Pounding heart symptoms and conditions

My experience with Zocor was related to increased difficulty breathing; SOB was present with all exertion no matter how light. After awhile, I just stopped doing much of anything. The smallest exertion, such as getting ready for bed {brushing teeth, hair, washing face and putting on a night gown} invoked labored breathing and a pounding heart. After a week off the drug, the symptoms all by disappeared; now, 4 months later, I am up and around, walking longer walks and not short of breath. My problems may have been related to muscle weakness, but the heart is a muscle and the lungs function in conjunction with the heart.

Started at 10 mg/day, then doubled to 20 and finally 40mg lisinopril with 25mg HCTZ..

After being upped to 40mg I started getting a itchy lump in my throat that lead to an amazing amount of cloudy white mucus. This would usually occur later in the day and especially when I tried to lay down to sleep. Lungs feel fine, no wheezing, rumble or pain. Nostrils sometimes clog a little but not enough to explain where all the mucus was coming from. Throat doesn't really hurt except when I used a lot of generic sore throat spray.

Doctor mentioned the possibility of acid reflux or a seasonal allergy and give me generic Claritin which didn't help a bit. I'm 56 and can't say I've ever had a seasonal allergy in my life but he said they can develop at anytime so I was hoping he was right. When the weather turned cold and the symptoms remained I even thought I was allergic to something in my home, new drywall, fiberglass, mold something.

After considering the possibility of a reaction to lisinopril or terbinafine I started googling to find posts that described my reaction to a tee.

Besides the cough/mucous I've had a pounding heart, anxiety, fear of dying not knowing what was wrong etc.

Lisinopril seemed to bring my pressure down at the one month point so my Doctor doubled it to bring it down another 15 points. Three weeks later instead of going down it went back up so he doubled again and added the water pill. Today when I went to the Doctor it was still up and I told him about my web research. He agree it was not working for me anyway and I suppose he believed my suspicions about the side effects, at least for me.

He asked me "You're self pay aren't you?" as if just because I had to pay for the stuff myself I'd rather take the $4.00/month crap rather than pay for what I need. If you're self pay you even get 20% off if you pay within 30 days. I bet if I'd walked in there with insurance I'd have erg's, mri's, all that overpriced stuff.

Anyway he put me on Bystolic (30 days free samples :)) which I think I could detect a bit more confidence in his voice that it would actually work. I mean I'd much rather pay $4/month for generics if it worked and didn't make me feel like crap but I'll gladly pay the over inflated $50/month price for something that actually works without making me feel so much worse.

During the three weeks I was using 150 mg. Wellbutrin, ringing in the ears gradually increased, mild headaches on top of my head, occasional light spasms around my mouth, constipation, and bladder problems. My sleep was unaffected, and my depression did not lift. My dose was increased to 300 mg, and by the fourth day, I was having serious facial spasms, intense headaches, louder and constant ringing in the ears, almost 'round-the-clock wakefulness, anxiety, difficulty thinking and completing sentences, pounding heart, amplification of sounds, jitters and quaking. I felt like a car, perpetually idling so roughly that all my parts were about to rattle right off the chassis. On the fifth day I took nothing. I've had some chills, a little nausea, headache, neck-ache (Isn't that weird?!) and some ringing, but at a lower volume that's hardly noticeable. This is the fourth day with no Wellbutrin, and I haven't had facial spasms at all in the past couple of days, have less nausea, and the very funky smell produced in my urine from the second week I was on the meds has calmed down. If I'm still in a depression it's been overshadowed by the most awful side effects I could have imagined. It felt like the spector of death was overtaking my body by day four of that 300 mg. dose. I had been on a hefty dose of Zoloft daily for almost ten years and never experienced anything unpleasant other than weight gain, my reason for trying to switch meds because I couldn't quit putting on weight no matter what. I am going to try SAM-e, and suggest that anyone looking for a natural alternative, with the prospect of few and insignificant side effects, do an online search. Whether I find success with the SAM-e, or if it falls short of what I need, I'll post here to let you know what happens. A month ago I thought the depression was the end of the world; I think the cure was worse than the disease.

I had my Mirena put in Oct 20, now granted it has only been a week, i have not had any spotting since day 3. I am feeling fine! I have been on the pill for years and if you read up on almost any form of birth control the side effects are all generally the same. I am wondering if these issues people are having are just because they started birth control in general and non specific to Mirena. Hopefully the future is good for my use with Mirena because if am tired of the pill and the high dose of hormones.

