Western medicine symptoms and conditions

i have never taken lipitor and i never will but here's a warning for everyone- there is actually a company that sells reports for stock investors and they are advising people to invest in the company that makes the one of the only drugs used in the management of ALS. they predict that the ALS patient population (code for customers) will grow as a result of all the people on lipitor.

ok, aside from the fact that it made me sick to my stomach that wall street views the potential suffering and death of ALS victims as a business opportunity (what else is new?), this is a pretty good indication that there is a link. it will probably take years for "science" to conclusively state the connection and for the FDA to take lipitor off the market

in the meantime, save your own life. if you're not taking it, don't start. if you are, stop NOW! cholesterol is not the enemy

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.

OMG!

It's hard to admit this, but I thought the symptoms described here (forgetfulness, fog, inconsistency) were being HELPED by the drug. I gave up coffee and most caffeine as I got older, also.

Once upon a time I was extremely anxious- I took Ritalin for ADHD, it became too much, and tried some things before landing on WB about 10 years ago. I took it during my pregnancy (perfect child, BTW- so smart and beautiful, not just to his mama) after trying to go off. i just found out I have thyroid disease, and I suspect it's played a huge role in the lethargy and spaciness.

SO... I called my doc to go off. The key for me is getting enough rest and exercising, along with meditation to stay grounded. I will check back to let you know how it goes.

I do have to say- man-made drugs are the invention of Western medicine, and while they have no doubt saved lives, there are other cultures that use far more natural remedies that have been successful for centuries. Do your research- don't put your faith in one doctor or philosophy. Drive your own good health!

My daughter has this vaccine and was severely ill. Migraines, hair falling out, pneumonia, dehydration, you name it ... She was super healthy before this vaccine. You need to detox to feel better. Western medicine cannot help much - unless they understand the eastern side of medicine as well - trust me - I'm in a yahoo group Lets Talk About Gardasil.

You need to go gluten-free/sugar-free/casein(dairy)-free, drink bottled or distilled water and introduce extra vitamins. (B12, D3, magnesium, folic acid, and a liver boost, which you can find at a vitamin shop). There is lots of information at the yahoo group - so please join so you can get healthy. Gardasil is a GMO (genetically made) which has problems all its own - but you need to get the metals out of your body which are in this vaccine and in many foods you eat - start reading labels! No high fructose corn syrup and lots of rest. Please check out the chat group - and please file a VAERS report - that is URGENTLY needed to get this vaccine off the market.

I've been on the fentanyl patch for almost 3 years. I started on the 25 patch, then went up to the 50. Now I've weaned myself back down to the 25 patch. I was put on it for chronic back pain caused from a car accident.
I'm determined to get off this drug, so any and all suggestions are welcome!
In the last few months I've been experiencing some odd side effects that seem to be becoming worse by the day. Firstly, it seems like I can feel the effects of the patch more so, like when I first started using it. I also started experiencing nocturnal problems, my legs in particular felt like they were burning up and the muscles were really tight. If I stretched them it only seemed to worsen the problem. The only solution, weirdly enough, seemed to be jumping into the tub for a half hour.
In the last couple of weeks I have been experiencing MY FULL BODY HEATING in the middle of the night, as though it's the middle of summer in the middle of a big heatwave. I move around on the sheets and try to find a cool spot. I manage to sleep for only minutes at a time. For awhile this was only happening the second day with the patch (I only wear it two days at a time). Now it's the first and second. It's disrupting my sleep and I'm exhausted. My doctor gave me some sleeping pills which worked rather well but now I've run out and I really don't want to start depending on another drug.
I NEVER should have started on this drug and though it does work and work very well for chronic pain, I still highly recommend finding any other option out there for dealing with your pain. The withdrawal effects are horrendous. The first time I went through withdrawal I could not believe how terrible the symptoms were. Vomiting, diarreah (never could spell that one right, lol), and the pain was amplified times 100. My Doctor seems to not understand how scary it is to even contemplate getting off this drug, the withdrawal is that scary!
I managed to get down a patch size by cutting a tiny sliver of the plastic backing on the patch (NOT THE PATCH ITSELF!!!! The backing that you remove!) and sticking it on the patch before transferring the patch to my skin, so in essence, I was blocking out part of the patch and just made the plastic a little bigger until I had finally blocked out half the patch at which time I went down to the 25 patch with zero side effects.
I'm on percocet for the fallout pain and take up to 8 per day, although some days I can take as little as 3. After I'm off the patch I'm determined to get off of this drug as well and learn to manage my pain in a different way.

