Psychological side symptoms and conditions

I discontinued the Nuvaring in April after 7 months. I wish I had never starting using it. I had many physical side effects and I am still dealing with the psychological side effects. I was the angriest, meanest, saddest version of myself that I have never been before. I had an increasing bad mood always and was in a severe depression. I became violent and unfeeling when angry and then cried afterwards not understanding how I could be this way. It's quite possible that the worst side effect is the one that won't go away - the effect on my relationship. I hope that my post helps someone avoid the pain and heartache "the ring" brought me. Beware the NUVARING!!!

My allergies caused nearly constant painful sinus pressure, drippy nose (I should have bought stock in Kleenex to profit from my box-a-day use), asthma, getting gradually worse all the time--it was as though I'd had the flu for 10 years (I'm 54). I was taking Claritin in the morning and Zyrtec at night, which only toned down the most severe symptoms. I was on Prilosec as well, as one doctor though acid-reflux might exacerbate the asthma. My family and I are avid hikers, but I haven't been able to breathe well enough to join them for years, even with daily Ventolin and Flovent. I've only been taking Singulair for two weeks, but it has made all the difference. I feel "normal" instead of sick for the first time in a long time. So, for me, it does work. But my stomach's been killing me--like a bleeding ulcer (which I had 25 years ago). I'm hoping that will subside or going back on Prilosec (expensive!) will counteract it. I've also had the weirdest dreams--very vivid and disturbing. Because I did research online before taking Singulair (Doctor uttered not one syllable about side effects), I recognize the dreams are from the Singulair. Because I understand what is causing them, I can easily set them aside when I wake up. I think anyone who's had mental or emotion problems could be sent over the edge by the dreams unless they had a clear understanding and acceptance that the allergy drug caused them. I would be easy to think something was wrong with you to dream such bizarre, violent stuff. (I'd give examples, but I've truly trained myself to forget all about the dreams as soon as I wake us, so I don't remember the dream events now.) I'm quite concerned about children taking this drug. Maybe not everyone has this disturbing-dream side effect, but how could you explain them away to a four-year old? How would you even know if a younger child was having them? Even children old enough to comprehend shouldn't be subjected to horrific mental images, like the 16 year old above. A tip for people who Singulair helps, but they have the weird dreams--try Melatonin (over-the-counter supplement) at bedtime. I've used it to help me sleep in the past when life events kept my mind too active to sleep for several days at a time. Unlike sleeping pills, it doesn't make your tired the next day, you can wake up easily, and it's not habit-forming--it just lets you drift off on days you otherwise can't. Since I'm concerned about the long-term effects of anything taken frequently, I don't take Melatonin very often, but I did try it after the fourth day of Singulair dreams. I had no memory of weird dreams when I woke up, so it seemed to work, and I didn't remember dreaming the next night either. I only tried it that one day because, as I said, I've trained myself to not be bothered by the dreams.

I am very reluctant to take any medications, but needed something for a sinus infection that wouldn't go away after 2 weeks. Received 10 day dosage. Drug worked to clear it up, but experienced a noticeable oncoming of depression and emotional detachment from life. This drug may not be tracked for psychological side effects, which might explain the lack of forewarning by doctor's et al, but it was a clear cause and effect in my case.

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 was prescribed Lupron after a laparoscopy to diagnose endo between my freshman and sophore years in college. I was never told of any psychological side effects, even though the first page of my chart has a lot of info about my history of depression and anxiety. In addition to the night sweats and hot flashes, the depressive side effects were so bad that I dropped out of college (I was a stright-A student the year before.) It took me 2 1/2 years to get back to school, and I'll be paying off the $12,000 for a semester that I spent almost completely in bed. I'm a nursing student planning to work in women's health care, and will advise any of my patients to seriously research this medication before listening to their doctor. My pain never did go away while on the medication and was actually worse later and caused me to go back in for surgery.

My 3 year old son was just prescribed Singulair today. After reading the pamphlet that came with the trial pack, I decided to do more research. All of the side effects that most people have mentioned on this post are listed in the pamphlet. I don't know if I will put my son on this medicine but thought I should mention the importance of actually reading the pamphlets that come with your medicine.

