Vision loss symptoms and conditions

I loved alesse when i was on it i has no problems, but then the pharmacy gave me the generic alesse (aviane) and i have had every problem you can think of while on mainly headaches and very, very nausea.

I was on Singulair while pregnant because my asthma got worse while pregnant. Postpartum I noticed my 2 month old breastfed baby was still sleeping way too much and very colicky. I tried cutting out dairy and other allergens but nothing made a difference. When I forgot to take my Singulair a couple days in a row, I noticed my mood was much improved and the anger/irritability went away. Finally, after noticing I was having vivid, bad dreams, I began to realize it might be all from the Singulair. I also had developed a stiff, tight neck and vision loss, which I now realize was also from being on Singulair.
I went off of it and must say, that was the worst week of my life. I never felt so horrible or out of control. Although I noticed the first few days, I was happy and feeling again (it made me emotionally numb) by the fourth day, I began having heart palpitations and bad headaches. I quickly got my thyroid levels checked and those were fine. Then I suddenly had severe panic attacks! I thought I was going crazy! This was mistakenly misdiagnosed as PPD, although I was never even depressed. I was given a script for Zoloft and took Ativan but that didn't take away the panic and the Zoloft seemed to make the panic worse!
I began researching and realized all of my symptoms were from Singulair withdrawals! Even my family noticed I became a mean and hateful person with this last pregnancy. This drug is an awful poison! I am slowly recovering and feeling better everyday. I'm using my fast acting inhaler for the time being. Instead of the therapy I thought I needed for PPD (mis dx'd obviously) I'm also using herbs to treat this homeopathically with a natural doctor since conventional ones still want to pass it off as something it is not due to ignorance that an asthma medicine can wreck this kind of havoc on a person! They just want to use more drugs to treat the side effects of another drug!
I am so angry I took this while pregnant and breastfeeding being told it was okay. It was not okay and I hope and pray there are no long term side effects to my child from this drug!

My experience was a seven day short-lived trip through hell on Topamax.

I began experiencing a constant headache for several months in February 2009 (no prior history of headaches). I am healthy 32 y/o male. After multiple MRI's and CT scans came back negative I had a very severe headache that sent me to the ER. The ER helped arrange for me to see a Neurologist, who after patient listening to my laundry list of symptoms concluded I was having migraines (even though I had no sensitivity to light, sound, or nausea). I had been doing a decent amount of research on headaches and didn’t agree that they were migraines but decided, he’s the neurologist, I should trust him. Let me also say at this point, I am not a person looking for a pill to cure my problems, but I was getting desperate as my headaches were ruining my life. I was prescribed Topamax.

I was suppose to start with three days at 25mg, then go to three days at 50mg, and finally up to 100mg per day. The first three days were uneventful when I hit 50mg and then 75mg…I was out of my mind. I read these messages and see people at 400mg with no problems…it makes me cringe to think of dosing that high. I stopped at 75mg…here were my side-effects. Tingling in my face, lips, hands, arms, and fingertips, chest pains (I do have GERD and it jacked up my GERD bad!!!), pain in the back of head, taste confusion (soda tasting flat), and pressure in my eyes and temples…But those are NOTHING compared to the complete feeling of anxiety that over took my body. I had a mild nervous breakdown at work, became paranoid to the point where I was afraid to do routine tasks. And the MUSCLE SPASMS…those are the worst part. I have muscle spasms all over my body, just random fluttering of muscles in my chest, arms, back, neck, head, and face! I became suicidal and had the worst night terrors ever, of things, that I wasn’t even afraid of.

I have been off Topamax cold turkey for four days now and the anxiety has significantly subsided. I have worked through a lot of the anxiety with my wife and I now believe that stress is the cause of my headaches, not migraines like I tried to tell the doctor…but the muscle spasms have not stopped (they have decreased) yet…but I can’t wait for the Topamax to leave my body.

I used to think these messages boards were part of the problem, but they are very helpful. Do your research before you put anything into your body…trust yourself and if you disagree with your doctor, get a second opinion. This has been a life changing event for me.

Health and Happiness to all

I had mirena for about 9 months and had every side effect you can possible imagine...headache, acne, back pain, flutters in stomach like I am pregnant, hair loss, no patience, loss of vision, loss memory, weight gain, moody, loss of libido, zero energy, etc. Finally made the decision to have it removed on April 22. I started bleeding heavily on the 24th of April and have been bleeding heavily ever since. Has anyone else had this??? About how long is the heavy bleeding expected to continue??

