Withdrawal symptoms symptoms and conditions

My 4 1/2 yo daughter has SEVERE allergies since 6 weeks old. Our specialist prescribed Zyrtec and she has been taking it every night for 3 1/2 years. We haven't noticed any obvious side effects as others have. She is certainly not drowsy (in fact the opposite!)A couple of times we have run out and she has missed it for 1-2 nights, and she has started itching ALL night. We have assumed that she needed the Zyrtec and rushed out and bought more. As I am getting concerned about the long term effects, started researching and found this site. Maybe we should consider that this was withdrawal symptoms and not the allergies. Does anyone know how long the withdrawals last? Thanks to all the posts for all the relevant information.

Hello,
How long do side effects last after completing steroid treatment? I've been off of pred for 4 months for crohn's first time. I was on 40/30/20/10 for a 6 week period. When I got to 30 my legs went into extreme pain. They felt like they were on fire, burning knees. Went to several doctors. One said steroid withdrawal, one said inflammation of nerves from Crohn's. Neurologist put me on neurontin to get off of the pain meds. I am still in excruciating pain and wondering if it really is steroid withdrawal. I can barely walk at times with extreme sharp pains, like someone is stabbing me in the legs. Can't stand for long periods of time and pain pills barely touch the pain. During steroid treatment, they gave me 3 rounds of Dilaudid in the ER and I was still crying, and I don't cry. Has anybody ever had this effect this long after being off the drug??

This is to serve as a personal warning to ANYONE taking
Effexor XR or thinking about taking it.

After my husband and I experienced HORRIBLE withdrawal symptoms within a week from coming off of our medication, and has continued for 4 months now. I feet compelled to inform people about the risks that this drug carries with it.

This drug helped my husband and I immensely while we were on it, but I just wish that I had been more knowledgeable about the risks of going off this medication so abruptly.

I understand that the medical professional that is prescribing you the drug is supposed to inform you that you are not to stop taking the medication abruptly (which is exactly what I was told). IN NO WAY was I told the consequences of NOT taking the medication.

So here are some of the symptoms that I experienced within the first two days (there are many more symptoms that other Effexor XR patients have experienced, but I feel that it is only right to list mine):

• Akathisia - a syndrome characterized by unpleasant sensations of "inner" restlessness that manifests itself with an inability to sit still or remain motionless.
• Ataxia – Loss of the ability to move the body with coordination.
• "Brain Zaps", "Brain Shocks," "Brain Shivers" or "Head Shocks" Descriptions include dizziness, electric shock-like sensations, sweating, nausea, insomnia, tremor, confusion, and vertigo.
• Cold Sweat – The skin is clammy and moist and you feel chilled. This is a reaction to a shock or pain as well as to fear and nervousness.
• Colitis – A condition where the large intestine becomes irritated from the use of the drug.
• Dehydration – An extreme loss of water from the body or the organs of the body as in sickness or not drinking enough fluids.
• Depersonalization - A feeling of watching oneself act, while having no control over a situation. (A sufferer feels that he or she has changed and the world has become less real, vague, dreamlike, or lacking in significance.)
• Diplopia – A condition where a person is looking a one object and instead of normally seeing just the one object he sees two. This is also call double vision.
• Disequilibrium - Dizziness, light-headedness and vertigo with a sense of losing balance.
• Dysarthria – The inability to control the mouth muscles when forming words so the words are not clearly spoken and heard.
• Gastric Irritation – An inflamed and sore stomach.
• Hyperhidrosis – The triggering of an excess of sweat being produced on the soles of the feet and/or the palms.
• Hypoesthesia – A partial loss of sensation or general loss of awareness.
• Influenza-like - Fatigue, lethargy, chills, sweating, headache, weakness and palpitations.
• Insomnia – Not able to fall asleep or sleeping for a shorter time than desired, thus not being able to properly rest and feeling un-refreshed. As a result, a person can become irritable, have difficulty concentrating and feel a lack of energy.
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome – A painful condition where the either the muscles or the nerves of the lower intestines, are not responding normally. This results in an alternating condition of diarrhea followed by constipation, back and forth.
• Mania – Unusually irrational, excessive and/or exaggerated behavior or moods ranging from enthusiasm, sexuality, gaiety, impulsiveness and irritability to violence.
• Mood Swings – An emotional shifting as from a state of happiness to a state of depression for a period of time.
• Night Sweats – With night sweats you become wide awake in the middle of the night shivering and cold and wet with your sheets/pajamas soaked in perspiration making it difficult to go back to sleep.
• Nightmare – Dreams that make you afraid or leave feelings of fear, terror, and upset long after waking up.
• Abnormal Orgasm – Unable to have an orgasm with normal sexual stimulation.
• Pain in Extremity – A painful feeling in the legs, arms, hands, and/or feet.
• Paresthesia - A sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of a person’s skin with no apparent long-term physical effect.
• Photopsia – A condition where a person sees lights, sparks, or colors in front of their eyes.
• Pressure of Speech – A condition where the individual cannot voice his ideas fast enough with the pressure of there being not enough time to say it.
• Pyrexia – Fever or the increase in body temperature that is usually a sign of infection.