I just started Toprol XL on Friday (four full days ago). I was put on it to decrease heart rate and palps, I have Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia. I am 35 years old. I was prescribed to take 50mg twice a day, and I am on the generic. Almost immediately, stomach upset started with diarrhea. I still had some palps at 25 mg. twice a day, which the MD told me to start with for about two days. So, after doing the 25mg for two days twice daily, I went on to the 50mg twice daily. Last night I slept for twelve hours straight, and then felt like I had a sedative after I got up. After taking my next 50mg dose this morning, I got so sleepy again, and felt like sleeping and was in a fog after the twelve hours of sleep last night! I can't imagine mixing anything else with it that causes drowsiness, you would pass out. I feel like I can't think clearly,and feel more crabby and irritable. I called the MD this am. and was told to go back to 25mg twice a day, and that side effects would lessen over time. I have had this sinus tachycardia problem for years, and got diagnosed with it officially in 04. It is very annoying, with shortness of breath, pounding heart,and feeling like you are running a race which sitting still. I have also had an increase in feeling like it skips a beat. All this prompted the Toprol usage. It does help the heart rate and palps, but now I feel so tired I can hardly put one foot in front of the other. I try to walk for thirty min. at least five days a week, and today it was all I could do to make it. I have to watch my twenty month old daily, and I can't keep up with his energy now for sure. I plant to go back to the 25mg twice a day starting tomorrow, and maybe eventually get to the 25mg once daily. I never would recommend anyone stopped something like this cold turkey, you could find yourself in the ER, never play with any heart meds!! I pray that a slow decrease will be the answer to finding some symptom relief of my condition, yet still being able to function daily. Thank God also I am a stay at home mom for now, starting this and trying to work, I would be sleeping on the job!

Besides hair loss, vision problems, pain all the time, dry mouth, diarrhea, sleeplessness, pounding heart, I also had a problem with mucus filling my stomach and my food would get stuck. So I had to vomit to get the mucus up so I can continue eating. The first time I quite taking this poison pill, I got to feeling much better and my stomach got much better too. But never connected Lipitor with my problems. When I started taking this poison pill again, all my problems returned. But only worse, because I was in so much pain that it was hard for me to climb stairs and I had to hold on to everything just to go to the bathroom at night. Than I quit taking this poison pill again and haven't taken anymore since. All my problems disappeared again. I told my new doctor what this poison pill was doing and he told me to stop taking it, which I had already done.

So how many more people is this poison pill going to hurt and kill before Lipitor is taken off the market? I'm once again seeing Lipitor advertised on TV claiming this poison pill is FDA approved. Wasn't Baycol approved by the FDA as well and was taken off the market because it was too dangerous?Scary!

I'm 62

Do any of you take Lisinopril by itself without a diuretic like HCTZ (hydrocortothiazide)? I got dehydrated 2 days ago & doctor has cut my HCTZ in half-- I felt light-headed, dizzy, pounding heartbeat like I was having a panic attack. I've been on this lisinopril/hctz combo for 3 months. I don't have any of the adverse allergic reactions (rash, itchiness, swelling) at all; nor do I have the cough thing at all. But weakness, chest-pounding heart, dizziness, fatigue all coming now daily. I wonder if our problem is the HCTZ, so is anybody on lisinopril WITHOUT HCTZ?

Yasmin is a steroid so when coming off it you can suffer all the same symptoms as someone stopping a steroid drug... and by the way, when people are taken off steroids it's done in a controlled way - they cut down on them very slowly by reducing the dosage. It's a real shock to the body to just stop a steroid. This could explain why a lot of us feel so terrible when we stop taking it. I know I had a real increase in severity of symptoms followed by months and months of exhaustion and fatigue.

Hello all Yasmin Survivors.
I stopped taking Yasmin in July 2005 and three years on I am still re-building my life! I feel this pill and its side-effect stole some of my best years, I am 33.
My main side effects were extreme anxiety, agoraphobia, pounding heart, panic attacks, fear of doing anything (even going 10 minutes away from my own home). I was on it for 12 months and the side-effects started very gradually at about 5-6 months, I barely noticed them creeping up on me. It took me another 6 months of taking it to start to question whether Yasmin could be causing the extreme change in my personality. I think if I hadn't stopped I'd have had a major breakdown. I had lots of weird physical symptoms too including, bloating, passing urine all the time, leg cramps, dizziness, hair loss.
Anyway, all the extreme anxiety and stress caused by Yasmin left me with exhausted adrenal glands - which I'm now trying to re-build. Anyone feeling fatigue, nervousness, anxiety, inability to handle stress in the same way as you used to, PMS several months after stopping Yasmin should look into Adrenal Fatigue as a possible cause of their symptoms. It's hard to treat and can take a long time to recover - but there are lots of things you can do to help your body re-build. Visit ******(doctor Andrew W. website on Adrenal Fatigue) as a start to find out more about the condition and how to find out whether you are suffering from it.
It would be good to hear from more people re-building their lives after the impact of taking Yasmin on this site. Also, is anyone out there trying to put together a class action?
Sarah

