Saline symptoms and conditions

I was prescribed levaquin for sinus infection after 2 days of taking it extreme nervousness feeling like walls were closing in on me and suicidal thoughts stopped taking it after 2 days it was about 244.00 dollars for the medicine seeing as how I have no insurance what a waste of money maybe doctors give it because it is so expensive and they get a kickback on it

I am so glad I found this site. I thought I was alone. I received a steroid shot from a walk in clinic in October 2008 that left a indent and discoloration to my arm, as well as a painful burning sensation. I went to my primary doctor Jan 12, 2009. I was told that this was due to improperly giving the shot in the fatty tissue instead of the muscle. I was also told that I would have this on my arm forever, there is nothing that can be done to correct it. I have been asked several times what is wrong with my arm. I have to stop wearing short sleeves, people think its a disease or something. I spoke with several lawyers and they stated that the case is too small for them to take. I don't know what to do now.

I am a physician. Kenalog is one of several injectable steroids that can cause subcutaneous atrophy or lipoatrophy as a side effect. For those who have this reaction, they will notice a dent or divot. This is not dangerous problem and most of the time the dent or divot will fill back in with time. How much time? The range is 3 to 24 months without treatment. However, for many patients this healing process can be speeded up with weekly saline injections that can be safely performed by almost any Doctor and need not be expensive.

The technique was well described in the Journal of Dermatological Surgery in 2006. If you do a google search for the name of the article as listed below you can find the Abstract and take a copy to your Doctor.

Best to all,

T.

Treatment of Local, Persistent Cutaneous Atrophy Following Corticosteroid Injection with Normal Saline Infiltration

Shumaker Peter R., MD*, Rao Jaggi, MD † , Goldman Mitchel P., MD †

Published in Dermatological Surgery, 21 Mar 2006

ABSTRACT
Background. Injections of corticosteroids are commonly used for a variety a dermatologic conditions but may cause local, persistent cutaneous atrophy, with few therapeutic options.

Objective. To determine the effectiveness of bacteriostatic normal saline infiltration on the improvement of corticosteroid-induced cutaneous atrophy.

Materials and Methods. Four patients with corticosteroid-induced atrophy of the skin, two caused by acneiform cysts and one from intramuscular steroid injection, were treated with weekly injections of normal saline directly into the atrophic site. The patients were seen on weekly follow-up visits, and improvement was documented.

Results. All four patients demonstrated complete resolution of skin atrophy and restoration of surface contour within 4 to 8 weeks of initial presentation. Injected volumes of normal saline ranged from 5 to 20 cm3 per treatment session and three to six weekly treatments. The patients were completely satisfied with these results.

Conclusion. Normal saline infiltration offers a safe, tolerable, relatively rapid, and effective treatment for local, persistent corticosteroid-induced atrophy.

Dermatologic Surgery, Volume 31 Issue 10, Pages 1340 - 1343,

Hi, I'm so glad I found this side, at least it explained the things happening to my body. I had surgery to remove loose skin in my upper arm, great! but then I had keloids hence my surgeon recommended Kenalog to flatten the scar. I have my first shot in July, then monthly until October. I suffered extensive skin thing beyond the scar and the dents which was outside the scar boundary. I had gained weight and my regular cycle got disrupted. I've had cycle within the space of two weeks, then It lasted for 24 days, sometimes twice a month. Reading the post here it finally made sense. The thing to note about Kenalog is the effect is only noticeable after after months of shots. I've stopped the shots since October and just wondering just how long will the effect continue? does the Kenalog not get expended by the body?

I used to receive a Kenalog injection once a year to treat my skin. It worked great. Best drug, nothing compares to it. After a few years it worked so great that I didn't have to receive the shot anymore.

This drug is far too helpful in the medical field for it to be removed because of its side effects. Never had a problem with getting a hole "in my butt" either... Not that I let A LOT of people look at my butt anyway. There's a reason why you're told what the side effects could be, if you don't like them then tell the doctor you don't want to take the medicine.

If you're a model, then have it photoshopped out... We know now that's what they do anyway. You give young girls bad impressions thinking they have to be perfect, when you're not.