Now some of you may be thinking that I might be overreacting, but I assure you that I am not. Quite the opposite actually, I feel that there are probably more symptoms that I am leaving out.
When I went online to research the symptoms that we had been experiencing, there was little information that I could find. I went onto the website for Wyeth (the company that produces Effexor XR) and the only thing that I could find was, and I quote,

“When people suddenly stop using or quickly lower their daily dose of EFFEXOR XR, discontinuation symptoms may occur. Talk to your doctor before discontinuing or reducing your dose of EFFEXOR XR.”

Wyeth also states that Effexor XR is, and I quote AGAIN,

“ Effexor XR Is Not Addictive. Effexor XR and other antidepressants are not addictive. You cannot become addicted to an antidepressant even if you take it for long-term maintenance therapy. An antidepressant is not a controlled substance like a narcotic or a stimulant.”

I am very sorry Wyeth, but I disagree.

I took Ativan for a couple of weeks straight and for six weeks or so on and off. I went from taking a 1 mg SL to 2 mg one night and it made me feel like a zombie so I cut back to the 1 the next night. Then I started getting heart palpitations so I asked a pharmacist and she told me that they can cause that and to cut back to 0.5 mg for the next three nights and get off it which I did. Two days after taking my last dose I ended up in emergency with withdrawal symptoms ranging from numbness to a tightening of a band around my head. A week later I thought that I could go back to taking just 0.5 mg a night. Big mistake as it put me right back to square one. I haven't taken one since thankfully and never will again. It is the worst drug in the universe imo.

I was prescribed Wellbutrin to help relieve withdrawal symptoms from smoking cessation. It worked. I felt so awful from the Wellbutrin for 4 days that I never – ever wanted to smoke again. My head felt like I could remove it from my shoulders and rest it on a table. I experienced a sort of “out of body” sensation most of the time. I was nausea's and had headaches constantly. By the time I decided I couldn’t take any more - 4 days had passed and the physical addiction to nicotine had been flushed out of my system. So technically it worked, just not the way my doctor had intended.

These are not new side effects but a confirmation of some I've read. Two most disturbing are: the inability to cry which all my life has been a major way to release tension; weight gain and an inability to discipline myself to stop eating; addiction to sugar; lack of motivation; can't stick to anything. when I first started taking it my body "vibrated" but that stopped after a couple of months. However, my head sings all the time. It does cause heartburn so I have to take an antacid (but I also take other blood pressure meds which may add to this). I do generally feel better and now after nearly two years on Zoloft, my motivation to take on projects has increased. I exercise every day and it has helped with depression and anxiety but not with sleep. I'm afraid to go off it because of withdrawal symptoms I may have to suffer; so for now I'm going to continue taking it. It does cause weight gain and does lower motivation but since I'm 74 years old, I don't need to worry about sex drive. Hope this helps.