I have taken toprol for seven years. I never had any bad side effects and it controlled my blood pressure most of the time. However, I suffer from anxiety and depression and was recently put on Lexapro. My heart rate dropped into the 40's and I was exhausted all the time. Turns out Lexapro interacts with Toprol in that the drug (Toprol) does not break down in your system and keeps building up! Because the Lexapro was helping my anxiety I decided to lower the Toprol dosage. Down to 12.5 mg and still extremely low heart rate and fatigue. Decided to go off the Toprol and monitor my blood pressure, which has been amazingly good so far. Went off completely six days ago and it has been rough. Anxiety, insomnia, pounding heart, heart palpitations. This stuff is a real B*tch to get off from. Have talked to both the pharmacist and my doctor and both said to NOT start taking it again. There are plenty of newer medications out there. I also experienced weight gain when I first started taking it...I think because it slows your metabolism down. So now I am on xanax to counteract the Toprol until the Lexapro kicks in more. It it isn't one thing, it's another.

Am I the only one who has gained a lot of weight while on Lisinopril? I have gained over 40lbs in 3 years. I have also experienced odd muscle cramping and have never made a connection to this and Lisinopril. The pain in my ear, side of my head, and my jaw was unbelievable. ENT dr thought it was TMJ or nerve damage. He was not able to really pin down the exact cause. One month later I was bed ridden with severe back pain, which I have never had before. MRI showed nothing. Headaches are daily, cough, leg cramps, chest pain, decreased sex drive, and definitely have feelings of depression. I have never made the connection between the changes in my personality, health, and lifestyle to this medicine; but now I have. I will be immediately contacting my doctor to discuss alternatives. My BP when I started was 150/90 and now is 112/70. Please let me know if anyone has also had the weight gain like I have experienced. I know I am going to have to have hard facts to show to my doctor. Thank you.

Hello folks - thought I would post here as well.........I am on 20MG of LISINOPRIL 1 time daily. I notice during regimented times of the day I get the side effects. I take it when I wake up in the morning. I have been on this for about a year now...........it has lowered by HBP from 150's/80's to about 130/80..............regular........I am a 37 year old Male

Problem is the multiple side affects:

1. Tiredness - comes and goes all throughout the day - almost like I could just close my eyes and go to sleep anywhere.........feels like someone threw sand in my eyes.......
2. Shortness of breath
3. Sore Muscles - everywhere - it doesn't discriminate!!!!
4. Pain in the chest mostly the left side but sometimes the right
5. Headache in one spot in the head - doesn't last long
6. Wake up often in the middle of the night with dead hands or legs
7. Sometimes I just have a total memory blank on things I should know right away - usually only occurs when I'm getting tired.
8 Of course the panic from thinking something is wrong with me!!!

Anyone else with these set of symptoms????

Drop me a note!!!!

I was on a Prednisone taper for 7 days (bronchitis). I have been off for 16 days now. I am still suffering from BAD headaches, head pressure and dizziness (also racing heart) - off and on??? Does anyone know how long it takes to get this stuff out of your system? My first day after finishing it my headache and dizziness got so severe that I threw up 7 times over the next 24 hours?

Is it something that I am eating or drinking that is 'reactiviting' the side effects of the Prednisone? I hate this.

Thank you.

Vanessa

I was prescribed Synthroid for Hypothyroidism about 6-months ago. I was told my thyroid is covered w/ nodules caused by Hoshimotos(?) Thyroiditis. Prior to that I suffered with severe anxiety attacks. Since my first dose of Synthroid I have felt much calmer. I realize Synthroid isn't prescribed for that, but I definitely feel much better. However, now it is early spring, and I ventured out for some light gardening and thought I was going to die from heat stroke and a pounding heart - it is only 68 degrees! Could this be a side effect or perimenopause?

I have been taking Advair 500/50 for about two years ( I am now 60 years old,) to help control my allergy related asthma (that only presented itself when I had to take steroid eye drops for glaucoma.) While I had the hoarseness, dry mouth and occasional mouth sores, they seemed livable compared to uncontrolled asthma.

