Long long time symptoms and conditions

I have been in a monogamous relationship for 3 years so me and my boyfriend have been using condoms for a long long time. I had a scare last month and thought I might be pregnant so after my period finally came in early August, I made an appointment so I could get birth control. My dr suggested the nuvaring (I took the pill about 8-9 yrs ago and I always forgot to take them plus I hated the side effects.) I went home and put it in on August 22. About 4-5 days later I began to have what felt like menstrual cramps, always hot, always tired, and then at night my legs would ache so bad. Not to mention, I had headaches every day and every morning when I ate breakfast I would become nauseous! I also would wake up every night between 4-5am to pee - and it felt like it was a full bladder even when I would pee before I went to bed! Oh, and on September 3 my nerves were so bad that I had bipolar-like mood swings - one minute happy, one minute crying, another minute upset - I had NEVER had this type of anxiety occur before!

After Google-ing "Nuvaring side effects" in the early morning of September 4th, I came across this site. I read all the reviews on this site and removed the ring on September 4 which was 8 days before I was supposed to. Since then I've seen many changes. No more cramps, no more nausea in the morning, no more feeling lethargic and sleepy. I am, however, still getting a headache every day! I guess it will take some time before all the hormones come out of my body.

Glad I took the time to read the noncommercial posts! During my thyroid check last year bloodwork showed high cholesterol. I was put on Crestor in addition to having my Synthroid dose adjusted. A few weeks later I was absolutely miserable. Couldn't get out of bed. Everything hurt. My doctor thought I was "depressed" and asked if I wanted anti-depressants. Not needing to add another pill to my daily repertoire - I declined. Six weeks later I am feeling worse and just want to lay down and cry. The doctor had no idea why I would be feeling that way and was convinced it was either depression or thyroid issue. I was getting ready to leave for a trip to Mexico that had been planned a year in advance and was non-refundable - and I didn't have the strength to even pack the stupid suitcase. The trip was a bust - I laid in a pool chair just feeling crappy. What a waste!

Funny thing - nobody stopped to consider I've had a thyroid problem for 20 years and this horrid nightmare just started after I started taking Crestor! A few weeks later I stopped the Crestor entirely and after a couple of months I felt back to normal. Now, three years later - I've been talked into taking Lipitor. In my naivety (because I explained to the doctor that Crestor made me ill) I trusted that it would be different. It's taken three weeks for me to put two and two together - but here I am again - muscle aches - can't get out of bed. Everything just hurts. My knees, arms, mostly shoulders and in between. With all that is an overall lethargic feeling. Lipitor stops today -and if the pattern continues and I feel better in a few weeks - it's no statins for me ever again. I'll just have to eat like I'm supposed to and hope for the best!

UPDATE to recent post on May 05 by adashjr:
I haven't taken my Diovan since horrible pain in my feet occurred on May 03. It is now May 18. My feet and knee feel AWESOME!!! the knee is back to it's pre-Diovan state of sporadic soreness but overall my lower joints haven't felt this good in a LONG LONG time. will admit I have no idea what my BP is having not taken DIOVAN for two+ weeks, but
will get back to gym and lose weight and lower my BP the old fashioned way. DIOVAN - GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!

I am a 41 year old male that has BP averaging 140/90 and spikes that were extremely hi 190/125 (which landed me in th ER). Lisinopril 10MG was prescribed last Friday. My BP came down immediately yesterday 111/75 today 109/69. That is the only good thing. I have a headache, dizziness, feel disoriented, had urges to urinate and nothing would happen. Yesterday while trying to walk, wash my trailer, or even chew a piece of gum whatever muscle I was using became soar immediately. They felt as if I had run a marathon or something. Today after one flight of stairs to get to my office I was short of breath and my leg muscles hurt. I had to go lay down at lunch because this stuff makes me so tired. It is like I have been poisoned. As I'm typing my fingers hurt and the metal taste in my mouth has me thinking I want to trash this stuff. The doctor says they haven't herd of these side effects and and they said to cut the pill in half.

I have been reading these posts with a heavy heart. My daughter also has had the same side effects that have been posted. She is 12 now and has been on singulair since two. We now have traced her most severe behavior back to when she was nine and her dose was up to the 10mg.