I was prescribed Niaspan ER, and the first night I took the 81 mg aspirin an hour before. So this was 11 pm. I tried to get to sleep, as I do usually have a hard time getting and staying asleep anyway.. BUT, four hours later, I had this severe face flush, I had burning in my ears, my face, my neck and as I was told I might have this, I tried to remain calm.. then the ITCHING started up, I wanted to rip off my skin, I itched so badly! I scratched my wrists, then my upper legs, my stomach area.. even ripped open a little sore there... this itching almost drove me crazy! I admit I got panicky.. and my heart started racing and I felt like my throat was closing up.. this is something I experience with my allergy to contrast dyes... I swore I'd never take another Niaspan! Scared the heck out of me. I don't know what else I will be able to take to lower my triglycerides and total cholesterol. I am 56 and just found out with an EKG that I have had a heart attack already. So this is all scary to me, but the burning and itching and rapid heartbeat don't seem worth it to me! Anyone else have this kind of experience? What did you do? thanks

I went in on a Monday for some ear/throat pain, and was diagnosed with sinusitis and prescribed Avalox 400MG. By Thursday, I had an unrelenting headache, SEVERE anxiety and tremors, and decided to Google "avelox side effects". It's Friday morning, and I'm blown away by the amount of negative feedback this drug is getting. Obviously I've stopped taking it.

Worst part? I called my Dr on Thursday morning, told the receptionist that I was having side effects.....NEVER HEARD BACK FROM HIM. And this goddamn drug has a black box warning from the FDA about severe risk or tendon rupture, etc. I f*cking hate Western medicine.

I think that I can get my head around certain things and try to explain to you that medications do not work for all people or affect all people the same way. Well, that sounds simple enough to say - DUH. But, it is actually quite complicated chemically. Human beings are not chemically the same because we have variations in our genes. Would you be surprised to learn that about 60% of adverse drug reactions involve certain chemicals (in some cases enzymes) that we already know what these chemicals or enzymes are and what the variants are among populations groups? Some times we can predict who would have an adverse reaction to what medications if we knew what gene subgroup the patient was part of. We could also predict whether the patient would metabolize a drug at the same speed as others or not. Metabolize means utilize the drug and then discard the by-products--mostly the liver is the recycling center of chemical waste. Anything that the liver cannot re-use, the kidneys gets rid of in the urine. Speed of metabolism is a very important thing because people who are slow metabolizers might actually experience over-dose. There are other differences caused by genes that can cause different reactions according to the individual person.

I am interesting in following this site because I am wondering if the concept is flawed meaning that other parts of the body were ignored at the expense of controlling asthma and allergies of the nasal passages and lungs. OR - is there just a problem that relates to genetic differences in something such as enzymes and certain populations groups do just fine on Singulair with no problems and other people have some awful problems?

This isn't my area. But, sadly, if I can spend two weeks looking at this and come up with at least a road map of what I am looking for to answer some important questions then people who do this for Merck already know the answers. Why do I say that? Because, the adverse side effects (major categories) correspond to important areas of leukotriene receptor location and activity. Maybe not necessarily this receptor but part of a chemical process that involves this receptor.

The bottom line is that Singulair is the wrong medication for anyone that has adverse reactions. OR, there is a problem regarding the dosage that involves how fast the patient metabolizes the medication. Considering that there is a link to psychiatric adverse drugs reactions in Singulair and some medications for depression are linked to differences in metabolism due to enzymes, then there could be possibly something important to be learned from Singulair adverse drug reactions.

The biggest problem is that pharmaceutical companies are not properly communicating with the doctors who prescribe their medications. Why not communicate to doctors to look out for side effects and be aware that there are gene variations among people that are directly linked to how the patient might respond to the medication?

What happens if the patient belongs to the gene group that will have problems? If the pharm company does not tell the doctor to be on the alert, then the doctor tells the patient that it is not the drug that is causing the problem. Then the gene groups with the problems, go on the war path.

Unfortunately, as with all drugs, including the lowly aspirin, there are a myriad of side-effects. There is not a single drug on the market that has no side-effects and almost all have multiple side-effects. Additionally, Western medicine is designed to treat symptoms, rather than treat the cause of the underlying problem. The Western medical establishment, and pharmaceutical industry in particular, profits from illness and has no incentive for patients to receive proactive care or treatment. With that being said, there are often many holistic, homeopathic or ayurvedic treatments for many of society's ailments. This is the thorn in the side of the big pharmaceutical corporations, such as Pfizer, Merck and others. They are working hard to have herbal and other supplements regulated by the paid-off FDA. The big pharma companies spend billions per year in FDA fees and enforcement activities to protect their investments and to prevent others from cutting into their market share--this is why they are so determined to regulate herbal supplements or even have them banned from the marketplace altogether. The other problem is the absurd scare tactics used by the FDA, FBI and the big pharma companies. What they fail to tell uneducated Americans is that companies like Cipla, Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddys have FDA-approved facilities both in the U.S. and in India. Furthermore, these companies supply a vast amount of American drugs, both generic and brand name. These drugs are not "counterfeit," but they may be "misbranded," under certain conditions. Think about it--India is a country with 1 billion people--more than three times the U.S. population. Do you think a multi-billion dollar company like Cipla would compromise its quality or even exist if their drugs were of inferior quality? This company thrives because of stringent quality control which produces superior products that surpass even those of Pfizer's or Merck's.

