This site is to give HOPE to those who are suffering from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome as a result of being poisoned by fluoroquinolone antibiotics – Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Floxin, etc. It contains stories of healing.
Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and all other fluoroquinolones are dangerous drugs that can have devastating effects that cumulatively I’ll refer to as Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome or Floxing. Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome/Floxing includes damage to connective tissue (tendons, ligaments, cartilage, fascia, etc.) throughout the body, damage to the nervous systems (central, peripheral and autonomic), and more. The damage done by fluoroquinolone antibiotics can destroy a person’s quality of life or even kill them. Certainly, there is a time and a place for drugs with dangerous side effects. If you find yourself in a septic shock induced coma, fluoroquinolones may save your life. Unfortunately, these drugs are not being reserved for life or death situations. People are being prescribed them for urinary tract infections, suspected prostate infections, upper respiratory infections, as a prophylactic for travelers’ diarrhea, ear infections, pink eye, etc. Thousands of people have suffered needlessly from the devastating effects of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, when another, safer antibiotic could have, and should have, been used.
The damage done by fluoroquinolones is largely unacknowledged by the medical establishment and an accurate diagnosis, compensation and relief are difficult to come by. There is no known cure for Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome/Floxing. However, many people continue to LIVE after being poisoned by fluroquinolones. They find healing, recovery, perseverance, compassion and hope. These are their stories.
This site is meant to give hope for healing to those who are adversely effected by fluoroquinolones. It is no way meant to disregard the pain of those who are chronically suffering from the horrifying effects of Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox or the other fluoroquinolones. There are people who don’t recover. Their stories are real and they matter. There are also people who are able to recover and I share their stories with the hope that they inspire others, or at least give hope that recovery is possible.
Here is a New York Times article about the dangers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics – http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/popular-antibiotics-may-carry-serious-side-effects/?_r=0 – more news stories, research papers and other resources can be found on the “Links and Resources” page.
Here is a Facebook group that is a great resource for those going through Fluoroquinolone Toxicity – https://www.facebook.com/groups/floxies/
Featured post – I’m floxed. Now what?
The Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Solution Ebook has helped many Floxies to recover, including Daniel, Cindy and Ruth. As a bonus, you will also receive The Floxie Food Guide – a book of diet guidelines to help you through fluoroquinolone toxicity:
Hi everyone. I’m Andrea and I’m from Italy. I took six pills of ten I was prescribed of Chinoplus 600mg (Prulifloxacin) on December 2016, for a suspected urinary tract infection, even tough the urine test was negative, the doctor tought it was wise to prescibe it to me anyway. As a result it’s been almost 8 months of pain,discomfort,fear and anger. I feel pain on my ankles, Achilles tendons, shin bones and quad muscle. I’ve done general blood tests, endocrine tests, ultrasound scan,MRI and they all came negative. I’ve tried different supplements, magnesium citrate, vit.d,vit.b complex. I’ve also tried magnesium oil to apply on the skin,but nothing seemed to help. I’d like to know if someone could suggest me any other test I should do. Is there a test to see if my mitochondrial DNA is damaged, or what test I should do to see any nerve damage? Thank you so much to anyone who’s gone to answer. Oh…and I’d too like to help if I could. Feel free to ask me anything. I apologize for my broken english… Andrea.
P.S a few months ago I bought the fluoroquinolone toxicity solution, so at least I doumented myself about these nasty “antibiotics”, but the saddest part is to see how ignorant and doubtful most of the doctors are when it comes to listen to this problem. I feel so alone…
Ciao Andrea- you are not alone. There are thousands of us. The leg pain is suffered by many of us. Although it might not be of much comfort at the moment 8 months is not very long in floxing time. Many people improve with time but often one has to count in years rather than months. I was 2 years out from my last pill of Cipro last week and I have spent this week icing my Achilles tendons as I pulled the left one just getting up from a kneeling position and the right one is hurting due to limping because I have plantar fascitis in the right foot! But overall I can see improvement though it is gradual and peppered with relapses.
There is little point in getting loads of tests. I think it is important to have liver and kidney function tests perhaps on a yearly basis to make sure there is no deterioration in their function. There is zilch that allopathic docs can do to help us and interacting with them is stressful because of their ignorance . Give up on them.
I take vits b d and c, ubiquinol, magnesium citrate and threonate,curcumin , cod liver, a probiotic and NAC. I think the curcumin has helped with anxiety and the probiotic has definitely improved my bowel function. Ihave just started on marine collagen . I think I would be worse without the supplements but I can’t know for sure. I am sure that having a good level of vit d is vital for overall health .
