Stroke symptoms and conditions

Been on coumadin for a year, horrible medication. Have aches all over, legs, shoulders, back, always tired, want to be off this med. Was taking alternative meds previously...nattokinase, bilberry which are blood thinners but are also SAFE. Then I had no leg pain, no muscle pain. I now take vitamin e and fish oil with the coumadin, no interaction since I've been using them for a long time and are more beneficial than the coumadin as far as I'm concerned. What I need is a naturopathic doctor, but they are hard to find, regular mds have no clue about supplements..all they want to do is increase your prescriptions. Doctors try to scare people telling them they'll have a stroke without coumadin, but have no solution on how to prevent stroke, etc. without drugs.

Hi there... I came off of Yasmin just 2 weeks ago and thought I should share with you my story since yours is a skin issue. I took Yasmin for 3 years. This past year I would wake up some bumps on my lip.. then on my hands.. then (this is over a period of months) I would wake up and have a slightly swollen lip... this was over the last year or so. I would also get a feeling in my throat, like something was in it and swallowing felt funny.
WELL, 2 weeks ago, I took my bc like I always do, right before I go to bed and my lip starts to tingle and itch.. and in the morning my face was swollen 3x the normal size on on side, mostly at the lips... I couldn't really talk.. it was like those awful photos on google. It was angioedema and can kill you by swelling of the throat. I had also for about a year- an ear issue.. it would sound like I was talking under water and felt like swimmer's ear- related to the swelling I found out later. Turns out I'm allergic. I developed this allergy over the period of time I was exposed.

I just want to say to anyone out there that has FACIAL/LIP SWELLING, or swelling of the hands... GO TO THE ER. It can kill you. I got lucky.. my swelling started slow and after about a year if was full blown. It is not something to mess around with!I was prescribed an epi pen. I developed an allergy to a preservative in it and I'm not an allergen sensitive person. That was just the parms/doctor guess I might add.

The first year I took Yasmin I had numb and tingling toes. and the whole tie I've had on and off leg pain.. no sex drive, that's the truth..definite bloating issues about 6 lbs weight gain, sometimes more without change in diet. I haven't noticed any hair loss thankfully. Migraines. Lots of nausea in the morning, every morning like morning sickness. Car sick even when driving.. not normal! I used to work on an airplane and I never got motion sickness.

I'm now on day 4 of Mirena IUD and I'm having having severe diarrhea and trouble sleeping.. I really, really don't want to get pregnant. Our next step is a vasectomy for the hubby. I'm 25 and I weigh 140 5'10 if that helps. I wasn't an 'at risk' like the pamphlet said.

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 was prescribed this medicine for a breast abscess. I have a bad reaction to penicillin and levaquin was given to me as an alternative. I took the first pill at 11:00 pm. I woke up about every 30 minutes drenched in sweat until 2:00 and then could not go back to sleep. I took drinks of water when I woke up in order to keep hydrated. I have a lap band, and I noticed that the water wasn’t going down easily which let me know the medicine had made my stomach swell. I finally fell asleep around 3:30 and had evil nightmares until 5am. I was afraid to go back to sleep so I decided I'd just stay awake until time for me to get up for work. I will be calling my doctor's office as soon as they open to let her know this medicine is not for me. After reading your stories, I refuse to take it another day.

I have been taking Lamictal 150 mgs for about 2 years to prevent Basilar migraines. This medicine saved my life. I was having these scary migraines where I would have stroke like symptoms (loss of speech, vision and confusion) two or three times a week. My Dr. started me on a very low dose and stopped titrating me up when I hit a therapeutic level . I have night sweats, some nightmares and some anxiety at times but I'm willing to get over it because I don't have the migraines.

I took my 2nd Avelox pill at 10am this morning, by lunch time I felt very jittery and anxious, and had isolated tingling in my left hand and foot. Tonight I had severe abdominal pain and then the subsequent emptying of the bowels (ok, that's gross!). I am a healthy 39-year old woman who has never had any side effects from medication. This was prescribed for a sinus infection. Thank you all for your posts about your experience with this horrible stuff. I feel better knowing that I'm not going crazy. Unfortunately, because this is a once-a-day pill, this stuff is still in my system. For those of you who are posting on this site saying you've had no side effects and this medicine worked great, you probably work for Bayer in their PR department....if not and you really did not have any side effects, this site is for those of us who HAVE had side effects.