I went on NuvaRing in June or July 2005. and in may 2006 I started having eye pain behind my eyes, which i thought was my sinuses but it turns out it is posterior Scleritis, which is a form of localized autoimmune disease, which of course, the doctors know nothing about and cant treat unless I agree to take steroids all the time or Methotrexate (the same medicine used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and which causes hepatitis as a side effect). no one has told me that the NuvaRing and Scleritis could be related but after reading the multitude of symptoms women have had on this site, i am starting to wonder if there is a relationship between the two. i have no history of anything like this, I'm 26 and otherwise very healthy.

I was given 20 mg of Prednisone for 10 days for a rash and joint pain.
The pain went away and I felt great the rash got a little better. Two days ago I took my last pill. I woke up that night and my knees gave out. By morning I was great! Next night I woke with knee problem again had to slide down the stairs to the living room. I got to wondering if the knee thing could be associated with the Prednisone. I got on line and read all this terrible stuff. I am so Horrified! Today I am in pain like my body is bruised and my face is swollen a little. I have acid reflux as well. Non of this is typical for me. My knee thing is ok again, but I am just appalled! I have no MED insurance. I hope this isn't the beginning of worse things I am not taking that drug now. The Dr. didn't say I needed to taper...

I hope I have not damaged myself by taking this drug! My heart goes out to all of you! My question is - Why are the Dr.'s prescribing this terrible drug?

I was given levaquin 500 mg 6 days ago for phlebitis. Since I started I have had terrible anxiety, panic attacks, fear of dying, nightmares, crying jags, and very sore neck and shoulders. I called my doctor today and asked about the side effects of this medicine. I am NOT going to finish my 10 day dosage. I'm done. I've never been so miserable. This is strange because all this past summer I took low-dose levaquin, 250 mg 4 days a week because I have bartonellosis, a co-infection of Lyme disease. It didn't bother me beyond some leg pain then, but now it's a whole new story. I am TERRIFIED of this antibiotic and modern Western medicine in general.

hi eryka,
glad i was able to make you feel a little better. i have no idea how long this phase lasts, i was the same as you, doing better for a few months,then started to feel a little worse again,i am now at month 8 without yasmin. it is definately getting easier as far as the anxiety goes.i do still get raging pms symptoms (never had pms before i went on yasmin!) but the way i see it,i would rather have pms for 10 days of the month than be a nervous,tired aching mental wreck the whole month like i was! i do feel that each month i am more and more like my old self,i am able to do most things that i used to do pre yasmin,it's not easy but i get by because i have too much too live for to let this drug take any more of my precious life. i am sure you are the same. like you i am not very keen on western medicine any more. i am going to have acupuncture to see if that will help ease the last of my symptoms and i am also taking a herbal remedy to help balance out my hormones.will keep you posted after i have tried the acupuncture!
best wishes.

sarah

Hello again,
Sarah-thank you so much, once again, for your comforting words. It is amazing that after I read your post telling me that where I am in the process (and what I am currently experiencing) is normal, I actually feel physically calmer and less anxious! I feel now that I know what to expect. Do you have any idea how long that second "phase"--when your own hormones take over--will last? Thank you thank you for comforting me!

Silke-as I was reading your post, something struck me. You mentioned a few times that you feel like something is missing in your body. Ever since my Yasmin nightmare started I have been reading up on Eastern medicine (like Ayurveda) and Chinese medicine because I do not trust Western medicine at the moment. Anyway, have you ever studied it? There is an idea that your lifeforce, or "chi", runs through your body and that each of your systems are connected to each other, instead of operating exclusively from one another. If one system is sick, Western doctors simply provide a pill that will make it better, never thinking that it might not be treating the root problem. In Eastern/Chinese medicine, this idea of chi brings everything togther holistically. There are several different areas in your body that this chi may be centered. If one of the centers is "blocked," it can drain your life force from smoothly running throughout your body at all times. (Anybody who knows about Eastern and Chinese medicine...please feel free to chime in or say it better than me--the amateur!)

Long story short, there are ways to "free" this blocked chi. That might be the answer to what you feel like is "missing." I have a friend who struggled for a long time to heal from being on a terrible oral contraceptive (not Yasmin, actually) and she swears by this alternative medicine. She has an acupunturist and an herbologist and feels so healthy, holistically. So if you feel like traditional medicine, doctors, and tests are not working to help you heal, just google some alternative methods. They have been around a lot longer! I considered it for myself, but unfortunately I cannot afford it at the moment.

