Stress tests symptoms and conditions

I am feeling such relief right now- I'm not alone. After having EKGs and Cardio-pulmonary stress tests, CAT scans of my lungs and chest, an abdominal ultra sound, and stress echocardiograms (all of these were normal or negative, mind you), not to mention months of anxiety, I finally started talking with a cardiologist to see if I had done/started anything around the time my symptoms started. I realized I had switched from an oral (orthotricyclen) to nuvaring birth control about two months before I started my symptoms of no sex drive, difficulty breathing, exhaustion, and severe anxiety. To elaborate- I was a national champion soccer player, I've always been in great shape, and I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without being exhausted. I couldn't hold a five minute conversation without chest tightness and difficulty breathing. Everyone kept saying I was stressed (new job, new house), but I know I wasn't doing anything that unusually stressful. I love my job, and my house, and while I realize they may cause some stress, I shouldn't CONSTANTLY feel like this.

The most pressing issue, of course, was the breathing stuff. The doctor suggested, even though he wasn't familiar with the nuvaring side effects, that I take it out to see if there was any change. After reading what all of you have written, and after being off it for two weeks, and beginning to feel a change, I'm pretty damn sure it was Nuvaring. I already remember that my husband is sexy, and I'm able to go on dog walks without getting winded. I also am happier, and feel more awake, than I have in a year.

THANK YOU ALL for posting. I'm going to warn my girlfriends of this stuff- I wish my doctor (who is no longer my doctor) had said more than "there really aren't any side effects except some discharge- nothing different than the usual pill side effects".

Started taking lisinopril April 6th of this year. Have had many of the symptoms listed in these posts. I just thought I was still having symptoms from being sick. I have had a lot of anxiety and depression, as well as chest pain and heart palpitations. My hands were ice cold and had severe stomach pain. My head felt very cloudy and numb. I have had every blood test possible, 2 EKG's, a brain MRI, cervical MRI and brain MRA, and a chest x-ray. So far, everything is normal. I saw this site a few weeks ago and on June 8th, I stopped taking lisinopril. I have started feeling better, not completely, but definitely better. I am supposed to go back to my doctor on the 29th. He did not agree with me that these symptoms could all be caused from this drug. He reluctantly agreed that I get off it for these 3 weeks. I am still taking Hydrochlorot with no symptoms. Not sure what to tell him when I go back. Are any of the other blood pressure drugs safe???

I started taking YAZ in May 2008, after I told my doctor that I wanted to regulate my period (basically because I was going on scuba diving trip and didn't want to have my period) - I also told him that I was kind of b*tchy lately and maybe there was a pill that could help that as well. He prescribed YAZ - I went on my trip, no period (very light periods also)... In September 2008, I went to a cardiologist for heart palpitations, chest pains, shortness of breath (never thinking that YAZ had anything to do with it). After a huge array of tests (cat scans, blood clot scans, blood work, stress tests, etc...), he didn't find anything, but advised me to take 1 baby aspirin per day. About a month later, I started getting dizzy spells. I stopped taking the aspirin, figuring that's what was causing that (still never thinking about the YAZ - basically, because I had never had a problem with any other birth control pills). I took my last YAZ in January 2009. It seemed that my ill conditions slowly stopped.... Then, last week, in June 2009, I bought a pack from my almost expired prescription because I was going on another scuba trip and my period was scheduled to come when I would be away... I took a pill on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday (got my period, but it was very light), but by Sunday, I was so dizzy again, I could barely stand up. That was 3 days ago; still dizzy, but I'm writing off YAZ for good - it seems like that was cause of my health problems and it really isn't worth it just so I can plan a vacation around my period. I will be looking into alternatives to YAZ - I would advise if you have any of these symptoms, to do so as well.... Good luck! L....

Since having the Mirena inserted 6 months ago, I have gained 30 lbs, my hands and feet swell terribly, I get headaches, suffer from insomnia, I have no sex drive, I cry all the time and other times I want to be as mean to someone as I can. I have developed heart palpitations and undergoing stress tests, ECG's, blood pressure monitoring. I have dry course skin and hair and developed acne and I either bleed or spot so have had to be monitored for low blood iron levels. I use to healthy and happy and feel like I spend all my time at appts or in hospitals. I have mentioned my beliefs concerning what the Mirena does and feel as though it reaches deaf ears. Today was a terrible struggle talking my ob/gyn into removing the Mirena. I will have to go for surgery to have it removed and have become very vocal about the Mirena overnight.