This is not a new side effect, but the same day I started taking Levaquin for sinusitis, I suspected something was wrong. Within hours, ears were roaring. First night, NO sleep, and that's WITH Ambien CR. Day 2.....depression! Immediate. This is in spite of having a severe depression under control for over a year. Sudden. I really started suspecting Levaquin then, but thought it was a coincidence. Took it this morning. Deep, dark depression. After reading these posts, I knew my suspicions were correct. The depression is getting better after 10-12 hours after the dose. This is really scary stuff. Really scary. Oh, yes, and I had the stomach pains, also. Told my husband it was just hurting like a bruise, not like indigestion or gas. I will report it to my doctor so they will no it's a "no-no" for me....in spite of all the websites that said how safe it was. Glad I found this website. Thank God.

Three pills @500mg each. That’s all it took. Three pills of a five-pill prescription for levaquin. I can still see the pursed lips and amused twinkle in the eyes of my urologist who said "You're going to be all right" after he prescribed meds for my prostates. The doctor discerned the rapidly cycling angst in my face as I teetered emotionally between blind faith in his curative powers and a nagging suspicion that he was another overpaid oaf in a long train of medical practitioners whose 15-minute consultative look-sees had done sometimes good and sometimes bad to stem the ravages in my then 61- year old frame. Subsequent events proved my nagging suspicions were correct.

Was my urologic problem bacteriologic, viral, or "non-specific"? Was it psychosomatic, STD-related, or associated with my recurrent bouts of kidney stones and urethritis? The medicine man really didn't know, but that didn't stop him from enlisting quaint Latin phrases to describe my condition. He prescribed me with an intimidatingly-named antibiotic (”levofloxacin”) from an odd sounding family of antibiotics (”fluoroquinolones”), which loosed on my internal flora a block-buster med suffused with flouride molecules just to make sure that the quinolones would penetrate every single tissue and nerve bundle including my brain, which is protected by a blood barrier normally inhospitable to biochemical interlopers. And the quinolones got into my brain where they proceeded to have a ball!

First, the quins performed little warm-up exercises. The tendons in the back of leg calves began to ache. Then the quins floxed my neck tendons, which began to make little “cracking” noises every time I pivoted my head. Now began the full spectrum assault: insomnia, intracranial pressure, near fainting, eye floaters, white-outs at vision periphery, unprecedented nightmares more preposterous than scary, panic attacks, intense agitation, anxiety, diminished executive function, inability to focus, depression, heart palpitations and a ghastly feeling of having been poisoned. My body felt toxic as if I were being cooked chemically from the inside-out.

The worst of it was cognitive impairment: I couldn't finish a sentence because I couldn't find a critical word or descriptor that informed my attempted communication with meaning. I tried to fill-out a questionnaire at a doctor’s office, but my hand-writing became an illegible scrawl that masked my inability adequately to describe the sensation of being poisoned. I couldn't find the vocabulary to cry out: "Doctor, I am in full blinking eclipse. My body hurts, my mind races from one obtrusive and disconnected thought to the next, and sometimes I feel as if I'm going to faint." What I didn't tell my doctors, family and friends is that my consciousness was filled with “suicidal ideation,” shorthand for existential dread and hopelessness where I wanted to escape further psychic torture and agony.

Looking back I might as well have been treated with voodoo, chicken claws, leeches, rooster blood, maybe some arsenic — all rolled into a gelatin tablet made from horse hooves and marketed by glad-handing pharmaceutical reps who barely could get their tongues around the multi-syllabled, ponderous Latin inflections required to bill-out their pills at stratospheric prices. But, wait, big pharma needs those hefty margins to pay for their marks' "educational" seminars, mini-vacations at Club Med, and lengthy faux testimonials from leading medical lights who neglect to mention to prescribing physicians that a public relations flack had ghost-written their research trial reviews, which big pharma had underwritten to begin with!