I am 39 years old and very active. I have been on Singulair for about 2 years now. I did not think I had any problems while on the medication because it did help my breathing. I am now on an antidepressant (Lexapro)which I began about a year after I began the singulair. My depression however started almost a year before I actually got on the Lexapro. I had alot going on in my life so I just equated my depression to that. However I am realizing now that maybe the singulair triggered my depression. I ran out of singulair two days ago and am experiencing withdrawal symptoms, extreme tiredness, stuffy head, and I had heart palpitations last night, which I have never had. The withdrawal symptoms are why I began researching the medication because I couldn't understand how being off of it for such a short time could cause such an effect. I was on Singulair once before about 6 years ago before I retired from the military while I was at Ft Hood before I deployed to Iraq. By the time I left Iraq I was on multiple medications, Singulair, Claritin, Advair, Emergency Inhaler, When I arrived in Iraq I became ill and listed my medications. They were in shock and took me off everything except Claritin and I was fine. It wasn't until I returned home I began the Singulair again. (Why? I guess I never equated it to causing my other issues until now), I am also taking Zyzal and Lexapro. I see now that every time I take the Singulair it leads to additional medications to other things. I am going to stay off of it and hopefully be able to wean myself off of the Lexapro as a result. Unfortunately I probably will still need to take an allergy medicine. Thanks everyone for posting this useful information. I have two kids 6yrs and 12yrs and I know now that they will never take this medication. They have allergies like me so it is very probable that eventually it would have been mentioned. The allergist/asthma doctor is adamant the 12 year old has asthma but I never gave him the advair that he wanted him to take because I did have side effects from that medication that I did recognize myself and my son is the fastest runner on his select soccer team and extremely athletic without it, no emergency inhaler needed or anything.

OMG...I can't stand it anymore!! My legs are killing me!!...I am almost weaned off of it...tomorrow I take one 10 mg pill....and then the next day, I take 5 mg....and I'm done. Thank God!! I pray that I have no bad side effects from weaning off of it. I worry that I won't be able to breath again. Then what??...I will not take prednisone ever again!!...I think I would rather die then live on this horrible drug....If only I knew what it was before I started taking it.

I have been on Loestrin 24 Fe for almost 8 months now. After a 2 yr battle with a generic version of seasonale (which just stopped working and i bled for 2 months and then had NO bleeding on the third, no period either!) I completely went off bc for 3 months and experienced withdrawal symptoms that were horrible. So my doctor put me on Loestrin and the first month was great. I had a period that last 1 hr, and the pharmacist said "count it as a blessing." After that I had nausea, headaches (have one right now), bloating, no appetite, then all of a sudden a huge appetite!, yeast infections (which I don't get normally), discharge (a lot), abdominal pains, and its very hard to see out of my contacts so I opt for my glasses... Its also expensive. I am thinking about switching, again, until I find the right one for my body. This pill makes me think I'm pregnant. Moodiness, sore breast, nausea...and I know for a fact I'm not! I haven't had acne problems but I owe that all to drinking a lot of water, keeping hydrated. I can't get off of bc because those issues are worse than both bc I've had! Anyone know of a great pill they've experienced?

I'm a 22 year old student that has been on paxil for three and a half years. Paxil changed my life--my anxiety was absolutely debilitating. But like a lot of you, I'm now facing a new problem: memory loss. I constantly 'misplace' words, forget appointments, and periodically even forget things like my age. My studies have suffered because of it, but again like a lot of you, the withdrawal symptoms and the potential of my anxiety returning is terrifying.

I'm not sure what I can do. I am physically addicted and emotionally dependent on this drug, yet I'm also a young man with a worsening memory and grad school ahead of me.

Holy crap this website is depressing! Paxil is not all bad people! I've been on it for 1.5 years. I'm a 24 yr old female. I take it for social anxiety and panic attacks. It takes about 3-4 months for your body to adjust to taking it. You are likely to experience MINOR side effects. I had a lot of sweating, tiredness and HAPPINESS. Yes, I was really happy...its an anti-depressant after all. After that you might be a little more tired than you use to, but other than that it is fine. You can't quit cold turkey, you have to be weaned off of it...just like you will be gradually put on it. I take 30 mg a day, but started at 10 the first couple weeks. Don't get freaked out because of all the bad reviews on here. Everyone just wants a place to whine about their bad experiences and how horrible their life is. Paxil cured my panic attacks and my anxiety. I feel so much better. I think so much more clearly and I don't constantly worry about what everyone thinks of me. Would recommend paxil to a friend.

