Thought process symptoms and conditions

I have been on Lamictal 200mg per day for about 3 years along with Wellbutrin and Lexapro. Over the past few months, I have noticed numerous things happening to my mind and body and finally put the pieces of the puzzle together...side effects of Lamictal. Short term memory is gone which is the scariest. Difficulty putting coherent sentences together. Fumbling for words. Spelling is awful. Heaviness in legs. Trouble writing. Inability to communicate well with the spoken word. Slow thought process. Shakiness - Hands shaking - Tremor. Speech disturbance. Weight gain. Coordination problems. Dry mouth is worse. Back pain. Increase in sweating including night sweats. Irritability. Impaired concentration. Forgetfulness.

This is so embarrassing when I'm in meetings. I start to sweat and can't seem to get my words out. I am also in a master's program and it is getting really hard to concentrate enough to write the papers. I am starting a doctorate program in Aug. which will not happen if these side effects don't go away. I called my doctor on Friday and we cut the dose in half and evaluate in 2 weeks. I want off of this drug! I need all of the symptoms described above to go away, especially my short term memory loss. I am very scared at this point.

Have been on Cymbalta 30mg daily for a year. Started on Wellbutrin 50mg daily about 6 weeks ago to help with attention deficit. About 4 weeks or so ago I started having occasional muscle cramping in hands and feet. Yesterday I started with twitching of left eye. Last time I had the eye twitching it was the beginning of an allergic reaction to Prozac. I'm thinking even the low dose Wellbutrin may be too much. anyone else had this experience? I'm also starting to notice an increase in anxiety. Not sure if it's due to worrying about the cramping and twitching or the Wellbutrin itself. Any thoughts?

45 years old, female, diagnosed bipolar II in 2006. On Lamictal for 2 years. Initially, very positive effects of Lamictal - felt "normal" and stable for the first time in years. Didn't notice any side effects. Gradually increased from 200 to 400 mg per day 6 months ago as I still experienced mood swings with a tendency towards depression. I have been on 400 mg/day since August 2008. It is difficult to say what are the side effects of the medication, and what are "natural causes". Since doubling the dosage, I experience memory loss and increasing cognitive problems (slow thought process, difficulty putting together coherent sentences in discussions, fumbling for words. I have spent more than one hour on this posting!). I sometimes wake up during the night drenched in sweat. It could be that I'm menopausal, but I find it unlikely. Mood swings have perhaps become less pronounced, but I would like to regain my mental capacity. I plan to cut back to 200 mg of Lamictal - and perhaps some day learn to live with bilpolar II without medication and a lot of help from my friends and loved ones.

Ok here's my story with Prednisone. Let me first give you a little back ground info on me. Born with a VSD, that was repaired at 8 months of age, only after developing severe pneumonia. Was fine as a child growing up until at 18 i developed asthma. i am 29 now and have been on and off prednisone during that time. During that time however I have always been on a metered dosage pack that has always tapered usually within 5 days with no side effects.

Now lets talk present day with me. First off I went in back in early Sept. for what I thought was just a sinus infection, turns out my lungs were so tight, i was immediately put on 80 mg for 5 days straight, and you guessed it no tapering. Those 5 days were the worst five days of my life. I have SVT- taychcardia and the med made it worst, I was running around like I was on Speed or something. Also, I had started to urinate like crazy. Headaches, nausea, muscle pain as well as joint pain. i can not walk without feeling as though my knees, and ankles are going to break. Also, i am not as foccused as I usually am. Ever since that faithfully day in September I have been on this stuff. it has already been 2 months and im on 40mg now. And I cannot sleep at all at night and during the day now i crash once it seems like the prednisone starts wearing off. its horrible. I am going to go see the Pulmanologist Monday hopefully he will have some answers, and Im dreading him telling me i may have COPD, from a protien defiency(sorry for spelling, this med is messing with my thought process). Any who, i cant just stop taking it, i have been warned about that. something has to give or my body may give up.

hope this helps.

this med is good if used correctly but i agree Doctors need to fully warn patients before hand of all possible side effects.

