January 4th
2008
1:22 PM
I don't typically write on message boards, but wanted to share my story. I wish I knew about the affects of singular before I gave it to our son.
My 3 year old son was put on Singular and 2 puffers at age 2 1/2. He had chronic coughing and croup and seemed to always have throat infections. Our Family Doctor thought it was seasonal allergies, (and because he was under the age of 6 - no allergy testing can truly be done) so she prescribed Singular. As tired parents of a little boy who didn't seem to sleep through the night any longer, we did as the doctor advised and gave him the medication every night.
Almost immediately, his behavior changed from a happy 2 1/2 year old to a child with severe tantrums (we never experienced this behavior before), terrible night terrors to the point we were having trouble with him going to bed at night and him telling us every day he had leg pain. He would cry and hold his little leg - limping. Our son could speak at a very young age, so he was able to articulate his feelings/reactions to us. We thought we were entering the terrible "2's" late, but through our experience and ours alone I am certain it was the singular. After this I decided to check online only to be overwhelmed with similar reactions to this drug. We immediately stopped giving the drug to him. We had noticed that his tonsils were getting larger and larger and they would often have infected white soars over them. Off we would go to the Doctor who told us it may or may not be strep and prescribe antibiotics, he would complete a cycle of antibiotics and within 10 days the symptoms would return. We demanded we see a throat specialist to see if the coughing/sleep apnea and terrible drooling could be caused by his huge tonsils. He progressively stopped eating his favorite foods and would wince every time we served him meat.
We finally saw a specialist and at first look at our little boys’ throat, the specialist said 2 things: 1) "Let me guess, he will only eat pasta?" - which was the case, apparently it was the only thing he was able to eat without pain; and 2) "I do not know how this little boy isn't acting out more, he has to be in so much pain". The specialist explained that every time he coughed or ate, the infected soars on his tonsils would burst causing nausea and pain. Because it hurt to swallow, saliva would pool in his throat causing his terrible coughing fits. He had his tonsils/adenoids removed 3 weeks after our visit (which isn't done as often as it used to be) and he has been PERFECT ever since. He hasn't had 1 cold, he hasn't coughed one night and he is eating/laughing/playing like the child he was before singular. DO NOT TAKE SINGULAR unless they can conduct the proper asthma/allergy testing appropriate for the child's age. They were medicating my child with the assumption that he MAY have it. The reason for his coughing and wheezing was his enormous tonsils. A procedure which was hard to go through with a 3 year old, but he is truly a different child today.
I trust this information will be helpful to parents in the same situation.
-- By proudmama | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
February 16th
2007
12:16 PM
I've taken Zpak several times (4+) and each time, it worked like a charm to cure ear, nose & throat infections. I think it worked better for me overall because of the short-dosage cycle which made it easier for me to take the full course prescribed (2 first day, 1 every day thereafter for 4 days). Side effects: diarrhea, cramping, headache, feeling "high" or medicine head--taken with or without food. Hard to say if these effects are attributed to meds or to the infection itself. Boyfriend taking Z-pak right now--he reports severe body ache, skin sensitivity (to touch), and feeling like crap. Again--hard to say if from med or virus/bacteria.
-- By slthomp | Reply | Private Message me
April 17th
2006
6:51 PM
Hi! I am so happy that I found this website. I was on Advair 500 for over a year and had almost every side effect listed here. After reading the postings, I went to the doctor and demanded that he put me on another asthma medicine. He put me on Asmanex and I've been feeling absolutely wonderful for the past 3 months. Coming off the Advair was scary for me. I had tingling lips, fingers, and skin on my back for almost a week. I also had to use my albuterol every 4 hours during the same week. But other than that my list of symptoms quickly disappeared. Since then, I've only had to use my albuterol a handful of times, mainly on a humid day or when working in my basement or brushing my dogs. I had experienced so many side effects while on Advair that I started to feel depressed. When I asked my doctor's about the side effects, they told me that they weren't from my medications. Advair had caused me to have a constant cough, numerous episodes of bronchitis, hoarseness almost one week every month, severe asthma attacks, constant thrush and other throat infections. I also had my blood pressure up 20-30 points on average, which caused me to constantly feel anxious. I was extremely moody and snapped at my kids and husband very easily. I had trouble sleeping and night sweats. Since I couldn't sleep I was constantly tired. One of the worse effects was joint pain and muscle cramps. My hands and feet would cramp up like I had severe arthritis. Sometimes I cramped so bad that couldn't hold a fork or toothbrush. My legs would cramp so badly it would make me cry. My back ached and I got severe stomach cramps. I had horrible menstrual cycles which lasted for over a week. My elbows hurt so bad that I couldn't carry a bag through the mall. I also lost all interest in sexual relations. I also had jitters. My hands would tremble even when I wasn't holding anything. I also lost my appetite. Food didn't taste or smell the same so it didn't appeal to me. I had to force myself to eat. To say the least, I felt like I was falling apart. Within a few days of going off of the Advair I felt like a new person. I was pleasant to be around and had hope for the future. I am feeling great. My husband and kids are so happy to have the real me back. I strongly encourage everyone to try Asmanex and go off Advair. It's really made a difference in my life.
