please help

[nathanlyons]

Hi, My name is Nathan. I will turn 24 on july30, I am 6'1'' 285lbs and i smoked a pack a day till just recently. 5 mos. ago i took a drug named Invega wich is an antipsycotic but was given to me for bipolar disorder. This drug is a revoloutionary drug in that field in that it is a time released capsule of palpharidone wich should never be crushed, chewed, or cut before taking. Unfortunately I didnt know this at the time. The doctor prescribed 3mg capsules of invega once daily along with I think 10mg lexapro and told me to se the nurse on my way out who gave me 6mg samples of invega and instructed me to cut them in half. The following Monday I started both drugs. I cut the invega in half and took it along with the lexapro b4 bed that night and did the same on tues and wed, on wed several hrs after taking them I cracked open a beer and by the time I took the 4th sip  I felt a cold feeling run from my feet up through the rest of my body, my heart rate skyrocketed,  my lips drew up, and a terrible pain went through my chest. When the ambulance arrived they checked my vitals and they were all off. By the time I got to the hospital they were stable, they ran an ekg,bloodwork, and did a chest x-ray all of wich came back normal. For the next 2 mos i was in and out of the hospital hyperventalating about 13 times and the same each time, they called them panic attacks due to the trauma of thee near death experience. I finaly accepted that it was only anxiety and nothing was wrong with me, ''I STOPED HAVING ATTACKS'' but I noticed that the symptoms of pain throughout my body, nausia, vibrations in my feet and hands, pressure in my head and palpitations were geting worse so I decide to go to a regular dctr and find out whats wrong. By this time im experiencing alot of dizzyness especialy when standing with a dramatic increase in heart rate when I stand, I also fave feelings of having a tube sock on my left leg and a feeling of movement under the skin where the artery runs into the top of my left foot. The doctor tests my thyroid and a nerve conduction test to see if its my nerves and the nct is fine. I go home and for two weeks the pain goes away but I absolutely can not tollerate activity barely tollerate standing so I go to the er where they test my bp lying, siting, and standing. My blood pressure droped signifigantly and my heart rate jumped signifigantly so they run liquids through an iv wich I dont understand bc my electrolytes are fine, When the iv finishes they send me home without checking it again or anything but I do notice that I dont get as dizzy when standing. I go back  to my doctor a week or so later and she says my thyroid is .43 hyper, so she orders a series of tests wich include ana panel, electrolytes, and several others plus she wants to test my thyroid again. A couple weeks later I go back and find that my thyroid is now .57 acceptable and all of the other tests are fine. I still feel like im dieing all the time and she has no ideal whats wrong with me and she is now fixing to send me for a stress test plus my blood pressure is now geting high and the pains have returned. I dont know whats wrong with me and neither does anyone else, I feel like im dieing all the time and im scared that if they dont figure it out soon I might not live to see 25. Ive researched and researched and I dont know whats wrong. I think its 1 or more of three things, my nervous system maybe autonomic and other, my heart not real sold on that, or m main fear some kind of damage to my arteries. Does anyone know what this drug could have done to me? What could cause these symptoms? Oh and btw here lately I cant even smoke ciggs nemore bc they make me feel terrible and thats never happened. so to break my symptoms down I experience random pains throughout my entire body, I get a twitch in my left eye, i have loose stools alot, ive been experiencing a feeling of pressure and heat in my head as well as random pain sometimes sharp and sometimes aching in my head and neck and ive noticed that most of the pains I feel throughout my whole body are in the same locations as my arteries, I sometimes get involutary movements of muscles but that rarley happens, i get pulsating vibrations in my feet and now my left hand, a feeling of having a tube sock on my left leg but thats went away, orthostatic hypertension, very strong palpitations in my chest, i can feel my heart beating in my neck, head, hands n fingers, arms, feet, and sometimes my legs, weird undescribable feelings on my skins sometimes, nausea, an intolerence to activity and standing for too long, dizzyness on occassion, fatigue, stiffness and sourness mostly in my chest n legs when I wake up, and a feeling of loosing control of my body sometimes. what could cause all of this? whats wrong with me?