One morning about a month ago, when I was taking my normal AM puff, I suddenly felt as though a giant sledge hammer banged down on my head - pounding me into the floor - almost losing consciousness. Then, I experienced pounding, racing heart that felt as though it might jump out of my chest. I turned white and gray - my family and I thought I was having a heart attack.

I was terrified to take another puff - thinking it might be my last. Two days went by, when, I decided to experiment by taking a very light puff, barely taking any into my lungs. (I had been further scared by warning about suddenly going off steroids.) My doctor was out of the country and no one wanted the liability of advising me.

One hesitant puff of Advair caused the exact same pounding - heart jumping and racing reaction. I decided right then that I did not need further evidence to "pound into my head" that Advair was now toxic for me.

The odd thing is that my doctor seems to discount my experience by saying I am the only person this has ever happened to (implying there must be something wrong with me!) When I asked about the dangers and appropriate process for suddenly stopping steroids, she pooh-poohed my concern saying there are no side effects from inhalers with steroids. (Several nurses recently told me that was not necessarily true. Who knows what to believe!)

I have stopped Spiriva and Advair and have scheduled an appointment with a doctor and nurse practitioner who use diet, exercise and nutritional supplements to help treat asthma. A friend has gone to them for several years and is now off all asthma medication, has lost about 50 pounds, has improved health and looks 10 years younger! I can only hope this works for me!

I am also writing Advair manufacturer with my experience;copies to FDA. I can only wonder if there are others as 'rare' as me? If so, let it be known. thanks

I

MADE MY POUNDING HEART TURN FLUTTERY, SWOLLEN LEGS WHICH DR SAID NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT,CRAMPS, DIARRHEA, ANXIETY, BAD DREAMS, DISTURBED SLEEP, SCARED TO COME OF THEM NOW AFTER READING REVIEWS THAT COMING OF THEM MAKES IT ALL WORSE

UPDATE!!
I was lucky enough to have found this site on October 10th. I am glad to say that I have been off of Lisinopril for 2 weeks now and I feel great!!
I just went to the doctor and TOLD him I was not taking this med and he suprisingly said OK.
I went back to a generic derivative of Tarka I was on before. The Lisinopril cost $4 and the Tarka costs $30 but that is no price to pay for my sanity!!
I now have no more side effects. My BP is lower now than I can ever remember and my head is out of the clouds and back at home where it belongs. I have no more heart palputations, asleep hands, dry cough, racing and pounding heart or vivid dreams.
Dont be afraid people to go and get off of this terrible for some drug.
Also I have been taking 2 tbls of pure unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar. I am not sure if it is helping but it does seem to give me a lot of energy. Reasearch it. I hope and pray for all the folks posting on this site that your recovery can be as dramatic as mine.
Good luck to all!!!!!!!!

I am a 27 year old female and have had high blood pressure since I was 15. I have been on beta blockers my whole life like (Labatalol and Toprol XL100mg/day). I have never noticed any side effects with those, but my doctor just switched me to Lisinopril because my blood pressure on Toprol is 135/90 and when I am off it is 160/105 so she said the Toprol really isn't working. So, I have been on this medicine for a week and a half now and I think I would rather take my risk of a stroke and have high blood pressure than to continue to take this. I have nausea each day, upset stomach, my appetite is gone and then when I do eat I feel very full and bloated, I am shaky on the inside, foggy headed, I cough in the morning, I have been waking up with a sore throat that goes away within a few hours, but I am not sick, I get a weird dull headache in the afternoon, pounding heart, and I feel crazy like a crackhead. I have been crying for the past three days and feel depressed, confused and my mind won't stop racing about stuff.
AND my BP has been 130/80 so nothing has changed. I am having a hard time focusing at work and I just want to go take a nap because I am so worn out from fighting with the racing thoughts and shakiness. I am going to a new Dr. today to see if I can take something else, but as of today I will no longer take Lisinopril.

I have been on 150 mg of Wellbutrin XL for a little more than 3 weeks. I am also taking 100 mg of Lamictal a day just upped that dose yesterday from 50 mg both to treat bipolar disorder (which I am not thoroughly convinced I have!) I can't tell which drug is causing which side effect, they both cause a lot of the same things. I have experienced strange dreams and horrible nightmares, itchy skin, hair loss (which I believe is from the Lamictal), acne on my face, back and shoulders, extreme mood swings and irritability, extreme fatigue, difficulty with hand-eye coordination, difficulty with words (speaking and writing), generally fuzzy headed, dizziness, waking at night with a pounding heart, joint and muscle soreness, heavy period that has lasted a lot longer than normal, stuffy nose, hacking cough and that about does it.

