Effects of corticosteroid Tricort

I had been having trouble breathing all week since starting the steroid spray.  He told me to use it 4 times a day.  The instructions said no more than twice a day.  So on Monday, I started it with twice a day.  I used it Monday, developed a cough.  I used it Tuesday and noticed some wheezing and tightness in my chest.  I started stepping down from it on Wednesday because I was not liking what was happening.  I used it once on Wednesday and once on Thursday morning.  By noon on Thursday, I was developing more tightness and wheezing.  By Thursday night, I knew I was in trouble.  I had popped on water retention to the tune of 10 pounds.  I could not get enough air to my lungs.  I had a headache and I was scared.  I was so scared, wrote my son a set of instructions on what to do if I died.  I set a text message to send to him with instructions to call an ambulance.  I left my door unlocked.  I sat up all night because I was afraid to lie down.  I was afraid to go to the ER because of what the doctors had already done to me.

Well, I made it through the night.  All day Friday, I was so weak, exhausted, back ache and still short of breath and wheezing,. but better.  So, I had already called the doctor on Wednesday and told him I was getting off the spray.  Well, his office called me on Friday.  Could I come in Monday morning to get an oral steroid prescription.  I told her what had happened and her answer was, "Well, the doctor is gone today, but come in Monday."  Yeah.  It is now Saturday night and I am finally able to walk through the room without stopping to fight for breath.  Most of the bloating is gone.  But I am so tired.  And I have had a headache all day.  Needless  to say, I will not be trusting these docs again.  I think the dermatologist was using me for a test subject to see how the Topicort would react.  Common sense thing to have done both for the internist and the dermatologist was to have given me a prescription for an oral steroid.  My arms are no longer swollen, but they look like someone has been at them with an ice pick.  It will take a good month to get them back in shape.  But at least I am alive to do it.

I lived

Last night I was not sure I would survive.  I was in respiratory distress.  I was swelling and bloating  That lasted most of today, but I think I am now pulling out of this mess.  I threw the steroid spray away last night.  My doctor called me today and told me there was nothing he could do for me.  He wanted to refer me to another dermatologist.  Nope.  Wouldn't you think if I was allergic to one steroid cream, then it would stand to reason that I would be allergic to another one.  Well, I told that doctor that I would have the worst case scenario of reactions.  I did.  And now the dermatologist wants me to take prednisone.  Um, no.  I am not going to take anything.  I will just continue to soak my arms in epsom salts and wait it our.

Side Effects

My side effects to the Ziac
1)Swelling
2)Short of breath
3)Uneven heartbeat
4)Chest pain
5)Cough and wheezing
6)Rapid heartbeat
7)Pain and swelling in both legs and feet
8)Godawful hives, blistering, peeling and pain like you could not believe in my hands.
The pain in my hands felt like millions of needles under the skin pushing out.
9)Numbness and tingling in fingers.  Loss of feeling in fingertips

Side effects with Triamterene-Hydroclorothiazide
1)Boiled lobster arms
2) Severe itching
3)Bloating
4)Chills
5)Cough, hoarseness, wheezing
6)Dry mouth
7)Lower back pain
8)Numbness and tingling in fingers
9)Numbness and swelling in lips
10)Rapid weight gain
11)Skin rash
12) Thickening of bronchial secretions.

Topicort
1) Severe bloating
2)Severe problems breathing and wheezing
3)Insomnia
4) Pain in arms
5)Very rapid weight gain.

No more chemicals for me.

