Wreak havoc symptoms and conditions

I was given Levaquin (500mg) for 20 days back in 2004 for what the doctor believed was a sinus infection. In fact, I was actually experiencing an eye infection for prolonged contact use. After two days on the Levaquin, I started feeling really tired. My eyes were extremely heavy and I had a difficult time staying awake. I called the doctor right away, as I tend to be very medication sensitive. I told him what I was feeling and asked if it could be a side effect of the meds. He said he never heard of such a thing and to continue on the antibiotics. I wish I had not listened to him. The fatigue in my eyes continued for months afterward. I also began having abnormal bowel movements, which led to a colonoscopy and small bowel follow-through. All tests came back negative, and my doctors shrugged their shoulders in confusion. They said I had IBS and I would have to live with it. My eye fatigue eventually went away, but the bowel issues continued on and off for over a year. Now, the bowel issues are gone, and the fatigue in my eyes and acute insomnia have replaced them. My doctors continue to shrug their shoulders and now insist that I am suffering from depression. D'uh! Of course I'm depressed. Look at what I'm going through. It has been two years now, and I am really hoping for some relief. I'm convinced that due to the bizarre nature of my problems, those 20 pills of Levaquin in 2004 are to blame for the constant issues I deal with daily. Anyone else suffering like this? And if so, please say it gets better. I need it to get better. I would appreciate anyone who would post updates on their conditions. I know this poison can wreak havoc for years, but I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I was prescribed 750mg Levaquin for a sinus infection - having never taken this antibiotic before, and never having any allergic reactions to others I thought nothing of my 20 day prescription. After 7 days on this medication, I started feeling HORRIBLE - achy, flu like symptoms, and worst of all, every muscle, joint and tendon ached so badly that I had trouble walking at times. I had such bad nightmare on the 9th day of taking this, that I was afraid to attempt going back to sleep. After thinking all thoughts of bad things that could be happening to me (lupus, rapid onset of arthritis, etc.) I finally googled Levaquin and, fortunately came up with this site that showed others that had similar reactions to this terrible medication. After taking this for 11 days, I threw the remaining pills in the garbage and will never take this again. My only question is, when does this get out of your system where you will feel normal again? I have not taken this medication for eight days now and still my muscles, joints and tendons ache - at times, my body just feels flu like still. This is very frightening as I have never had a bad reaction to a medication and it is hard to believe that an antibiotic can wreak havoc on your muscular system such as this one has. Thank heavens for this website - I may have ended up taking Levaquin for the prescribed 20 days and who knows when these aches and pains would go away - they are far worse than the sinus infection!

Kim,
I know it is scary. I was on a different bcp before yasmin for 12 plus years and went through 2 pregnancies and NEVER have I ever felt anything this scary or nerve wracking before in my life! I know 3 weeks is not very long, but it is long enough for that stupid drug to wreak havoc. I started to feel the effects about 5 weeks of being on it, and could not figure out what was going on. It took me till month 3 to realize it was the yasmin. Yes I know about the anxiety, and I could not look in a mirror either, even though my family kept telling me I looked the same, I didnt. I lost fat in my cheeks and jaw area and my skin went from oily to dry. I felt like it drained the "life" out of my face. But it has gotten better, it takes several months for your body to balance your hormones again. Have you ever been on bcp before?
I can tell you what I think is going on. I think yasmin suppresses your testosterone and progesterone (the androgen hormones in your body) As testosterone falls or remains low I feel it causes a lot of anxiety in the body because these are the hormones that are responsible for overall sense of wellbeing, energy, muscle repair, the list goes on and on. If you want a good website to read up on these hormones, salivatest.com has good info under hormones 101, they also do saliva testing on this website which I have been doing every month since 3 months after I quit yasmin, and I have seen how out of whack my hormones are and how long it has taken to even get back to a near normal range, and it takes a while. Keep in mind though you are already almost 1 and 1 1/2 months into being off yasmin, the turn around time to when you start to feel better more days than bad is usually at 2-3 months. Remember you are not alone. The yasmin bottomed out your natural hormones to replace them with synthetic hormones and now that the synthetic hormones have stopped it is trying to replace all those "receptor sites" back with your natural hormones and that is pretty much why you are not feeling so good.
Try to eat organic (no pesticides, hormones)
Stay away from caffeine, lots of water
Take vitamins, B complex vitamins worked well for me
Rest and dont try to exercise too vigorously.
Take care and keep in touch. There are lots of caring women on this site.
Bitter RN

I've been off Yasmin since August 24, 2005. Over 100 days later, I finally got my natural period! I was beginning to worry even though periods are no cup of tea for me, but I was feeling soooo bloated I thought I'd pop. I hope to rid of this bloated feeling once my period ends, but we'll see... I'm, of course, not sure that will happen.

I have not gained a lot of weight since going off the pill, although I am carrying 1 to 2 lbs. more. I weigh myself daily and if it starts to go up, I reign in what I eat. But I think the weight gain is due to the bloatedness. And, I have not found it to be very easy during the holidays to "reign" eating.

The major reason I decided to go off Yasmin was because of intense angry feelings day in and day out. I would have never known to associate these feelings with Yasmin but I kept seeing that recurring symptom on this forum. I had been on Alesse before and it didn't make me angry, instead I was very anxious (panic attacks) with that one. These BCPs definitely wreak havoc on the emotions.

Last weekend, I started to feel really angry again and I thought "great, even going off this pill hasn't helped." Now I realize it was PMS. I hope to continue recovering from this last phase of trying BCP. I mainly was on it to regulate periods. Without the pill, I normally have irregular and VERY heavy periods with clotting. With the pill, the periods are soooo much better and, with my doctor's recommendation, I was even skipping them depending on my schedule (by continuous use of the pill and stopping for the "week" at my convenience). I will miss that.

Since I am now almost 48, hopefully I will not be having them much longer. I expect menopause will be a welcome friend for me.