I've been suffering from hair loss and on my 2nd visit with the dermatologist he gave me 10 shots of that kenalog crap in my scalp. When the doctor came in the room he said I'm going to give you several shots in your scalp and I said what kind of shots and what are the side affects. His answer was there are a few side affects like headaches and etc., but no major side affects you're in good health you'll be fine. I've been having severe headaches, vomiting, losing more hair then I did before I received the injections and diarrhea. I cannot sleep at night and my whole body is severely sore. If I sit longer than 10 minutes when I get up I feel pain all over my body. I feel like an older person. I trusted this punk and I can't believe that he would violate me like this. My body has not been normal for the last 3-4 days. I don't feel like myself. After reading about the indentations, I'm hoping I don't get one on my head where he put the injections. Sheeeez! Unbelievable.

I had a shot November 2008, for neck pain. All of a sudden, I noticed this huge indent in my butt check where the shot was administered. I am terrified, I workout 6 days a week, and I take excellent care of my body. Now I am scarred for life!

1) Stop going to the doctor for "sinus infections". This is one of the most over diagnosed, over treated, self-limiting illnesses in the world. Because 90% is viral, it's also the leading cause of antibiotic resistant bacteria in out-patient medicine. Get some Afrin and blow your nose.
2) Avoid taking fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox) as an outpatient. These powerful drugs should be used to save lives in the hospital. The leading exception would be a urinary tract infection that is resistant to all other antibiotics.
3) All fluoroquinolones can cause tendon ruptures, especially the achille's tendon in patients over 65. This is a devastating injury, though rare with this class of antibiotics.

After experiencing insomnia, excessive sweating followed by chills, anxiety, thirst, frequent urination, nausea, and depression, I thought I would see what the published side effects of kenalog are. I was given an injection in the doctor's office a week ago for knee joint pain and was told that this medication was superior to other cortisone's since it does not filter through the pituitary or adrenal glands. The knee is great. I even feel more comfort in my arthritic fingers but the other side effects are very unpleasant. Probably will suffer with the pain rather than the fatigue and grossness I'm feeling now.

I had a kenalog injection to my right cheek to treat a cyst. It ended up dilating the blood vessels and it atrophied the fat cells under the skin's surface. Now I have a permanent indent in my cheek that looks terrible. There is no way to cover it up and people ask about it all the time. It is very upsetting and stressful. I went to a different dermatologist and was told the only thing to do is a filler injection that only lasts up to 6 months at a cost of $525