So, what do you get when you put the “sin” into “levofloxacin”? You get sick. Big pharma can make-up all the high fallutin’ Latin names in their multimillion-dollar laboratories, embargo their advertisements' release on infomercials during t.v. show intermissions, and continue to spend twice as much on marketing as they do on research & development, but it all boils down to this: feckless corporates abetted by toothless regulators have reaped a bowl-full of profit and left too much devastation & misery in their wake. Even assuming its best intentions and expensive brilliance, how can a medical system remain in denial about its own missteps? Have we become so litigious and politically correct that it’s too expensive for the medical industry to govern its own? Botched pharmaceutical intervention, they name is deregulation!

32 year old male. Admitted to ER with A-Fib. Treated with lovenox and atenolol. Cardioverted 3 days later. The headaches began as soon as I started the coumadin and have persisted everyday since. Worked with doctor to find cause of headaches, tried switching blockers, no avail. The only other med I'm on is warfarin. What else could it be? I love how a quick search shows "coumadin, no known side effects", but here's a room full of people with the same headaches. Now I see, headaches are just the beginning. What kills me, is instead of finding out why I went into A-Fib, and working to fix the real problem, the doctor's would rather thin my blood, so I don't have a stroke when my A-Fib comes back! I refuse to poison myself to death, just to avoid death by stroke. Come get me, I'm done with this qwuap!

The best drug out there !! No I am not ignorant enough to make these cart blanche statements like some of these posts---Millions of people have used this drug successfully like I have. Just because it works for one individual they should not recommend it to the world nor if it causes you personally some harm YOU SHOULD NOT POST A STATEMENT THAT INFERS IT WILL HARM EVERYONE--IN-OTHER-WORDS GET A LIFE!

i ave a friend who has just had a bad case of the flu which has turned into pneumonia. her doctor out her on levaquin! i almost had a heart attack, called her and begged her to stop it. i sent her a bunch of info about it. why not put her on augment, something with less chance of adverse effects.
now i find she had a stroke over the weekend and is in the hospital! has anyone heard of anything like this on levaquin?

I'm a 55 year old male. I started taking Lisinopril about two years ago at the 5mg level. In April , my doctor increased it to 20mg. I had a sensitivity to sunlight at the 5mg dose. After about two weeks on the new dosage I was having speech issues. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come out.I had to form the words in my mind to speak.At the time I thought I had a small stroke. I went to my cardiologist as the first step. He sent me to several specialists. I've had 2 cat scans, an MRI,EKG. sonic grams.and other tests. They found no cause for the speech problem. Recently I connected the dose increase to the speech problem. I'm waiting to see my doctor to discuss the issue. Has anyone had similar problems with Lisinopril?

I loved alesse when i was on it i has no problems, but then the pharmacy gave me the generic alesse (aviane) and i have had every problem you can think of while on mainly headaches and very, very nausea.

HEADACHES,NAUSEA,MAJOR HAIR LOSS,EXTREMELY DRY SKIN,GALLBLADDER REMOVAL,FULL HYSTERECTOMY,PANIC ATTACKS,MOOD SWINGS,STOMACH/DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS,PARANOIA,NEAR LOSS OF JOB,PROBABLE LOSS OF MARRIAGE,MONETARILY DEPLETED,SHORTNESS OF BREATH,HEART PALPITATIONS,VISION TROUBLE,CHILDREN TRAUMATIZED,LOSS OF ENERGY,NEED FOR THERAPY,CURRENTLY USING THE CLYMARA HORMONE PATCH. I WAS ON THIS YASMIN DRUG FOR ALMOST FIVE YEARS, AND SYMPTOMS STARTED ABOUT 2 MONTHS AFTER I STARTED ON YASMIN. I WAS PUT ON YASMIN TO KEEP OVARIAN CYCSTS FROM BURSTING. I FINALLY TOOK MYSELF OFF OF IT DUE TO WHAT FELT LIKE A MINY STROKE AMONG SOME OF THE OTHER SIDE AFFECTS. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND MYSELF FOR 5 YEARS, I DON'T EVEN KNOW THIS PERSON INSIDE ME. DOES ANY ONE KNOW IF CLYMARA IS OKAY TO BE USING W/WHAT YASMIN HAS DONE TO ME? IS THERE A CASE # NUMBER FOR ANY CLASS ACTION SUIT OUT THERE?

