Slow recovery symptoms and conditions

I am happy to find this site. I was given Levaquin for UTI. A few weeks prior to getting this prescription I was given a sulfa based drug (generic for Bactrim) and started feeling some pain in right wrist and hand. Dr. prescribed Levaquin since this sulfa based drug didn't clear up infection. Took 2 doses of 250mg and the reactions hit - both hands swelled, joints ached, both knees swelled and both feet and ankles swelled. Went to ER and admitted and spent 3 days in hospital on morphine and started prednisone treatment of 20mg a day with Aleve to also help with pain. This Levaquin is NASTY stuff. I can't believe doctors prescribe this medication. I am still not well. How long does it take to recover? I still am stiff and ache. I too am very active runner and finding myself frustrated in the slow recovery.

I'm 17 years old and I started nuvaring in October 2008. It didn't occur to me that I wasn't myself until February 2009, and I honestly believed I was going crazy. I became so anxious and depressed about everything, especially my loved ones. My boyfriend is my best friend and my biggest support alongside my parents. I've been reevaluating every friendship/relationship i've been in. I've lost interest in my hobbies and passions. I've felt indifferent about everything, not to mention I have absolutely no sex drive. And I'm devastated that I did not enjoy my senior year of high school. I didn't think about the nuvaring until 2 weeks ago. I came on this website and read all of the stories of depression, mood swings, anxiety, etc. You have no idea how relieved I felt. I took out the ring on Saturday as usual and got my period today. However, I will not be continuing nuvaring. I still feel anxious, irritable, and I'm even second guessing that the ring is the cause, however I very much hope that it is and that I feel like my carefree outgoing self again soon. I'm angry that I didn't make the connection sooner because it made my senior year very upsetting and has slowly been hurting my friendship/relationship with my boyfriend.

Wow! I must be the latest in a long line of Lipitor users and apparently pain sufferers. I have been on Lipitor for over a year. I am 56 years old, active and healthy (thank God). Around November 2008, I noticed a "twinge" in my left hip while sleeping. This has gotten progressively worse over the months and I thought it was due to arthritis (which runs in my family). But after reading these blogs, I am not so sure. If anyone has anything definitive regarding this, ie: tests, studies, etc., I would really appreciate a point in the right direction for more information. I was thinking (until today) that I was headed for hip surgery or something equally drastic. Now that I have a clue that it may be the Lipitor, I want to investigate further and then, if necessary, change to another medication that won't break me down like this. My heart goes out to anyone that has suffered through hip pain. It is a miserable, painful condition that saps your energy and your desire to even move sometimes. I appreciate any help you can offer. God bless all of you. - L. B. ******

Yasmin is the WORST drug out there. I'd been taking Yasmin for 5 months when suddenly one day I had a terrible panic attack and couldn't stop shaking. I went to the ER and they told me I was just having a panic attack so I went home and layed on the couch for about 2 weeks having one panic attack after another and being extremely anxious. Eventually I went to my normal doctor who said Yasmin had nothing to do with it and put me on 37.5mg of Effexor which took away the panic attacks. Eventually I found this website and the Yasmin Survivors website and made the connection. I've been off Yasmin for almost 2 weeks and Im already making a very slow recovery. I don't recommend antidepressants but they are helping me get through it and im hoping very soon I wont need them anymore. This pill is not worth it. It almost ruined my life.

My son is 16 years old, a wrestler, and was in excellent health. He developed sinus issues and had surgery on September 17, 2007 (he had a headache on the left side of his head which the ENT said was due to sinus issues). After sinus surgery, the doctor prescribed Levaquin for 10 days. After 4 days, I called his doctor and told him he was getting worse and not better. The doctor said not to worry. After that he had sleepless nights, felt like the room was moving away from him, became dizzy and light headed. Then the joint pain came. First in his thumbs, then wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. He developed severe headaches in the back of his head. The headaches were moderate to severe and with him 24 hours a day. He became extremely weak and his dizziness continued. He was tested for many diseases through numerous blood tests, had a spinal tap, MRI, MRA, CT of the spine, CT of the sinuses, x-rays of the knees, and an EEG. All came back normal, except his sinuses were still swollen which is normal after sinus surgery. He has seen numerous medical doctors (primary, pediatrician, two neurologists, allergist, two Ear Nose Throat) and is now seeing a pediatrician in UCLA and has appointments to see more UCLA doctors.

He has been out of school now for a couple of months. Luckily, the school has him on home instruction and sends teachers to the house and he is maintaining his honors classes. To give you all hope, he does appear to be getting better, but it is a very slow recovery. Up until two weeks ago, some days were okay and some days were pretty bad. It comes and goes like that. At first I never suspected Levaquin, but stumbled across the side effects when I was trying to research what was wrong with him. The only thing I found that had helped some people was taking high doses of magnesium (the kind ending in "ate" is better absorbed). I was and still am nervous about giving my child a lot of any type of vitamin, but no one was able to make him better, so I gave him 250 mg three times a day for three days. It could be just a coincidence, but about 3 days after I stopped giving him the magnesium, all of the joint pain was gone except for his knees, which still hurt if he bent down.

After a couple more weeks, he still had severe headaches, knee pain, some dizziness and some weakness, so I thought I would give it another go and gave him magnesium three times a day for 4 more days. After the 4 days of magnesium, he started on a new medication called Lyrica. His knee pain is almost gone and his headaches are minor with only an occasional flair up. I can see in his eyes and how he reacts that his is feeling better than he has in a long time. He has always been a happy kid, but I can tell he has his special spark back.

