Time frame symptoms and conditions

I posted on here a few weeks ago complaining about my excessive hair loss to the point of seeing through my hair. I went to my obgyn after reading this forum. He said he is not surprised....that anything containing progestin causes hair loss. Also any traumatic experience....to expect hair loss to start from 3-6 months post trauma....I had a baby, a mirena, marital separation, and 2 d&c, along with a bad delivery and severe blood loss, ALL in a matter of 4 weeks. So, it could be all or one....either way he was not scoffing at my claim of the mirena being the culprit of the hair loss. We agreed to give it a few weeks and see if the loss slowed, if not I will return to have it removed......I also put on a quick 10+ ponds which I am not happy about, but my appetite is raging. I am still breastfeeding too, so I don't know which one is the cause. I also lost hair and gained weight last baby....so who knows. I will keep everyone posted.

Staci from SC

I'm a 30 yr old healthy male. I went to the ER, and then the Dr., about 4 weeks ago after waking up with intense pain in the veins of my right arm and having pounding palps. I had just been told some extremely stressful news the night before, so I was pretty sure this was blood pressure & stress related. ... EKG showed Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome, so that's what the Dr's assumed was the problem. I never knew what it was called, but I've had my heart race due to WPW many times since I was a young child .. this did not seem to be related. This was just pounding.

The cardiologist put me on 50mg of Toprol XL daily to control the WPW - even though that wasn't acting up. I left confused. Pharmacy issued generic Metoprolol Succinate mfg. by Sandoz.

I didn't want to be on meds, so I didn't take it for the first few days, hoping that I would return to normal. After all, I just woke up with this all of the sudden.. I had been fine the day before. Palps continued, though, so eventually I relented and started taking the meds.

The first two or three weeks were filled with ups and downs. Exhaustion, palpitations and anxiety would come and go.

This past weekend things got really bad. I began having anxiety attacks -- I think that's what it was, I'd never had one before -- and my vision was totally screwed up. I couldn't focus on anything and was sensitive to some lighting. Black text on a bright white screen (lcd monitor) was especially hard to read. I was completely in a dazed & confused state. Loud noises and crowds were bothering me... which was awful, considering it was my best friend's wedding. Also had headaches, lightheadedness & loss of appetite. These side effects came and went on Friday & Saturday and were pretty constant on Sunday & Monday.

I decided to quit Toprol cold-turkey on Sunday. I have been 2 days without. I have used L-Theamine to reduce stress and keep my blood pressure steady. It seems to be working. I also began taking CoQ10 today after reading some good things about it here.

My vision & mental focus is beginning to improve after 3 days of disabilitating problems. Anxiety has also improved. I even attempted to "get back to normal" at work today, but had to leave after only an hour of strenuous exercise in the heat. Vision problems returned, anxiety set in. It's like riding a really freaking scary roller coaster, except with a legitimate fear that this thing might kill you.

I will update this as time goes by, to let you all know how things worked out for me. I'm really hoping to be mostly back to normal in another day or two, since I haven't been on for very long. Hopefully this will be of help to someone in the future. Damn, I Wish I had never gotten on this stuff.