49 year old male started 4 years ago at 20mg and 10mg HCTZ. some results in lowering BP. 2 years ago MD upped it to 40mg because BP inching up. quit smoking 3 years ago, not one puff since. After MD upped mg the side affects have really kicked in. I experience all the side effects listed on this site with the exception of the cough which I started with but went away after a couple months. I have had stress tests, Holter monitor for heart arrhythmias, mri, blood work, stool samples, colonoscopy, and all sorts of other tests all coming saying I'm ok, yet I don't feel ok, I get progressively worse. After 4 weeks of 5 day a week exercising with weights and aerobics to get in shape to return to racquetball I have had it. I couldn't last 45 minutes my second day out. I felt like I was hit by a truck and it took a couple days to recover.
My MD attributes the issues to aging. I going for a second opinion and third if necessary. I am told by my MD that there are no studies showing these side affects for this medications. However I look at this web site and find it hard to believe that these doctors just haven't seen any evidence of what we are all suffering from. Why don't doctors really listen to patients. We are asked to listen to our own bodies and told we know our bodies better than anyone, yet when we bring up these issues we are treated like children.
No real answers, just questions

I am 39 years old and have been on Omeprazole for 6 years. I have had the worst year ever. I was always a healthy and fit guy until 2008. I had chronic headaches and extreme fogginess which led to me having an MRI and seeing a chiro(all negative). I had chronic chest pain which led to EKG's, stress tests, ER visits, and tons of blood work ranging from cardiac, glucose, liver, renal, thyroid, etc...(all negative). Did gastroscopy and found esophagitis and gastritis. Upped the dosage of Omeprazole. Then I started getting tremors, muscle cramping, muscle pain, fatigue, blotchy red skin, and continued fogginess and lightheaded.

Did I mention i still have constant heartburn despite all the Omeprazole. I have done everything...tilt up head of bed, bland diet, no coffee or alcohol, no eating late evening etc....

Doctor put me on Fluoxetine (Prozac) for all my stress and anxiety from these crazy symptoms. After seeing this site and reading all your testimonies I am now thinking it is from the Omeprazole!!! Scary thought to stop since my chest pain and heartburn can be pretty severe and constant. What do I do? Feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place here.

I am 43 yr old woman and have been on simvastatin on and off for the past 3yrs, it's only since coming across this website that I have actually managed to find a connection between this awful drug and a whole heap of medical problems. The most recent course made me so ill that I thought I had an incurable illness that no one could diagnose, at times I have been in so much pain I thought I was going to die. It started with severe knee pain, I have a little arthritis in the knee but doctors were baffled at why it would hurt so much as x-rays on knees and hips were ok. I ended up having an operation to cut a ligament, that was over a year ago and had been in crippling pain ever-since. Also; foggy head, headaches everyday lasting all day, pain in jaw, shoulders, neck, swollen throat, incredible limb swelling, numbness all down right side, kidney problems, weakness in muscles, aching hips and legs, itching, insomnia, to name a few. I complained to my doctor when I was prescribed 50mg of this poison because as soon as I took it, I immediately felt ill and collapsed from terrible weakness, couldn't even lift a feather. They reduced it to 20mg, and I blindly kept taking it, in the meantime, my leg function was worsening, my back was killing me, I couldn't sleep because of the unbelievable burning in my shoulders, hip, neck and legs, everything hurt so much. I have been in tears from the pain and frustration of not knowing what was happening to me, painkillers, even high potency prescriptions just didn't work. I was a healthy gym-going person with a slightly high cholesterol reading, and suddenly, I was almost crippled, unable to function or look after my family, couldn't even handle simple chores that I had done a thousand times before, couldn't think, speak well, do crosswords, it was unbelievable. I have had ECG's, heart stress tests, been to and fro to doctors, hospitals, specialists, even seen an osteopath with these pains, they must have thought I was a hypochondriac! Finally, I insisted on an MRI on my thigh as it had changed shape as there was a lot of muscle wasting in both my right arm and thigh, and so much pain. A lump had also appeared and was really worrying me. The doctor tried to fob me off and said it was a fat lump, I argued that if it was fat it wouldn't hurt so damn much, so the result of the MRI is that I have a tumor which is getting bigger. If I find out that this is a result of the medication, the gates of hell will open.
I took myself off this lethal stuff immediately as soon as I realized there was a connection between it and my debilitating condition, though it's too late to save my 12 yr relationship, that went down the tubes because I just couldn't function well, oh, and my job. and any chance of working after being ill for so long.
I have been off it just a few days but already I feel almost human again. I know it'll be a while before I can see a marked difference and do some of the things I used to be able to do like walk the dog!! but I am furious with my doctor's and have written a letter of complaint, and have told them that I would rather take my chances with god and be a happy person than ever trust them again. I am in no doubt whatsoever that this drug has ruined the last 3 years of my life and probably caused irreversible damage to my leg muscles. Why take a pill because the doctor said so??NEVER AGAIN from now on everything will be checked via websites like this, I am so disgusted that instead of helping me, my own doctor just prescribed other medications I need not have had because of this pill when all he had to do was take me off it. I find it hard to believe that they don't know of these side effects, or pretend not to, how can they not make the connection?? Absolutely furious. I am in worse health now than I ever was, there should be a serious health warning before this is given to anyone, and the first port of call for any complaints should be the doctors who prescribe them instead of offering alternative solutions. This is a time bomb waiting to explode.