For the last two weeks, I just give him one 250 mg of magnesium a day, multi-vitamins, and Lyrica. By the way, one of the blood tests I requested was for magnesium, and it showed his level was normal. So, I have no idea if it is time that is making him better, the magnesium, or the fact that he is taking Lyrica. He will still continue to go to the doctors, none who believe Levaquin could be a cause, until he is completely back to normal. I believe that Levaquin was likely a culprit in his overall health issues, especially since no one can figure out how my healthy, energetic son suddenly became so ill he could no longer go to school. For the past two weeks now, he has had good days mixed in with okay days (no bad days though!!!) He has had only 2 weeks so far of better health and we hope it continues to get even better. Good luck to all of you and my prayers are with you. I hope somehow this will help someone.

My experience with Yasmin has been terrable. Seven days after starting the pill I began to have anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Never in my whole life have I felt so miserable. I have a very stressful job and have always been able to cope with it, not lately. I stopped the pill two weeks into the pack and that was three weeks ago. I'm still having some panic attacks and depression. I'm glad I found this website. After reading comments here, I now see that this is going to be a slow recovery, but at least I can see a light at the end of the tunel. I was told my side effects would go away shortly after stopping the pill. That has not been the case with me. To all you ladies that have had side effects from Yasmin, you are not alone.

My 6 year old son has had all of these more or less. He has been on Singulair for about 5 months. We took him off last Friday when he started having seizures. It is only now that we are connecting the things he has complained about. He is still going through testing but everytime a test is done it is negative. He is in perfect health. The dr.s are stumped. What happens is, he smells a wierd smell. Then he sees lights. After this he has a bad headache and becomes weak so he lays down. Shortly thereafter he stiffens and starts shaking his arms and legs while clinching his hands. He also grunts and makes a buzzing sound and appears as though he only breathes out. the dr.s say it is not seizures but movement disorder and if it is Singulair it should be out of his system within 3 days... He is still having the seizure type fits and its been a week since we took him off singulair. He is still losing his temper and having horrible dreams as well. Cat scan was normal, EEG was normal, blood work is ok, they want to do an MRI but does this sound familiar to anyone?

Hi Guest 31105

I just wanted to let you know that It will take some time for your daughters hormones to balance again. Believe me right now they are still very off balance, and since that intricate balance is what gives you a sense of well being, the fact that they are so off (and I believe the YASMIN does this even more so than any of the other bcp for some girls) then she is not going to feel well for a few months. It WILL be on and off too, as I have experienced this as well. Dont go by when other people on this site feel good or bad, because everyones body chemistry is different. I know that personally for me it seems like there is only about a week or so that I felt good and then I would have a lot of bad days, before, during and after my period. Especially just after quitting the yasmin.
Keep in mind though that this gets better and better every month, you see birth control pills suppress the endogenous ovarian production of estradiol and progesterone resulting in low hormone levels which may be seen for 2-3 months after oral birth control pills have been stopped. Levels may return to normal within this time period. (I received my information from a lab where I have been having my hormones tested for the past 6 months.) But, I have been having a really SLOW recovery period of this balancing of my hormones, as I have seen with many girls on this site. So I believe with all the other types of bcp that someone may be on this may be true, but I think Yasmin threw my hormones so out of whack, and so OPPOSITE of my body chemistry that it is taking longer for the body to recover. So I was hoping that since your daughter was so young still and producing so many hormones still that she may recover faster (I wrote you in a earlier post) and she may still as compared to us, but it definitely is going to be months, not weeks. Dont be discouraged if she goes down hill again next month and the one after that as well. Keep telling her it is going to get better, and that as her body ovulates and goes through its cycle each month that it is producing the hormones she needs to regulate and balance her hormones. Tell her it is normal to feel great and happy for a while (it may be a week it may only be a day) and you feel like your improving, and then all of a sudden the next day or the next minute even you can feel like your whole world has fallen apart again and your back to square one. Its not like a steady improvement day to day, its more like month to month and you will only see the improvement in the fact that eventually she will start having more good days than bad, and more of her symptoms will gradually disappear. I dont know if raising the anti depressant dose will help as I said it seems to be a roller coaster of emotions as Im willing to bet in a few days she will start feeling better again as her progesterone and estrogen are going to start to rise again these next few weeks and they will be trying to balance themselves again before her next period where both hormones will fall again (Just before her period) and then the egg is released (her period) and then the hormones start to climb again after her period. So you can see why she becomes emotional at different times.
Being a nurse myself I have done tons of reading on hormones and what the body goes through in a cycle just so I can try to understand what is happening and why, but I have to tell you even knowing all I know and having the scientific facts of why I may be feeling the way I do, even I still fall into a depression and feel like I am crazy at times. Even to the point that my mom has had to do a lot of comforting to me! And Im in my 30's! So please just keep telling her to hang in there and that she is not crazy, what she is feeling is real because hormones (the right balance) are so important to our bodies our minds and our health, and the bcp wiped out that balance and now our bodies have to build this house of cards again, so to speak.
Take care and feel free to write back especially if you have any questions I will answer them as honestly as I can. Oh, and also, if your daughter does not start to feel some improvement in a least 4-5 months and I mean improvement not necessarily total recovery, I would take her to a doctor who specializes in hormones (It will take some research to find one who really does) and have her hormones tested to see if her body is having trouble balancing a particular hormone. But keep in mind it takes a long long time for complete balance as I have not even reached that stage yet, but I did set myself back by trying to restart my original bcp I was on Ortho novum for 14 yrs with no problems, and it threw my hormones off yet again! But Im hoping not as bad as the yasmin did. Only time will tell.
Sorry I wrote a book again!
Take care, I wish your daughter and all the girls on this web site the best of luck!
Bitter RN