Actos and diabetes

In January of 2008 I was diagnosed with Diabetes Type II, I was prescribed 500 mg of Metformin twice a day. After six weeks of therapy it was still ranging in the 200+, then the doctor added Actos 30mg and Lipitor 20 mg. One month after taking these, I started feeling dizzy, light headed. Then one day out of blue while driving to work, I had what I felt as a severe panic attack, fast heartbeat and sensation of near-fainting and a throbbing headache. At first I though it was just severe anxiety. I let the doctor know he just said it was stress related anxiety and referred me to see a therapist. Kept taking Actos and Lipitor and the episodes kept coming stronger and more frequently. To make a long story short, my children got concerned and looked up the medications I was on and looked up my symptoms on a website called ****** and discovered that I was not the only one having these same side effects. I have stopped taking the medications now for four days and my symptoms have stopped and starting to slowly feeling better.

Since taking Actos I have had swelling in feet and legs, shortness of breath and weight gain. I quit taking it for a week and some of the swelling went down and I lost about five lbs. I don't want my diabetes to get out of control but neither can I afford to gain weght.