January 26, 2009
I stopped taking 20mg of Lipitor for the following reasons: arm and muscle pain, wrist pain, neck and shoulder pain, knee pain, foot pain, arm weakness when raising my arms, mental fuzziness. I
Withdrawal symptoms : headache, eye ache, increased neck pain.
My goal is to see if the dosage symptoms decrease within two weeks and maybe I will try 10mg of Lipitor and see if that amount produces the same symptoms. My doctor directed me to a Rheumatologist as recent blood work showed inflammation in the arthritis panel. I am waiting to see if being off Lipitor for two weeks might reduce my arthritis symptoms .
I had a stint put in March 2008 and I am on Plavix (75mg), Lisinopril (10mg) and Lipitor (20mg).

Hi! I am 29 years old and have had asthma since i was young. As i entered high school i had very rare exacerbations but around 4 years back attacks became more frequent. I visited my doctor and he advised me 40mg of Prednisone a day for 5 days (20mg in the morning and 20mg at night). He mentioned that this was safe and no tapering was needed for this short burst. So every time i start having exacerbations i just follow this regimen. I have had no tapering or withdrawal symptoms and i can breath very well even after the Prednisone is off.

Recently, i had an exacerbation as the New Year started. So i started my regimen again on Jan1. But after 5 days, my symptoms were not relieved yet. It seemed like my asthma, triggered by an acute bout of Bronchitis, was worse than before. So i continued this regimen until 12 days. I was taught before that as taking Prednisone approached 2 weeks, it would be wise to taper. So on day 13 - 15, i took 30mg of Prednisone per day (15mg in AM, 15mg in PM). On day 16 - 18, 20 mg per day (10mg in AM, 10mg in PM). On day 19 - 21, 10mg per day (5mg in AM and 5mg in PM). On the 22nd day, i had 5mg once a day only. The next day, i woke up very drowsy, with muscle and joint pains, dizzy and light headed. But i just fought it and went on my day feeling sooo out of it. And at night, i just felt chest tightness. I again had difficulty of breathing unrelieved by around 3 puffs of my inhaler (which was a combination of a long acting bronchodilator and an inhaled corticosteroid) which was also good for acute events of asthma. This provided no relief until i took a total of 15mg of Prednisone again. The next morning, on day24, i felt better. I tool 10mg thinking i could maintain myself on 20mg a day. But as the day progressed, as still had these joint pains and wheezes and difficulty of breathing. So a night i took 20mg again. I started reading on Prednisone and tapering and noted that these symptoms might have been an adrenal crisis, I haven't consulted my physician yet. But am trying to taper myself off decreasing my dose 5mg every 3 days. I hope i can get back when i learn more.

I hope this helped people in some way. Stay healthy everyone!

hey everyone...reading every post makes me even more scared now. I was diagnosed with Bells Palsy on Jan. 13th. My doctor prescribed me prednisone and valtrex. 5 days, twice a day, 20 mgs. On the 18th i was finished with the pills. Very happy because the bells palsy went away. On my birthday, January 23rd. I washed my faced with Biore skin cleanser (which ive used for years) and it felt like as if my face was peeling off as i was washing it! I got so scared when i rinsed my face i actually felt my skin turning to leather. I got out of the shower and my face was round and beet red and my eyes were puffy and face was very very dry...The next day i woke up and my face was worse. I called my doctor and he told me go straight to the emergency room that i was having an allergic reaction to a skin chemical and get treated for an allergic reaction. I did just that. The hospital gave me another dose of prednisone. 60mgs the first day then again the same dosage that my other doctor prescribed me. Im scared to death now to take this pill. Yeah, my face went down and is not beet red anymore but what's going to happen next week once i come off??? i don't want to go against what the hospital gave me, but as im reading these posts, im up at 2:55 am and not sleeping..! help!

