Survivor symptoms and conditions

Hello, this is E. again. My son took a nap, so I was able to read a lot of the posts. Many things that occurred to me over time were things that I thought came with the change of life of being married and having a child. Just life, in general also. But, now that I think of who I was before motherhood and being a wife, it just doesn't add up. I believe now the additional things that were happening to me were indeed extra side effects of the pill. They include, no sex drive, weight gain, migraines/headaches, fatigue/tired, joint pain, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, insomnia, nausea, and stress. I have been hospitalized and have had certain procedures done for some of these symptoms. Today I am stopping the pill due to the reasons of my previous post. Within time I will let you all know if there have been any improvements. Take care, E.

This site has helped me feel like I'm not alone. Thank you to all of the previous people who have written in about Coumadin. I am not the normal DVT/pulmonary embolism survivor. I just turned 37, am a runner, organic/healthy eating Mom of three kids. I had a PE, two weeks to the day of my plastic surgery (breast augmentation and liposcuplture). I am currently on 7.5 mg of Coumadin daily and my INR levels have been pretty consistent. I just stepped on the scale tonight after feeling "fat" and was shocked to see I've gained 12 pounds in almost 6 weeks since starting Coumadin. Yikes! I am hungry all of the time. I've also had memory problems and my hair is more coarse. I hope I don't have to be on this for too long. They say 6 months for me. Good luck to every one.

I am 25 years old and have been on Yaz for 3 weeks now, taking my first white pill today. So far I have experienced nausea everyday like it was morning sickness, I even threw up at least four times. I have experienced headaches, dizziness, back and shoulder pain, fatigue ... but the nausea is the worst. I couldn't even look or smell my boyfriends dinner the other night because I thought I would get sick. Also, for three weeks straight, everyday I have had bleeding ... EVERYDAY! I've also been overly emotional ... even watching Survivor last night had me crying ... a lot. Lastly, I have had no sex drive, don't even want to be bothered. POSITIVES: My boobs grew out of all my old bras, and my acne has disappeared (which is the reason I began Yaz). Honestly, because I am having relief from acne, mind you I'm 25 and have only had this problem for the past couple years, I am going to continue Yaz for another month and see if things get better. But I fear the visit of my period! Good luck to you, and thanks for sharing!

In 2006 at the age of 38 after 4 years on Yasmin I had a mini-stroke. I am writing a non-fiction memoir about my experience and am very interested in hearing from anyone who has had a bad experience with Yasmin (or indeed, any other hormonal contraceptive.) I invite you to have your story included in my book. I am particularly interested in incidences of blood clot and of course, stroke, plus any withdrawal symptoms experienced from the drug. Please email me at ****** including your full name, age, location, a brief gynecological history, and the main facts of your experience. Thanks!!

I am currently a junior in college and I have had severe allergies my whole life. Last summer my doctor prescribed Singulair and I really liked it as an allergy medicine (except for pollen). As a person, I am usually optimistic, happy go lucky, and always trying to make people laugh. I am also an avid learner, and I love school. I usually never miss class...well that was until last fall. I would get up everyday for my 930 class and take a shower and then for some reason just go back to bed. As Christmas approached- I failed my first class, got pneumonia, went on probation for my honor fraternity in which I was an officer, and was close to losing my academic scholarship. I changed my major to something easier in order to bring my grades back up this spring. I was actually excited about my new classes but then the semester started. Same routine- get up, take a shower, sleep and cry all day. I have lost most of friends due to my antisocial habits, gained 45 pounds to become 180 lbs on my 5'1 frame (borderline morbid obese). My parents and lifelong friends were worried I was going to commit suicide due to my downward spiral. My mother and doctor didn't want me to go on antidepressants in fear i would gain more weight. So they decided to change my ADD medicine which helped but not a lot. Then the suicidal effects of Singulair hit the news. I stopped taking it and within a week (spring break) I was back to my normal self like nothing ever happened. Except something did happen- I lost a huge part of me that is going to take awhile to get back. I was so convinced that I was causing the depression on myself and that I was crazy. Now the end of my school semester is wrapping up and I have a lot of catching up to do. There are times out of habit that I still act antisocial (which is completely uncharacteristic of me), but I'm hoping that will fade and I can get back to truly being myself. It's just so scary for me to think that there are unsuspecting prescription drugs that can cause so much pain. If I didn't have my family and true friends supporting me all year and sticking with me through all this, I know for a fact that I wouldn't be here today..