I just looked at this site to see what side effects people are experiencing with this medication. Here is my experience: I went to see my ENT doctor-this is a great practice and I still have full confidence in their abilities despite what happened to me. I have been having trouble with lots of sinus headaches, and my tonsils becoming infected. However, I have severe hay fever type allergies so most of the time I put up with my symptoms and they go away. However, I knew that I probably needed an antibiotic because my symptoms were getting worse and I had caught a flu-cold thing on top of it. When I went to the ENT she said she thinks that my tonsils may need to come out and prescribed 10 days of Avelox along with a sinus rinse (saline only) she was concerned because I am allergic to a lot of antibiotics (mostly I get hives) so she gave me Avelox. I did not read the side effects before taking it. The reason being I get nervous taking antibiotics as it is because of my allergies and tend to freak myself out. So I just read the part about drinking lots of water, no vitamins,etc.. Even though I had a cold-flu thing I did not take my Allegra or even Tylenol to ease my other symptoms and no vitamins (which I usually take) I only took the Avelox. I also chose to take it at night because on the bottle it warned of dizziness or drowsiness. I have small children to take care of so I couldn't be dizzy during the day! The first night I took it around 10:00-I had trouble falling asleep, felt kind of woozy and high. However, I didn't worry about it cause I knew it could happen. I fell asleep and woke in the night feeling totally freaked out. I kept thinking someone was going to break in the house, I felt really scared for no reason. I wanted to wake up my husband so bad but I didn't because he had the flu and needed some rest. After that I kept drifting in and out of sleep and my mouth kept watering and watering. The next morning I told him to go in the bathroom and read the side effects to HIMSELF-I only wanted to know if what I mentioned was in there. He said yes. I continued to take the drug the next night-this time I felt lots better like my infection was clearing and the woozy feeling was less than the night before which made me happy. But again during the night I felt freaked out and had trouble sleeping all night. The next day I got diarrhea. Again, I figured minor side effects, I need to stick with this and clear up my infection. I took the pill for 5 nights. There were several times during the day that I weird pains (but not super painful-more annoying) a pain in my thumb, my hand, my shoulder, my calf. It was only here or there-not too big of a deal but I thought it was weird. Then I had something happen with my daughter (a family type emergency) which led to lots of crying and drama the entire day. That night I took the drug again (This was actually last night-the 5th time taking it) Again, trouble sleeping but better than the nights before. I woke at 6 this morning to get my daughter ready for school and as soon as I got out of bed I almost fell down. My legs and arms felt SO heavy I can't even describe it. I could barely make it across the room, then the dizziness hit and I started to feel really bad, I started to black out. I laid down on the floor and started sweating, felt like a cold feeling through my body and then my body started going numb. At first I thought "Oh god, I am having an anxiety attack of some kind from all the stress the day before." but it just got worse and worse, I felt like I was having trouble breathing and swallowing. The worst part was if I even tried to LIFT my head off the floor I started to black out (my vision was closing around me and my ears were ringing like crazy) then my mind went crazy-am I having a heart attack (no it couldn't be I am 39!) then the weirdest thing happend my thumbs felt like the muscles were cramping and being drawn into the palms of my hands uncontrollably. That is when I started freaking out. I was yelling-my husband had to leap out of the shower.I kept telling him, something is really wrong get me to the hospital. At one point told him to call 911. I seriously thought "this might be it, the end and I am gonna die here cause my stupid husband keeps rubbing me and trying to calm me down instead of calling 911!" Then I think he got freaked out because it just wouldn't stop and every time he tried to lift me up slightly I would start to faint. Finally, the blacking out thing eased enough he could sit me up, then I finally worked me into standing. He got me to the car and we decided to go to the urgent care versus the ER. They turned us away and told us to go to my doctor because of the antibiotic They said they would see me if I wanted but they really thought I should see her because the antibiotic is really strong and could be the problem. I thought they were crazy and I got really pissed off thinking "What the hell? I could be dying here and they want me to see my freaking ENT?!" My husband talked me into leaving because my ENT was in the next door building. Their office was just opening. They took my blood pressure, it was good, my pulse was good, they checked my ear pressure to see if it had to do with the dizziness and I argued my ears are fine! This is different from dizziness I had from past ear infections I was almost blacking out! But, alas one of my ears was off, and had inflammation. Then they gave me a steroid shot. They said that my infection looked gone in my tonsils but they are still concerned about my sinuses and what is going on there. I have to have a CT scan next week. They said they felt what happened to me was a combo of my ear swelling and a reaction to the antibiotic. They did not give me another antibiotic because they said 5 days was sufficient time to kill the infection. I came home today and tried to rest but it was hard because I had the kids. All day it was an effort to move or walk but thank god the other symptoms were going away. Now it is about 11:30 at night, I can't sleep and I was lying here freaking out about my legs being so screwed up. I have stairs and it is all I can do to walk up or down them. I started thinking the doctor may be nuts and that something really horrible is wrong with me (can you say paranoid?!) so I got on my lap top while my husband is asleep next to me. I found this site. Thank god. Now I can calm down and try to get some sleep! I am not dying of some freaky ailment-it IS the Avelox making me feel this way. While mentally I feel so much better and I am going to stop writing this book-I am still pretty concerned about how long the side effects with my legs are going to last. I am also a little freaked about going to the gym even after I do feel better. I will try to write later to let everyone know when my legs get back to normal. If anyone is experiencing the same symptoms I did. Stop taking this medicine and call your doctor right away. I felt so stupid complaining about all this weird stuff-my husband acted like I might be a little nuts! Now I know its the meds!! :)

READ THIS BEFORE YOU GET VACCINATED:

This is from Merck's website:

Serious Adverse Reactions in the Entire Study Population
A total of 237 subjects out of 25,274 total subjects (9- through 45-year-old girls and women; and 9-through 15-year-old boys) who received both GARDASIL (N = 13,686) and AAHS control (N = 11,004) or saline placebo (N = 584) reported a serious systemic adverse reaction following any vaccination visit during the clinical trials for GARDASIL.