I was given solu-medrol for an allergic reaction to something unknown. I was given benadryl just prior because of my itching hives.
Immediately after the RN injected the solu-medrol into my IV I started choking, I couldn't catch my breath, I felt as if I had a rush of adrenaline but at the same time it felt like my heart was fluttering. My blood pressure and my heart rate jumped up considerably. I was unable to speak and had a hard time swallowing. My vision was effected and I had light sensitivity, everything suddenly seemed very bright. My thought process was very distracted, I would try to speak and within a second forget what I wanted to say. I had to concentrate extremely hard just to get out a single word.
I also had slight numbness or loss of sensation in my hands.
I don't want to know what would have happened if I hadn't been given the benadryl first! I felt as if someone was inducing brain damage onto me and instantly turning me into a vegetable.

I agree Kenalog has a lot of adverse reactions, being a nurse myself, I suffer from pollen, ragweed, mold, dust mites I can go on and on, and have swollen eyes and wheeze/sob almost on a daily basis from asthma and allergies all yr around, am tired all the time ... I have a heart murmur so I cant take the fast acting inhalers, I also suffer from panic disorder, have 2 benign lung nodules on my left upper lung as of today, still in my 2 yr for the sit back and see if it grows follow up with cat scans every 6 month's, my 19 yr old son passed away from a brain bleed in 06, and am still working in nursing where I want to help out other's, it has changed my thought process to live life to the fullest , try not to dwell on the petty things in life, and yeah every single drug that helps us in one way or another has a side-effect, don't pitty me , just think about this , or at least this is how I get by, I sit and weigh my options, would i rather have sweaty palms, rapid heart rate, tired a lot of the time, mod joint pain, period irr and pit in my butt leg and foot cramps day and night a few, h/a's rather than to, sneeze 24/7, have nasty swollen eyes that burn and hurt to the point I cant see, or not be able to take in one deep breathe and feel like im breathing through a straw, yeah you may not like this post, but to all the people who do not have a whole lot of medical knowledge, I ask you to do your research, don't beg the lawyers to take it off the market, thats what I call petty in my case Kenalog is a godsend!.. have the smarts before you go in, after all they are just Dr's not GOD..we should all re-evaluate what is a priority in our lives, since the death of my son in 06 I have, but please note people , its not the Dr's faults , we need to know what we are taking and have all the info before we take it whether it be the internet, a PDR, they are free to read in the library as well in every doctor office just ask to see one (that might through them into shock making them think your having a part in your health as well), a local pharmacist, because lets face it this world is becoming a fast paced, whirlwind circus and in the end, we all just cant sit back and blame the busy Dr's. I will say one thing though, Kudos to all the Nurses in this world, if it were not for us, now where would the Dr's be :P ..so make the best out of life, we never know whats around the corner, but most of all remember EVERY single drug has a side-effect every one of them, we must realize that we have to take the good with the bad..been there still doing it... take chare of your life, be informed, or get the info, you can do everyone of you! Just food for thought.

My husband took Ambien for about 4 months when he was experiencing severe insomnia. (He would go days without being able to sleep!) The Ambien majorly messed with his head!! The best way to describe it is that it made him STUPID! Its so sad, but true. He couldnt think!! his head was foggy. Do not confuse this with him being sleepy. It was NOT sleepyness, or drowsiness. It was his thought process. the brain itself! Simple things became hard to do. He'd forget EVERYTHING!!

The straw that broke the camels back was when he almost got in 2 SERIOUS car accidents. One day on his way to work he was pulling out of a gas station right into traffic. He said he didnt even look! he just drove without thinking!!! By the grace of GOD alone did he not kill someone or get killed himself!! Then the last time, where I put my foot down... My husband went to make a left turn into a store parking lot... but he was in the right hand lane!!! So he turned right into the left lane of traffic and we got t-boned by another woman. THANK GOD it was at slow speeds. Both lanes just started off from a red light, so we were all going less than 20 mph. But the accident was almost hard to believe! If i wasnt there I would have never believed he would do such a STUPID thing!!!!!! Both incidents were within the same week!!