I hope everyone reading this is doing well today!
Best, Erykah

After I was separated from my husband of 9 years, I decided to go off the pill. I immediately stopped getting migraines, no more bloating, no cramps!, no Headaches!!, slept deeper, lost 10lbs, was on Cloud 9, had the energy of a 19 yr old, dancing and had never felt better, but I had irreg. periods and went months without a cycle. Most would point this to being happy that Im not in an unfulfilling marriage anymore, and I'm not discounting that. But, 4 months after I met my Soul Mate, I went back on Yasmin (b/c the others gave me migraines). Little by little I gained weight, lost my waist again, sex drive is much lower, lower energy, breasts went back to 36C! but they're so tender now, migraines hit right before I start again, bloating, cramping so bad it wakes me in the middle of the night, I look tired all the time. It's taken my youth away from me once again. I think we women have greater intuition than western medicine has proof, and I believe it's time to go off the pill forever and try other barrier methods. Does anyone have any recommendations of things they've tried and worked well, and the didn't get pregnant using them? Thanks for reading and any comments you have :) - phoebegirl

This freaks me out reading all of these...I just expierenced something....

I was in the hospital because they thought I had a stroke. I am only 26 years old. My whole right side when numb and weak and it was my leg, arm, and face, and lips, nose, and eye areas. It then went away after 48 hours. They have no idea what it was. they have done MRI's and ruled out Bells Palsey and tons of stuff. I also see flashing lights so they are starting to lean towards migraines.

The only weird thing is that I went in a while ago for extreme belly pain burning and they found that my liver was enlarged.

Now, someone else above mentioned these stroke like symptoms and the enlarged liver.

I also get strange thoughts. I am on Neurontin 2100 MG for anxiety.

Anyone have any advice?

******

I put a message in here stating that deeep tissue therapeutic massage got rid of my intense muscle and joint pain. I was the one who when I sat up or rolled over in bed felt like someone was stabbing me in the chest with a knife. It was excrutiating! And I had severe pain in my muscles, joints and ribs so it hurt to take a deep breath. All this was from taking Levaquin Feb. 8 - 17th, 2003. Yesterday I ran sprinting races with my 9 year old son and felt GREAT! I am a 42 year old woman. Granted I used to workout a lot and did personal training for 5+ years, but had not exercised regularly in 3 years. I am telling you this so you can realize how much the following program helped me recover from the side effects of Levaquin. I told you that my osteopathic doctor recommended a heavy metal detoxification program - hot baths with epsome salts, alkaline diet(protein & vegies - no dairy or breads/pasta), massage, exercise and stretching to remove the metals - because Levaquin combines with metals in the body to form another compound. Aluminum is it's first choice to bind with, and I already knew my aluminum level was at 35 when the normal range is 0-9. I also started using "Heavy Metal Cleanse" by RenewLife Company. After 3 massages I was still feeling vague discomfort in my back and occassional sharp pains in various places, plus absolutely no energy. I have been on the detox program for about 3 weeks now doing all of the above and finally my energy is back and all of the pain is gone. I highly recommend this program to everyone. An Osteopathic Doctor graduates from med school just like an MD but they also learn some alternative medicine depending upon their interests, such as chiropractic, naturopathic, acupuncture, oriental medicine, etc.

An MD I went to wouldn't even discuss metal toxicity because they did not teach him about it in med school. He has the blinders on like a lot of MD's who think that western medicine (taught in US med schools)holds all the answers. But it does not. My getting healthy again is proof of that. There are still a lot of people out there suffering from this. Please try this program. The Heavy Metal Cleanse product just requires taking 1-2 capsules first thing in the morning and just before bed and drinking lots of water to help flush the metals out of your body. The instructions inside also outline the alkaline diet and say that you will have greater success if you follow this diet while doing the Heavy Metal Cleanse. I am now planning to get back into Personal Training. I could not even consider this if I was still in so much pain that I had to live on pain killers 24 hours a day like I was. Reminder: Tylenol hinders clearing the metals out of the body by clogging up the liver. My D.O. prescribed Hydrocodone for pain. Taking this also allowed me to start exercising because it relieved the pain enough so that I could walk, try to expand my lungs and do some upper body exercises and stretching. Don't take it before you go for a massage though or they won't be able to identify as well, what areas they need to work on. The first massage was very painful, so be ready. In fact I cried because I had been off the pain med for hours before and just couldn't stand any more pain. But she just said "you have to take it to get better". And it was well worth it because the massages were crutial in healing me. Best of luck! - Robin