Wallet symptoms and conditions

I have been reading all of your Simvastatin experiences with high interest and would like to share my adventures with all of you as well. My story began seven years ago when I was relatively healthy and enjoying life. My doctor prescribed Lipitor for my elevated cholesterol and two months later I found myself in the emergency room after having a severe bout with vertigo for the first time in my life. I have since spent the last seven years fighting this debilitating illness which continues to haunt me after having seen every top neurologist in my area and having taken every neurological test available. It would be as difficult to convince me that I was not somehow "poisoned" by Lipitor as it was for me to convince my doctor.

I was eventually prescribed Simvastatin 40MG and seemed to stabilize for a few years even though my dizziness problems persisted. Suddenly I began experiencing bouts of upset stomach and severe lower abdominal pain. I allowed my doctor to order basically every nasty test known to man in an effort to discover the cause of this new problem, but all have come up negative so far. Eventually I began to experience total exhaustion in the middle of my work day, not to mention the back, neck, and muscle pain that has been described so vividly in this forum. Basically, I have become a 53 year old man who feels much older, has absolutely no energy, and rarely has a day when I can honestly say I feel alive and well.

I am not a doctor and I can't honestly prove that Simvastatin is the cause of all of my problems. However, I do have common sense and after reading all of your thoughtful comments on the subject I would be foolish to at least not suspect that the drug may possibly be making me less healthy and not more healthy. Thank you all for opening my mind to this possibility and I certainly plan on discussing this with my doctor very soon, who may no longer by my doctor should he continue to insist that I take this nasty drug.

wow- glad I found you guys! I'm female, 54, thin, healthy, have always exercised and watched my diet. cholesterol went up to 280 a couple of yrs ago- tried more diet/exercise but it only came down to 250, so since then have tried 4 low-dose (40 mg) statins (crestor, lipitor, zocor, and now pravastatin), all of which after 2-6 months made me feel like I was jumping out of my skin and caused chest pain and palpitations that stopped almost immediately when I discontinued them. Also, I've always fallen asleep quickly and now take an hour or more, and recently my fingers have started falling asleep/tingling. I'm stopping the pravastatin today! Maybe 250 isn't so bad, if this is the alternative. Does anyone have any remedies to suggest besides low fat/low sugar diet? I just read that we should avoid reduced-fat milks (I drink 1%) because they contain oxydized cholesterol, which irritates the artery wall.

i have been an asthmatic since the age of 2 years old i am now 24 years old. preds as i call it has been a part of my life since then. i have a number of reactions to it from gaining 30 lbs in les than 6 months to almost definitely hallucinating. i urinate frequently,my hubby says that i'm a leaking tap. i cry and grumble at times for no reason: yes mood swings like rain in spring time. i even threw away my wallet after a dose of preds three months ago. i laugh uncontrollably. i get depressed. sleep for long hours one time and then become insomniac for days. i am super hyper. i am creative and expressive and get even better for a few hours after taking preds. also i appear to have an attention disorder at times. i have acute hearing i.e i hear like a fox really well and then some day si behave like an 89 year old with a hearing aid. i get rashes on allergic reactions to things i've been using all my life like band-aid.i don't like it in fact when the doctor gives me 8 to be taken 3 times daily for a week, i take two and feel better without all the side effects. i am so fat its a shame. i was tall and lean and sexy now i am tall heavy and my hubby still says sexy. we all hate it don't we?!

I have been on Zocor 40mg for many years and doing fine with it, until my doctor thought it was not working that well, hence, switched me to Lipitor 10mg. After a few months I developed severe chest pain along with neck pain. It felt like it might have been a heart attack, but it lasted more than 24 hours. I was admitted to ER for 1 night in the hospital and released the following day. They checked my heart and found it was fine. They ran my blood work, chest x-rays, cat scan and checked my lungs. All O.K.!!! The next morning they told me I had Slight Diabetes and an Under Active Thyroid and thought Esophagus Spasms were the cause of my pain. OH yeah, I also told them it hurt more with each breath of air I took in rather than out. It did not matter to them. They gave me Protonix 40mg because they thought it would reduce acid reflux to the esophagus, thus reducing my pain. Furthermore, they gave me Synthroid 25MCG for my Under Active Thyroid. After about 10 days of these medication plus LIPITOR, I had a recurrence of the same pain. I decided to research and came across this Website. I stopped the Lipitor and the next day my pain was subsiding. By this evening, my pain is almost completely gone. I am scheduled to have an Endoscopy in about a week from now and I am hesitant. Are the pharmaceuticals and physicians in cahoot with each other. I can't believe I was required to take all these tests and even more tests before the pain started (EKG, Heart Monitor, Nuclear Stress Test, Heart Scan and Angiography). Did I forget to mention I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and put on X-Forge a few months before all this started, but I was taken off it because of side effects (dizziness, lethargic, and so on). I did research on X-Forge and it said to NEVER use it as a first method of treatment for high blood pressure. I also was having pain under my right armpit. WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER LIKE THIS BEFORE ACTION IS TAKEN TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING TO SOMEONE ELSE. Well, I guess it's just the price we have to pay before we decide to do things OUR WAY!! GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU! THANKS FOR THE POST! PS. Can't wait to see what my Endocrinologist has to say about me next month $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

I have been on Lamictal for about a year and am up to a daily 400mg dose.