Most severe side effects of Ziac and Triamterene/Hydrochlorothiazide

In 1997, after a particularly difficult several years caring for a terminally ill family member, I was put on Ziac for high blood pressure.  Ziac is Bisprololan/ Hydrochlorothiazide.  I was on this particular drug for 11 years.  No blood work was ever done.  No one would take me off it and the data told me that if I just stopped cold turkey I could have a heart attack. In 2003, while working at the Post Office, I developed trouble with my hands.  I would have large pustules come up and break open leaving a horrible open sore.  I was sent to a Dermatologist or so I thought.  He said I was allergic to dyes in newspring.  I was supposedly allergic to cobalt, formaldyde, paraphenelediamine.  And the only thing to do was quit my job.  At this time, I was only 4 years away from retirement.  I chose to stay and suffer.  The Post Office did what they could to help.  I was given whatever I needed.  So for 4 years I wore white cotton gloves to contain the blood and surgical gloves over them to keep the blood off the mail.  I saw 4 doctors including an allergist for this condition.  Things came to a head in 2009 on a trip to visit my son.  I had reached the point where I could not even walk across a room.  I thought I was going into congestive heart failure.  When I got home, I called my doctor for an appointment.  I wanted a ball park figure as to how much time I had left.  The nurse, after asking my symptoms, told me that it was the blood pressure meds and to come in and confirm it.  The doctor agreed maybe I needed to get of the  meds.  He told me that they were low dose and I could just quit.  I called the pharmacist and he told me how to walk down off them.  By quitting cold turkey I could have triggered a heart attack.

I nixed taking anything for 6 years.  Then I let him talk me into taking Triamterene/Hydrochlorothiazide.  Notice anything about the two.  Both contained Hydrochlorothiazide.  So I got suckered again.  I diddled with it for about a year.  I would take one here and one there.  Finally, my sister pushed me into taking the daily.  Ok, I started in January.  By the end of January, my arms had  started chaping.  I blew it off to cold weather.  It just got worse.  So finally about a month ago, I went in to see the doctor.  By this time my arms looked like boiled lobster and hurt like hell.  As soon as he saw this, he said, "Oh, you can't take these meds at all."  He told me to quit taking them and they should be out of my system in about 2-3 weeks.  I was getting lots better.  That is until I used and anti-histimine cream on my arms.  Anyway, I will not be putting any more chemicals in my body.  I will take nothing.

Topicort

I threw the Topicort away this afternoon.  As I told the doctor, if there are serious side effects, I will have them.  I did.  The arms have not improved except for the swelling.  It feels like my skin will just split when I move my arms.  My feet and ankles are swollen and I am having trouble breathing. I would go to the ER, but I am afraid they would finish me off.  I will just wait this one out until this gets out of my system and I will never put any of these chemicals in my body again.  I will also make my own lotions.  I did find out that even though this started out as a reaction to the blood pressure meds, the lotions and anti-itch cream really blew it up.  The lotions contain Dimethicone along with a host of other chemicals.  The Dimethicone is to speed absorption into the skin.  And Dr. Jones told me that the anti-histimine cream was never to be used.  That and anti-histimine is ok in the body but not on the body.  So, I will just make my own lotions and creams with no chemicals.  I was so scared tonight that I wrote out instructions for my kids in case I don't make it.  That is how bad I feel.  It is not  fun feeling this way.  This is 9 doctors over the years that have put me on crap like this.  I'm done.

Going nuts

Ok, the itching and dryness is so bad I just want to rip my skin off.  I cannot open my hands all the way because the breaks in the skin hurt so bad.  My skin feels like it is on fire all the time.  I have a call in to the dermatologist.  Hopefully, he will do something.  Don't know what but this Topicort spray is definitely not working.  I am sick of this.  I have shooting pains in the skin and when I turn my arms, it feels like the skin will just spit open.

Waiting for a call back

Now I am waiting for a call back from my dermatologist.  I want to know if he wants to see me again.  Can I go back to work, and what can I use on my arms now.  Hopefully, I will get some answers.  When this mess started, I was using name brand lotions.  Then I added an antihistimine cream.  Apparently, the addition of the cream is what triggered the severe reaction.  It was aided by the lotions.  I wondered what role dimethicone  plays in lotions.  Apparently if aids in absorption of the lotion into the skin.  So apparently I was just pushing all this into my skin and it rebelled.  From now on, I will make my own lotions and there will be no chemicals.  I will be making my own soaps as well.