I am 33 years old with borderline HBP, but otherwise healthy. I have been on lisinopril for about 2 years. I thought it was a miracle drug as well lowering my BP (110-120/75-80) with no side effects. The pill's appearance changed about 6 or 7 months ago and now is the faint yellow pill that says Watson 408 on them. They did not used to say that, and they used to be a different color. I immediately noticed side effects. For the past 9 months I have gotten stress tests, wore an event monitor for a month, corotid artery scan, been to the ER about 5 times, had bloodwork done etc...
My symptoms have been:
1. When at work the room looks darker, I am a programmer and it's like someone turned down the dimmer switch and I strain to see the screen
2. I have been suffering palpitations and the sharp stabbing pains on my left side and right side of my chest
3. Most recently I have developed headaches and just this week I went to the ER b/c I got dizzy and disoriented at work. The ER said it was a spell of Vertigo.

I never even considered that it could be the lisinopril, I guess that seems pretty silly but I thought that if that was it my doc would have told me. Instead they tried to put me on Lexapro and Zoloft and even gave me some Xanax. Tomorrow I have another doc appointment and will suggest to her (yeah she is pretty hot - looks like Angelina Jolie) that it is the lisinopril. I am going to insist that I get off of it. I will post what happens. Thanks to all of you for the valuable information.
God Bless.

About 8 months ago I began to have a little high blood pressure 140/80 and some mild palpitations. I was put on Toprol XL and my nightmare began. I began to have anxiety attacks and my palpitations increased. I was given Xanax to help with the anxiety attacks. I was put on 50 mg. twice a day and I have weaned myself down to 12.5mg daily. I feel much better now but would like to get off of Toprol all together. I have gained weight, and I believe my vision and memory have been affected. Is there any other drug out there that is better to be on? I have never had a heart attack and my echo and stress tests were completely normal. I have read that people with asthma should not take Toprol. I do have allergy shots weekly and have an epi pen. Not sure what to do?? Any advice??

I am a reasonably healthy 57 year old male, 6' 1", 220 lbs. I started taking Lisinopril 10mg about 1 year old for HPB. My BP was all over the chart, but averaged at about 160/80. After being on Lisinopril for about 1 week, I noticed that my BP would be about 130/70 in the mornings, but jump back up to about 150/75 in the evenings. I have never achieved the 120/70 range that others talk about. It was also at this time that I developed the tickle and dry cough. I lose sleep by waking up coughing. The cough also comes on at any time, day or night. Sometimes I cough until I feel my head is going to explode. I never cough up anything. Always dry.

Over the last year, I have had other side effects that have come and gone and come back again. Among them have been itchy skin, numbness in fingers and toes, chest pains (EKG's and stress tests were fine), stomach pains, back pain, jaw pain, pounding heartbeat, racing heartbeat, loss of sex drive, erectile dysfunction, vivid dreams (when I sleep), feelings of dread and recurring thoughts of something happening to family members.

Since I do not have any prescription coverage in my insurance, I was happy to find a $4.00 drug, but now that the refills have run out, I think that I will ask the doctor for something else.

I have been reading the posting from this site and feel vindated. I have been on Toprol for approximately 1 year and since that time have gained over 25 pounds. Please note that I exercise and diet and have maintained my weight for without any problems; however since starting toprol, my weight is still climbing--no matter what I do! The weight gain has been in my stomach and thigh areas -- to which I have never had a problem before. I have also experienced a heaviness in the chest area and tingling in the hands since beginning the medication. Of course, I have had the echo and stress tests and the results have been wonderful-- no problems.

After reading the problems that others have been experiencing I know that it is not "in my head". I am thinking of discontinuing the toprol and would like to hear from anyone whether the weight gain will stop after stopping the toprol.