I had muscle aces and pains most of that time but near the end of the 3 weeks I would loose the use of my left arm for periods. I would feel faint and very weak. I have had restless leg since I was a child but my legs got much worse during the 3 weeks. Finally I remembered that if you had muscle weakness you were to stop Zocor so I did. The daily muscle weakness gradually went away but I developed severe restless leg and had to go on Requip. I also started having face spasms and “turrett” type spasms in my legs that would travel up into my arms and hands. My hands would clench and I couldn't talk plain. My head would jerk and my body would shake inwardly as if I were freezing. These symptoms were worse when I was stressed or got too hot. Eventually I had to quit my job, it was very high stress. Five years have past. I now stay home and garden and paint. I very seldom leave my home and my stress level is low but when I do get into a stressful situation I still have to deal with the “loss of control” over my body. My sleep is a nightmare every night. My restless leg syndrome is getting worse and I've had to increase my Requip and will probably have to do so again soon.

My cholesterol is very high and my doctor keeps trying to get me to go on some meds for that but I would rather die than add to the painful, exhausting struggle I go through now because of what Zocor did to me.

I have 2 sons with asthma that have both been taken singulair (the oldest for 3 years & his brother for 2). My younger son's asthma got alot better since he was diagnosed & he was recently taken off Singulair thanks also to my husband hearing a report about the moodiness caused. When he was on it he would cry for no reason, get very irrational & seemed to think the world was against him. In just 2 weeks he is happy & cheerful and has told me he thinks it is due to being off singulair. His older brother's asthma has gotten worse over the years & I'm concerned about taking him off but he too has crazy moods. Just tonight he started a new soccer team & got crazy & suddenly didn't even want to participate in something he loves (wanted me to let him quit right then) until we argued enough he reluctantly participated. He then came home complained of a headache (which is also way too frequent) and now has been asleep for hours. Are there any alternatives to this drug? I'm a stressed out mom that doesn't deal well with these mood swings. He is normally a social butterfly & a sweet kid but lately seems more withdrawn, more irritable (especially tonight) & complaining about leg cramps in addition to these frequent headaches. I can't deal with too many more of these evenings & wonder if all these things are possible side effects. I'm glad to see my other son doing well but miss his normally sweet brother! Even his siblings think he is acting crazy :(

Unfortunately my lawyer told me that they do not want to take our case because of the lack of evidence that Singulair has caused our daughters problems. :(

Does anyone out there have a pending class action lawsuit that We may be able to get in on? I have tons of proof that Singulair has caused our daughters problems and loss of almost 5 years of her elementary school career!

My phone number is *** and my email is ****** if You email me please put "Singulair" in Your subject line so I know it pertains to this posting.

Thank You in advance,
Chuck & Brenda
Jamestown New York

My daughter is 5 years old and has been on Singulair for the past 2 1/2 years for severe asthma. THANKFULLY, she has never experienced any of the side effects that your children or any of you have listed. She has never had any problems with it and we learned last year that it is something that she needs in order to keep her asthma under control. Last September, we decided to take her off the Singulair since she had not had an asthma flair up in almost a year and she was hospitalized 1 week later for a severe asthma attack. The reason why I am sharing this information is to let people know that these side effects do not happen to all of the patients that take this medicine BUT I DO AGREE THAT INFORMATION ON THESE DANGEROUS SIDE EFFECTS NEEDS TO BE SHARED WITH THE POPULATION THAT TAKES THIS MEDICATION! I want to thank everyone for sharing their stories of their experiences with this drug. I appreciate the information that I would probably never hear from a doctor or drug company, even though it is the most ETHICAL thing to do, especially when it has such a negative effect in children! Now I know what could possibly happen in my child and I will be more attentive and I know what to look for. I will be making an appointment with her doctor to see if there are other choices of medications that could keep her asthma under control and has less psychological side effects.

My Mirena Removal....
So i posted here a few weeks ago after I found this site. I had EVERY side effect listed and was so freaked out that i immediately made an appointment for removal.
For those of you reading and wondering what the removal is like..
Well, NOTHING like the insertion. I was so so nervous and it was over before we actually started. The DR was surprised that i was back in his office to have this removed. He then proceeded to do an ultrasound to be sure it was placed properly before removal. And yes, all was OK on the position of it. I explained to him my reasons and he looked at me like he had never heard this before. I honestly can not imagine with all the women he sees that NONE of them have complained. But...as I was getting dressed afterwards, I took a good look in his office. There was Mirena literature ALL over the place. In fact, that was the ONLY thing he was advertising. Not to mention...they made me pay up front with the insertion back in Nivember...billed my insurance and I still have yet to receive my reimbursement. Oh yeah, and that...they charge more than the actual Mirena costs, then they bill your insurance for the price they know they will pay and the DR then makes about $150 profit. Nice.
Ok, back to my side effects post Mirena. The removal was not painful at all. I did spot for about a week- nothing too heavy but it was clotty and def there.
A couple of days after the removal it felt like I was coming out of my skin something terrible. I figured this was my body adjusting to the lack of hormones. I also had some headaches.
It has now been 2 weeks and the spotting has disappeared. I also can see the bloating of my stomach is starting to go away. It looked like I was about 4 mos preggo while I was on it. I also have an increased sex drive. And sleep-- well let me tell you, I have not slept this good in a very long time. I am actually sleeping more than 6 hours now and the night sweats have also discontinued.
I can't believe EVERY time I come to this site and look up Mirena ALL the people that have posted their experience as being negative. Yet, the DR looks at me like I am crazy! I have been seeing him for years and I have never complained about something like this. I really am so happy that I have it out and wish I would have done my research on this prior to insertion (which was one of the most painful things ever!)
So..for those of you out there that are either contemplating having it inserted...I say NO WAY. And for those of you out there that are nervous about the removal or not sure..I SAY YES, DO IT! For our bodies to be reacting this way, it is clear to me that it should not be inside of us. Listen to your bodies...they really do speak to you and let you know when something is not right. Forget about the DR saying it is safe or he has not heard of any of these side effects...YOU be the judge.
Good luck! And I promise it gets better once you get that lil' demon out!
Mona