At work that week too he locked himself out of the one office and had to call his boss to come let him in.... (thought there was a problem with his key) the problem was he had the deadbolt locked! It never even dawned on him to unlock that part too!! Now mind you he's been employed here for 3 years! He's been in and out of this door a million times!

My husband is a brilliant man!!! Went to college for Civil Engineering, is a math wizard, among many other things! He has a squeaky clean driving record! This isnt a case of him just being an idiot on his own merits. This medicine was seriously messing with his head!!!!! he said he felt like he had no control over his mind. He had no "quick" thinking!

I called his doctor to ask if it was the Ambien CR or possibly another medication (he takes meds for blood pressure) and the doctor said to stop the Ambien because that was the newest medication. Within a week of stopping it, my husband got his mind back!! It was night and day!!!

This is the worst medication and I will not be surprised if its pulled from the market! Its one thing to give someone a headache, or maybe make them gain a little weight. These things arent dangerous. But when it messes with critical thinking and thought processes....this is DANGEROUS!! I have no doubt in my mind my husband would have ended up killing himself in a car accident if he didnt stop that medication when he did!

I have been on Topamax for a year. I am on a low dose of 25mgs morning and night for Migraine prevention (instead of the Verapamil I had been taking for years). I am pleased with the results. No migraines. I do not drink soda any more due to the after taste but thats fine. I think I am a little more "hazy" in my thought process but not to an extent of it interfering with my life. I will see how I continue.

I am going on day 4 of stopping my Effexor cold turkey. I was on 300 mg and taking 20 mg of Pexeva. I am stopping cold turkey after being on this medication for three years. The withdrawals are terrible, I don't know why any doctor in their right mind would ever prescribe this medication for anyone. I have those wonderful brain zaps every ten seconds, the only thing that momentarily makes me sane is food, as if the 30 pounds this medication has gained me aren't enough, stopping it is going to pack on another 30. I am a bundle of anger and rage directed at anyone within distance. I am at the toilet every night waiting and praying that I can just throw up. When I finally can fall asleep I am jolted awake in a puddle of sweat having just had yet another nightmare. And when I say nightmare, I mean the kind that have me screaming out loud in terror waking my husband. Minor daily tasks are ignored due to the fact that putting one foot in front of the other is too much to handle. I can't stand this feeling and only pray for the day that it will stop.

Only been on for a few days. I feel incredibly calm, however very crampy & nausea. Worried I may have some of the more severe effects down the road. I have depression and ADD and was on meds for both, however am off the ADD meds and still on 25mg of Zoloft. I'm thinking this may be a good combo. They say women with loads of energy (also I am a comedian) calm down after they give birth.
My thought process is that the ring is obviously mimicking my body being pregnant...so perhaps the "calm" I feel is related to the birth control itself.