I have been reading the posts at this site for two weeks, ever since the day I went to my GP for a check on blood pressure and general well being. As I was getting ready to leave the examining room, he asked how I had been since my last visit, and I responded that I'd been OK, except of course that I wasn't sleeping well. I didn't tell him that I'd had obsessive thoughts of death and dying, severe anxiety, morbid depression, horrible mood swings, and compulsive thoughts and actions. Yes, I've been taking Singulair since it was approved for seasonal rhinitis. It seemed to work well with Allegra, although when my allergies were extra severe, I also had to resort to Benadryl or one of the other "drowsy" antihistamines. When I mentioned sleep, he said "You have heard about Singulair, haven't you?" Guess how shocked I was when he told me about the latest information on the medicine I was taking every night for the last 5 years? Unfortunately, I had been under severe stress because of professional and families issues during the same general time frame, so it would never, ever have occurred to me that a prescribed medication could make me so miserable. My psychiatrist had recommending doubling my dose of Cymbalta, but after some trials of that, I became convinced that when I did so, I felt worse. About 6 months ago, my emotional state went from bad to worse. I began to feel a sense of panic when called upon to make the most innocuous decisions, and was always aggravated and nasty to the people I loved most. With my doctor's mention of Singulair, I stopped taking it. I slept better from the second day of not taking it. In the last 2 weeks, my emotional roller coaster has smoothed out, not perfectly, but enough so that I'm much more like my old self. The stresses are similar, but my reactions are different. Zyrtec (1/2 tablet) works much better for itchy eyes and nose than Singulair did in the first place. My husband and son both have continued to take Singulair with no apparent problems. I think that if one has developed unusual or unexpected emotional symptoms it is definitely worth a trial off Singulair. I wish I had been aware of even the smallest possibility of a reaction such as mine when I started taking it.

I only started Topamax three days ago (25 mgs, but it will be increased to 100 mgs over an eight week period to help me adjust), and I've already experienced the loss of appetite, crazy mood swings, insomnia, eye aches, and head aches. I haven't had a migraine, though, so that's nice, I guess.

I don't think that anyone can predict a time frame for getting over an adverse drug reaction. Below is my opinion but I see a lot of evidence that it is basically shared by other people maybe not exactly as I state it.

Adverse drug reactions deplete many essential nutrients from our systems. Inflammatory response is very stressful on the body. It is sometimes a very big effort to work on the diet to put back what has been taken away. It can take a long time.

Quinolines particularly deplete B-vitamins, folic acid (B-9), calcium/magnesium/zinc and omega-3 fatty acid. Sometimes the blood-lab work shows elevated homocysteine which proves that the body has suffered inflammation. Cardiologists now use homocysteine levels to show whether someone is at risk for heart disease due to inflammation. Deficiencies of B-6, B-9, and B-12 are known to cause elevated homocysteine.

Here is the pharmaceutical company ZINGER. Now companies such as Merck and Pfizer are going to offer niacin products to lower cholesterol. Well, yeh, duh !. All of these drug reactions are causing depleted B vitamins which elevate cholesterol. Then after they have tried to kill us by depleting our B - vitamins, they want to sell us another pill to give the B vitamins back to us. How many people out there are on some kind of a pill with side effects that cause inflammation? What a business? It is win, win, win.

My son is almost 6 yrs old. He has been taking Singular for approx 3 years, in addition to Claritin and Nasonex. This is all for his allergy to mold. His doctor started him on these meds after a 6 month episode with sinus infections leading to asthma-like symptoms. We have not noticed anything unusual about his behavior until approx 3 months ago. He started waking up every night (2-3 hours after going to bed) with bad dreams. At first he would not fully awaken and fall back asleep immediately. After a month or so of this happening most nights, he had two nights in a row where he woke up screaming and was inconsolable for about 30 minutes. We initially thought it was night terrors, but he was not scared or fearful, he was just upset/angry. He would hit the bed repeatedly and yell. He didn't know what he was upset about but would talk about how he thought we hated him, he was dumb, etc. After about 30 min he would 'snap out of it' and return to his normal self and go back to sleep easily.
At first we thought these were night terror brought on by a recent fever, but he had another episode last night. He has also been falling apart at the littlest things and getting quite violent (for a 6 yr old). He was sent to his room yesterday evening because he was complaining about the dinner his mom made (lots of complaining these days..). He had a total melt down an started throwing things and hitting the door so hard he put a hole in it.
Some of this behavior I would chalk up to normal kid stuff, new baby brother, etc. But I am suspicious about the negative thoughts, bad dreams, and instant melt downs... I stopped giving him Singular today and we will see what happens. God bless you all as we figure these things out...