It breaks my heart, that she has lost several years of a happy childhood. We have grounded the poor child so many times. We have grounded her from summer camp, basketball games, soccer games. We took her off the singulair on Monday and last night was the first time she has volunteered a I Love you in a long, long time.

**Update** on my 17 year old son, 7 years Singulair use. He has been in a therapeutic boarding school for 2 years because of serious behavioral issues quite possibly because of side effects of Singulair. He wrote me a letter the morning he went off Singulair, March 29. In it he wrote about being very depressed and sad and told about how he had been struggling with it for such a long time. It was very upsetting. I got the letter this morning. Coincidentally, we had a conference call about 20 minutes after I read the letter. He has been off singulair for 4 days now. I asked him how he felt. He said "Excellent". That he was feeling a lot better, not very depressed and really feeling good about himself. I have not heard him describe himself as "Excellent" in a long, long time. I am cautiously optimistic that removing Singulair from his system will have a dramatic effect on his well being. He sounded incredibly upbeat today. It was amazingly good news! I have reported online to the FDA his symptoms and sent my comments to CNN. The FDA needs to issue a BLACK BOX warning about Singulair. It's quite possible that this drug has caused my family to live a nightmare for 7 years.

Ive only been on Advair for almost a month. I couldn't believe how quickly my asthma disappeared. I was using my inhaler daily and tried other things but nothing helped. I went to a pulmonary specialist and prescribed Advair for a month. I'm so glad i have to go back and see him this Saturday b/c I want to tell him I will no longer take this. I'm 26 years old and had developed asthma when I was 7 years old. It went away when I was 14 and just came back full force 3 years ago. I would have tried anything to be able to breathe normally again.
I've had the hoarseness in my voice and a bad cough where I'm spitting up mucus everyday since I've been on Advair. I figured if this was what I had to live with to have the chance to live a normal life asthma free that id take it, it wasn't so bad. But this past week I've had blinding headaches non-stop. Ive been nauseous, sweating, coughing, I've been sore like I just finished a long workout, chest pains, tightness in my chest and my legs have felt so weak. This morning I woke up with the worst cold too; which I know Advair weakens your immune system but this is crazy. I stopped taking Advair this morning & I'm going to tell my doctor I need to try something else.

I’m a 47 Year old male Diabetic. I was prescribed Lisinopril about a month ago by my doctor, as a protection against kidney damage. I have a some experience with drugs, as I have a degree in medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry. I must stress that I knew nothing about the side effects of this drug before taking it,( I didn’t even read the instructions – that will teach me!) so for those who suggest that the problems are ‘imagined’ from reading the literature, in my case its just not true. I was given a 10mg daily dose, within the first day I started coughing, and suffering flu-like symptoms. As I had been given a flu-shot at the same time I just put this down to the injection. For the next few days I was feeling nauseous , achy and the cough was getting worse. I was finding it difficult to sleep, and found myself falling asleep all the time. After 4 or five days I started to have breathing problems, I was short of breath all the time, I found it difficult to climb stairs, and was waking in the night gasping for breath. I was also starting to find it difficult to concentrate. After about two weeks I returned to my GP, and advised him of the symptoms. He checked my chest, but could find no problem. He thought it was probably due to the flu jab, and would clear up in a few days. However I was starting to feel much worse. I was becoming distressed and irrational, my body was constantly aching, the cough was getting worse, I had no energy, and was becoming seriously depressed. I was suffering from blurred vision and stomach cramps, and eventually was escorted from work by my boss, as I was on the verge of a breakdown. All this time I was blaming it on the flu-shot, as Lisinopril is so commonly prescribed I couldn’t imagine that this was the cause. By chance a friend mentioned that he had had problems when he started taking it, So then I checked out the leaflet and the internet. There it was, all my symptoms – I was not going mad! I returned to My GP last week, A locum was standing in, who recognised the symptoms and told me to stop taking it. She commented ‘Your not the first I’ve seen with these problems’. I’ve been off for 3 days now and I feel a million times better.

