July 27th
2007
5:46 PM
My husband was diagnosed with MS 2 1/2 years ago. He has been on Lipitor for about 1 year. Within the past 4 months, his walking has gotten worse. Where it used to be just his right leg, now it is his left as well. Severe leg cramps, fatigue -which could be the MS - trouble keeping balance - also could be MS - lower back aches, slurred speach and memory loss. I know alot of these are associated with MS but after reading all the other letters, I am beginning to wonder if his walking has gotten worse due to the Lipitor. He used to have trouble walking but with a cane, could go for miles. Now he can't even walk 15 minutes without almost falling. A friend of ours stopped taking the Lipitor and felt better within 1 week. I am hoping the same happens to my husband. Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories.
-- By mamaleenie | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
July 12th
2007
2:12 PM
Taking Topamax for 2 years started out at 25 mgs 3 times a day for a mood stabalizer (bi-polar). Had tingling in hands and feet sometimes in face. Lost waight, pop tasts nasty, sleepy, short term memory loss, slurred speach. Now I take 100mg at bed time have no symptoms except I still am able to controll my eating (had a problem with over eating) no more road rage but I still felf a little depressed and did cry so I was not to stable until Citalopram 10mg at bedtime and Adderall XL 10mg in the morning was added. Now I finally feel like a totaly normal person. No more anxiety, mood swings, crying, paranoia,or any other weird stuff. I feel pretty good. Rarely I get pins and needles in my hands or feet or I forget where I put something.
-- By tac | Reply | (3) replies | Private Message me
June 29th
2007
6:10 PM
I have MS and have been taking Ambien for a few months now to help me sleep. My husband and daughter told me this morning that last night I got up from bed and was completely naked and walked out into the living room. They said I looked very wasted and was looking all around the house for some soda and them went back to bed. I can't remember any of this. It scares me. what if they were not home, would I of drove to the store naked looking for soda? This is a very dangerous side effect. It only happened one othere time when I got up and was surfing the TV channels looking for a TV program. Again, I don't remeber it happening. I also It is making my MS symptoms worse, I am having more stiffness and spasms along with blurred vision.
-- By rosep | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
October 10th
2006
8:36 PM
I have been reading a lot about some of the side-effects of coming off paxil. My girlfriend is attempting to do the same right now. Her withdrawal seems to be in line with some of the worse descriptions that I find on the net, and she is starting to question her ability to successfully come off the drug. I support her either way - on or off - but she really wants to come off for at least long enough to evaluate if she actually needs it any more (she has been on it for 7+ years).
She has had dizziness, nausea, and reported "shocks inside her brain" for the past 3 weeks while reducing her dose. Last weekend we went away, and she forgot her medication. In the past, we would have resolved the situation, but since she is in the process of reducing her dose (she went from 30->20->10) and was feeling OK, she decided to go from 10->0. At the end of 3 days, she is crashing hard!! Very distraught, emotional, slurred speach. Really having a rough time. She has gone back to 5 mg, which seems to have helped the physical symptoms a bit, but that is only 1 day after being off for 3. We will see... the emotional/self-questioning is the toughest part right now.
I think it would be good if I could pass along a "success" story... so many people have shared their problems online, which goes a long ways toward her feeling like she is not "going crazy". However, most people don't follow through when they get through it. I think she needs to hear that it is not all just trouble, and that there is an end to it (if, in fact, there is).
Just for the record... her doctor told her that she would be fine to reduce her dose to 0 over the course of 7 days... it was her own research that lead to her decision to try to do it over the course of 30 days instead. I can't imagine how she would have gotten through it if she had been so naive as to have followed his instructions!
Thanks for sharing...
-- By dean654 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
July 13th
2006
4:31 PM
Male age 50. Used Lipitor 20mg for 10 months, having previuosly taken Lescol and Zetia. I am suffering very serious side effects including: slurred speach, loss of muscle mass and strength in right arm and hand, sore right foot, muscle tremors, severe cramps in legs and abdomen. I stopped Liptor 6 weeks ago. Cramps have stopped but little improvement in other conditions.
-- By wmmcsharp | Reply | Private Message me
July 2th
2006
6:02 PM
I used Lipitor for 10 months after previously using Lescol and Zetia. I have experienced severe muscled cramps, muscle tremors, loss of strength, slurred speach, tendonitis, and muscle wasting. I stopped Lipitor one month ago but have not yet seen much improvement in my symptoms.