Basically, it sucks and I want to go off at least the Lamictal and see if the Wellbutrin is kinder on it's own. I just don't think this is going to work for me. It's been pretty rough the last few weeks, I hope I can come up with something I can tolerate.

good luck all!
~A

I had been on lisinopril for 3 yrs until a couple of weeks ago. I was taking 10mg in addition to 25mg atenolol(which I have been on for 10yrs). Although I did not notice any serious side effects when I first started on it, it ended up seriously affecting my quality of life. My energy level, which has always been very high, was gradually reduced over the course of the last 3 yrs to a level so low that it was exhausting just to get through the day. I had undergone extensive lab workups to try to figure out what was wrong. I would also have episodes of severe muscle weakness and aches that kept me confined to bed. I was tested for every disease known to man. All came back negative. On top of this, for the first time in my life, I was becoming very depressed and unable to cope with the least little thing to the point where my family became concerned. I also suffered several serious anaphylactic allergic reactions involving serious stomach pains, plummeting blood pressure, pounding heart rate, faintness, swelling of my extremities and shock. I was referred to a specialist and after 4 wks of bloodwork and skin testing, I was incredibly allergic to NOTHING. But I have to carry an epi pen at all times since I don't know when or why a reaction will reoccur. All of this time, I never ever suspected lisinopril as a problem. It was not until one day I was particularly tired and lightheaded and found out that my BP and pulse were way too low (90/50), so I did not take my lisinopril that night (or since then) but only my atenolol. The next day I felt better and within a couple of days incredibly better. My doc has agreed that lisinopril is a problem for me and increased my dose of atenolol to 50mg, which takes care of my BP just fine. Now my energy is returning, my depression has lifted, and I can actually look forward to each day instead of just trying to get through it. I feel like my spark for life is coming back. Like others, I was in a downward spiral and wondered if this is what happens when you turn 50 and if I would ever feel good again. I knew nothing of this website during all of this and wish I had found it long ago. Maybe, just maybe, I would not feel like I missed the last 3yrs of my life.

On my third day of Levaquin 500, I woke up with my heart pounding, thinking I was having an anxiety attack. But it was my pounding heart that woke me up. Same this THIS MORNING, my heart was beating so hard that my clothese were moving from my pounding chest. After reading about others I finally realized it was the Levaquin. Today is Easter. I sat in the front row of church and it happened AGAIN! I just prayed that I wouldn't faint or have a heart attack, and I made it. I'm not even sure if it has had ANY affect on my sinus infection. This is BAD NEWS.

leg pain, muscular weakness, especially in the thigh muscle, pounding heart, light headedness, persistent for weeks, all disappeared within 2 days of quitting lisinopril

I had some signs of a chlamydia infection and tested positive for chlamydia antibodies, so my doctor prescribed a 7 day course with 2 refills (total 21 days) of 100 mg twice a day. Almost immediately (like within a day or two) of beginning the doxy, my testicles swelled up, became painful, my joints began to ache (even though they had already done that to some extent before I started, they got a LOT worse on the doxy). By the time I finished the 21 day course I was a lot sicker than I had been before, I was weak, had a pounding heart, and even though it has now been a month since I stopped, I feel only slightly better, if at all. If someone could email me and give me some hope that this will go away and I will feel better, I will be very grateful.
Thanks.

I was given 750 mg of Levaquin for sinus/ear infections, along with a prescription cough syrup. The first night, I had difficulty sleeping, along with racing heartbeat. I thought it was from the codene in the cough syrup, so I left it off the second night, but continued with the Levaquin. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING CRAZY! I had racing thoughts, pounding heart, leg cramps, terrible acid reflux and nausea, but worse than that, was CONSTANT thoughts of someone close to me dying. It was the next morning that I read in the 'packaging information' that the side effects 'could cause' sleeplessness, leg pain, anxiety, depression, nausea, etc. I won't take it again.
D

Took leviquin 500 for 8 days before I realized what was happening to me. Side effects included: severe panic, altered mental state, constant sleep, loss of appetite, pounding heart rate. After 2 trips to the ER no help was provided. I stoped the Leviquin early (was supposed to take it for 3 wks) and immediately started feeling better. The anxiety is much less but still present and I still sleep all the time.

Has anyone had similar experiences and, more importantly, how long does this last?

Please help!