I started taking Torpol 100 MCG the night of the day I ended in the ER for high blood pressure due to a too high a dose of my thyroid medicine. I have an underactive thyroid, and my med had been increased in the last month or 6 weeks before. It takes a few weeks for the full effect of a thyroid med increase to take place. I didn't realize what it was at first but was having bouts of nausea and dizziness.

Now I still get the racing heart. I went through all the stress tests at the cardio and they were all normal. On Toprol, I get the anxiety, some chest tightness, but sometimes my heart races. Maybe the dose needs to be adjusted.

I never had high BP before this. It was 175 in the hospital, and last night I took my thyroid med at 9. An hour later my heart was racing and I had anxiety and that almost numb feeling all over. By midnight I got up and took my BP. 189/89 Took my Toprol, even tho I wasn't due to take it til the next morning. It helped some, but woke again at 3 with the anxiety.

My cardio says my heart is fine and I'm not going to have a heart attack or anything. I'm not convinced! It's scary. I am hoping that once we get my thyroid med straight, my BP will return to normal. I'm seeing my primary doc this morning to test my TSH again - that's the hormone level of your thyroid.

A friend of mine's mom took Toprol and had all kinds of muscle and joint aches. She finally conviced her doc it was the Toprol, and when she went to another BP med, the aches went away.

At any rate, I think I want to get off of Toprol after all the nasty things I've read about it here.

Hello everyone. Firstly I have to say that I'm a hard one to deal with. I don't trust doctors for the most part, I find that they're the legal drug pushers. Out of the blue 2 years ago, I developed Asthma. Without any testing they put me on advair 125. After reading your postings..wow... I thought I was taking crazy pills until now. Lately, due to enjoying the odd cigar... I've found that I've had to increase my usage (I've since stopped the run of cigars)...and as of late I've had a funny aching pain in the center of my chest. it comes, it goes, it comes it goes... it seems like every couple of minutes, but it does eventually stop. by stop I mean it doesn't last continuously for 24 hours, but it has been happening at least every day. i've gone for stress tests, MRI's... and a host of tests, ut yet they say my heart is normal. I've also noticed that some days within 2 minutes of taking my advair it seems like my heart flip flops... again, it usually only lasts for a few minutes but it's scary as hell... the only thing is that it does help me breathe easy... I've also noticed that the past 2 years of using it... I"ve had a ton of foot cramps on the bottom ball of my foot leading into the toes... painful as hell and at 3am it'll shoot me out of bed so I can walk it off and put as much pressure on it as possible in the hopes of fixing the pain. Is this really normal...or rather are these really that normal of side effects for using Advair. If so... that's it...I'm going natural in my search for an asthma cure. What kind of crap are the drug companies trying to put into our bodies.

After two weeks off finishing Yasmin, I had all symtons of a heart attack, very fightening. Had ECG, stress tests, blood tests and all normal. Had several severe anxiety attacks since and on going heart pain, pain in left arm, generally feeling awful. I am so glad I found this site, I live in France. I don't know anyone else here to talk to about this, its now six weeks for me not taking this terrible Pill. I really hope my health returns to normal soon.

I don't have any problem with Celexa. It's been great for me - I lost almost 50 pounds, my depression and especially the anxiety are way down. My problem is with the generic for Celexa, Citalopram. I tried taking it once before, a few months ago, and I started getting sore spots in my mouth, mostly on my tongue. I was in agony, and finally talked my doctor into changing the prescription back to Celexa, although she argued that generics are virtually the same as the name brand, and it would be impossible to have a reaction to the Citalopram and not the Celexa. I did go back on the Celexa, and after a couple of weeks all the mouth soreness was gone.

Recently, after a meeting with my doctor, she came to the conclusion that although the Celexa was working, for various reasons, she changed the dosage. When I got the new medication, it was the generic, but I thought this would be a good way to test whether the Citalopram really caused the mouth sores. After 3 days, my mouth hurts so bad, i can hardly eat or talk. I haven't found anyone else that has had the same experience.

I am 71 yrs. old and have had a lifetime of tests and medications to try to control what is now referred to as Gerd. Prilosec was prescribed several years ago and for me it was nothing short of a wonder drug. However, for the past couple of years, I have had several episodes of chest pain and pressure across my shoulders that resulted in Nuclear stress tests, ultrasound, etc., etc. All negative. Today, I had a chest x-ray and they are talking about a cat scan to follow. I have had increasing pressure in my chest, both arms go numb, and what feels like pressure or rawness in my esophagus. I have finally realized that it all coincides with my Insurance Co switch to the generic OMEPRAZOLE. That led me to your site on the internet. I think I have found the answer. Switching to the generec has been a very expensive mistake for my Insurance company. I have discontinued the medication and hope to get back to normal.