-- By wmmcsharp | Reply | Private Message me
July 28th
2005
5:10 AM
My husband and I had the pleasure of raising a beautiful, very smart grandson for the past 3 and a half years. Hunter had CP and epilepsy. Most of his siezures would last at least an hour which meant ER visits regularly. He took Keppra and Carbatrol and experienced few side effects from these medications,but still had siesures about once a month. Then he started having siezures more often. He was put on Topamax as an add on drug. He built up slowly to 150 Mg per day split into twice a day doses and still had two more siezures so 50 more Mg was added. During the time Hunter was on Topamax he suffered many side effects such as slurred speach, uncoordination, wetting his pants, agressive behavior, and lathargic. He was 5 years old and to young to discribe some of his symptoms. Everyone noticed that he was not the same child as he was before taking Topamax. We were very concerned and did discuss our concerns with his doctors. They felt that it was his body getting adjusted to the Topamax and that the symptoms would lesson when his systom leveled out. I did read that Topamax may cause nose bleeds and if he had a nose bleed to take him to his doctor. He had no nose bleeds till the morning of July 6,2005. I always slept with him because most of his siezures occured at night. It was just habbit for me to check him often if I woke up before he did. On the morning of July 6,2005, I got up at 6:A.M. made sure Hunter was okey and was getting things together for a trip to Magic Springs, an amusement park. Hunter was so excited the night before and all he could talk about was the fun he was going to have at Magic Springs. At 7:00 A.M. I checked on him. He was still asleep and okey. Again at 7:30 A.M. he was checked and was still sleeping and was okey. Twenty minutes later I went in his room to wake him and get him dressed for our trip. Hunter was laying at the foot of his bed face down in a pool of blood. When I turned him over blood was coming out of his nose massively, his face was blue. 911 was called, I did CPR on him till they got to our home, the EMT's did CPR and transported him to the ER. The doctors in ER tried to save him also. Hunter died July6,2005. When Hunter had his first nose bleed it was so massive no one could save him.
-- By conniedougan | Reply | Private Message me
April 2th
2005
1:31 PM
I WAS PUT ON NEURONTIN FOR LEG SPASMS & FOR PSYCHITRIC REASONS. MY LEGS & ANKLES SWELLED & I ALSO EXPERIENCED SLURRED SPEACH. I ALSO HAD PROBLEMS WITH MY BALANCE. I WAS TAKEN OFF THE MED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I GUESS IT DOESN'T WORK FOR EVERYONE.
-- By jmmontana | Reply | Private Message me
March 17th
2005
5:04 AM
cant drive car on kolonopin, slurred speach, loss of memory, cant walk straight, tired all the time. im on 1mg, 5 times a day
-- By crouse_2679 | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
Lipitor (3) Topamax (2) Paxil (1) Neurontin (1) Ambien (1) Klonopin (1) Clexane (1)
March 4th
2008
8:50 AM
WARNING be aware of H.I.T.
IF YOU ARE ON CLEXANE PLEASE MAKE SURE THE DOCTORS CHECK YOUR PLATELET LEVELS BEFORE STARTING THIS DRUG.DO NOT BE AFRAID OF ASKING AS THIS IS STATED IN GUIDELINES.
THE GUIDELINES SUGGEST IF YOUR PLATELET COUNT FALLS 50% FROM WHAT IT WAS BEFORE YOU STARTED THE TREATMENT THEN H.I.T. SHOULD BE SUSPECTED AND ALL FORMS OF HEPARIN SHOULD BE DISCONTINUED AND AN ALTERNATIVE ANTICOAGULANT BE USED.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT; PLEASE DO NOT TRUST YOUR DOCTOR TO AUTOMATICALLY DO THESE TESTS. WE TRUSTED MY GRANDMOTHERS DOCTORS, THEY DID PART OF THE TESTS BUT FAILED TO ACT ON THE RESULTS!!!!!
My grandmother died from heparin induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).
This is an adverse reaction to the drug Clexane. Guidelines suggest platelet count should be monitored, unfortunately the hospital Doctors did not monitor her blood whilst she was on this drug. A 50% fall in platelet count should have alerted Doctors to act on their findings and discontinue the drug, instead they carried on giving it to her for a further 6 days. Her symptoms were as follows;
itchy
drowsy
bruises
nausea
vomiting
diarrhea
Because her reaction to Clexane had gone unnoticed she was still being given this drug her symptoms became worse they were as follows;
Black bruises (necrosis)
gastrointestinal haemorrhage
spontaneous bruising
slurred speech
confusion
falling platelet count
When the Doctors discovered the internal bleeding they stopped the Clexane but did not offer her an alternative anticoagulant and her symptoms after this were as follows;
Deep vein thrombosis, arterial thrombosis, she was still hemorrhaging, her platelets fell to 5 and her HB fell to 6.9 INR was normal.
She was transfused with platelets and red blood cells and then died. (Clexane heparin induced thrombocytopenia) is on her death certificate AFTER A FOUR YEAR BATTLE FOR AN INQUEST INTO HER DEATH! My research has led me to believe that most Doctors believe HIT is very rare and they don't bother to check for this condition, if the doctors had checked her blood test and realized a sudden 50% fall in her platelet level was more significant than the actual platelet count itself , then she would not have died.The 50% drop was a serious side effect of this drug.
PLEASE ASK YOUR DR TO CHECK AND TELL HIM/HER TO CHECK IF YOU HAVE GOT BETWEEN 30-50% DROP IN PLATELETS THEN MAKE SURE YOUR DOCTOR KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING.
Jill (Lancashre UK)
-- By jillorrell | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me