4 years ago i was given simvastatin 20mg for high cholesterol when i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes....last year (November) i stopped taking it after someone commented after hearing me complain about aches and pains and asked if i was taking statins....i checked and found i could relate to several reported side effects...over the last 10 months my aches and pains had slowly disappeared and my cholesterol was recorded at 4.9 in July ....however 4 weeks ago i suffered an optic nerve stroke and my doctor immediately put me back on simvastatin at 40mg despite my complaints is there an alternative i can take as i don't want to risk loosing any more off my vision and as the aches and pains are returning ...i will reluctantly take it but carefully monitor myself....

My post is going to read similarly to all the other posts. It's 2:45 a.m. and I got up, feeling like I was having a heart attack. I went online to see if I could learn more about Lisinopril. I've been taking 10mg for just over two weeks. I've been short of breath, wheezing, sore throat just started, had chest pains and palpitations, lowered body temperature, and mild anxiety. I was put on this medication to lower significantly elevated blood pressure -- at times as high as 212/106. That scared me! I don't want to have a stroke and yet, on this medication, I feel terrible. My BP is lower which is good and my headaches have subsided, but considering the side effects I've already experienced, I'm reluctant to continue with this drug. I see my doctor on in a couple of days and I'm hoping she has a better option. I also take Atenolol and am wondering if upping that dosage is a viable option as I've had no notable side effects with that drug. Thank you all for your posts.

Ladies:

I needed to post this warning right away:

I visited my gyno today (was able to get in for an ASAP visit), and she told me to get off of Yasmin IMMEDIATELY when I told her that I have had facial numbness etc.. She was very concerned, and here is why:

I have been experiencing migraine headaches with what are called "auras". I know it sounds weird, but you can look up "migraine auras" and you will find plenty of information.

I know that many of us have had these symptoms and not known what they were- numbness and tingling, visual disturbances, strange smells etc. This is what those symptoms are- migraine auras.

****According to my gyno, if you have auras you need to stop taking Yasmin or any other birth control right away.****

Getting these symptoms and continuing to take the pill, according to my gyno is (and I quote) "ASKING FOR A STROKE". They are warning signs that our bodies send out and it is extremely dangerous to keep taking ANY hormonal birth control, ESPECIALLY the combination pill.

If you had any further doubts, stop now. Please. I am not trying to scare anyone, I am just concerned and wanted to warn those who are experiencing these side effects.

Best of luck to all of you and hugs.

M.

WOW! My Mom is 65 and having a lot of these same issues, rash, swelling of the hands and feet, itching, tired ALL the time, depression and she is really "foggy". Her feet are so swollen she cant walk! Her Dr acts like she is just seeking attention and just orders more blood work! After reading all of your comments I am sure its the Lisinopril! Her doctor told her she should NOT stop taking the meds because she could have a stroke! I am angry he is using this scare tactic. I live 2000 miles away but I ready to make a road trip to get this madness to end! She really needs to find a new Dr and stop using this dangerous drug!
Thank you all for posting these issues!

I really had a terrible experience with yaz. I am glad I found this website because I see that a majority are having side effects and I don't feel so alone. In first month ok but very angry,anxious, moody. Between packs i felt horrible.Had severe headache.High blood pressure and called doctor and landed in emergency room for possible stroke. fought with boyfriend and was psycho on it. i was told by doctor to stop taking Yaz. it took me a month to feel better and get my blood pressure ok. i am normally happy,healthy and well adjusted with no health problems. I finally feel like myself after 1 mo.It may be ok for some people but i think something is wrong with Yaz for most people.

I was on Yasmin for 1.5 years. Ended up with chest pains, severe Vitamin D deficiency, B12/Folic Acid deficiency, elevated potassium and unbelievable fatigue/exhaustion along with muscle loss. I have now been off for almost 3 years and do not feel completely recovered. I'd encourage folks to google Yasmin/Yaz lawsuits as they are just beginning and I expect will eventually come off of the market due to finally, recognized increased risk of these pills with pulmonary embolisms, stroke, heart attack and blood clots. Also, if you google Yasmin Survivors, there is an international forum of women who have been sharing and contributing now for last 3 years as well.