[nathanlyons]

oh and i dont know if u saw the pic but i look good regardless of wether i weigh185 or 285

[nathanlyons]

I did mention that I have stoped both drugs since. I know that I am over weight. I know all about working out, I used to weigh 185 and worked out 5 times a week, me being over weight has nothing to do with this bc i weighed the same b4 i took those drugs and never in my life had a health problem, i know that this drug has done something to me im trying to find out what.

[ggreg]

I think your initial problem five months ago was caused by an allergic reaction to the Invega drug.  I presume you have stopped that drug, altho you did not say.  I also presume you have stopped the Lexapro, you did not say... if you are still on it, please talk to the prescribing doc about tapering off it, would be my advice.  If they insist you be in on an SSRI, switch over to Zoloft instead.  I don't know what other drugs you are on, but have your general doc review all the side effects of your medicines, and if any can cause something to go wrong with your heart or blood pressure, then you should be switched to another kind that doesn't have that side effect.

You said in your post that you are 6'1" and 285 pounds.  Being overweight like that puts a lot of pressure on the heart and makes it have to work twice as hard to keep you going.  Therefore, you must forthwith begin a DAILY exercise and diet program to where you break a sweat, drink extra water, switch from beer to TASTING fine wine, don't eat fast food at all, eat more lean proteins (eggs are okay boiled or cooked in olive oil) and fill up with lots of dark green salads with garlic and onion (only lemon and olive oil as dressing), and eat half the carbs you did before.  Ease into it the first week, and continue for TWO months, weigh yourself, write down your new weight, stop and eat normally for a week and cut back on the exercise.  Then go back to the daily exercise and diet routine and stay with it for FOUR months.  Again, check your weight, write it down.  You need to continue in this manner until you get down to less than 200 pounds.  Once you've broken the record, you should be able to eat whatever you want, keep up the exercise three times a week, and you ought to feel a lot better and not have all these health issues.

Exercise is great for people who get nervous, by the way.  All this bipolar stuff and panic attacks, they'll subside substantially by focusing hard on exercise and losing weight.  Exercise gets tension out of the body, and the longer you are in the "zone" of working out, the more endorphins or "feel-good" hormones are released.  Plus deep breathing from exercise is very refreshing to a person.  People in today's society go crazy because of sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits.  

There are many exercises you can do:  Join the Y and swim, jog near home or school or work or on a track, go biking, do long walks in the park, take up tennis or golf or self-defense classes, be imaginative in what you can do to get in shape, do several different things.  I cannot emphasize enough the importance of staying active, it will change your life, literally.  You also need to find a pastime that is impressive to you, like learning how to play guitar, or taking up art, or get in with a local theater group, join a book club, just anything that you are attracted to and wish you could do.  It'll do wonders for your self-esteem and also get your mind off this sometimes goofy world.

I think you need to visit a general doc regularly, let him keep tabs on your heart, blood pressure, any meds you are on and how you are doing with those.  As you lose weight, doses of drugs will need to be reduced.  Tell him how you're going to exercise more and reduce fat and carbs/increase protein and greens, in an effort to lose weight.  He may want to see you every couple months until you get your weight down below 200.  If your symptoms are not significantly better when you reach that goal, he can refer you to a specialist who can find out if you've got some sort of heart disease or whatever else might be wrong.  But I think reducing weight will do it, and if nothing else, it won't HURT to get good-looking.  Smile.  I hope this helps you.

[claire052]

hi i am sorry to hear what u r going through at the moment if u where told to take   palpharidone medication whole and not any other way i think that u might have had a real bad reaction to the drugs and did u ask if u can drink with these meds cause some med r dangours if takeing with medication. if all this has only happend since u had the attacks when starting the drug i think that it is more than likely that u might have had a reaction to them espeacialy when drinking. i have not hurd of this medication b4 but cause u halfed the medication that could have released something that is in the medication to cause this sort of reaction.

sorry but that is my opinon from what i have read i would as ur gp if that could be it