Welchol Dizziness Lightheadedness, Brain Scan, Arm Pain, Upper Arm, Vertigo
Posted over a year ago
Just started Welchol after trying Lipitor & others. Have now developed severe vertigo & my right upper arm is killing me. I can't drink ANY alcohol because it makes me violently ill, almost to the point of throwing up, My doc says this drug is non-systemic ... more »
Just started Welchol after trying Lipitor & others. Have now developed severe vertigo & my right upper arm is killing me. I can't drink ANY alcohol because it makes me violently ill, almost to the point of throwing up, My doc says this drug is non-systemic & says I should have a brain scan...I stopped taking it 3 days ago-arm pain is gone but not the vertigo yet...I'll have to weigh my options of going back on it again.
Has anyone else had dizziness & lightheadedness from this?
Swedish - Unfortunately, I cannot help you with your question - if Welchol can cause dizziness and pain.
But maybe I can help you with some other issues.
Since 2003 I have been searching for information on different drugs.
Not because I, myself, has been prescribed them.
I have had people close to me who were on a lot of different medications and I realised that nothing good came out of it.
One of the medications that all 3 had was the statin Simvastatin (Zocor).
So therefore I know a lot of statins and it`s side effects.
It seems as if your new medication is of a completely different group.
But now I am going to tell you something which you don´t know.
There are doctors and researchers who disagree with the cholesterol hypotesis, but they have a hard time getting out their message.
I found it in 2004 when I was looking for information about Zocor (my mother).
Since then I have discovered a lot of webb sites and books and I think it`s a very good idea to educate your self on these issues.
It´s the pharmaceutical companies that have the money.
Most of the time they also perform the studies or pay for them.
So far, they have had the right to choose what parts to publish and so on.
A good book to start with to get an overview is "Overdosed America" by John Abramson.
Another interesting book is "The truth about the drug companies" by Marcia Angell.
These books are very different - both very intersting.
When it comes to the cholesterol issue:
The great cholesterol Con (Antony Colpo)
Book with the same title (Malcolm Kendrick)
The Cholesterol Myths (Uffe Ravnskov)
Lipitor - thief of memory (Duane Graveline)
He has also written another book.
Please visit:
www.ravnskov.nu
www.thincs.org
www.spacedoc.net
www.statinalert.org
Search for "Stopped our statins" on Google and you will find this site with lots of information.
I have absolutely nothing to do with the pharmaceutical, health or book industry.
I am a Swedish lady in her sixties who became very angry when I saw the suffering in people close to me and that made me turn to the Internet.
There I found a lot of information and got to know about all these books which I had no idea about.
Two of my relatives are dead but my mother is still alive. I would not be surprised if some medical problems that she has is from her Zocor-years!
Wlginn - I have read a lot on welchol and what it has done. I must say that I have been on welchol now for three yr.
The only thing I have seen it do is to lower my cholesterol from 200 to 135 along with zocor.
I do have some pain in my right foot and hands having numbness in my fingers plus not sleeping long enough.
I stopped taking welchol for 4 weeks hoping that something would change, well something did my cholesterol went up to 208.
My Dr says there are little side effects with welchol and for me I have to agree with that.
I can't get over so many people finding that welchol is having the side effects I read about.
Maybe it is true. I don't know. As for me I will continue to take welchol.
Good luck to you all
Wilbur
In SC
Carolrose - Today I googled the side effects of Welchor because I started to take this medication for the first time last night. I took 3 tablets then and 3 tablets this am.
Today is a very important day for me because it's Tuesday. I have the privilege of babysitting for my 15 month old grandson three days/week and today is first day of our week. I took him to the local park and playground at about 9:00am and by 9:45am, while leaning on and bouncing him on the rocking teeter-tooter, I became suddenly dizzy and disoriented. I could barely lift him down from the ride. The child immediately ran off to another climbing/sliding station and I stumbled along after him almost falling. I couldn't walk a straight line. I had to lean on the station to keep from falling. I had to ask another nanny to help me contain the child and get him to my car and car seat. She waited with me until the dizziness passed and I drove back to my son's house praying it wouldn't happen again. I can still feel the virtigo two hous later.
I see my experience as having disaster potential for both my grandson and myself! I have had no other such episodes before today or before Welchor.
My point is two fold.
1: Why wasn't I warned this could happen?
This was a sample bottle from the doctor's cabinet with no crimp, written instructions or warnings. Even though I usually google a new medication, I was told that this medication does not interact with any other meds I'm taking or effect the foods I eat. In fact, when he told me to start with 3 tabs/dose, I asked if I shouldn't start lower and work up to three. He said I could, but it wasn't neccessary and encouraged me to begin with three tabs.
So I did!
2: I do have high cholesterol and agree I need to bring my numbers down, preferably through weight loss and diet. In my medical past, I have had side effects get out of hand with other drugs and have decided that some are just to risky to take. I am an 8 year Breast Cancer survivor and have some minimal heart damage from the chemo drugs. I got severe migrains from Tamoxifen and had to be taken off Aromasin beause it affected my joints so much I needed assistance getting out of bed and walking in the morning.
So while dizziness it not so painful as some other effects, why in heaven's name, would I want to risk my safety or, more importantly, the safety of others such as my precious grandson?