I was recently switched from a combo pill (that I have been taking for 12 years) to Nora-BE due to migraines with aura. Since the headaches increase my risk of stroke, as do combo pills - they were required by law to switch me.

Unfortunately, since about two days after switching, I have been having eye twitching, severe headaches, vision loss, cramping etc. The eye/headache problems only start about 1 hour after taking the pill.

I went back to the doctor, who will not switch me back, and suggested going to a neurologist (hard since I just lost my job and insurance), and that I was basically out of luck. She also tried to blame it on pretty much everything other than the pill (allergies, caffeine, stress etc.). Apparently it is better for them for me to have increased risk of stroke from daily headaches (and liver/stomach issues due to heavy intake of pain killers now) than one from combo pills that never caused me any issues. I even offered to sign a waiver, but that did not make them budge a bit.

I understand their liability in the issue, but it is extremely frustrating to have headaches this badly daily, as well as having issues seeing (badly enough I cannot read highway signs). It is to the point where I may have to forgo any sex life with my fiance in order to get off these pills - which won't make him very happy :p. That, or go to another clinic, and go through the whole PAP again, as well as the bill, bleh..

I already listed all my side effects on the 4th of Feb. I immediately called the doctor and set up an appointment to have it removed. I'm not waiting till my hair falls out before I get it out of me. The doctor said they couldn't remove it for another month so I decided I'd just wait patiently until I read someone's comment saying that you can EASILY remove it yourself! I went in the bathroom, washed my hands, squatted and reached up, found the strings and tugged gently. I'M FREE!!! YAY!!
My side effects were:
Nausea
Vision Loss (seeing spots, and blurriness, pressure behind eyes)
Back Pain
Knee and other joint pain
Headaches
Extreme Irritability (mood swings)
Lack of energy
Weight Gain
Bloating (very rounded belly)
Discharge with an odor
Dizziness
Abdominal pain
Chest pain
Pain in breasts
Loss of sex drive
Dehydration (so thirsty, but very dry lips and skin no matter how much I drink)
Water retention
Anxiety attacks
Ear infections
Sugar cravings
Sweating
I'll update you on whether things change (and how fast)! Fingers crossed, I'm so hopeful!
I have to say that within minutes of removing it I'm dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous and my head is suddenly killing me!

I am so glad I found this site. I have been having hideous headaches and just today thought perhaps it's the Simvastatin that I started this summer. I had an occasion this summer where I lost the vision in one eye (half way up). The doctor said that is called "window blind" vision loss. So after doppler and MRI he said I had to absolutely take 81 mg of aspirin a day (baby aspirin) and started me on cholesterol lowering meds. I didn't want to take the cholesterol lowering meds so at first I resisted completely. However, in the past month I have started to take them. Every night I would wake up with a headache and my neck and shoulders were hurting also. I kept thinking that I was going to have a stroke. The pain was so bad I would vomit but the area of the headache was not where I would get migraines. The pain was more in the back of my head and my neck and shoulders. I decided to do some reading on the internet and found that headaches is a major symptom of simvastatin. I will do my own experiment now and stay off of it for 10 days. I will then start it again and see if the symptoms return. My doppler said I had mild build up of plaque...at 57 I would imagine most people of mild build up of plaque. I don't want a stroke or heart attack but I can't live with these headaches and the lack of sleep.

I have been on celexa for 4 days I know its not a long enough time for the meds to "kick In" but i am terrified and waiting for something bad to happen. I have struggled with terrible panic attacks since my pregnancy in o6-07 and they have lingered on and gotten worse. I was ok and happy to finally take the initiative to get better, I don't like even taking Tylenol so tis is a big deal for me. I was prescribed 10mg and have been only taking 5 of the 10 to wean myself into this drug.. I wish i could know what to expect and all i feel is nauseous, weird and shaky and last night i couldn't fall back to sleep i felt a lil dizzy is this normal?? I hope i don't have any vision loss also!