My experience with hair lose while on wellbutrin was the opposite, as soon as i started Wellbutrin (Zyban here in UK) my hair stopped falling off!!! I took it only for 3 weeks though so i don't know what would happened if i continued. There was something else that made me quit it- insomnia, i slept 3 hours a day and my face looked like dead mans walking. But i could function normally and had a lot of energy in the gym could do twice as much as i normally do and also heavier weights.Unfortunately had to quit it, i did it could turkey. But what's interesting were the withdrawal symptoms, i felt great! My mind was still and focused,i could see the big picture of things,little things didn't bother me at all, i felt whole. But it lasted only for a day or two and then started to weaken. Anybody with similar experiences?

i, too had the head zaps with lexapro. they happened when i stopped taking it and also if i missed a dose. i thought i was the only one who had them and i could never really describe them to anyone else. they sucked though. i also gained about 15-20 lbs on lexapro but i'm not sure if it was related to the meds. when i was on lexapro it kinda made me a sociopath...i didn't really care about anyone or anything. it didn't make me happy or unhappy...just made me not care about anything. i almost ruined my relationship. honestly i never really felt like i needed medication. so i was on it for about a year and one day just decided to stop taking it...not the best idea cuz the withdrawal symptoms were pretty bad. in addition to the head zaps, i had migraines and walked around in a fog for awhile. i was also super cranky bc i stopped taking the Pill at the same time so some of the side effects could have been hormone-related. needless to say i was kind of a mess for a few weeks afterward. but i'm fine now.

I have been on Paxil for just over a year. I am on it strictly for PMDD, and I can not use regular hormones so Paxil was the next best thing. I LOVE how much better I feel as far as the PMS symptoms are concerned, but my memory is TERRIBLE! I thought it was just me, I thought maybe I had some sudden memory disorder at 35! I couldn't find anything listed in the side effects having to do with memory loss. Movies are thr worst for me, I can not remember a movie to save my life. I have started a new job that requires recall from a dvd as well as a manual. YIKES! It is hard. I have also experienced a harder time paying attention. Almost like I know someone is talking but I end up tuning them out, like there is a blocker or something. It is really hard to explain. Anyway I am a very healthy, no other medications person. I am POSITIVE Paxil is causing this especially with the time line of it. Now I am scared to death to get off of it as I don't want to experience the withdrawals and I feel so much better than I did before, but the memory loss is awful, so what is the balance?

I have had numerous side effects with tramadol (nausea, heart skipping beats, restless legs at night) but I was too desperate and needed something so I just started taking 2 half pills a day (total of 50 mg). Well, now I've quit after about 2 years because I have sudden onset swelling and tendinitis in both of my achilles tendons. There was absolutely no trauma involved and tramadol was my only medication. After doing research online, I found that this is a rare side effect to some other medications but it hasn't been mentioned for tramadol. I truly believe this is a side effect that just hasn't been reported yet. Also, it can lead to both tendons rupturing. I just hope I stopped the medication in time so that it doesn't lead to that. It's only been a few days and I have a lot of pain and difficulty with stairs. I think this will take a while to get over -- like all orthopedic related problems.

withdrawal symptoms after being on it for a few months...severe diarrhea!! And bad headaches

During the three weeks I was using 150 mg. Wellbutrin, ringing in the ears gradually increased, mild headaches on top of my head, occasional light spasms around my mouth, constipation, and bladder problems. My sleep was unaffected, and my depression did not lift. My dose was increased to 300 mg, and by the fourth day, I was having serious facial spasms, intense headaches, louder and constant ringing in the ears, almost 'round-the-clock wakefulness, anxiety, difficulty thinking and completing sentences, pounding heart, amplification of sounds, jitters and quaking. I felt like a car, perpetually idling so roughly that all my parts were about to rattle right off the chassis. On the fifth day I took nothing. I've had some chills, a little nausea, headache, neck-ache (Isn't that weird?!) and some ringing, but at a lower volume that's hardly noticeable. This is the fourth day with no Wellbutrin, and I haven't had facial spasms at all in the past couple of days, have less nausea, and the very funky smell produced in my urine from the second week I was on the meds has calmed down. If I'm still in a depression it's been overshadowed by the most awful side effects I could have imagined. It felt like the spector of death was overtaking my body by day four of that 300 mg. dose. I had been on a hefty dose of Zoloft daily for almost ten years and never experienced anything unpleasant other than weight gain, my reason for trying to switch meds because I couldn't quit putting on weight no matter what. I am going to try SAM-e, and suggest that anyone looking for a natural alternative, with the prospect of few and insignificant side effects, do an online search. Whether I find success with the SAM-e, or if it falls short of what I need, I'll post here to let you know what happens. A month ago I thought the depression was the end of the world; I think the cure was worse than the disease.