I am 66 years old, a houswife and the mother of four grown boys. Three of whom were born Ceaserean. I have had several other surgeries since then. I am very careful about my lifestyle and diet. I jog or power walk 3-5 miles per day, three times a week. I weight train with dumbells and do warmup/stretching routines on those same days. I look and feel much younger when I do these things and have been doing them most of my adult life (when well enough)! My weight is good and my blood pressure is under controlI with 20mgs of Benicar. I had the "Lifeline" arterery and risk test done this year on my cariotid, aortic and arteries of my arms and ankels. The results were excellent, showing no significant buildup at this time.
Ofcourse, I wouldn't want to, but, if I should have a heart attack or stroke at this point, then it might just be God's will. Or could it be the stupidity of humans and pharmaceutical companies who think they now know how to our control fate.
Very offened in Virginia, Rose
Mktpsi - Yes, after taking welchol for approx. month, 2, 625 mg pills per day, I suddenly started feeling a dizziness. I am just now realizing it must be the welchol as nothing else has changed. It is a constant cloudiness in the head with intermitent rushes that affect my balance. Some difficulty in focusing my eyes. Sound familiar to anybody?
Chick - Started taking Welchol 2 weeks ago, have been suffering from lightheadness, dizzyness, some form of swishing sounds
in my ears. Also, feeling weakly frkm about the third day on.
Endlesserch - me - started on Welchol 5 days ago to control bile in the stomach and intestines due to having Crohn's disease and lots of belly pain. At first the doctor wanted me to take 3 tabs twice a day but I just started with one at bedtime. I just want to sleep for the next 3 days yet the belly pains were much better. By the 4th day, I decided not to take one at all so that I would be able to get something done during the day besides sleep. That night I didn't sleep at all. The belly pains came back the following day. I was so tired. I pushed on and ended up getting flush, lightheaded, weak, sweaty and faint, all while driving on interstate!!!!!! I pulled over to avoid what could've have been disasterous. After 30 to 45 minutes, the feelings didn't exactly go away but got better and I was able to return home which was 30 miles away. I decided tonight I am going to take only a half a pill at suppertime instead of at bedtime in hopes that I have tolerable side effects tomorrow and I will still have relief from belly pain.
I read the pamphlet the medication came with and I had the "tired, weak and faint" side effects listed but I also wonder if my blood sugar bottomed out too. The only problem with that is that I am not diabetic. Hope this helps someone and I also hope the side effects go away or at least become tolerable because I have been looking for pain relief from belly pain for a very long time....
Patient007 - Triglyceride is nothing but a fat molecule and brain uses fatty acids from fat to create a special cell that allow us to think and feel. I have been been taking Welchol 625mg on and off for a year now. And it has helped me reduce my fat molecule. Genetically by body produces more Triglyceride then most people. Human body would not produce Triglyceride if there was no useful function within the health ecosystem of the human body and mind. This ester group of molecule when inhibited by Welchol the body must adjust and find alternative method to perform the function that it normally performed with these triglyceride (an ester). People as they grow older are set in their ways because their body ecosystem is set in their ways. When the body is not able to produce the necessary fat molecule on its own and there is no substitute via supplements of fish oil one is going to feel dizzy, cold, numbness in the arm( may be related to heart). So what i did was I reduce the dosage and allowed by body some time to adjust to the medication I also took fish oil ( even though I am a Vegetarian) and Now my Triglyceride are low, my numbness in the arm is gone, I do not feel dizzy or nausea. So try and allow your body to make amends by constantly monitoring progress and regress. These companies do not educate doctors on dosage problem. And each individual has different ecosystem makes it challenging to generalised without being wrong. And when doctors are wrong it very serious matter for everybody including the doctors.
Chadd - Cholesterol is NOT the cause of heart disease, and cholesterol-lowering drugs are just a huge money-making scam. This has been accomplished by 20+ years of anti-cholesterol propaganda and daily TV commercials that have practically brainwashed the public to believe that cholesterol is the villain that causes heart disease, and they must take a drug for the rest of their life to keep cholesterol levels low or they will die from a heart attack. This is just fear-mongering nonsense, but the strategy has worked very well for Big Pharma and their multi-billion$$$ cholesterol drug industry.
These drugs are dangerously harmful and totally unnecessary. Dr. Linus Pauling discovered 20 years ago that the root cause of cardiovascular disease is the lack of sufficient vitamin C necessary to repair damaged arteries. Vitamin C is more than just a strong antioxidant, it is the essential nutrient needed to make collagen. After years of wear and tear from the pumping action of the heart, the interior walls of arteries near the heart become worn down and damaged. In order to repair and heal this damage, the body needs large quantities of vitamin C to produce collagen, which is sort of a glue used to maintain the health of all connective tissue. But if there is not enough vitamin C to produce the strong collagen needed to heal the wounds, then the body has to use cholesterol proteins in the bloodstream as a sort of 'band-aid' to patch over the wounds and prevent death from internal bleeding. That is how the plaques are initially formed and cardiovascular disease develops. Cholesterol did not CAUSE the wounds, it's only there as a consequence of the wounds. Dr. Pauling recommended at least 2 or 3 grams of vitamin C per day because it is the essential nutrient needed to actually heal the arteries and prevent cardiovascular disease.
I would urge you to read two very informative articles at the website cqs.com. Just do a google search for cqs.com to find the website, then click on the article titled Natural Cardiovascular Disease Therapy to read it, and then click on Natural Statin Injury Therapy to read it.
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