I am 26 y.o. This is my first package of Loestrin Fe, and the very first "pill" that I take. During my third week on the pill I have been suffering sharp signs of depression. It's not required a lot to make me cry and cannot stop for hours. Obviously this interfere with the way I feel about things and people. I am afraid it will damage professional relations, since I have seen already effects in the personal ones. There is a breast cancer history in my family, so I don't want to play with hormones and will remain on this pill as much as I can bare it. But if I see the psychological side effects don't go away, it'll mean bye-bye to the pill.
Thanks for all your testimonies -really helpful-

This medication f----- me up! It made me hate my job so much that I had panic attacks before going to work. I've had extreme mood swings and severe paranoia. I am a nurse and I have never been worried about catching anything but all of a sudden I thought I had all sorts of diseases. Also, I was exhausted all the time!! It got so bad that I felt like I couldn't get out of bed. I had no motivation and I couldn't concentrate on anything. Then I started getting a rash that would come and go which only fed into my paranoia. I've never had any of these problems and I couldn't figure out what could be wrong with me until I saw this website. I have been off of singulair for several days and I have already noticed a difference in my mood.

symptoms ---- paranoia, nausea/stomach pains, depression, rash, anxiety

I just started Singulair 10 days ago and 3 days after I started I developed what I thought was a massive head cold. Pains at the base of my neck, followed by a stuffy head, sore throat, and a nasty cough. This dry, never-ending cough keeps me up at night. It takes over an hour to go to bed even after taking Nyquil and last night I even tried Rx cough syrup w/codeine, still over an hour to get to sleep. I cough to the point of gagging and sweating. This has been happening since last Monday and it's so embarrassing at work. I know people are afraid they are going to catch my "cold" If it were a cold, I would think I would be getting better by now, not worse. This morning I felt so bad that I decided to search the internet and found this post. I beginning to think it's the Singulair. I'm going to the doctor and then depending on what he says, I may try quitting the Singulair. I am miserable. I was reading the other posts and was amazed at the symptoms I've had but had not connected to Singulair yet. I had a vivid, scary dream last night and I don't usually dream much, but this was very real. I also had noticed lately that I keep thinking I see someone coming or passing by out of the corner of my eye, and I read someone's post that referred to shadows in your peripheral and I was shocked! This is exactly what I've been seeing. I would have never blamed it on the drug. I will see how things go once I quit taking it. This is unbelievable!

Hi everyone, I've been off Yaz for two weeks now and have had severe depression, emotional numbness, anxiety, muscle weakness, migraines, and on and on. The symptoms are actually getting worse in some ways since I went off the Yaz.

I'm hoping someone can tell me whether they've had any success in going on another birth control pill after Yasmin/Yaz in order to stabilize side-effects of depression and anxiety, which are what freaks me out the most. I've been off Yaz for two weeks now and if anything my side-effects have gotten worse. I'm seeing a doctor and trying to figure out what's going on, but in the meantime I am desperate to feel like myself again. I'd rather not go on anything else hormonal for the long-term, but I'm considering going back on an older, completely different prescription (Loestrin) which didn't cause me any psychological side-effects. One of my doctors says it should be fine, but the other doesn't want me to do it. Has anyone else felt an improvement in depression and anxiety from going onto a different pill prescription? Thanks for your help!!