I spent the weekend reading about the development of Singulair. The early studies recognized that the first phase of the acute asthma response bronco-constriction was probably not caused by leukotrienes. They identified histamines and prostaglandins as the probable sources. I don't think that changed because the Singulair literature states that it should not be considered as a treatment for that. Leukotrienes were a source of inflammation caused by eosinophils and mast cells present in greater numbers (than normal) in airway tissue. So, it was beneficial to find a way to decrease that.

The cysLT1 receptor was identified as source of the signals that tell the cells to produce leukotriene. The receptor, a gene, consist of 337 (they think) amino acids. They modified a compound that would bind to that receptor thus blocking the cells ability to produce leukotrienes. This compound is very specific. It was formulated to bind to the "model" receptor. This compound will not even bind to cysLT receptor sub-types. (That is the good thing.) There is an enormous amount of research that discusses the genetic variability of the chemical reactions that occur in the leukotriene (calling it this for simplicity) pathway. We are also seeing that a number of researchers would like to use gene profiles to predict whether patients will respond favorably to different asthma/allergy drugs. ALL PATIENTS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW IF IT IS INHERENT THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT RESPOND TO SINGULAIR OR RESPOND ADVERSELY.

There are many studies from the 1998 era that conclude that montelukast is not effective for everyone. Those researchers stated that it can be predicted that those people who are going to respond favorably will do that within the first 14 days or so. That conclusion would be consistent with a genetic component for efficacy and safety of Singulair. Those doctors concluded that those who did not respond within that time frame should not take Singulair for fear of harming them. That makes good sense.

The Italian researchers wanted to know if there was more going on than blocking leukotrienes in the action of montelukast. They set up a "test tube" study regarding montelukast, the cysLT1 receptor, and some t-cells that they selected. Why? Researchers always have something on their minds. They observed the death of these particular t-cells.

Montelukast is a quinoline. We basically know of quinilines and quinolones as compounds that were invented as broad spectrum antibiotics. They work because they interference with bacterial DNA so they cannot replicate themselves. Montelukast is a quinoline modified to bind with the cysLT1 receptor (a gene) and prevent that gene from activating. That's consistent with what a quinoline/quinolone does.

So what does montelukast do in blood plasma if it does not bind to the receptor because of genetic mis-match? (If montelukast does bind, then a chemical reaction has occurred and the liver will break down the by-products. Montelukast metabolized in 10-12 hours.) What happens if it doesn't bind? How long before it breaks down? Does it produce toxic by-products?

I want to know what happens to lymphocytes such as t-cells just because montelukast is a quinoline. Maybe nothing but what's up with the Italians researchers? I want to know if montelukast has the capability to interfere with lymphocytes who can clone themselves. That could be a good thing under circumstances when these lymphocytes are causing inflammation. But it could be a bad thing in the case of normal individuals with no problems.

I want to know if the bad side effects are due to the fact that the body has to break down and metabolize a quinoline that did not bind to the receptor for which it was created. The side effects of Singulair are strangely similar to what is observed in the quinolones such as levaquin. I have not as yet been able to compare montelukast as a quinoline to levaquin as a quinolone. I am hoping to find something on these categories. There may be no reason to worry that they cause similar damage. But frankly, I think that there is. There is some terrible chit happening to some people. The scariest is the neurological damage.

All of these questions would be in the everybody pharma knows to ask category. I don't know where the answers are. I haven't found them as of yet. Maybe there are no answers. We have to remember that Singulair and Vioxx were released in the same year. They have continued to be drugs under the current executive management of Merck. If the Vioxx marketing promoters had their ghost writers, why not the Singulair marketing promoters. The genetic component appears to be widely accepted but we haven't heard one thing about even that.

I think that it is sad that maybe the marketing of Singulair as one stop shopping for asthma/allergies may have destroyed the original concept. I really think from reading the original work that they knew that they couldn't engineer a drug for one size fits all. Everybody gets harmed when information is withheld.

