Januvia and nurse

Hello All, First let me say that I am sooo sorry for everyone's symptoms and that they are likely a side-effect of the Miracle Drug Januvia! I am on Glipizide which I fought my 'ex-physician' about continuing to take for several years, since I am a nurse and through research had found that this drug is really only an initial medication used for the new Type II (2) Diabetic. You don't want to know that I've been on it (in one form or another - Glucotrol & Glyburide also versions of same drug) for nearly 15 years! I had retired from nursing and wasn't exposed to meds-dispensing and was just trying to live and deal with DM with the dubious 'care' by physicians who just didn't give a hoot about me or my status. I'd tried Metformin when it first came on the market again, over a decade ago, it made me so violently ill that I would have to stop and vomit out the passenger side of my vehicle, on the shoulder of very busy California freeways. My doctor had told me that it must've been IBS - noooooo, it was the Metformin because within 24 hours I wasn't vomiting, in 48 I no longer had severe abdominal pain/bloating/diarrhea and within another couple of days I was no longer severely nauseated. The nausea reminded me of 'pregnancy-related' nausea which for you ladies out there, remember that it is worse than average nausea that is relieved by vomiting. So when my new physician who is a Kidney Specialist, Endocrinologist and Specializing also in Diabetes wanted me to go onto Januvia ~ well, I was skeptical to say the least. Having said that I found myself blythely going ahead without checking the known side-effects and taking first half a tab twice a day and then one tab twice a day. I was delighted that my blood sugars begin to drop immediately; however, also immediately, were the following symptoms on JANUVIA: severe all-over-body muscle cramps/spasms which include my trunk (body), limbs including hands, numbness in my hands (I type a lot in my work but have NEVER experienced anything like this in my hands) - of course the doctor said that I must be getting carpal-tunnel syndrome! In within two (2) days? No, that is impossible. I have spinal injury from a horrible surgery gone very bad 10 years ago and with it I experience very intense muscle cramps/spasming which generate from my spinal level of injury, encompass my hips, entire pelvic girdle, buttocks and into my legs - culminating in my feet. They are so severe as to cause me complete incontinence from the intensity of the abdominal pressure on my bladder and sometimes feces incontinence as well. While these are horrible and irreversible outcomes from this surgery-induced injury - I have learned the factors that cause them to happen more frequently i.e. sitting on unfamiliar surfaces and especially without my pressure-relieving seating cushion, flying - from the unfamiliar/cramped seating, difficulty standing immediately when I feel one coming on (when they do I know to come to a standing position immediately and pressing my weight against my feet at a 90 degree angle from my legs and NOT moving an inch from there for up to one hour and until they subside) well, yes, as you can imagine, these horrible cramps/spasms are no longer an intermittent event but occur Daily now and sometimes up to four (4) times a day along with the cramping in my trunk (in various locations around my back that aren't related to my surgical injury, upper extremities and hands - oh wait! I've had them in my jaw and front of my neck as well! What I haven't mentioned is the following: initial weight loss then recent weight GAIN, after about two weeks. Many are unaware that 'controlled' Diabetes Mellitus Type II (2) results in weight-gain due to the circulating blood sugars being metabolized by entrance via the receptor sites on our bodies cells and the storage of excess glucose into stored fat. I attribute this to the fact that I became less active with the depression coming on and the extreme tiredness from interrupted/lost sleep making me much too exhausted to exercise as per my normal activities. Additionally I've had Severe Nightmares, Sudden Shock-like awakening from deep sleep stages, Night Terrors as reported by boyfriend and family, Headaches that are so intense that I can barely stand them and usually upon awakening during my very Interrupted Sleep and at the end of my sleep, when I just give up and can't stand them or the intense cramps/spasms any longer. The depression has been truly disturbing as I have taken meds for it for about three (3) years. I was on SINGULAIR, another horrible med which I discontinued after only a week and a half from beginning it because I developed significant anxiety (I'd never had anxiety before), a period of five (5) days of No Sleep at all despite OTC sleep meds and a pronounced increase in feelings of depression, irritation (I'm usually very easy to get along with and patient), agitation, mental confusion, and very fast talking and racing thoughts/ideas. I'd never experienced these symptoms either than the depressive lows and insomnia being the reason I was initially started on Wellbutrin. I knew that I was otherwise feeling very well, prior to starting the Singulair to better control Asthma, and certainly quite as 'normal and content' as one can be, so it was evident that it was the Singulair. Against my doctor's initial directions I stopped taking Singulair (he'd not been completely apprised of my symptoms by his nurse and had admittedly not studied any of the increasing reports of adverse effects and side-effects of Singulair since a few years back when it hit the news, apparently - he thought that those were the only problems) after reading the many, many, many posts, HERE, from all the poor folks who were suffering as I was and worse! Within one day the symptoms began to disappear and within four days they were gone and I was back to my 'normal'! This without any change, addition or increase in anti-depressives or anti-anxiety meds (which I don't take). I began JANUVIA about a week before the Singulair and was accepting the symptoms and confusing them with those from the Singulair. If you go back and re-read this you will see that the symptoms, side-effects I've had from taking JANUVIA are not at all like the ones from SINGULAIR except for the increase in depression. The depression did resolve quickly when off of SINGULAIR but when a few weeks ago I began on JANUVIA the depression and related neuropsychological symptoms/side-effects returned and increased. I stopped taking the JANUVIA four (4) days ago and am already feeling much better. Additionally, I was at my hairdresser's 10 days ago and after only a month of being on JANUVIA I was thinning and losing hair enough for she and I to comment on it! I do not want to lose my already fine hair! I am going to wait out an entire week then begin on the JANUVIA again for a few days to see what occurs so that when I return to my Endocrinologist/Diabetic Specialist physician I will be armed with a pattern.