Out of the entire study population (25,274 subjects), only 0.05% of the reported serious systemic adverse reactions were judged to be vaccine related by the study investigator. The most frequently reported serious systemic adverse reactions for GARDASIL compared to AAHS control or saline placebo and regardless of causality were:

Headache ,
Gastroenteritis ,
Appendicitis ,
Pelvic inflammatory disease ,
Urinary tract infection ,
Pneumonia ,
Pyelonephritis ,
Pulmonary embolism .
One case (0.007% GARDASIL: 0.0% AAHS Control or Saline Placebo) of bronchospasm; and
2 cases (0.02% GARDASIL: 0.0% AAHS Control or Saline Placebo) of asthma were reported as serious systemic adverse reactions that occurred following any vaccination visit.
In addition, there was 1 subject in the clinical trials, in the group that received GARDASIL, who reported two injection-site serious adverse reactions (injection-site pain and injection-site joint movement
impairment).

Systemic Autoimmune Disorders in Girls and Women 9 Through 26 Years of Age

In the clinical studies, 9- through 26-year-old girls and women were evaluated for new medical conditions that occurred over the course of follow-up. New medical conditions potentially indicative of a systemic autoimmune disorder seen in the group that received GARDASIL...includes all subjects who received at least one dose of GARDASIL.

Of the 10,706 who received Gardasil:

120 developed Arthralgia/Arthritis/Arthropathy
4 developed Autoimmune Thyroiditis
10 Coeliac Disease
2 Diabetes Mellitus Insulin-dependent
2 Erythema Nodosum
27 Hyperthyroidism***
35 Hypothyroidism†
7 Inflammatory Bowel Disease‡
2 Multiple Sclerosis
2 Nephritis¶
2 Optic Neuritis
4 Pigmentation Disorder§
13 Psoriasis#
3 Raynaud's Phenomenon
6 Rheumatoid Arthritis††
2 Scleroderma/Morphea
1 Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
1 Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
3 Uveitis

6.2 Post-Marketing Experience
The following adverse events have been spontaneously reported during post-approval use of GARDASIL. Because these events were reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not possible to reliably estimate their frequency or to establish a causal relationship to vaccine exposure.

Blood and lymphatic system disorders: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia, lymphadenopathy.
Gastrointestinal disorders: Nausea, pancreatitis, vomiting.
General disorders and administration site conditions: Asthenia, death, fatigue, malaise.
Immune system disorders: Autoimmune diseases, hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reactions, bronchospasm, and urticaria.
Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders: Arthralgia, myalgia.
Nervous system disorders: Dizziness, Guillain-Barré syndrome, headache, motor neuron disease, paralysis, seizures, syncope sometimes resulting in falling with injury, transverse myelitis.
Vascular Disorders: Deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolus.

Pediatric Use
Safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients below 9 years of age nor in pediatric males of any age.

My sister had this exact thing happen to her and the nurse who posted the saline shots is totally right. It took three doctors to find the one that knew that injecting the site with saline to clean off the crystals that eat at the flesh is the solution. Apparently most doctors have no idea what this is. It takes about 8 sessions, and once the crystals are wiped from the skin, then the body will begin to fill in the dent. No one ever mentioned this as a side effect and apparently happens when you tense up and the shot is improperly administered

I posted my experience with Kenalog in my chin area and my bad atrophy results. Has anyone tried the saline infiltration treatment? If so, did they have good results?