Shame on the allergist who yelled at the mother who wanted to discuss issues. Does he know exactly who is allergic to Singulair and who isn't? Get him a dunce hat. Just because Singulair is marketed for allergies does not mean that you cannot be allergic to it. See the power of Madison Avenue? The ad agencies focus group these drugs to death. The ad agencies cleverly craft the product information. A good piece of legislation would be to prohibit consumer drugs ads.

My name is Bobby and I've been dating a girl who has been through some tough times. She took my advice and started taking an antidepressant, Celexa, 5 weeks ago. 3 Weeks after starting the Celexa, we began to have the relationship I always knew we could. I love her so much and for one week I was the Happiest man in the world.
Unfortunately, against my advice she started taking Yaz a week after beginning the Celexa. I told her that beginning two new drugs at once will eliminate the ability to identify which drug is causing which affects whether they be positive or negative.
After 3 weeks of Celexa and 2 weeks of Yaz, my girlfriend started acting alive and excited about life again!! She even started losing weight because of her beautiful new-found energy and zest for everything. She was playful, she was laughing, she was sexual, she was the girl of my dreams and we fell more in love than ever.
One week later (After 4 weeks of Celexa, and after 3 weeks of Yaz) a monster emerged who no longer can stand the sight of me. She doesn't want me to touch her, hug her, or even kiss her. She doesn't sleep at night. She screams and yells at me for being annoying when I'm doing things that once made her smile with love in her eyes.
I found an apartment today and decided to move out... I have never been treated so poorly by anyone in my life before. She's aggressive and verbally abusive. She's been complaining that people are talking about her and she seems paranoid. I made the mistakes of taking steroids a while back and I can tell you she is the monster now that I was then and both Yaz and steroids affect hormone levels and I'm telling you I just can't believe how many relationships this drug must be ruining.
Tonight I took the Yaz and threw all of it out. She got mad at me because she's afraid that she'll stop losing weight... I mean she's just completely lost perspective. I showed her pictures of us happy together and she still chose losing 3 more pounds over our relationship. I'm losing my mind... Just a few weeks ago she reminded me again that she wants to marry me and give me babies. Where has my future wife and future mother of my children gone??

I'M LIVING IN FEAR THAT SHE WILL FIND A WAY TO GET MORE YAZ B4 SHE'S BEEN OFF LONG ENOUGH TO SEE WHAT IT'S TURNED HER INTO.

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!
******

A grateful thank you to Adele and Oldcarpetcleaner-
I am so sorry that you having such problems- but it is reassuring to know that I am alone-
I am going to the U of Miami Liver Institute next week- and I will ask about CO-Q10; I have had a muscle biopsy-and I will make every effort not to have a liver biopsy-
I will try to find out what the time frame is for muscular pains- weakness-
even AFTER discontinuing Lipitor.
The bizarre thing -for me- is that the pain and weakness travel- not always in the same spot- but almost always reamin in my buttocks. The reason I ignored it for a couple of monthes as I was so actively doing squats aand weights- and thought it was the exercise. This drug seems to have had bad consequences for so many otherwise- previously healthy people.I will repost after I attend the liver Institute- -by the way- finding a true Liver Hepatologist- (NOT a gastroenterologist- they have liver and I have to travel to Miami . Good luck everybody.

I've been on the NuvaRing for over a year now however my sex drive has gone from HOT TO TROT to THE DESERT in that time frame. I've got a boyfriend of 5 years who I believe is my soul mate and we have sex once every other month....I'm only 25!!! It's gotten to the point where last night he actually asked me if there was someone else because I have ZERO interest in being intimate (and my boyfriend is a VERY VERY attractive guy).

Don't get me wrong the NuvaRing has been great for me this past year. I tell everyone it's the "set it and forget it" method. But having no sex drive is killing my relationship and I'm thinking of taking this thing out once and for all and seeing what happens.