I've been on 200 mg Lamictal for 2 months now, after 4 month titration up from 25mg; Going off Lithium 900mg titration to 450mg this week. Since 1st day of lower Lithium, all the common Lamictal symptoms went from mild to extreme. Whole body muscle aches (like 24 hours after a heavy weightlifting workout) worse in neck & back/shoulders/calves, bad headaches, swelling in hands & feet, extreme blurred vision, loss of memory, halted speech while trying to figure out what to say, fuzzy. I called the Clinic to simply ask which NSAID (aspirin? ibuprofen? Excedrin? naproxin?) to use to manage the pain. They all freaked and made me come in for a blood test to check Lithium levels. I explained I wasn't "overly" concerned about it at this point, but just looking for a recommendation, and that they may be over-reacting (even though I did appreciate their concern). I also reminded them that I had just **decreased** Lithium when it happened, so I wasn't having a Lithium Toxic attack (I'm well-versed in that, having been on Lithium for 7 years). It didn't do much good to tell them I thought their diagnosis was a little off. I'll find out the blood test results today, but I'm pretty sure I know what they'll be. They also wanted me to see my PCP since it could be something else. Again, the problem was a ramp-up of existing symptoms the next morning after I lowered Lithium (the only change), so I'm conviced everything centers around that. I think they're a little inexperienced with this med. (Lamictal/Lamotrigine) and if they'd just read this blog they'd probably learn a lot. They had never heard of the muscle ache side effect. Pretty hard to believe after reading all of your comments! My theory is that Lithium was somehow holding back the side-effects of Lamictal and now they're expressing themselves more fully. I haven't read anything like this on any internet discussion, so maybe my body is very different. But maybe my experience will give someone else some insight in a similar situation.
I might also mention something that happened to me I have only seen (kinda) in one other "blog" about follicle (sweat gland) cysts. Yeah, I definitely got the jawline acne starting at the Lamictal 50mg level & increasing at 100mg. But I also got my first ever "cyst" that concerned me and sent me to my dermatologist for the first time in 30 years (I'm 47 and saw the old guy when I had acne at 17!). It started as a blind pimple on my chest the week I increased Lamictal to 200mg (final dose), but didn't go away. It continued to grow (not diminish) over 4 weeks to 3/8 inch round/pink/solid/itchy/burn-when-rubbed. So off to the "Doctor" like my father used to do on a regular basis (I know I'm getting old now) and scalpel/pop/stitch it was out. But it was real, not my imagination or hypocondria, and the timing of its appearance was right when Lamictal changed to full steam. Since acne appears to be a common effect with so many, it seems it's not unreasonable that this occurs occasionally as well to others. Let me be the 2nd to mention it. No "official" verification, but....
I'm not bagging on Lamictal, and have been very hopeful that this would be better than Lithium. It has eliminated the GastroIntestinal problems I had on Lithium, but I am getting discouraged that it has all the brand new symptoms that are discussed in this blog. Your "stuff" is real. I wish the Docs/Nurses/Case Workers would spend 5 minutes checking your comments out. It might bring about a better informed conversation than the shiny Glaxo flyers provide. That is all.

My 21 yo son started Singulair Aug.5 on Aug 6 he experienced an opthalmic migraine with persistent visual deficits that are constant. He only had one dose. He has never had any type of migraine before or even frequent headaches. Two neuro-ophthalmologists feel he is that rare case his vision may never be normal again. Singulair induced????

I gotta tell ya this is scary. I am a 30 yr old guy my wife is 27 we have four children.Our last one was born Mar. 2007 She has been on Yasmin 6months or so.She has never been regular on periods. Well a few weeks ago she started having massive headaches.As of June 31st her doctor said she has migraines. Well by July first her left eye went blurry by the 2nd she has lost vision in both eyes.She only sees light and is very cloudy and can see shadows. We made 3 trips to ER. They did Cat scan and it was neg. the doctor said she might have even had a mild stroke because her left cheek went numb. By the 2nd we were in ER again because of total vision loss. They did a lumbar punture and no Meningitus. cat scan again neg. blood work neg. except UTI sound familiar ladies??? By the 3rd we visited her doctor and she passed out and was rushed by EMT to Hosp. They did and MRI,MRA,had a eye Doctor called an ophthalmologist clear her of vision problems.She has talked to a neurologist. So here is a 27 yr old female with all the test's coming back normal but she can't see.They even had a psychiatrist talk to her because she is on Prozac because she has PCOS and had half her ovaries removed and almost died.They even suggested that she had conversion disorder(google it).Finally I decided to check side effects for all her meds. When I checked this one I almost jumped outta the chair.She has about 10 symptoms. But before I get too excited has anyone had vision loss for a period of time and did it come back once off of it?? I'm throwing these away

red eyes, itchiness, occasional pain behind the eye, blurred vision, loss of visual acuity (I have to have new glasses every 2 months) and rapid development of cataract.

