posted earlier this month, I AM getting much better each day, clearer thinking, vast improvement in mobility, so please stay positive and take care of yourselves, obviously we all need a little patience, hard to do after some long term suffering i know, we want overnight fixes just to feel normal again.. :-)

I started to take Atenolol after my kidney disease caused my bp to be extremely high. I'm on Avapro 150 mgs a day but at my last doctor's visit my doctor decided to put me on Atenolol for a rapid heartbeat. After about a week I began to feel extreme fatigue consulted doctor and he said it's not the Atenolol so I continued taking until my I started to feel pins and needles in my hands and feet. One morning I got out of bed and my left foot was swollen and curled up into a ball, the pain was excruciating. I was rushed to the emergency room where they said I pulled a muscle, I didn't. I asked the emergency room doctor could this be the Atenolol since I only started taking the drug for a few weeks when these symptoms began. He stated no that's not one of the side affects. After looking online I found that it is one of the side affects. So I stopped the Atenolol and after a few days was able to regain feeling back into my toes and slowly my foot. I still have pain and have trouble walking but hopefully I will recover. DO NOT TAKE THIS AWFUL DRUG. Either the Doctors know the side affects and are allowing us to be used as quinny pigs or their receiving some type of kickback from the pharmaceutical companies for prescribing this drug. If you know anyone taking this drug who is experiencing the above side affects stop the drug immediately before it's too late. If I had continued the drug I would have become paralyzed or worse stopped breathing. Another thing they are telling people that they have MS Multiple Sclerosis so they can treat you for yet another disease you don't have.

I was on 40 mg of simvastatin for 4 months with seemingly no side effects when my doctor said my cholesterol wasn't coming down quickly enough to suit him, so he added lovaza - had me taking both at the same time. Within 2 months I was noticing sore muscles but didn't relate it to the meds. After about another 2 months I was so bad I could hardly walk - extreme muscle and joint pain over my entire body, severe weakness, shortness of breath. Then I found out that both of those drugs can cause these side effects. I wish I had tied it together sooner. I have been completely off of them both for about 3 months and still have some pain in my feet, shoulders and elbows, along with severe pain in my hands, and I am still weak and short of breath. I don't know how long this is going to hang on, but I certainly hope it isn't permanent. I can't stand to think that I might have to live with this pain for the rest of my life. My hands are so close to useless, and I am so weak, that it's about all I can do to take care of my job and make a living. I haven't been able to work around the house for months. I want to work on my cars (my hobby). I have 2 antique cars that I enjoy working on and driving, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do very much with them this summer. My hands just won't let me. And the beauty of it all? My cholesterol numbers did not come down any great amount. Since I stopped taking the meds I have brought the numbers down by changing my diet - eggbeaters instead of whole eggs, less beef (venison is very low in cholesterol) more chicken & fish, oatmeal, plus I'm taking vitamin C, D3, garlic and cinammon for cholesterol and B complex for muscles, msm and glucosamine for joints. I also bought a hot tub, which helps with the pain and stiffness. This has definitely not been a fun thing. I just hope it goes away some time soon.

This post is directed to anyone who has contacted me regarding a possible class action lawsuit, which I was trying to initiate, as stated in my Oct 17th, 2008 post.
After contacting as many as 10 law firms, from NY to San Francisco, I have virtually "thrown in the towel". In essence, what they are saying is, this will be too expensive to litigate. The pharmaceutical companies have "teams" of lawyers, and I believe they are reluctant to go up against them.
I find it diabolical that this drug Kenalog is causing so much suffering, some emotional, some esthetic and some, like myself, sheer physical pain...but nothing can be done about it.
For all of you who have emailed me and I was unable to return your ems, I apologize....but I have been waiting to hear something positive feedback to relay. Unfortunately, that was not the case. If anything does develop I have stored your information and will get back to you. I would hope you would do the same.