I do not want to lose my soul mate because of a stupid birth control. =(

I have a 3 year old son that was diagnosed back in December with allergies and was prescribed Zyrtec and Singulair, after taking them for a while we noticed that he became very belligerent so we called the Allergist and they took him off the Singulair and put him on Clarinex. We weren't real good at giving him the medications very regularly, but recently I've gotten better and he's becoming very belligerent again. I was wondering if anyone has had any problems with moodiness with either Clarinex or Zyrtec, I know the problems with Singulair and am very thankful that he is off that med, but now I'm concerned about the others...

I'm 56 and just started Simvastatin. I have started having chest pain every night now. I never had this before! What is up with this>? Anyone else develop chest pain from it? I'm going to stop taking it because it doesn't feel right to get chest pain from a pill!

I took Yasmin for 2 years and about 6 months after starting Yasmin I started getting migraines at least 3 x per week and sometimes 5 x per week (before not even really getting many normal headaches). I thought it might be my birth control and saw my OB who referred me to a Neurologist who put me on a medicine for migraines. About another 5 months later I noticed I had a small bald spot in my hair line. Saw a Dermatologist who diagnosed it is alopecia. I immediately stopped Yasmin and migraine meds and decided to get an IUD (GREAT CHOICE!) My migraines stopped almost immediately, however my hair loss continues to progress. I now have 3 additionally bald spots on my head and areas on my scalp that are very thin. I feel great otherwise, no headaches, no depression (other than losing my hair), no anxiety, appetite is normal. I'm so desperate to find someone else that has had this specific problem as no one believes the hair loss is connected to Yasmin. I just pray after awhile the hair will grow back. Please if anyone has experienced this same situation please post what might have helped you get through it and if it does ease up! One more thing - I have scalp pain, like burning on the front and top and back part of my scalp, wide spread, not only in the bald areas.

I have been on the pill for about 6 months and within that time frame I have gained 14 pounds, I don't know what to do i as on the patch before and did not gained no pounds, because I have heard so many scary stories about the patch will not go back on. I also don't get a period on the pill

Today is day 8 on Topamax. The only symptoms I've really had were the first few nights on it I woke up in the middle of the night but that has stopped. I had a few bad dreams but that has stopped. Drinks taste a little weird to me, but nothing like anyone else on here has described. I can still taste the carbonation at times. I just started taking 50mg today. I do 25mg in the am and I am going to take 25mg in the pm. For the previous 7 days I was only on 25mg per night. I have heard all this talk about weight loss on Topamax. That's part of the reason I am on it...to counteract the weight I have gained since I've been on Lamictal. Anyway, I haven't noticed a decrease in my appetite OR any weight loss at all so far. I was just wondering how long it took to start affecting you guys with the weight loss. Is there a certain mg you are on that it starts to affect your appetite/weight loss or a certain time frame or what? Any information would help. Thanks!

I've been on ortho tri-cyclen lo for 4.5 years, and I haven't had any negative side effects. I can't blame any weight gain on the pill, because over that time frame I've been able to lose weight by exercising and controlling my diet When I slack off from exercise or eating healthy, I gain weight--sounds pretty normal to me. Also, I used to have problems with cystic acne, a few a month but enough to make me self-conscious and now (at 28 years old) my skin is what I consider perfect. I don't have to wear make-up to cover anything up. I also I started Proactiv at the same time though, so I'm not sure which one is contributing more to the skin clearing up. I was thinking about switching to Loestrin 24 FE, but I guess if it's not broken....

I had my Mirena inserted on June 20th and finally on August 15th I stopped bleeding and no discharge. I know that my body is reacting to the constant hormones that this thing gives off unlike the birth control pill where you have the 7 days of no hormones. I have cramps every now and again and the back ache is bad sometimes. I plan on giving it until six months because I know the 3-6 month time frame is what the dr says. I get the headaches to or dizziness, but it's not that bad. I actually keep a diary since the first day of insertion: discharge, and side effects so when I go to the dr for a follow up I can have back up to everything I tell him.

