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Extreme pain / tendonitis from levafloxin ?

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I took levafloxin (generic levaquin) for pyelonephritis recently and can barely move my arms now because my
shoulders are locked up. I have a lump
on my left leg above my knee and both of my calves are sore.

Typing hurts so this will be short. Anyone else ? I didn't realze this type antibiotic was known for doing this.
The er doc prescribed 750 mg twice a day for 10 days. Is that too much ? Pain started after 4 - 5 days.
I was also prescribed hydrocodone + ibuprophen and nausea med.

Are we prone to this ? It feels like extreme fibro pain. Electric stem + heat helped loosen shoulders a little yesterday but I'm still having excrutiating
pain. Wondering what helped others ?

Tx .. X
 

Jarod

Senior Member
Messages
784
Location
planet earth
Hi there. I had the same problem. The pain may go down over time if you are lucky. Took about 6 months or more. Be careful because some people end up with torn tendons if they push it too hard.

There are other threads on this somewhere here. I think Rich Van K mentioned it happens when people are low in magnesium and/or glutathione. Can't remember though.

I take potassium because I get muscle cramps now. Have no idea if that is related to the levaquin though.

hope you fell better soon!
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Thanks. I'll look for the other threads here on this.

I'd never heard of anything like this happening
from taking an antibiotic. This might be how I got me/cfs/fm to begin with in 1990. I took 3 rounds
of antibiotics for green crud in my lungs, crashed and never recovered. Diet changes have helped but
it turned out that I was an undiagnosed celiac with leaky gut.

I'm resting and taking nsaids hoping this doesn't get any worse. Tx .. X
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
YIKES ...

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a697040.html#overdose

Taking levofloxacin increases the risk that you will develop tendinitis (swelling of a fibrous tissue that connects a bone to a muscle) or have a tendon rupture (tearing of a fibrous tissue that connects a bone to a muscle) during your treatment or for up to several months afterward.

These problems may affect tendons in your shoulder, your hand, the back of your ankle, or in other parts of your body.
 

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,300
Location
Ashland, Oregon
This might be how I got me/cfs/fm to begin with in 1990. I took 3 rounds of antibiotics for green crud in my lungs, crashed and never recovered.

Hi X,

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties. I started a thread on the dangers of Levaquin entitled:

Dangers of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics (Levaquin)

Richvank replied on this thread. Also, there are support groups online for those who have been harmed by these drugs. You may want to check it out. Perhaps most important would be to try to determine whether you should quit taking this immediately, given your already bad reaction to it. --- Good luck with this.

Best Regards, Wayne
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Thanks Wayne. I saw your thread and the video.Great info. I'm surprised I wasn't given strong warnings about this drug at the ER.

It's going to take me awhile to understand the terminology since all this is new to me.

I stopped taking this drug last Saturday after taking more than half of the tablets I was prescribed. My pain started out mild so I thought it was just from resting too much. I was tired from the infection and lack of sleep. By Saturday it was too much for any of my pain pills to control.

tx ... x
 

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,300
Location
Ashland, Oregon
I stopped taking this drug last Saturday after taking more than half of the tablets I was prescribed.

I am SO happy to hear you discontinued this. One remarkable story I heard was about a woman who took a single dose, and her shoulder fell out of its socket that night. That's how fast and destructive these drugs can be for certain individuals. And like I said, there are people who feel this was there catalyst for developing ME/CFs.

It's not surprising to me you were not given adequate warning as to their side effects. It seems most doctors are very lax in this department, even though prescription drugs kill anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 every year. The death total for fluoroquinolone drugs I believe is about 2,500 over the years. But that is most likely on the low end. --- Best of luck to you as you continue to recover from this trauma.

Wayne
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Quick update.

Running errands for 20 - 30 minutes is kicking my ass. I need a motor cart now due to muscle weakness. I could walk hours at a time without getting this tired until taking this drug.

I actually can't move my arms upward on either side past appr 30 degrees. My shoulders are frozen.

I won't be taking this drug ever again .. Tc .. X
 

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,300
Location
Ashland, Oregon
Quick update.

Running errands for 20 - 30 minutes is kicking my ass. I need a motor cart now due to muscle weakness. I could walk hours at a time without getting this tired until taking this drug.

I actually can't move my arms upward on either side past appr 30 degrees. My shoulders are frozen.

I won't be taking this drug ever again .. Tc .. X

Hi X, so sorry to hear of your continuing struggles. Hopefully some of this will heal in the coming weeks/months. I wonder if an arnica homeopathic lotion could be helpful. Here's my own favorite:

EDIT on 8/5/13: I just found this online:

Salmon Creek Botanical has a internet site selling Arnica lotions for muscles & joint pain. I had bought their product before & went on line to purchase more. I ordered 2 bottles for $24.00 each plus $10.95 postage. They charged my account but never delivered the product. I called the phone numbers but they have been shut down. I found out they went out of business 8 months ago but they are still taking peoples money without delivering the product. I have a copy from pay pal showing the payment.

http://www.scambook.com/report/view/211120/Salmon-Creek-Botanicals-Complaint-211120-for-$58.95
.............................................................................

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT FROM THE SALMON CREEK WEBSITE!!!!!

Salmon Creed Therapeutic Arnica Lotion

6841380.jpg
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/arnica-000222.htm

Thanks Wayne, I'll look into this. I'm not sure how to deal with this. I pulled another tendon in my shoulder last night when reaching to get the charger for my cell phone.