I went to the doctor with a sinus and kidney infection, after 2 days of levaquin, I had severe swelling in my knees, calves, and ankles, the pain was more than I could bear, I had vomited of the dry heaves because I had no appetite. Does someone know why this mediation is on the market, and why no one has done anything about it. I am still in severe pain after 9 days

Hi-

I also took lisinopril for 3 months, and the cough endured for a long long time. Its now three years later, and I still have side-effects, such as lung pains and shortness of breath and a bit of ahem sticky throat. I often cough in the mornings. The good news is that the symptoms are less and less each year, and also, I have found several things that have helped me.

Please note that I am a patient, not a doctor, and, that I speak from my situation only. My situation was that the cough was accompanied by increasing bouts of shortness of breath and energy/stamina issues, all caused by lisinopril, and likely due to nutritional depletion (minerals especially) as a result of an overworked immune system.

First, zinc: I like Country-Life Target Mins Zinc, 50mg tablet. This is not the highest dose, but still a lot of zinc for long term use. For me, I'd split the tablet into quarters, and take these quarter pieces as needed. When I found the zinc, my lungs were in so much pain from the lisinopril (even though I had quit), and, I had no other help, so I was taking quarter tablets 6 times a day (i.e. 75mg/day). This really helped with the pain, but was too high a dose for sustainable use. For long term use, I've cut down to 2 or 3 quarters per day (i.e. 25-37mg/day), the lower the better, but as needed for benefit. At 2 quarters (25mg/day) I pretty much don't need to worry too much about taking too much zinc. I take this zinc on an empty stomach between meals to avoid absorbtion conflicts (zinc tends to inhibit copper, calcium, etc... absorbtion, so best when taken alone).

Second, selenium: I like Country-Life Vegetarian Selenium in a yeast bound forumulation, 200mcg. This is also a pretty high dose for extended use, but again short term use can go even higher, and I used it effectively at 2 tablets per day for a while. Just like the zinc, after that, I have found that a steadily decreasing dose of, say, 3/4 of a tablet per day and of late 1/2 tablet per day or 1/4 tablet per day to be helpful. I take this with food.

Both of these may seem to make the cough worse at first, but I think that is due to stimulating the immune system (the immune system runs on zinc & selenium especially for chemical attacks), and what happens is that the cough becomes more effective at clearing stuff out of the lungs.

You might also consider L-Cysteine, as it is one of the main proteins found in the lungs. I like NOW Foods L-Cysteine w/ vitamin b6 and c, 500mg tablet; I find that it is an effective formulation, and I can take it up to 3 times per day short term and once per day long term. I take this, like most amino acids on a pretty empty stomach, in my case just before bed time.

You might also consider MSM, as sulphur is also found in the lungs in high concentrations. I like NOW foods MSM 1000mg capsules. Short term, I found I could take 3 per day, and long term 1 per day. Take with food for least stomach irritation.

You might further consider Horsetail for silcia also an important mineral for the lungs. I take a 40mg Solary version, but only a few times per week.

I also like very much Country-Life Iodine/Kelp Trace Mineral supplement. I found that taking 2-4 per day for short term use and 1-2 per day long term use has been helpful. Works best with selenium, if taking larger doses of selenium, I take larger doses of this one. The trace minerals should not be ignored!

Also, I started taking vitamin-b: I like Country-Life Basic B (a b-25 formulation). I took at 3 per day (spread out) for a while, and later cut down to one per day. For quicker action try Country-Life CoEnzyme B (also b-25) but quicker acting. I wouldn't recommend this quicker acting one for long term use since it may increase joint/wrist pain.

And also I take vit-e (400iu) twice per day, and vit-c (500mg w/ bioflavinoids) twice per day, as both of these are associated with healing.

Whenever beefing up one mineral for long term use, you should also beef up the others. These other minerals have also helped me out: iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, potassium, boron, molybdenum, chromium. (Chromium was always helpful short term, but I always got headaches long term until I started taking a bit more iron.)