I started the Nuvaring last Friday, so like one week ago. Since then, I've experienced abdominal discomfort, nausea, and a big increase in discharge. I was started to be scared of pregnancy, but after reading all this I guess it could be from the ring. After reading about the mood swings, I'm starting to wonder if maybe the extreme paranoia/ups/downs over the possibility of pregnancy might be a side-effect too? Could somebody who's been on it longer post back to tell me if the time frame/side effects are about right?

Took one dose shortly after purchasing from druggist. this was about 1 pm shortly afterword became dizzy and neauseated,vomited.Didnt know whether it was the antibiotic pill that I had taken during same time frame. After basketball
game that evening went home and took another dose this around 9 pm started to become dizzy and weak with extreme itching all over legs hands ect. put in sleepless night started to feel better at daybreak . cooked some breakfast and promptly vomited.Upside that it stopped my coughing and plegm build-up

I have been on the pill for only one month and have been experiencing such horrible side effects. I have been on ortho-try in the past and never had any side effects. I wake up throwing up, my breast are constantly hurting and have swollen, constant nausea and stomach pains, not to mention the horrible mood swings. I hope that this crap gets out of my system quickly because I cannot handle this anymore!!
Anyone have any type of time frame or a quick cure for nausea?

I have been on again, off again with yasmin for about nine months. I've been off it for 3 months, but i just started up again less than a week ago! Within a couple days, I felt off: depressed(for no particular reason), nervous, anxious, etc. Because I'm usually a perky, happy-go-lucky person, my family and I decided it was surely because of the pill. I have made an appointment at my gyno and I know I'm going to get off the pill right away, but I'm scared to think that my symptoms will still occur even after I've been off it for awhile. Does anyone have any idea of a time frame? Or advice?

I took Yasmin for about a year and suffered mild (depending on whom you ask) mood swings and then my last prescription ran out and I no longer had insurance. I got my insurance reinstated and got a new presciption of Yasmin. I have been on it for two months now and I am a mess. The nausea daily is so extreme, I might as well be pregnant. I have become so depressed, that I can't control any of my emotions. I cry all the time, can't sleep, and the things that I really like doing, or people I like seeing, I just have no interest in. It's really effecting my personal and work life. My boyfriend of three years even told me today that the last two months I have been a completely different person and not who he fell in love with. If one more person asks me what's wrong, I might just snap. I decided that due to the nausea that I would stop taking Yasmin because I just can't handle it anymore. After reading some of the entries, I think that due to the time frame of when the depression started coinciding with my new presciption, it may have been the right decision to stop. Although, today I feel worse than I ever have.
Does anyone know how long it takes for your body to get back to normal??
Thanks,
Miserable in Reseda.

My 13 year old daughter has been taking Singulair for 3 months and has recently been complaining about stomache aches and abdominal pain. It just occurred to me the time frame and I have now taken her off Singulair - and read that the number one side effect is abdominal pain. After reading here, I wonder if her recent nightmares are related as well.

Hi there,
second post for me on this site, stopped taking yamin 6wks ago and was wondering if other suffered with the heart palpitatoins for a long time after stopping taking the pill. I seem to be ok but got a peroid 5 days after stopping yasmin and then got my period exactly 21 days after this and by this time frame i would be ovulating now and for 2days the palpitaions have been huge, How long does it take to get out of my system????Does anyone else suffer from this racing heart, took my pulse and its sitting at 88 most times should i be worried??? Or is that i just take mypulse when it seems racing,

Worried.....

After suffering severe reaction to a penicillin based antibiotic, my doctor switched me to Levaquin. Luckily I purchased only 4 days worth. The second night, I had excrutiating pain in my left knee. I took one more dose of Levaquin and then reread the warnings. After only 3 doses, I cannot walk for the pain and swelling in my left knee, hip, ankel, shoulder etc. It is spreading to the right side as well. I have a headache and dizziness. I assumed much like the diarrea reaction from the first antibiotic, that the symptoms would go away as the drug left my body. I am now concerned that they may linger indeffinately. What is the average time frame for the swelling, painful, joint reaction?