Wonder drugs symptoms and conditions

I am a 70 year old woman, I have been on 20mg Lipitor for high cholesterol, 200 total and 25mg of Spironolactone for a not so high blood pressure, for 3 1/2 yrs. Oh, my God, the Spironolactone is a potassium sparing diuretic that is very dangerous and has many uses I didn't know about or the terrible side effects, it causes breast cancer. It's also used to treat women who have an over growth of hairiness, or on a higher dose to treat hair loss and I've gone bald on the top of my head! Plus all of the good foods we're supposed to eat for high cholesterol, fruit & veggies one isn't to eat on this drug, because of lot's of potassium, what a huge contradiction. And muscle pains, and rashes, (eczema, atopic dermatitis) that I've suffered from both.
Anyway, Lipitor, had know idea about the side effects until I looked it up on the internet and read these posts on here.
I stopped taking Lipitor last week and Spironolactone 2 days ago.
I had cholesterol test last week too and saw my dr. Wednesday. He said it was okay that I stopped the Lipitor, but not the other one, why not the other one worse then Lipitor and why am I on this strong drug, geez.
The pain and burning started in my hip for no reason, then my ankles with eczema which started soon after Lipitor, then my fingers, numbness, can't pick things up, tingling, burning. Then my feet, yes, just like all of you I have these same problems. This is not just coincidental, this is from the drug Lipitor. I get severe joint cramps in my legs, feet and fingers.
For now on before I take any drug I've prescribed I will thoroughly check for side effects and not take it if they're seriously impairing like Lipitor. I feel like a cripple and older then I should feel, I almost just felt like why live anymore if this is how it's going to be.
Since I've stopped Lipitor I feel a little better, I read that it causes permanent muscle and nerve damage though, oh I hope not, I can barely walk anymore or get up out of my chair. This is all drug induced toxicity of my system. Thanks so much everyone who posted for sharing and enlightening all of us who are suffering from this drug and others.
It should be banned along with Baycol, (a statin) which was banned a few months ago because of these same side effects. With the studies that it only helps maybe to prevent heart attack, well I'd rather be able to walk again and hopefully all this will go away, the rash, etc.

I am 33 yrs old. One night I was sleeping and about 12am, I woke up with my heart racing and I was having a squeezing feeling in my chest. I went to the ER and my blood pressure was extremely high. However, when they were running tests on me, they found that I hadn't had a heart attack and I was diabetic. The doctor gave me a stack of prescriptions to start taking. A few months later I went to see a different doctor, one that accepts my discount plan, and he took me off everything but metformin and 5 mg/day lisinopril. Since that night, the beginning of March, I am not the same person. I am keeping my diabetes under control, and my blood glucose is always in normal range. My last A1C test was 5.8. However, I am to the point of paranoia concerning the dead tingling feeling that I have in my feet. It is very on and off. There one minute then gone the next. It's not a feeling of numbness, because I can feel the slightest touch. Now from very little research I have already come to a conclusion that its the lisinopril. THE COUGH is enough to make me depressed and moody on its own, but now I'm thinking that my major mood swings are also coming from this drug. I cry all the time because I am worried that the diabetes is effecting my feet and that is what the doctors tell most people. My doctor said that I haven't been diabetic long enough to worry about neuropathy and that the sensation in my feet could be from a million things. Then almost every website I've looked at so far has hardly anything good to say about Lisinopril. I want to stop taking it, but don't have the money to afford an expensive medicine. what should I do? My blood pressure is usually around 102/68-70

oh please your all a bunch of whiners. I don't understand that when people get something medically new that they seem to blame every little thing on it!!! seriously!!! if it were so bad it would not be on the market..... i have had it for two years.....a little cramping in the beginning which is NORMAL and as STATED on the side effects list. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND that these are listed because they DO AND HAVE happened to other people. That is why they are listed! NOW if you died, got cancer, pregnant or what have you then you can bitch. BUT PLEASE don't complain about the LISTED side effects. it is a wonderful product and it does just as it claims. yea the cramping sucks....the spotting is a pain.....men can feel it during intercourse and yes sometimes they can bump it and hurt you. also it causes cysts to grow on your ovaries which can sometimes require surgery. it can also grow outside your uterine wall at time. and it can fall out. all kinds of things can happen that are LISTED. what i would recommend people should do BEFORE they leap into bed with a new contraceptive is RESEARCH the SIDE EFFECTS BEFORE you decide you want it or not. its simple read the damn sheet and decide if you can live with the side effects. maybe one....or all...or none. THEN DECIDE.

Thank you for this site...although it is too late being I already poisoned myself with my 1st dosage - I know better now to STOP TAKING THIS DRUG IMMEDIATELY.
31 y/o male - non smoker - In good overall health.