I took prednisone at 60mg/day for a week for inflammation that would not go away. I didn't sleep for 5 straight nights and was too anxious to eat anything. I became psychotic after a few days and would seriously worry that the sun wasn't going to come up that day and the world was going to end. I became so depressed that all I could do was cry. It took serious energy to do anything...even showering or walking to the bathroom. Since this short episode I have not been the same. I am now being treated for clinical depression with 2 types of antidepressants. I would recommend taking prednisone at a much lower dose (say 10mg/day) for treating non-life threatening problems to avoid the psychological side effects.

I have been taking Yaz for the last five weeks and I have experienced horrendous psychological side effects. I thought that they would even out so I decided to constinue taking it, but I have only gotten worse. I am experiencing anxiety in the form of panic attacks, lack of sleep, inability to eat, and depression. I encourage anybody else experiencing these symptoms to post them as well, as doing research on the web helped me to identify this drug as the problem. I visitited a new gynocoligist in New York City two months ago who prescribed this drug without telling me that it had been designed to battle severe PMS and emotional symptoms. I am appalled that he did not tell me this when he prescribed it, nor the fact that it had just been introduced to the market in 2006.

hi guest 32341,
have you tried switching the time you take your pill until just before bed? some people have suggested that this may ease some of the symptoms because you pretty much sleep them off. if you are reluctant to switch to another brand of pill then give this option a try. i am a little concerned as you say that you are finding everyday things are a chore and that you are feeling overwhelmed, i was the same,i lost interest in everything,my friends,my social life,my marriage and my kids.everything was just too much like hard work,i became very introverted which is so not me! i also started to suffer other mental and psychological side effects that i never for one minute thought could be caused by my bcp. maybe you could try taking them at night for another cycle and if you are not improving or are getting worse then please please talk to your doctor about switching to another brand of pill, maybe a lower hormone dose pill. my hormones were also all over the place after having my youngest child as i breast fed her exclusively for a year and my poor body was lacking essential vitamins and minerals so i was not in the best shape when i started this pill and my life became a nightmare because of it. whilst you are still taking yasmin drink loads of water (as much as you can) take a supplement of vitamin b6 as well as a b complex and also some magnesium and calcium and also some zinc. you may be able to find a good multivit that contains all of these things try to take approx 30-50 mg b6 daily. best wishes to you whatever you decide to do. i hope that everything will turn out well for you and that you can get back to being a caring compasionate mother and friend.

sarah

I started taking Yasmin 28 in june.. after that my life has been turned upside down... i've been having psychological side effects; i'm getting anxious for nothing, and feel very depressed. My humour is rolling up and down like a rollercoaster sometimes. Should I stop taking these pills?
Can somebody recommend another one, which is better?
What about Trionetta?

-Worried

To guest 14703,

When it comes to psychological and emotional matters, it is difficult to come up with one absolute answer. The steroid's psychological side-effects can take a toll on anyone at any time, any dose or any stage. The way people deal with the side-effects depends a great deal on a person's mental history, personality traits and inner strength.
For me, although I was taking a high dose of 100 mg a day for 3 months and so on for 6 months, I never became manic, schizophrenic or had suicidal thoughts. However, I did become a little depressed due to things I had no control over, like the abrupt weight-gain, the ugly triple chin, hunched-back, hair-loss, lack of sleep or concentration, aches in my muscles and stomach, lack of support or understanding from my partner (the list is endless!).
The physical as well as the emotional changes go together hand in hand. All I wanted to do was to get off the horrible drug and be drug free. One good thing out of this nightmare was that I learned to take better care of body, mind and soul.

Gypsi

I am interested to learn more about the emotional or psychological side effects of prednisone. I have read or heard about the following: depression, anxiety, mood swings, hallucinations, moral or ethical misjudgment (e.g., proneness to disregard good judgment regarding alcohol, drug use, sexual behavior, etc.), suicidal ideation. Has anyone any anecdotal information regarding these side effects and at what dosage did they manifest themselves?

After falling on my right rib cage, tearing muscle tissue, I was precribed a 5mg dose- 1-3 times daily.

Usually, I only needed to take one during the night, when the pain was worst. (Took ibuprofen during the day -due to the dizziness, drowsiness effects of flexeril).

However, I noted that each morning after I took the flexeril - I woke up like "a bear with a sore head" to quote my wife's phrase. Free -floating hostility, irritabililty - snapping at every minor thing and every one. The effects sometimes taking the whole morning to wear off.

Has anyone else noticed such 'psychological' side effects? I am sure they were attached to the flexeril, since once I'd stopped taking it, the 'bearishness' and chronic distemper creased.

Note: I have been historically a 'drug-sensitive' person, and perhaps even at the 5 mg dose, I was OD'ing. That is one theory anyway.