The first time I used NuvaRing was about a year ago. It worked very well, except for the fact my boyfriend hated it... But during last summer I stopped using birth control I was feeling great. About 2 months ago I renewed my prescription of NuvaRing the first month was fine. I did notice that I was more moody and some cases of nausea. BUT the 2nd month has been horrible!!! Right now I feel like crap. I took out my ring because I was starting to bleed really thickly. That was about a week ago, I'm still bleeding, my breasts (although I'm a size 32A) are soar and my abdomen feels like its being riped out my va jay jay!

Whats wrong with me? AM I pregnant? Is this normal?

Also I have noticed some things that happened last time I used NuvaRing that I otherwise wouldn't have worried about.

Flashing in my vision. Loss of sex drive...

WTF?! Who knows what to do?

I wish I would have found this site earlier. I just had Mirena put in last Wednesday Feb. 13, 2008. I have had terrible lower abdomen cramps, a headache, blurred vision, loss of energy and I am very nauseous. I am hoping this gets better with time. I didn't have any complications when I had the procedure done, it didn't hurt very bad and I only spotted very lightly. But the next day was much worse. The cramps were so bad I was folded over. Can anyone please tell me if these symptoms will go away or will I feel like crap til I get it out? I have only had this for 1 week and I am already scared that this was the wrong decision. Help me please.

Hi

I have a lot of these symptoms I just read... I think I have IBS too, but am not sure exactly what the symptoms are of it... If anyone can help me out.... please respond!!!

HI my name is Jennifer, I am 27 years old, I went for my annual check-up on January 9 and I was telling my doctor that I was having headaches and feeling nausea a week before my periods and so she changed me to Loestrin 24 which I hate and yesterday was my last pill Thank God, and so now they switched me to Yaz which I start on Sunday and I am so scared of taking it because I have read so many things about women having horrible side effects such as blood clots in the lungs, acne, weight gain, vision loss and other side effects, I have gotten to the point that I want to call my doc again and get back on ortho tri cyclen but I have not even started Yaz I do not want to seem crazy! Can someone help me cause I am already freaking out and I have not started taking them yet please help!
Jennifer

I had a UTI and was given Cipro. I wake up shaking and having chest pain. My elbows hurt and my toes. I had diarrhea and stomach cramps as well as leg cramps. I am almost feeling like I have a panic disorder now, because I am so nervous about nothing. I wake up every night with either the palpitations in my heart. I thought I was having a mitral valve prolapse which I had almost twenty years ago. Now I have developed a spot in my eye like spider webs which now it has turned into a flash of light on the side of my right eye. I believe all this is from the Cipro. I was fine before it.

I used it for 2 months
it was hardly effective, pressure went down from 23 to 22
many sever side-effects which all persist to this day, even though I stopped using it 17 months ago,
they include: severe pain in the eyeball, macular edema, blurred vision, loss of vision from 90% to 25%, headache, severe back pain,

Two weeks after taking Levaquin for a urinary tract infection, I developed a rash/hives that covered my entire body. I had frequent violent itching attacks and wanted to scratch my skin off. After two days of the hives, I went to Urgent Care and was given a steroid shot and Prednisone. The next day I had severe chest pains and shortness of breath. I went to the emergency room and and EKG came back abnormal. My white cell count had shot off the charts to 35.0 I was admitted to the cardiac unit and was put through a battery of heart tests. All came back unremarkable. After three days of blood tests, CT scans and nitro tablets, I was released with no conclusion as to what I was experiencing. The rash continued, just not as bad and I've experienced joint pain. One week after the intial symptoms, I began experiencing dizziness and loss of vision. It has now been two weeks. I've had a MRI on my head to determine the cause of the dizziness and the vision loss and results from the MRI are pending. I was a healthy 46 year old before taking Levaquin. Currently, I cannot work a full day without vision loss or dizziness. I've been so perplexed as have the five doctors I've seen as to what the cause of my symptoms could be. After reading many comments from Levaquin patients, I now believe that I've found the cause.

I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus in 2001 and have been on Prednisone since then! I started on 60 mg and am now going off of the drug.

