Sudafed produced anxiety

I've been suffering from sinus issues for almost a month as you all know! Getting meds to alleviate it is tricky. The lightheadedness and pressure causes anxiety as I'm certain I'm suffering from something fatal. So the docs office said to try Sudafed to relieve the pressure and lightheadness. Guess what side effects Sudafed causes. Headaches, dizziness and anxiety!! So now I'm taking the child's dosage and having anxiety attacks. I can't win!

1. Above all else, ask the pharmacist to suggest a medication he/she thinks appropriate for any prescription meds, supplements, etc. that you may be using, and any health conditions that you may have. Heart, kidney, liver, seizures, glaucoma, etc. are common conditions that would figure into the choice of over-the-counter meds, as well as anyone taking Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors. Ask the pharmacist for common side effects.

2. Don't spend hours perusing the internet and drug literature for every and any possible side effect. If you must look online, find studies that compare the side effects of the drug to placebo, not post marketing data that reveals anything that happened, including abduction by aliens ;-)

In some studies, when the placebo (sugar pill) group was compared to the group taking the actual medication, (people in the study don't know what they're taking, and the people that issue the medication to the groups are also unaware of what they are handing out, it's tracked by numbers) the groups taking the sugar pill had more of a certain symptom, like a headache, obviously not caused by the medication. Also, say 10% of medication group had a symptom, and 5% of the placebo group did. It might be a fairer assessment to say that 5% of the medication group may experience a symptom, the difference between the two groups.

P.S. I am not real tolerance of Pseudoephedrine. I don't use the Sustained Release forms, and I only take 30 mg as I tolerate it, usually only 30 mg once or twice in a day.

Post Edited (JungRulz) : 1/26/2014 12:08:02 PM (GMT-7)

Thanks for the advice. The pharmacist recommended the Sudafed that I'm currently taking. And I'm actually taking half of the dosage I'm supposed to be taking. My chiropractor thinks my lightheadedness/dizziness is not only from my sinus issues but my extremely tight shoulder and neck muscles. She said that can cause dizziness too. So I suppose between that, the sinus issues and the possible side effects of the meds, lightheadedness can be expected. And I didn't go searching online for side effects of the meds - at least not initially. Since I suffer from anxiety and heart fluttering I need to be mindful of the meds I take. Certain ones like the ingredients in Sudafed can make them worse. However, I believe that if I stick with it long enough maybe the side effects will lessen. I know my anxiety is ramping everything up and making any little thing 100 times worse than it is. I have to remind myself that this too will pass! This is certainly not the first thing that I had that I thought was fatal and I'm still here!

Hi Specialone0129,

I'm sorry, when I post, it is not necessarily addressed just to the person, but anyone that reads it as well. I wasn't really addressing the Googling thing with you, just helpful hints for all.

I braved one 30 mg pseudoephedrine today, my heart's not happy with it (I avoid all caffeine too). Other days it doesn't seem to care. One thing that may work for both of us is a prescription steroid nasal spray, it usually doesn't have significant systemic effects but takes a few days to work. I may look into that.

Hi Special, was it you that cant take Benadryl? I am lucky enough
that it doesn't bother me, it also allowed me to not nee Xanax in
the day time, Peace

Larry ***