This is exactly how my CFS started. I got new lumps in my shoulders for years. Getting these lumps stopped about 6 years ago so I was hoping it had something to do with gluten. Now I'm not sure. I'm eating grains now tho since they're easy and I'm too tired to keep up with cooking. So maybe that's part of the problem .. heck if I know ...

If this is happening so effortlessly in my shoulders, I wonder if it's happening internally too.

tc ... x
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Just another update. I thought it might be interesting to see how a disabled pwc deals with levaquin damage.

This all started about Jan 20th. I've been off codeine for about 5 days now. Yay ! That stuff really makes
me feel weird. I'm still on nsaids, aleve or advil, for pain 2 - 3 times a day. I'm trying to lower my klonopin back to my pre injury
level of .125 mg at bedtime. I needed .25 - .5 when this started.

Diet still includes some gf grains so I'm not paleo like I was. I'm too tired to keep up with eating all healthy meals.

Diet now includes enriched rice milk, enriched Almond milk, hemp protein and rice protein. These don't satisfy
my need for meat tho.

Supps for levaquin damage so far include mag citrate, chelated magnesium, coq10, nac and himalayan liver care..

I've had 3 physical therapy sessions and I'm feeling stronger and gaining mobility overall, but I still can't move my arms up sideways and my knees are weak. Based on the results so far, I'm optomistic tho.

Fwiw, if this med played a role in getting cfs in 1990, I suspect taking nsaids for the pain damaged my gut.
This certainly could've bee handled better if I'd only known about nsaids, diet and supplements then.

Tc ... X
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Great article on this ... What good is the FDA if they can't even get this med off the market ?

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...the-Plague-Due-to-FDAs-Oversight-Failure.aspx

Update - I'm doing a little better but still struggling with my reaction to this med. The good news is that I'm off pain meds 24/7 unless the pain is too bad.

But, my arms still won't go over my head, I can't put my hands behind my back and I can't reach the top of my steering wheel. As far as my legs go, I still need a motorized cart for walking through most stores because my knees feel like they're going out on me. I can barely squat down if I hang onto something to reduce the use of my knees but I can barely get back up while hanging on. Mostly, I try to straighten my legs and pull myself up with my arms now.

So my shoulders are frozen, my knees are out of commision and I'm getting extremely exhausted (aka lay down now or else ) much easier. tc ... x
 

Sherezade

Guest
Messages
97
I had a tendonitis in my ankle and knee five years ago, because of excesive training without properly heating. It was, by far, the worst pain i've ever felt in my life, so i can understand you. What worked for me is avoiding movements (i was not able to walk for several weeks) and putting iced geles on the affected part. You have to do this at least three times a day, for 15 min each. It's not a fast process, it takes some time to heal, but it finally does.

Hang in there ;)
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Thanks. I'm working on it. I was in pt for several weeks for this but only saw a tiny bit ( 5 - 10%) of improvement in my knees and shoulders. From what I understand for the next few months at least I have to be very careful not to over exert myself or I could risk even further damage.

I got this quote from Dr. Mercola's article above.

The same degree of similarity exists between fluoroquinolone toxicity, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia—and all are marked with the same overall lack of radiological and laboratory evidence. All are accused of being “bizarre” illnesses lacking any identifiable etiology.

This really could be what triggered my CFS. This sounds almost exactly like me and it all happened in 1990 after taking an antibiotic 3 times in a row.

Again from Dr. Mercola's article above.

  • A male patient, age 36, in previously good health, received Cipro for possible urinary tract infection. For the five years since, he has had chronic, debilitating multi-focal neuropathy, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms, a heart arrhythmia requiring a pacemaker, carpal tunnel, and chronic multiple joint pains. He is completely disabled.

I can't help but feel disappointed when I see the date on this article. 2009 ... Geesh .. Why is making progress in the medical field so difficult ? tc ... x
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
Update. My knees have mostly recovered except that intermittently my left knee pops out when I lay on my stomach.

My shoulders are still going out or in pain if I do anything that I'm not used to doing. I potted some plants Tuesday and my left shoulder is now popping in and out. I tried doing some push ups about 2 months ago and ended up with severe shoulder pain.

The upside of being gf is that my pain and discomfort won't last more than a few days. And I probably won't need to see a doctor. Kow.

Stay away from these drugs. Tc .. x
 

DeGenesis

Senior Member
Messages
172
Here's an interesting article on how quinolones affect tendons.

When I needed antibiotics, my doctor combined a cephalasporin-class antibiotic and tetracycline-class antibiotic because I told him I was allergic to fluoroquinolones.
 

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Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
Just saw this thread and bumping it back to the top b/c it is so important. In 2010, I was severely injured by Levaquin and had a systemic neurotoxic reaction in addition to it injuring the tendon in my right triceps. This was pre-mono and CFS but it caused the initial injury to my body and immune system which threw everything out of whack. It took me a year and a half to recover functioning in my right arm (and I am right handed.)

I am currently participating in an amazing research study through UCSD (Univ. of CA at San Diego) on the effects of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. It is a three part study (done over the computer) and I am about to complete the final part. It is being conducted by the Golomb Research Group and for anyone who has ever taken an FQ antibiotic and wants to participate in the study, the link is:

www.fqstudy.info