Precaution

So anyone taking blood pressure meds and has hives starting, see your doc immediately.  Demand that he change your meds.  This is a worst case scenario and this is the second blood pressure med that has done this to me.  The first one almost put me in congestive heart failure.  That was Ziac.  This one has not done that, but what it has done is horrible.  I can't even wear long sleeves to cover most of it because I can't stand for anything to touch my arms.  My hands I can at least wear cotton gloves, but this is misery.  My internist had never seen this reaction before.  My dermatologist had.

Day 4 of treatment

Well I am into day 4 of the treatment and the med is Topicort.  The active ingredient is desoximetasone,  a steroid.  I think I got this med because it is one that my doc developed.  Maybe I am a test subject, don't know.  Anyway, most of the swelling is gone.  My arms and hands now look like parchment paper that has been wet, dried and well aged.  The pain is still there.  And when I bend down to pickup something, it feels as though the blood will just burst through my skin.  And it looks like someone has used an ice pick on my skin.

New plan

Ok, I am so miserable.  Every time I move my arms, it hurts.  I'm taking the rest of the week off. Screw it.  I cannot work like this.  I'm waiting on a call back from Dr. Jones's office.

Misery

Just spent 20 minutes with warm compresses on my arms and hands.  They are slowly getting better.  Latest photos.

Follow up on blood pressure meds

I have been off the blood pressure meds now for about 4 weeks.  I thought I was doing fine.  The severe angry skin on my arms was going away.  No more itching, no more breaking and bleeding.  Well, on Thursday night, I used an anti-histimine cream on my arms assuming I was doing the right thing to control the itching.  Friday they were a little worse, so I used  more cream.  They kept getting worse throughout the day.  Friday night they were swollen and really itching and painful.  I was slathering on the lotions along with the anti-itch cream.  Saturday they were worse.  As the day progressed, they were so swollen.  Late afternoon, they were broken out in pustules and oozing blood and pus.  I was freezing, my teeth were chattering.  My temp was 96.7.  On Sunday morning, at least the oozing and bleeding were better.  Again I kept up with the lotions but I did not use the anti-itch cream.  They were so swollen you could not see my elbows.  On Monday morning, I went to see my doctor.  He sent me to a dermatologist, Dr. Jones.  I had created the problem with the anti-histimine cream.  He told me to stop using everything I had been using and he gave me a corticosteroid spray.  I was to use only this.  I have used it three times.  The swelling is almost gone, but the skin is very angry, red, broken and still dying.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  

So, if you are taking a blood pressure medicine and start having trouble with itchy hives, see your doctor and do not use an anti-histimine cream.  It can really be really dangerous.

Dangers of Blood pressure medicine

Back in 1997, after going through a tough 5 years with terminal illness in my family, I was prescribed Ziac for borderline high blood pressure.  There was no blood work done at any time I was on this and I was on it for 11 years.  In 2003, I developed a kidney infection that took a year to get rid of.  At the same time as this kidney infection, I developed problems with my hands.  I would develop large pustules on my hands.  My hands would swell and crack and bleed.  I spent 6 years in severe pain with this.  In 2009, I went to visit my son.  It was in Colorado and when I got there, I was having trouble breathing.  I could not walk across the room without stopping to fight for breath.  I said nothing to my son and when I got home,  I called my doctor. I was sure I was going into congestive heart failure.  I wanted to know how much time I had.  His nurse told me that it was the blood pressure meds.  I got off those things.

Fast forward to 2013.  I let that doctor talk me into taking Triamterend/Hydroclorothiazide.  I took it for about 3 months.  In that three months, my hands and arms developed a boiled lobster look.  It truly looked as though I had stuck my hands and arms in boiling water.  Needless to say, I went back to the doctor.  When he walked in the room, his response was "Oh, you can't take any blood pressure meds."  Ya think.  He told me it would take a couple of weeks to get out of my system and the lobster look and rash would go away.  Not!  Three weeks after getting off it, my hands and arms are swollen to three times their size, crusty and oozing blood and pus.  And last night I thought I was going into shock.  I was so cold.  I go back tomorrow.  Something has got to be done.  So, if you are prescribed a medication, make sure that all the side effects are made clear to you.  Look it up on the internet.  I was told with both these meds that they are low dose and can't cause me any problems.  Yeah.