I had my parotid glands washed out with saline and because they were still dirty the surgeon decided to swab them with Betadine. When I came around from the operation I was panicking in the recovery room. Later, I was put into a side ward, luckily with my sister in attendance, and took a minute sip of water. This caused me to choke and I could not catch my breath. Assistance was sought and I was taken away to get help with my breathing. My whole face swelled up and my eyes had huge sort of blisters under them, which affected my sight for about 3 days; my hearing was also affected temporarily. The sides of my face, where the parotid glands are, were absolutely solid, my lips were distorted and I looked like I had been in a fight. My vocal cords were also swollen, which resulted in very poor speech for 24/36 hours. I had to be put on continuous oxygen, and have frequent nebulisers. I was given steroids, antihistamines, antibiotics and other treatments which I am not sure of. What should have been a 45 minute operation and 2-3 hour recovery resulted in a week's stay in hospital. When I was discharged, I had to return the following day, as the swelling had come back up again and I had to have the steroid medication I was sent home with doubled and Piriton and Omeprazole prescribed as well. I had intense pain at the top of my head, over my left ear, at various times during the week, resulting in me having to take Oramorph. All of these effects caused my diabetes to go out of control, with my blood sugars running over 20 for the first 2 days and well over 10 for the rest of the week. All in all I was very unwell.

I had the shot twice. The first time my butt turned black and blue, and it lasted a while. I told my doctor about it when I went for the second shot. He told me that it was normal, and also about the dent and how it happens in some cases, but not all. I never noticed that I had one until last week. It is about the size of a golf ball, maybe a little bigger. I am so upset over this. I am just glad I am not alone in this situation. I am shocked at how many posts there are. I read somewhere where it is curable. They inject some kind of saline into the injection site. I am definitely going to ask about this, and I will NEVER get the shot again!! I'd rather take Allegra!! Good luck to you all :-)

After reading all the horror stories on here, me and my husband soon began to realize that we were having a lot of the side effects listed here and not listed on my son's actual Singulair prescription. The side effects my son had were behavioral changes, irrational behavior, inattentiveness, not able to stay on task or stay still -- in fact he broke his arm twice being so hyper, yelling, screaming and just plain mean.

We took our son off of Singulair as a trial for a few days. Immediately we began to notice differences in his behavior. He wasn't as agitated and quick to yell or get angry. (He's only 5 years old). He actually would be listening when we would speak to him. He would sit calmy and read books and the one huge thing he would do was look at us and smile. He even said to my husband once, "I love you Daddy," which just brought tears to our eyes. I never realized what a Singulair fog he was in and what it did to him. Here we were pretty close to getting him evaluated for ADHD or even Aspergers. So now we're in the same boat as others that are searching for other asthma meds to give my son. Right now we have gone back to Pulmicort, Xopenex, Nasonex and Allegra. I'm so glad I read this forum because I was desperately searching for answers for my sons behavioral issues. Oh, by the way he was on Singulair for 1-1/2 years.

I had the shot in September 07. I agree that it is scary to read all these posts. about two months ago I noticed a small "dent" on my lower back. I though little of it, thought it was just a dimple from exercising. after months it has persisted and when you push it it feels like there is just nothing there. I googled it and was both relieved and newly concerned to find this. I have an appointment with the people who gave me the shot, but realize there is little they can do, at least they will know. I feel helpless and am scared it will continue to grow...just don't know what to do.

Update.. well today is the 10th day off of Singulair for my 6yr old son. He is doing wonderful. One of the issues he has been dealing with over last year was constant sinus infections. Just curious if anyone else out there experienced thick mucus/sinus infections. His got to the point that his adenoids became enlarged from constant infections but even after surgery in Feb his sinus did not seem to drain completely. Well yesterday he finally started having discharge of what seems to be a lining in his sinus(what they saw on cat scan before surgery). He has no cold symptons and I have been giving him mucinex & saline washes to help thin it out but I have been doing this along.. I have been waiting for this to happen for months now! I don't feel its coincidence that its after we stopped the Singulair his sinuses are finally draining (without antibiotics)

I to have a huge dent in my right butt cheek. I would be interested in a class action suit. This is ridiculous! It has been about three months since I received the shot. Has anyone noticed their dents getting better with time?