I gained about 60 pounds, I have a classic moon face, buffalo hum (on neck), and the bloaty belly--and I hardly eat. I went from being in shape and running three miles a day to barely being able to get off the couch! Here are some of my other side effects;

*sleep issues
*gum/teeth are more frail
* severe eye problems (blurred vision, loss of peripheral vision, depth perception problems)
* excessive hair in places I don't want and hair loss in the places I want to keep it on!
* mood swings
* inability to concentrate for long periods of time
excessive fatigue

My advice on this drug--if you can--avoid it. If not--be proactive in getting your doctor to get you off of it as soon as possible at a slow rate.

I am now on 5 mg being tapered off permanently! Thank God!

Hair fall out, extremely chapped lips, vision loss (corrective lenses went from -5 to -9.25), mood swings, suicide attempt.

I have been on Topamax for 5 years. At first I believed it was a miracle drug. It was being used to treat bipolar 2. Over the course of 7 months I lost 40lbs, which at that time I did not know was caused from the drug. I was losing parts of my memory, and I worked in a high performance sales job, but was able to cover the mistakes. Over the course of the next year and a half things began to get worse. I believed at that point it was my illness. I began to have panic attacks and began to be more depressed. Eventually I had to leave my job 3 years ago. I was given other drugs with the topamax but nothing did anything, so they upped the dosage to 400mg, which put me in bed almost constantly. The dosage was taken back to 200mg. Over the course of this process I complained of back pain, losing the feeling in my left side of my body, vision loss (I had perfect vision before taking this drug) headaches, eye twitching, stomache problems ( which developed into diverticulitis)hair loss. I had nerve testing done, which came back negative. I had the first eye test done which came back with some eye loss. My doctor assured me that the topamax could not be causing any of these problems.
The last vision test from an opthmologist now says that I need surgery to correct my eyes, because of the problems that this drug can cause. He says I need lazer surgery.
Well, the fact remains, that this drug I believe has caused all of my problems. Most of all, my lack of motivation, my depression, and my lack of will to do anything. My sleeping pattern has been totally changed, and I suffer my panic attacks which I never had prior to taking this drug, and anxiety. I have no libido, which I believe has been a gradual thing, it was not immediate.
I am now weaning myself off, and it is not easy. The lower dosage has withdrawl effects, and the fear of weight gain has always been a problem. However I realize now after researching this drug to great extent the long term effects are not worth weight loss, and natural products maybe the better solution.

I am so glad I found this website. I have had a lot of questions answered about my husband's health issues. My husband is a relatively healthy 32 year old and has been on 5mg Lisnopril for almost 5 years for slightly high BP and has had a lot of problems since he has started taking it. The most severe problem he has experienced lately is vision loss in his eye. He started complaining in late November of Floaters and Grainy Vision in his left eye. This will last about a week and then subside only to return a few days later. The vision problems will come on suddenly and get so bad that he can't see or read out of his left eye. He sees lines, floaters, cobwebs, colors, and grainy spots. My husband went to his family doctor when it first started and was told not to worry about it.

Last week I took him to the eye doctor, who could not even see in his eye because there was so many floaters. The opthamologist immediately sent us to a retina specialist who thought he had a detached or torn retina. Well, we have been to the specialist twice and he can't find anything that would be causing this problem. We've had 3 doctors and a pharmacist tell us that Lisinopril would not cause this vision problem. Since I have found this site and read posts from others who have had the same vision problems, I am convinced that this is causing his problems.

Some other side effects he has had is memory loss, confusion, aches and pains, weight gain, headaches, fatigue and dizziness. Thank goodness he has not had the awful coughing that countless others have experienced.

Needless to say he is not taking this medicine anymore. If anyone else has had similar vision problems please contact me.

My husband started taking Zocor two months ago. He has always been very energetic and healthy. He is experiencing sore muscles, flue like symptoms, leg cramps, blurry vision, loss of concentration, pain in his heels and feet and is having trouble sleeping. He has severe hip pain and had x-rays taken but the results did not show anything wrong. After going to this website he is stopping the Zocor and seeing his Physician immediately.

Niaspan can cause Uveitis (inflammation of the eyes.)This leads to vision loss. If you are on this drug beware of any vision changes you might have and have your eye doctor check for Uveitis. I went to three eye doctors before they figured out that niaspan was causing my vision problems.