I'll keep a journal and let you know how things are in a month or two

I remember, 4th grade when I got glasses and could actually see what everyone else saw, I couldn't believe how blind I was. This is the way I felt when I tried adderall for the first time. It was givin to me my senior year by a friend who was diagnosed with adhd. It gave me a feeling like I could accomplish anything. I seemed to be on top of everything. Growing up my mother always forced me to go to the clinic, because there was something "not right" with me. I hated all the medicines, especially zoloft. About my 8th grade year was when I rebelled, and stopped taking it. High School went decent, I made it, My favorite subjects were and still are art and music. Once I was introduced to adderall senior year I couldnt get over the fact that maybe my mom was right, I tried it a few other times over the next year in college and it seemed to help emensly, It felt as though I was quicker in my thought process. Problem was I wasnt perscribed and I felt I should go talk to a physician. I went in, sat down, said I have problems focusing and that was it. I was out the door with the perscription. I went to the pharmacy, ten minutes later I get a bottle that says Amphetimine Salts.... which kinda bothered me. So I took 10 mg a day for a month then 20mg the next month, over this time period I noticed that I started looking forward to taking it every day and having dry mouth. I also drank more soda then usual which was odd. I wanted to tell my physician but I didnt in fear of being pulled off the medicine and felt the benifits out weighed the the dry mouth. The 3rd month was where things got worse, I would take it before work have an awesome day and be worn out after, and then I come home and stare at all of my homework. Tired and tempted by the bottle on my dressor, I started abusing it. I would say "ok only this time", yet It seemed like I always got put in a bind and gave in. I started to notice a little bit of teeth grinding but not to bad. Now currently as of tonight I no longer will take adderall, because I saw myself in the mirror, I have a cracked tooth after 4 months of taking it. I brush and floss regularly everyday. Its not to big of a crack but big enough to have opened my eyes. I dumped all my my perscribtion down the garbage disposal, and all I want to say is parents be careful and adults be responsible and that sometimes its ok not to see or be "not right" and drop this medicine if you experience any of this.

Hello.

I have been taking topamax for bipolar II disorder. The first week or so, I experienced some very unpleasant side effects. I would become very disoriented while driving and get lost in locations that had previously been very familiar to me. I would also lose track of my thought process mid-sentence. An avid runner, I was unable to exercise for about a week. However, these side-effects have since subsided. I do experience a decrease in appetite, which is fine for now, but I'll have to see how that pans out in the future.

One thing I'd like to point out is that I would imagine topamax to be very unpleasant for somebody who does not have a mood disorder. I feel that it truely restrains my impulses (I suffer from impulse control disorder), and it has worked wonders for me in terms of my mental illness. I believe that topamax is a great alternative to some of the other medications for bipolar disorder in terms of weight gain. On the other hand, I think that those who do not require psychiatric attention would be better off with a drug that does not serve as a mood stabilizer.

That's just my opinion. Good luck!

Hello Everyone,

I've just read posts over the past few weeks and wanted to find out from anyone who has stopped taking Yasmin if they have tried detoxing and cleansing the body after they went off of it? I read on another site that someone did that and it helped her tremendously but wanted to hear from others. I'm for sure considering it if it will actually help cleanse my system any quicker. I fortgot to add in my earlier post about the tingling in my arms and muscle weakness as well as extreme anxiety/stress/depression. I did mention before but have had extreme weight gain. However, I'm also experiencing brain fog, problems with memory and just the whole thought process. I believe I will also try reading all of the books suggested.

Thanks,

Tammy

I took Ultracet for a total of 5 days to relieve the pain from shingles in my leg and foot. Although my doctor prescribed the drug 4 times per day, I found that the first one knocked me out for 14 hours. When I awoke, I had the mother of all headaches and pain in my right eye. About 40 minutes after taking the second pill on day 2, the eye pain was gone, but a mild headache continued...However, I found that I could not attain a deep sleep. I stayed in bed, feeling drugged, but never drifted into a comfortable sleep; I was restless and antsy. On day 3 I took an Ultracet in the morning and one at night, the same dose for day 4 and only one on day 5. I continued to be restless and agitated with a numbing headache. I also felt that my thought process was noticeably slowed down. I discontinued the drug on the 5th day for two reasons: First I had a dizzy spell, and second, I developed a tremor in my left hand that would flare up for several minutes and then go away. As for the relief of pain, it took the edge off the pain in my leg but never really alleviated the nerve pain on the top of my foot. I still have pain, but after discontinuing Ulracet a week ago, the headache is gone, and the occassional tremor stopped 5 days ago. I'm also back to my regular sleep pattern. It's my humble observation that I'm actually getting more relief from a tube of muscle rub now than I got from the Ultracet.