I too experienced an indentation from a kenalog shot. My experience is a little different though, because I received the shots on my face for acne. I received four shots and two out of the four depressed / indented. I was EXTREMELY depressed and felt hopeless after reading it would take 6 months to a year (or more) to have my skin gash-free. I stayed up for two days straight searching for some sort of help on the internet and found a medical article about something called saline infiltration. It is a relatively new procedure and was created by "one of the best dermatologists in the country". I was so desperate, that the next morning I drove to see him in La Jolla, Ca (I live in LA). I received shots in the problem areas. It is now two days later and my indents are about 80% better!! He told me to give it another couple of days to see complete restoration, and if not, said that one more treatment should make everything 100% normal again. Needless to say, I am thrilled!! I do not know if this will work for any of your situations (being that the dr. is a dermatologist and the shot was initially given for acne), but I thought I would share my great news and hopefully help at least one person out there dealing with this mess.

I too experienced an indentation from a kenalog shot. My experience is a little different though, because I received the shots on my face for acne. I received four shots and two out of the four depressed / indented. I was EXTREMELY depressed and felt hopeless after reading it would take 6 months to a year (or more) to have my skin gash-free. I stayed up for two days straight searching for some sort of help on the internet and found a medical article about something called saline infiltration. It is a relatively new procedure and was created by "one of the best dermatologists in the country". I was so desperate, that the next morning I drove to see him in La Jolla, Ca (I live in LA). I received shots in the problem areas. It is now two days later and my indents are about 80% better!! He told me to give it another couple of days to see complete restoration, and if not, said that one more treatment should make everything 100% normal again. Needless to say, I am thrilled!! I do not know if this will work for any of your situations (being that the dr. is a dermatologist and the shot was initially given for acne), but I thought I would share my great news and hopefully help at least one person out there dealing with this mess. Good luck to you all - I feel for your situations.

I've only been on singulair for 6 days and it is now 4:23am. I just couldn't sleep tonight. I've been having the strangest dreams and I commented to my wife about them. We just laughed it off. Anyway, at this time of the morning, my EARS are "Hissing" so loudly, not ringing, however I do detect a slight pulsating tonal sound in my left ear, that I just couldn't sleep anymore. I've a history of Tinnitus but something has exacerbated my tinnitus dramatically, so much so it is keeping me awake. I think I'll be needing something to help me sleep now. Perhaps I will stay off the Singulair for now just to see if life returns to some kind of normalcy. Could it be a side effect of Singulair. I don't know but I felt like driving something through my head to stop all the loud noise. Has anyone else experienced elevated levels, or a new development of "Ringing in the Ears", commonly known as Tinnitus?

Presently on 20mg of Lisinopril. Altitude intolerance @4500 ft at Yosemite yesterday caused me to call 911 on one of the hiking paths. My blood pressue dropped to 112/60 and the side effects were severe. My hiking partner was not sure if the paramedic was joking or not when he said he could not find a pulse on me, but after 2 saline iv's I came back to life after nearly going into shock from a LOW blood pressure episode . I never want to be that sick again. I was rushed to the local clinic and diagnosed with altitude intolerance and the doc said I may need to lower my lisinopril (20 Mg) dosage, because it may well be the source of my intorerance episode. I went X- country skiing earlier this spring and had a similar experience, but not nearly as life threatning as yesterdays ambulance ride.
If anyone is thinking of driving to a higher altitude, don't exert yourself immediately. If it is an extended stay, take it easy and let your blood and body acclimate to the thinner air. I will ask my doctor to lower my meds to 10 mg because I now regulary jog 3.5 miles a day to keeps the pounds in check and I FEEL so much better.

My 6 year old daughter was on singulair - 4 mg for about 9mos to help w/ chronic sinusitis. It helped for awhile but her sinuses seemed to get even worse after awhile. We upped her dose to 5 mg. It was horrible. She developed Reflux and horrific mood swings. My loving easy going child turned evil and inconsolable. I pulled her off the meds after reading this site. I called our pediatrician who said to stop it and then we should try to put her back on the 4 mg. I refused. Instead we eliminated most straight dairy from her diet and are religious about saline nasal washes every night. Her sinuses are pretty great and her moods improved dramatically. We have had her on prevacid for about 6 months and her stomach seems to have healed. We are taking her off that soon. We'll see how she does this allergy seaon and think about trying zyrtec again if we need to do something.