Phnemonia symptoms and conditions

About 2 and 1/2 months ago I went to an urgent care facility since I felt like I was suffocating. I am a long time smoker (30 years) and have not had any problems with breathing accept for the occasional morning cough. Long story short, the doctor after hearing my breathing and taking 2 xrays said "you have a pocket of infection in your lung and COPD". I didn't realize it was that quick and easy to diagnose COPD and thought there were more extensive tests to prove that, but I went along with the doctor. The doctor prescribed Advair, an antibiotic, ProAir HFA (albuterol pump rescue inhaler), a decongestant and prednisone. I thought that was an extreme amount of medication but the doctor said she was being proactive. After a couple albuterol breathing treatments and a shot of steroids at the urgent care center I was on my way.

I finished the treatments of antibiotics and steroids as prescribed, but I never took the decongestant (did not want to over-medicate myself). Immediately after starting Advair my joints ached and I felt over all like I had the flu. With my 1 weeks checkup with the doc I mentioned this and she just smiled. About a week after that the achy joints starting easing up, but I started cramping in different muscles. For instance one week I would have a dull cramping in my leg that was persistent during the day and worsened at night. Then the leg stopped cramping, then the lower part of my back started in to a point it was hard to get out of bed, walk or bend over. Then when that stopped something else started up. Then during the last two weeks that I was on Advair I was having periodic chest pains, tightness in my chest, (once again) difficulty breathing, and my vision started to go (blurring)...that with the lower back pain. I am almost 50 years old and have been in excellent health my whole life, and honestly I have never felt as bad as I did while on Advair.

I stopped taking Advair 6 days ago. No, I did not call and ask the doctor's advice because I knew what the doc would say. The first day after quitting Advair I had restricted breathing so I used the rescue inhaler once. The breathing issue became better during the remainder of the day. Slowly the cramping in my body and chest eased up. Today (6 days later) my vision is back to what it was, no chest pains, occasional restricted breathing and will use the rescue inhaler during those times.

I think it's too early to know the long lasting affects of Advair, but at this stage in my life (unless I am worse off with my breathing than I am right now) I don't care to use the medication.

I became extremely ill after beginning Topamax. A trip to Urgent Care started me on Z pack for URI and gave me cough medicine. Cough along with incontinence and exhaustion became more severe over 3 weeks. Wheezing worsened but chest xrays done by my PCP showed no pneumonia. I have asthma and allergies which were treated by my PCP with Singulair, Advair and a rescue inhaler with no success. It wasn't until I started thinking about possibility of Topamax playing a part and doing research myself that the puzzle was solved. 3 doctors and a pharmacist knew nothing about the affect this drug has on asthmatics. I was miserable for an entire month due to this drug which could have been completely avoided if doctors were better informed. I had to convince my physicians by taking myself off Topamax in order to alleviate my symptoms. I hate to think where I would be today if I had continued taking the drug and had not found this web page!

I was prescribed 750 MG of Levaquin after a ER visit on Saturday, August 16th for a sinus infection. Both Saturday and Sunday I had diarrhea. I took the second pill on Sunday and I did not sleep the entire night. I was sweating so much. I felt out of sorts and scared in my own home. I started to turn on the lights. I even tried to sleep with my bedroom light on. It was an awful night to say the least, I won't go into all of the details. But I did start to question not only my physical health but mental. I knew I had been stressed out, but this never happened to me before. I was not able to work Monday. I took the third pill Monday not realizing this was all a reaction to the antibiotic. I was speaking to a close friend late Monday afternoon about my horrible night. I did not tell her what I was taking. She informed me that one time she was taking a antibiotic, Levaquin, and that she had a similar reaction and even hallucinated. I was relieved to know that I was not loosing my mind but it was the medication. I called my doctor's. office and they said stop taking it. They said they were aware that this had happened to some patients. Gee, thanks for telling me in advance. They suggested I take Benadryl to help me sleep. Needless to say, what a horrible experience I had. And this night was worse. I was sweating even more, could not sleep, tried to take a shower to cool off and then I started to hallucinate. I tried talking myself out of it, but the medicine was too strong. I called my God Mother and she talked me through it. Again, all the lights had to be on, I felt very anxious and scared. IT WAS AWFUL. If you have a sensitive system I would not take this! It is now August 21st and I still can not sleep. I am still out of sorts. I wish I knew in advance. All I know is I am telling everyone I know, DON'T TAKE LEVAQUIN!!!

I'm 58 with COPD and the Dr. put me on Advair for breathing. I have been having severe join pain the last two weeks and believe it may be from the rx. also, have reccurring pneumonia, thrush, and sleep disturbances. Sound familiar? let me know if you have the joint pain.