Hey all. I suspect many of you would agree that one of the most infuriating aspects of this antibiotic nightmare is that seemingly, there aren't many {none that I've dealt with} doctors/nurses or pharmacists that will even acknowledge the potential {and VERY REAL} side effects of these drugs.

On 01/10/08 I was put on Cipro 500mg twice daily, two week supply, for epididymitis, which likely stemmed from a bacterial infection/urinary infection back in late Oct of 07. It's an infection that can require a lengthy dosage due to eliminate bacteria growth. I was also prescribed a painkiller along with it.

That night after dosing had horrible nausea/vomiting, and chalked it up to the painkiller ... which at that point it likely was. Within a few days the groin pain from the infection had subsided a great deal, and although felt a little 'odd' from the Cipro, nothing too noteworthy. At eight days into treatment, became nauseous around the clock with bizarre flu like symptoms. I called the doctor at the ER who had diagnosed me, and she switched me to Doxycilline {sp?}, which isn't a quinolone. After stopping the Cipro, nausea disappeared. However, within a week the pain of the infection returned, apparently due to the weaker antibiotic.

So I was re-checked on 01/24/08 and put on Levaquin, 250gm once daily. Within a day or so the pain subsided once again, but on the third day developed horrible diarrhea and pain in my left knee/leg. Stopped taking it immediately, and decided to research my dilemma online, where to my horror I've discovered all sorts of people from all walks of life experiencing debilitating side effects from this grouping of fluoroquinolone/quinolones antibiotics.

I'm now on Cephalexin, and the pharmacist I spoke with today assured me that it's not part of the quinolone grouping. He also suggested that I must be part of that small pool of the populace that has trouble with quinolone antibiotics ... one begins to wonder just how "small" this pool is given how the average person isn't likely to associate muscle/joint pain with the antibiotic they're ingesting.

How this POISON has lasted so long on the market without more exposure/media coverage speaks volumes about the state of corporate America, with nearly every social system compromised {usually at the expense of the corporation's victims} , with little or no help from the corporate owned mainline media, which serves as nothing but a megaphone platform for vested intertests to transmit "official" opinion to the unwary. So here I be with very painful knee, which I should add is already compromised due to a major tibial plateau fracture in 2001.

I'd love to know whose palms are being greased to keep this rat poison available ... hell, I even had to pay over our insurance co-pay fore the Levaquin, as it's apparently a "top shelf" drug.

Good luck everyone ... and it probably doesn't need to be said, but man, I know after this I will check and double check any and every antibiotic that may be perscribed to our daughter in the future!

I started taking NIASPAN last Wednesday night 500mg and on Thurday night I awoke at 330am feeling like I was on FIRE. My whole body was burning and my skin was turning redder and redder by the minute. I jumped in the cold shower and stayed there for 45 min. I then started getting the shakes and very rapid heartbeat and my tongue was purple. I advised my doctor that I will not take this medicine and proceeded to throw it out. Can you imagine the long term affects of this medicine. How can a rapid heartbeat and burning feeling be actually good for you. I AM OFF THIS MEDICINE AND ADVISE anyone else to think twice about going on it.

I am a Yasmin survivor! I have been off since Jan of 06...YEAH! After 2.5 years of that junk! But I am getting married and I am trying to decide what the best alternative is. I am unsure I want to take any more pills. Is the ring, patch, or shot effective? What do yall suggest and have yall had any luck with anything else?

To the mother of the child for whom Neurontin acts like speed:

Neurontin takes away irritability (or nerve-firing threshold) of the involuntary muscular system, and it sounds like the physical phenomenae is just another manifestation of the seizures for which she had the drug prescribed.

Poor kid, those side-effects sound TERRIBLE, and as her mother I would immediately talk to her doctor about change of dosage, or something else -- anything else -- the effect N has on her shows it's either not the right thing for her problem, not enough dosage, or another not-yet-understood indication of inappropriate treatment. The fact that she has headaches indicates it's not just her Mom's unwillingness to deal with a hyperactive kid. Having-headaches means it's poisoning her system. Please act as her advocate and protector in this matter.

And it's NOT the last-ditch treatment for seizures: ask her medical team about surgeries. If they won't do that, then either find new doctors who will give you access to everything possible that modern medicine can provide to help seizures, or explain the trade-offs of living with medicinal side-effects and the risks of surgery.

Jan S. Kauffman, Neurontin userid, parent and grandparent, Masters in Counselling, certificate in elementary education, survivor of decades of fighting the American medical system