I've stopped taking Yasmin a little over 1year ago. I went to the Dr. the day before my wedding because I had a large lump in my right forearm that was really painful. They sent me to get an ultrasound done because hey weren't sure what it was. Come to find out I had a blood clot. I was only 23 and it was the day before wedding. I had to self inject my self twice a day for 5 days with blood thinners and then take coumain for 6months. I wasn't able to go on a honeymoon. I felt like a human pin cushion, getting my blood tested twice a week. Taking Yasmin was the worst thing I have ever one for myself. No one should take this B.C. and if you are you should stop. IT'S DANGEROUS! Women have died from taking. I was lucky!

Since July 12, 2009 (Saturday) my life has been altered by a cure for a UTI that caused me to be taken by ambulance to the E.R. with a 105.6 fever. The horrible feeling of waking up shaking from the fever and not being able to stop it was scary. That was quickly followed by an ambulance ride to the local E.R. It was explained to me that the cause of my fever was a UTI that became a kidney infection. The E.R. doctor prescribed Levaquin 500 mgs for 10 days and Lori-tab for the ache very typical of a kidney infection. I am a 42yo woman who owns a motorcycle, swims, dances with a group and loves to wear beautiful heels. My life has changed since that night in the E.R. July 14 (Tuesday) , I was in my doctor's office complaining about bad headaches and feeling achy. I asked if this should be a concern since headaches were part of the warning label. The response was to remain on the antibiotic since the benefit far outweighed the side effects. The rest of the week was full of aches, pains, swelling, and a cloudy mental state. By Friday, the 17th of July I was laying in bed after noticing I no longer had ankles and I hurt all over. Thinking maybe this would pass I rested for an hour and my partner came to check on me. My jaw was tight and felt like it was locking down, every part of my body, every joint was hurting including my head. I called my doctor's office and asked if this was an allergic reaction and should I go to the hospital. The on-call said she was at the E.R. and maybe I should come in to be seen although it would be a long wait time because they were busy. I was seen, they talked about finishing with Cipro and then decided they would give me Bactrim. I asked how long I could expect to feel the effect of the Levaquin, the answer was 3 to 4 days. Since then, I have been in and out of the E.R. with acute and chronic pain. Walking has become almost impossible on some days. All of a sudden I have a back and hip problem. I am getting lumbar epidurals now and have sold the motorcycle. Oh, Dr. Higgins said, "Levaquin is a great drug". This was a E.R. doctor that was angry that I asked if this seemed to be an on-going issue from taking Levaquin. I am desperate to be pain free for even one 24 hour period. A storm of depression and clouds have set in...the thunder is my pain....

Straight from Wikipedia:
Metoprolol may worsen the symptoms of heart failure in some patients. Check with your doctor right away if you are having chest pain or discomfort; dilated neck veins; extreme fatigue; irregular breathing; an irregular heartbeat; shortness of breath; swelling of the face, fingers, feet, or lower legs; weight gain; or wheezing.

This medicine may cause changes in your blood sugar levels. Also, this medicine may cover up signs of low blood sugar, such as a rapid pulse rate. Check with your doctor if you have these problems or if you notice a change in the results of your blood or urine sugar tests.

This medicine may cause some people to become less alert than they are normally. If this side effect occurs, do not drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are not alert while taking metoprolol .

Side effects
Transient effects include dizziness, lightheadedness, drowsiness, tiredness, diarrhea, unusual dreams, ataxia, trouble sleeping, depression, and vision problems. It may also reduce blood flow to the hands and feet, causing them to feel numb and cold; smoking may worsen this effect.