My teenage daughter was taking generic Wellbutrin (manufactured by Watson pharmaceuticals) 150 mg. daily for about 3 weeks or so and started having serious hair loss on the top of her head. The prescribing psychiatrist told her to stop the medication and after about 2 weeks, the hair loss has stopped almost completely. I have read a number of blogs including this one that indicate that hair loss is a side effect yet the Wellbutrin trials only listed hair loss as a side effect for less than 1% of patients. Given the U.S. Supreme court ruling today that says that even if the FDA has approved a medication, a pharmaceutical company is still responsible for fully reporting side effects and can in fact be sued in individual states if they do not provide sufficient warning, I would be interested in hearing ideas of how we can put more pressure on the manufacturers of Wellbutrin and its generic equivalent so that they give better warning of this side effect.

Hi, I googled Yasmin as, like GM/Gabrielle, I have problems with hyperpigmentation on my upper lip and my chin (making me look like I have the beginnings of a beard and a mustache, highly attractive!!) I took Yasmin for about a year from 2002-3. I have surfed the net before at various points curious about Yasmin, but decided that I was just unlucky in taking Yasmin and it was one of those things. Having read all the posts here I am disgusted that this drug is available at all. Yes, we are all guinea pigs and yes, the doctors who prescribe this medication and others like it have no idea of the long term effects or maybe they are not really that bothered? How the hell are they made available anyway? Pharmaceutical companies literally get away with murder, to say nothing of their moral responsibility with regard to vivisection. As soon as I started to notice the pigmentation and connected it with the Yasmin I saw my doctor who immediately took me off it,warning me that it shouldn't get any worse but it may not go away. It does get worse if exposed to any sun, so I use a strong sublock and skin lightening cream all year round which thus far has only lightened the skin slightly (I live in the UK). I'm getting married this year and it will be a shame to feel self conscious about my skin, but having read these posts I feel so lucky to only have this to "worry" about - this is minor in comparison to life threatening blood clots. My grandmother died from thrombosis - maybe my vanity on this occasion has saved my life.

y story is but an echo of many of the others so there is no use to repeat what is being said. I do believe there is due cause for a class action suit. I hold the FDA and those responsible for its poor performance as well as the drug manufacturers and the pharmacies responsible. I just found out about the recall of metroprolol today when I went back to my local Walgreens to pick up a refill of my prescription. I was told by the pharmacy that four days ago that they had to obtain a new authorization from my doctor to refill it. Today a different pharmacy technician told me they had to send their supplies back to the factory because met-succ was no longer made by tthat company. I thought that strange, and I asked why the recall. I was told it wasn't really a recall, but the company wanted the meds returned to it. In answer to my "what is wrong?" I was told their was nothing she knew of, that the medicine was fin, the company just wanted it back and that I should talk to my doctor for a replacement.

After reading the comments hear I believe we all have been given the runaround. It sure seems like our pharmaceutical companies are trying to copy the Chinese. It looks like collusion between manufacturers of generic drugs and insureance companies. I do not think the doctors were privy to this.

Yes, I'm mad as hell. I hope I live long enough to see a good resolution to this matter.

H. R.

I'm taking no more of that poison

This reply is for ckk, i think you are correct, last month I wast have mine removed and my gyn talked me out of it. Today while in my gyn's office for removal, she tried to talk me out of it again...how odd I though they must be getting a kickback from the number of Mirenas they insert....This time I did follow through and had it removed...ladies they will say anything to have you keep Mirena...do not back down listen to your bodies...Surely the doctors and pharmaceutical companies are in this together.

It's been a year since my horrific experience with Avelox.
It was so traumatizing I still think about it a few times a week.
I am fully recovered, however, determined to help people that have the unfortunate experience I did.
(The post of my reactions was on May 28, 2008)
My friend works for the pharmaceutical companies and provided me with
a website to email the company any adverse reactions.
It's been a year since my horrific experience with Avelox.
It was so traumatizing I still think about it a few times a week.
I am fully recovered, however, determined to help people that have
the unfortunate experience I did. (The post of my reactions was on May 28, 2008) My friend works for the pharmaceutical companies and provided me with a website to email the company any adverse reactions.