I took paxil when I was around 24 years old. The stupid psychiatrist (who was so cold, and never smiled, and then asked me to tell her how I felt) at the time never warned me about NOT stopping it cold turkey. So one day I did stop and I experienced symptoms already described by other people: extreme relapse into depression and anxiety, felling like I "wasn't real", social phobia, agoraphobia and feeling suicidal. Now I am on Effexor and my doctor says "there are no withdrawal symptoms". I was put on Effexor due to a diagnosis of major depression last 6 months ago and I believe it was all precipitated by hormonal birth control. All the doctors and psychiatrists I spoke to about the possible link between hormonal birth control and depression and anxiety told me there was no link (or that it was very rare). I hate the attitude of the medical community:(

My personal experience with Zyrtec was so awful that I decided to document it in a blog in great detail to try and help other people: http://zyrtecsideeffects.blogspot.com/

I suffered severe depression, menstrual problems and other health issues whilst on Zyrtec. The depression literally disappeared overnight when I stopped taking Zyrtec. I suffered horrific withdrawal symptoms for 6-7 weeks after stopping Zyrtec which I have documented in my blog.

I am a 49 year old female I took Cymbalta for 3 days and on the 4th morning I woke up with severe blurred vision and roaring in my ears that was April 26,2008. My ears are still ringing. I clenched my teeth so hard in my sleep I traumatized one of my upper molars which resulted in a root canal and crown. I have been to a ENT to have my ears checked, he said I had minimal hearing loss and gave me lipo flavonoid to take for the ringing. I just went to a neurologist today who is requesting an MRI on my brain to rule out a tumor. I don't know if this is a coincidence or not ,I know the clenching caused the damage to my tooth. The neurologist said ringing in the ears is not a side effect of Cymbalta. My life has been a nightmare since I took it.

I am a 47 year old female that has had asthma all of my life. I was wanting to stop taking Advair and looked up this website, boy am I glad I did. I have all of these side effects. I have been taking Advair 500/50 twice daily for 7 yrs. I have all of the side affects and more. I have experienced hair lose, depression ( I also take Wellburtin XL) since I have started the Advair, I have pain in my legs that make me feel older than I am. I have gain 40 lbs in the past 7 yrs. I now wear reading glasses because my vision is blurry. People always say my face looks rounder. I hate the drug. My doctor said the none of the side effects are caused for the Advair. As of yesterday I stopped taking the Advair. I have cut down my does slowly for the past 2 months. Can someone who has stopped the Adavir tell me what to expect now that I have stopped. Advair is a crazy drug and I refuse to keep taking it.

I'm a 54 year old female prescribed 10 mg zocor(simvastatin) for slightly elevated cholesterol. Took it for 7 months before I clued in to the cause of my many symptoms. Muscle and joint pain, head fog, blurry vision, weight gain, stomach upset, fatigue, etc... The muscle and joint pain were excruciating at times --especially in my left hip...which had gotten so bad I needed a walking stick for support. I felt so darn old wondering if I would even feel normal again.
After reading many postings I decided to stop my zocor(simvastatin) 6 weeks ago and am very happy to report an improvement in many of my complaints...although far from where I want to be.
I am curious as to the withdrawal effects others may have experienced. The first week coming off I had stomach aches and I had awful headaches which thankfully did stop. The stomach aches and touchy digestive system still plague me though. Am I the only one experiencing this?....