Vicious circle symptoms and conditions

My Dad is 75 years old has been in and out of the hospital because of exasperations brought on by COPD. He is fine when he gets out of the hospital with 40mg of Prednisone then like many others tapers to 30mg, 20mg then 10mg until he isn't taking any. Then the exasperations start he's back in the hospital and the Prednisone cycle begins again. I have notice he has mood swings as he has become very irritable. He also use to work out with light weights ever morning, he no longer has the desire. He also use to go for walks, in the park treadmill etc. he no longer does those activities either. I also notice his eyes look different. I realize this drug is keeping him alive, but he has become a different person.

Oh wow I am so happy to have found this site. In the last few months I have been feeling lower and lower in myself, this together with my complete and utter loss of sex drive is just getting beyond a joke. My boyfriend thinks it's him and he goes on and on about whether I still want to be with him etc etc and it's just making me feel worse so it's a terrible vicious circle.
I've been thinking about whether it was my pill for a few months now, I changed to Yasmin about a year ago now after my previous pill was giving me terrible mood swings and uncontrollable rage. I did notice a slight improvement in my moods at the very beginning but this has now led to anxiety, heavy breakthrough bleeding, irritability and a general feeling of low self worth which gets worse and worse by the day.. great for Christmas time!
I've now resolved to stop taking this pill and any pill for that matter. I'm going to see how I get on with no medical birth control and try to get my head and hopefully my sex drive back to normal.
I'm so glad to have found this and that it's not just me. I would not recommend this to ANYONE so if you are reading this to get an idea on whether to opt for this then I would say no.

I started taking 100 mg. per day of Topamax a month ago and have ok results, I still have a dull headache everyday but it doesn't turn to a migraine but I have no desire for food and carbonated drinks taste flat and it has changed my mood also. I would like to stop taking it.

I had a Mirena coil fitted about 3 years ago. It was brilliant. I had it fitted because I suffered terribly with painful periods. Not heavy though. I had it for about a year, then had it removed to try for a baby with my partner. I already have a 19 year old son. I didn't get pregnant, now, I believe a good thing, and I had a second Mirena fitted. Let's put it this way, it's not acting like the first one did. I get headaches, hot flushes, bloating, depression, crying, muscle ache, especially arms and hands. I have dizzy spells, and can't stand around for a while as I feel faint. I am overweight, and always intend to do some exercise, and control eating habits a bit, but when your mind isn't right, how can you? It's a vicious circle. Obviously I appreciate that some of how I feel is my weight issue, but as I said, it's hard to do anything about it when you can't get the incentive because your mind is working overtime! The bleeding though, is basically the same as the first coil. It stopped near enough straight away, but at this moment I am having what isn't really a period, but is stranger and little heavier than spotting! I also get sharp pains now and again at the moment, and am very bloated. Doctor said about a month ago, that the coil could still be settling! We will see! Any replies would be great, I hope I haven't rambled on!!! Ha.. Pauline, Gloucestershire

on zocor since dec 2006, i have alot of other medical problems, arthritis, fused foot, very bad lower back and some osteoporesis, but i believe more so, than not; that my symptoms increased after a change in dosage. now i'm very tired, extreme muscle weakness, knee pain, having trouble walking, weight gain (10 lbs in last 2 months) and unbelievable swelling in ankles and top of foot, very painful
It's hard to blame zocor on this, but i don't just want to wear compression socks and so forth, because that could be masking the cause, and maybe just a change in lipid medication will change things around. it's a vicious circle, cant work out or walk, to tired to do anything, but work 14 hours a day, it's such an effort to walk (I keep blaming the weight gain) but maybe its really the swelling and joint pain along with the muscle weakness that's to fault.

to gigi:

Yes, there are many women here on this site, who have experienced weight gain after stopping Yasmin!! I've posted several times about this here. Perhaps you should read more posts on this site, it really might help!!

But I'm not sure, if it's really good to take another diuretic against the water retention now. You should know, that Yasmin's hormone "drospirenone" is very similar to a diuretic named spironolacton. So all of us were taking a water pill with our bcp without knowing for a long time.

And everywhere I searched in the internet and even asking my doctor brought out, that a withdrawal effect of diuretics is more water retention then before taking such pills!!! Thats the explanation for the massive and in most cases immediate weight (or the better "water-") gain many of us were experiencing after stopping Yasmin!! My weight gain doesn't seem to look "normal", too, it looks just like every cell of my body was filled with water, a really unnormal look (and I swear before Yasmin I was a very fit, thin and good figured person!!). Everybody who knows me and especially has known me before this Yasmin desaster tells the same!!

So I and even my doctor think, that it might be better to let your body recover first before taking another chemical against the weight gain and especially going on diswatering your body with a diuretic. You might not get out of this vicious circle if you don't stop every medication that is diswatering your body!!

I know (and I mean I REALLY know!!) what it means to go through this massive weight gain (I had gained about 30 pounds after getting off Yasmin without eating more or doing anything else different than before and I went up 2 sizes in clothes, which was and still is really shocking for me!!! I SWEAR!!) without being able to do anything against it unless my body hasn't fully recovered from this Yasmin poison, yet.

But the only chance seems to be to give your body and all the diswatered cells the time they need to get back to normal by themselves!!!

Please think about that and probably talk to your doctor!! Not every doctor knows that the drospirenone in Yasmin is working like spironolacton but it really is!!! If you have any doubt about that, you might search google or anything else about drospirenon and diuretic or spironolacton. And you'll find out, that all the effects we are now experiencing (even the muscle fatigue in my case or cellulite and so on) are the same as you get if you have taken any diuretic or especially spironolacton!!

All the best to you out there and everybody stay strong!! We'll be better and pretty again some day!!! ;-)