-- By mharrin22 | Reply | Private Message me
March 1th
2006
4:15 AM
I have been using Seritide 250/50 everyday for 3 years now. I startet gettinng these throat infections that left me with a hoarse voice for a week at a time. ENT said it was nothing. But recently, I have had a shoulder operation and have been taking some pain killers, and a much needed shot of cortisone due to swelling at the operation site, and noticed that my heart seems to be skipping a beat. I thought it was the pain killers but after researching their side effects, I came up empty handed. I have been an asthma sufferer for 5 years now and it does seem to help, but I am not sure I like this side effect. Can it be deadly??
-- By lisa_pfister | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
November 3th
2005
10:31 PM
Hello everyone!
I have been on Prednisone for about 2 years ( ave. 10 mg a day) I went through my pregnancy with it as well. After the baby, I decided to ween myself off of prednisone. ( I have EG, which is an inflammatory bowel disease) Since then, I developed Shingles, muscular pain, joint pain all over and I seem to get throat infections all the time. I had 3 in the last 5 months. Has anybody had this problem? I had a relapse of abdominal pain couple days ago and I am back on pred. 5 mg. a day.
July 19th
2005
10:02 AM
I was prescribed Sulfameth/Trimethoprim 800/160 Tabs a little over a year ago for acne. Not long afterwards started getting bad headaches and dizziness spells, occasionally strong enough to cause vomiting and be temporarily debilitating, resembling vertigo-like symptoms. Began having very vivid dreams/nightmares and waking up exhausted from not getting any rest because of it. Then I started having major post-nasal drip and getting bad sinus/throat infections, a few of which were positively diagnosed as strep. One of the throat infections was bad enough to cause an abscess on my left tonsil which ruptured, causing me to have to go to the ER and get 5 stiches in my throat. At 3 am. Throughout this entire time I kept asking my doctors (dermatologist AND primary physician) if this drug could be causing any of this, they told me basically that it was impossible and even the suggestion of such a thing was ridiculous. I finally took it upon myself and discontinued the use of the drug when I started getting yet another sinus infection, and it cleared up on its own within a day or two, at which time I went back on the meds just for argument's sake if nothing else. Of course, the same symptoms eventually returned and I again stopped taking the meds, and again everything cleared right up. I repeated this process probably 4 or 5 times just to verify and every time was pretty much the exact same sequence of events. I began taking 1/2 the original dosage by breaking the big horse tabs in half and have been doing so ever since with no probs but great results as far as no acne.
Sorry for the long post but felt this could help a lot of people out there with similar situations. The moral of the story? Never doubt yourself and NEVER completely trust your doctors- they are just tools of the drug industry.
-- By bing403 | Reply | Private Message me
Advair HFA (2) Singulair (1) PredniSONE (1) Yasmin (1) Sulfamethoxazole (1) Maxitrol (1) Zithromax Z-Pak (1)
March 27th
2008
3:17 AM
I have been on Yasmin for 2-3 years now for endometriosis. It was great as it helped with the severe cramping, and cleared up my skin. I never paid much to the series of changes to my body months to follow, till it got worse. Within the past 2-3 years, I've had countless exams literally from head to toe -- bloodwork, MRI, X-Rays, CT-Scans, Ultra-Sounds, and other lab work. All of which, despite slight irregulars through bloodwork on liver count, thyroid, lymph, and raised cholesterol, were normal. It got to a point where my family doctor thinks I need to see a psychologist. I considered my self a pretty healthy and happy individual. I know I was not imagining these aches and pains.
About 1 year into taking the pill, I noticed numbing in my legs, severe headaches, dizziness, and trouble falling asleep. I even discussed it to my gyno, who quickly brushed off any relation between these symptoms and the pill. I figured, it might have be induced from stress at work and thought no further of it. I also discussed it with my family, who also dismissed the idea.
I started losing a lot of hair and started getting more emotional, with frequent/extreme mood swings. I also started crying a lot, which was never the case before. I was never so emotional. The pill does not even help with clearing my acne anymore. I also had bloating, frequent urinating, tender/painful breasts, chronic cough, frequent throat infections, nausea, fatigue, back pain, heart palpitations, chest pain and pressure, and chronic abdominal pain. The chest pain and abdominal pain landed me in the ER today. And of course, all test results were "normal".
It's worth getting off this thing, at least to see if Yasmin is the cause. If this little pill is the case of all of our pain and suffering, instead of helping like it should -- the product should really be pulled of the market, along with a class action against the manufacturer.
I feel very lucky to have found this site, that there are others who are going through the same thing and can understand I am not insane for thinking the pill is the cause. I'll have to come back to post the progress.
-- By scarylittlepill | Reply | Private Message me