In closing, I would like to say that Pharmaceutical REPS make high six-figure incomes by pushing these drugs! Don't do as I did and not 'read and research the side-effects/adverse effects and opinions of existing 'guinea pigs' (all of us) on any meds! Please, review the SINGULAIR section of this board and pass the information on to others and especially to the parents/guardians and physicians/health-care workers enlisted with providing care to children! SINGULAIR is a dangerous, dangerous drug - having read hundreds and hundreds of posts and hearing the heart-wrenching stories of many children taking this drug from the tender-age of two (2) years on up, and their being starting on anti-psychotropics and other meds for all types of 'early-onset' depressions, anxiety, oppositional and impulse control disorders and ADDHD, I am convinced that it is a poison we can live without. Many children have been long-term affected by it with all the concommitent psychological effects of being 'branded' as psychotic, hard-to-handle, out-of-control, ADDHD and more ~~ they've suffered needlessly at the hands of Pharmaceutical companies and the physician's who are so easily 'swayed' into trying a need 'quick fix' drug by some very unscrupulous Reps in the industry. Merck Pharmauceticals is again under forced investigation by the FDA for SINGULAIR - but, please, go read the reports for yourself and see that they've been ordered a nine-month (9) period of time to SELF-investigate! The FDA doesn't have the money to investigate any longer - they spent countless millions on VIOXX and CELEBREX and they can no longer afford to do the costly investigations they used to do. They, instead, rely on 'clinical trials' by whom? The Pharmaceutical companies themselves! Hey sign us all of for that lack of responsibility! Please, spread the word: in the grocery store, doctor's office, gas station, hairdressers, to family, neighbors, friends and strangers and do them all a huge favor, please? Give them the LINK to this wonderful site and it's message boards!

Thank you for reading and may you have much improved and a wonderful health-conscious life!

Have been on Januvia for 3 weeks, Very bad left shoulder started about one week into treatment. I initially thought that I had slept on my shoulder "wrong". Left leg pain started last week. Lower leg feels tolerable sitting however when I stand & walk, get shin splint type pains. Shoulder is improving & leg pain intensifying. I called doctor's office this morning and relayed symptoms to the nurse. I told him that I was discontinuing Januvia until I heard otherwise. He took my number but physician did not return call today. I find it odd that there is no mention of this type complication in the patient information handouts. I have taken Motrin, Aleve & Extra Strength Tylenol without relief.