What happened...(brief history of what got me to the point of being prescribed this horrid drug)
I caught a cold a few days after drinking quite heavily at a wedding (Aprox 1 month ago). It was severe enough for me to take a trip to this new doctor that is in my network and nearby (how I wish I could use my old family doctor that is out of network).
Symptoms then were congestion in my head and upper chest, cold sweats, runny nose. The doctor told me to take some over the counter stuff and try to fight it off w/ Mucinex, and Zyrtec - and lots of liquids. If that didn't work, he asked me to return.
It took about 5 days, and I seemed to kick the cold.
Approximately 2 weeks went by where I was feeling fine, then it seemed as if I was coming down with something again. (Last Thursday was when I started feeling ill)
I think what brought it on this time was breathing in excess dust at work opening some skids of paper in our warehouse.
Anyhow, this time around I had a pretty serious cough, felt feverish, and fatigued.
Sunday morning I woke up and took two Mucinex to break up the cough (which work great by the way)...and I hacked up something awful enough to call my doctors emergency line and have him paged. I was ready to go to the ER. It wasn't just phlegm or mucas - it was a soild mass of lord knows what containing blood. It look like an organ from a small critter.
Doctor said to keep taking the Mucinex and if I didn't feel better to come see him.
The coughing got worse on Monday, and the mucus I was spitting up wasn't pretty.
I went to see him yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and he said its time to start you on an antibiotic and diagonsed me with an Upper Respiratory Infection.
He gave me Avelox, and Advair, and I asked for some of the good cough syrup w/ the codeine. He also sent me for a chest X-ray.
I got home around 4pm, made some food, then took some syrup and tried the advair.
I waited to take the Avelox til later on in the evening so I could set up a routine as I work nights and 9pm would be good.
I took the Avelox, around then, along with another dose of the cough syrup.
Around 1 hour later I felt extremely nauseous. I would burp, and feel almost ready to vomit...it was my body rejecting this horrible drug. The nausea came and went, came and went - then I got tired.

I laid down around 11pm and then the REAL trouble started. I must have fell asleep for about 30 mins, then woke up suddenly gasping for air...It felt like my heart was about to stop. I sat up in the bed panicked. I then got a little nervous, but calmed myself down, drank another glass of water and tried to fall back asleep. Sure enough just as I was about to drift off, the same sudden feeling of my breathing or heartbeat was interrupted and I sat up again. I had tingling in my chin area and in my arms. Walking to the bathroom I felt slightly disoriented and dizzy, and my legs and whole body felt weak. I also started getting itchy in my legs and groin area. Now I'm scared to go to sleep so I come to the computer and started researching this Avelox. It's 3:30 am now as I'm writing this. I looked at this site and http://www.fluoroquinolones.org/ before decided to post my experience.
I am still very itchy, slight nauseous, and feel disoriented. I'm scared to lay down to sleep now, but hopefully that will wear off soon - but I feel very nervous, uncontrollably. I almost want to induce vomiting to maybe get out any of the drug that is left in my stomach, but hate vomiting.
I will not take another dosage of this Avelox, no matter what this doctor tells me...and will give him a piece of my mind for prescribing this instead of something like ammoxocillin or just penicillin.

I am a 43 year old male in good health that decided to get off lipitor about 3 days ago due to the advice of my physician. I have been on it for 3 years at 20 mg daily. I am an avid runner completing 3 marathons in the last 4years, but lately haven't been able to run more than a mile or so without feeling tightness in my abs, legs, hips, and most recently my hands and elbows have mild to moderate pain. I've been noticing this over the past few months or so. I always thought it was due to over training, but I am convinced these are not normal muscle soreness/strain and I am eager to share my results as to how I feel in a few weeks/months. Today, which is day 3 without the drug, I have INCREASED pain in my hand, and an overall fatigue feeling. Has anyone else noticed this upon stopping the drug? God help all of us. This can't be doing mankind any good other than making the drug companies rich, and unfortunately, most physicians believe that these statins are wonder drugs, and prescribe them like candy.

I think Fosamax KILLED MY MOTHER. My mon was previously healthy with no known medical problems. No hypertension, no high cholesterol, no diabetes...nothing. She was taking Fosamax for osteoporosis prevention. She developed an acute liver failure. There was no viral, bacterial, or cancer linked to this sudden onset of liver failure. She received a liver biopsy and within one week was dead from bleeding from the biopsy site. I have recently found some journal articles linking Fosamax to acute liver failure. MY HEART IS BROKEN. Do not take this drug without doing in depth research on its side effects and discontinue it immediately if any side effects occur. God Bless.

Just a thought to ponder..... if Quinolones are such wonder drugs that save so many lives, why was Tequin pulled from the market?

Also, when Tequin was being sold, did all the reps say "this stuff is really dangerous but you should take it anyway" or did they say "this stuff saves lives"?? I think we know the answer.

I have a new idea.... before a rep sells anything they should take 30 days of a given drug. Before a doctor prescribes it, they should take 60 days. Just a new form of drug trial. That should thin the herd.

My granddaughter has been on this for 2 years and we are devastated. We took her to a counselor 2 months after she was put on this drug for for allergies. Her behavior was bizarre. The counselor attributed her mood swings and behavior to moving to the country and attending a new school but never to Singulair. After we just saw this news story it was like the sky opened up. My beautiful 11-year old granddaughter has been affected by this chemical and we did not know it. I am currently getting all of her medical and psychological records together and taking her off this medication. We will seek natural, organic solutions and never again accept what these pharmaceutical companies routinely tell the doctors. We did not know that Singulair even had these side effects, the doctor never told us. She has exhibited anxiety, mood swings, depression and abnormal behavior. She NEVER had had problems like this before this chemical. It took us 2 years to find this our? Our whole family is so angry about this and of course feel terribly guilty that we didn't see the connection. However, the pharmaceutical companies bear a great deal of responsibility, they market this to doctors and the public as harmless wonder drugs. I can only pray that getting her off this will restore her to a normal childhood. Can they ever give back the 2 years she lost?