The drug has changed my life with little if any side effects. Hearing isn't as great as has been but I am 56 and my father's hearing loss started at the same time.

Short term memory loss/distraction has been more noticeable lately: where are my keys, wallet, what was I looking for. Coping behaviors have helped, but this may be an indication that I should scale back on my dosage. The med doc will advise I am sure.

I was on anti-depressants, Zoloft mainly, for 14 years. It helped with depression but deadened me to feeling. I also believe it contributed to manic-like 'blow-outs' every few years. Jury is out and may be always regarding whether I am BP II, a first-class depressive, or just have some very important biography that only now I can attend to.

I am physically and emotionally healthier than at any time in my life. I consider myself very fortunate that I have not experienced the severe side effects that some others on this list have experienced.

I too have nothing new to add just wanted to share my experience. I had severe bylateral ear infections accompanied by a sinus infection. My dr. gave me 10 days of augmentumn (sp?) it didn't work so she then prescribed 10 days of Levaquin (poison!) my insurance company didn't approve it at first so the pharmacy put a call into my dr.'s office and was waiting for an alternative. I was in so much pain from the ear infections that I did the single worst thing that I regret in my life. I called my insurance company and had them overide the rejection and approve the medicine, I wish to God I didn't. I did ask them if it was a controversial medication and they said no, just that it needs to be approved. Well, I started on Monday July 2nd and by Wednesday July 5th my knees started to ache really bad, just thought I walked a little too much on the 4th (nothing out of the ordinary I walk all the time and swim) well I thought it would subside and NEVER ever ONCE thought it was due to an antibiotic (aka levaquin/poison). I experienced sleeplessness and nauseau and didn't think anything of it, I know most antibiotics can make you nausiated. Well, by Sunday I could barely walk and when I had to crouch down to get something, I had tears in my eyes trying to stand up, the burning in my knees was unbearable and I still didn't relate it to the medicine, I had NO idea! Well, by Tuesday I took my 9th dose and my ears had felt better but my knees were getting worse, so I woke up on Wednesay and didn't take the medicine and then called the dr.'s. I asked if this could be related to the medication because it's not getting better, and the nurse said, I've never heard of that before, but hold on. She came back and stated "it says a side effect can be tendonitis and she said I needed to come in right away" I saw the dr. and she said, yes it's a side effect but it happens mostly in teenagers, but she was a little concerned that I was still having severe joint pain more than 24 hours after stopping the medication and that she wanted to do a lyme test. She told me that even if the lyme came back negative she was going to put me on dicylomine (sp?) for 3 weeks as a precaution because lyme tests can produce false negatives. She said wait another 24 hours and if I'm still in pain then she will prescribe the lyme meds. Well, 24 hours past and I got the lyme back, negative, my knees were killing, my muscles started to shake in my upper thighs and I was getting vibrating sensation along with muscle contractions. I called them back and on Friday and stated that I did some research on Levaquin and this is a side effect of the medication and I am NOT taking another antibiotic for a disease that I don't have! They asked me if I could wait until Tuesday to come see the dr because she was on vacation and I agreed hoping that my pain would subside with the prescription motrin and some ice. By Saturday (yesterday) it was moving down to my left shin and both the back of my ankles were killing like they were stiffl. I called and they said to put warm heat packs on and take the motrin and they would see me tomorrow if necessary. Well, the trembling in my legs were so bad that I had to take a diazapam to calm them down (which I didn't want to because I wanted to measure the pain, but couldn't stand it any longer) and put heat packs all day. I got some sleep last night (most likely due to the diazapam) I think the ice is worse for this but it feels better at the time. I am NOT getting any better, what is going on with me? I cannot believe this company has not been put out of business! I am going to see the dr's on Tuesday and am treating my condition as if it's tendonitits, I am now experiencing the muscle contractions in my arms. I am drinking water like it's my job and trying to stay off my legs with just a bit of stretching. I do pilates and go to the gym but have not gone since the 2nd of July the day I started the medication and am getting frustrated because I need to go for my back (arthritis of the spine with some herniated discs which are killing me now because I haven't been able to excersie or stretch). I am SO furious that this drug is on the market, the nurse said that it was a serious but RARE side effect to the drug and that she has never heard of anyone having it, well I don't think it's as rare as they would like to think and would like to do something about getting it taken off the market!

PLEASE tell me PLEASE has anyone just ONE person recovered from this HORRIBLE nighmarish pain and anguish? I am looking for that one beacon of hope that others have recovered and are feeling better, please anyone. I have children and I need to take care of them but I can't move my legs without excruciating pain going through them, especially the burning of the top of my knees. ANY help on how you took care of yourself would be great help to me. Thank you all!

Virtually no sex drive, with quite noticably lighter wallet.

My husband is on Toprol and he is depressed and has pain in back,shoulder and arm. He also has lost all strength in left hand. He can't even take his wallet out of his pocket. Is this from Toporal? He also has no sex drive. I can't get him to believe it is from the drug. The Dr. said it's Arthritis.

long term use 6mg a day can cause what side effect.