Serious side effects that are not to be tolerated for any length of time include symptoms of a very slow heartbeat (less than 50 bpm) (e.g. persistent dizziness, fainting, unusual fatigue), bluish discoloration of the fingers and toes, numbness/tingling/swelling of the hands or feet, sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction (impotence), hair loss, mental/mood changes, trouble breathing, cough, dyslipidemia, and increased thirst. Other highly unlikely symptoms include easy bruising or bleeding, persistent sore throat or fever, yellowing skin or eyes, stomach pain, dark urine, and persistent nausea. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include: rash, itching, swelling, severe dizziness. Taking it with alcohol might cause mild body rashes and therefore is not recommended.

Why on earth do Doctors keep prescribing these medications that are doing more harm than good? They are causing so many other symptoms, no wonder our Health Care in this country is "out of sight". We take drugs that continue to make us sicker , sicker, and sicker, which require more testing, testing and testing....HELLO people...you need to ask yourselves if you "believe" what that Doctors are telling you. I don't, not anymore. They are SOOOO misinformed by the Pharmaceutical Rep pushing drugs that the DRUGS have become the REAL DISEASE! You need to go back to "square one"...and get off of everything.

My girlfriend age 62 was taking 14 different medications that included BP Meds, Cholesterol Meds, and on and on. She's now laying on a Ventilator from all the interactions these drugs have caused her. She cannot even lift her head of the pillow. Her memory is shot! Just another side affect of the drugs. Are there any Doctors out there who can "step out of the box" ? You're killing people with the drugs your prescribing because you don't understand the interactions they have with each other. You just keep on prescribing. You need to study each medication before you keep prescribing them.

I have had Mirena in for about a year. I got it because after trying birth control pills, I was getting severe migraines all the time. My doctor told me I was at risk for stroke and should never take birth control pills again. Not wanting to have to use condoms the rest of my life, I asked for options other than the pill. My doctor strongly recommended Mirena. Well, I had it put in in September of 2008. At first I had the normal symptoms of heavy bleeding, severe cramps, etc. But after about 2 months that calmed down. However, I felt bloated all the time and started gaining weight. I was only 21 at the time, and had never had a problem with weight gain in my entire life. I wasn't over-eating, and I was still exercising. In the last year I have gained about 20 pounds. Anyways, around January I got a large cyst on one of my ovaries which eventually burst, but I still feel like I have sharp stabbing pains in my abdomen quite a lot. The real problem started a few months ago. I have been getting severe migraines again, and they are coming more and more frequently. I get optical auras with the migraines and often feel tingling in my face and hands. I am concerned that something more severe could be wrong or that Mirena is putting me at risk for stroke. I was told this would not happen with Mirena, but I have had no other significant changes that could account for the migraines. I have had migraines since I was a little girl, but never this often or with the strange tingling. The only other time I had migraines like this was on the pill. I really like Mirena because it is easy and I don't have to think about it, but I hate the migraines, weight gain, bloating, cysts, etc. I don't know what else I would use, though, since I can't be on estrogen-based birth controls. Does anybody have any advice? I am only 22 years old and don't want children for a while. I really don't know what to do.

I have had Mirena in for about a year. I got it because after trying birth control pills, I was getting severe migraines all the time. My doctor told me I was at risk for stroke and should never take birth control pills again. Not wanting to have to use condoms the rest of my life, I asked for options other than the pill. My doctor strongly recommended Mirena. He said I would not get migraines with this. At first there were the normal symptoms of bleeding, severe cramps, etc. But after a couple of months I was pretty happy with it. The only thing that was really bothering me was that I was gaining a lot of weight. I was only 21 at the time and had never had a problem with gaining weight in my life. It was so weird. Over the last year I have gained about 20 pounds and am really upset. About 4 months after getting Mirena I got a large cyst on one of my ovaries, but it eventually burst and went away. All of those things I suppose I could have dealt with, though. However, after about 9 or 10 months with the thing I started getting severe migraines again. I got married in June and over the past few months I have had more and more frequent migraines. I have optical auras and often feel like I have tingling in my face and hands, which is similar to what I had when on the pill. I am concerned that this could be a serious problem. I like having Mirena because it is easy and I don't have to think about it, but I am not sure what to do. I can't be having migraines all the time, and I also would rather not have the weight gain and cysts. I'm not sure what else I would use, though. If anyone has any suggestions for me, please let me know. I am only 22 and don't want kids for a while.