In addition, I have found that Beta Glucan is has short term effectiveness in stimulating the immune system. I found that my immune system would get lazy and used to the mild cough after a while, and that if I took this beta glucan, it would get very aggressive about rooting out the problems. I wouldn't take this without also taking zinc and selenium, no sense in boosting the immune system if it doesn't have the nutrition it needs. So far, I have only taken beta glucan for less than a week each time (about 3 or 4 times now). It has helped me after 3 days or so, but then seems to stop helping, and I don't want to overstimulate my immune system, so I stop taking it for a while. I like Solgar Beta Glucan 200mg. I take up to 2 tablets (each at different times) per day for several days, until it seems to be no longer effective, then give a long rest.

Best of luck to all!

I started taking Levaquin for a Strep infection that didn't go away on another antibiotic. The second day on it, I noticed a tightening in the backs of my legs, and my fingers felt funny when I woke up. I hobbled through that day, thinking that maybe the Strep had gotten into my system and was doing damage. By day 4, the bottoms of my feet burned when I tried to walk on them, and using my hands for leverage when getting up caused burning in the palms of my hands, too. By day 5, I needed help getting in and out of the car, and needed help getting up the TWO steps from my garage into my house. By day 6, I wasn't able to sleep because of the deep aching in every joint, muscle and tendon in my body - and when up, needed support to get from place to place. Heat helped some, so used an electric throw when sitting in my den, and the electric blanket at night. I didn't take anymore Levaquin after the sixth day when my daughter looked up my symptoms, and it all came down to the Levaquin. I don't have any swelling, but the pain is almost unbearable at times - heat still helps somewhat. I have been off the Levaquin for two months now, and no relief in sight. I still wake from sleeping unable to use my hands for the first 5-10 minutes - and the pain in my ring fingers and pinkies are not describable. I am on Ultracet for the pain, and though it doesn't stop the pain, it seems to make it a bit more manageable. I still have to pull myself up the stairs one at a time, I can't squat without pain behind my knees severe enough to nauseate me and I almost pass out. I can't straighten my arms because of the pain in the tendons, I think, in my forearm and around my elbow. I can't lift my arms over my head without pain. I am more concerned now that I've been on this site because it sounds like this may not go away, or if it does, it will take a long, long time. That's scary to me!!

There are presently 56 pages of complaints about lisinopril.

Reading through them, there are a number of people who have weight issues due to lisinopril. I have had them myself. I used to be able to control my weight by just jogging a bit more, but while on lisinopril - and for a long long time after, no amount of jogging helped. I also started feeling more and more exhausted and finally couldn't even sustain a minimum amount of jogging.

You should consider getting off lisinopril before you catch any of the other side effects, as they can be debilitating and extremely long lasting, perhaps permanent (even after quitting).

You might consider supplementation with L-Carnitine or Acetly-L-Carnitine for increased energy and fat burning metabolism. (I have also found L-Glutamine to be helpful on my stomach - the lisinopril gave me lots of stomach problems, among other things.)

My opinion of one thing that's going on with the lisinopril is that it places a heavy (detoxification) load on the liver, and as a result the liver is not able to produce the same level of the so-called "conditional nutrients", such as L-Carnitine (important for fat burning metabolism) and N-Acetly-Cysteine (important for lung health, e.g. to fight the cough). As this medication shifts the primary function of the liver from normal operation to heavy detoxification, it also uses up valuable minerals, such as zinc and manganese, and vitamins, such as vit-b group. Eventually, these nutritonal depletions will result in some complex side effects, energy, and health issues (in addition to the other more directly-caused side effects like the cough).

I also believe that supplementation is the best way to get some of these nutrients. You'd have to eat a ton of food (and gain weight, which is counter productive to hypertension and other health issues) to get the specific nutrients that are being depleted.

Best of luck to all.

A lot of gas, strange yellow stools, very dry skin and the allergies that I have are even worse (sort of like my immune system is in over-drive).

When I first started taking Lamictal, I experienced A LOT of hypomania/mania and irritablity. I occasionally do have problems staying asleep if I do not take Benadryl along with it at night. For some reason I have started chewing the insides of my mouth - no, no sores there and this was a mild habit before the Lamictal that has gotten worse.

All of this being said? This drug is fantastic. I am experiencing a sense of balance and clarity that I haven't had in 25 or 30 years. It's like I don't have any mental health problems at all - I feel normal and it's wonderful. It does, however, take a long long time to ramp up to an effective dosage - hold out, it's worth it!