The anger is normal and is very difficult to let go of ( I know I have not managed to yet) but it can also like fear worsen the physical symptoms. You need to think positive thoughts if possible and tell yourself that you will get better. Even if we cannot return to the prefloxed state we can improve.
You have absolutely nothing to apolgise for – your English is very good! Bon courage as we say here in France!
Hello Madge, and thank you for the kind reply. One thing I forgot and I should add to my original post, is that 3 months ago I’ve also tried glutathione IV, I’ve done 4 IV in a month, one every week, but , in my case,it was a total waste of time and money…I’m sorry to bring this kind of negative attitude on this website, but it’s now clear to me that I’ll never be the same I was before the poisoning.
You’ve mentioned Ubiquinol. I’m interested in trying the MitoQ supplement. I’ve read positive reviews about it,but they also say it could have many side effects, some of them really nasty, so I don’t know,
Anyway, I understand when you say that there’s little point in doing many tests. But one thing I’d like to do,is a muscolar biopsy and a DNA test,wich I’m not sure if there’s such a thing for our issue. I need to talk to a really good neurologist. Thank you again. And feel free to ask me anyhting you want, I’d be glad to help,if I can. Bye!
Thanks everyone for the replies.Nicole I would definitely consider
giving the Colostrum a try.Start small.If you think you’re
getting a reaction continue on anyway.I got a reaction but it subsided
and then after two weeks if I remember correctly I started feeling much better.It helped me big time with every area,
nerves,muscles,etc.Even helped me with this sensation I get with
a bad flare where I feel like my whole body is on fire,I think it
may be a histamine reaction.Feels sort of like a niacin flush.Itchy forearms,
and calves.It’s pure hell.Nerves?
I don’t know why this stuff made me feel better. I don’t think it repaired
my gut in anyway but instead raised my glutathione levels like whey protein.
But I’m just guessing
Don’t give up!
Love and prayers to you all,
Frank
Thanks Frank and I must have been having ESP thoughts from you this morning as I picked up my bottle of Colostrum for some reason with feelings I should try this again.
I also get the all over burning fire form heck as well! Even though I have had other bad side affects with this relapse that is one I have had the most over & over in my 18 months of this floxing. And yes even though the burning can be unbearable I get itchy as well.
I had thougth this was PN but have been told it is not. Maybe why when we get nerve tests nothing shows up.
The histamine reaction makes since as a lot of Floxies seem to benefit from antihistamines?!
I will try Colostrum again.
It is hard to keep fighting sometimes, especially at 66. I just get tired of taking supplements, NP treatments, and being looked at like a nut when I question everything a doctor or NP wants me to take.
I see a psychologist over this as I just fall apart at times. She has a health condition that was not recognized at one point and she said I have to remember that we floxies are pioneers at the moment and all will be known in time. She also told me that no one knows how a medicine or supplement will react on our floxied bodies so we just need to use our instincts.
When I was given a CBD patch with lidocaine I just had a feeling I should not take it but when they put the Alcaine drops in my eyes they did not even tell me what they were doing!
I also think maybe where our body is at the time might have something to do with having a reaction. The Caines do not bother L but she has really been on top of healing her body.
I had been through months of stress and had stopped most of my supplements because I was just tired of it all and wanted to be normal. I was not even taken my mag. for a while.
I know we say maybe all the supplements don’t help but I believe they do.
I just feel a lot of the time it is in God’s hands but I guess it doesn’t hurt to help him a bit.
Thanks to you and everyone else that helps on here as we would not know what to do without each others experiences.
Before we had a place to go we would have just been tested to death and given more Poison!
Hugs & God bless to you all today!
Nicole
Has anyone here had significant throat pain? It feels like nerve pain around my voice box. Sometimes my voice goes hoarse.
I had more of a pressing sensation around my throat. At my worst it was pretty horrific. Bolted upright in bed from my sleep feeling like I was being strangled. But I wouldn’t call it pain…just severe pressure. I also suspected it was more nerve damage since I had so much. I have had a few recurrences of it but never as bad, more just annoying. I suspect my phosphatidylcholine IVs have helped in it going away.
Okay,so yesterday I was over my sister’s house and she made dinner for me.
There was steak,asparagus,and fresh mozzarella cheese,you know the wet
kind,sliced and placed on top of fresh sliced tomatoes from her garden,on top of that
some olive oil with fresh basil.Two hours after dinner I started feeling relief
from pain.I thought to myself,”Was it the steak?” Doubtful,I eat steak all the time.
So today I went out and bought a ball of some fresh mozzarella and eat the whole
thing in one sitting.That was at noon,and so far my pain has been reduce by 70-80%!!!!!!!!!
Anyone have any theories? Was my calcium low? Did the sodium bicarbonate
lower it? I have had blood work that showed my calcium to be high at one point(now normal.)
Or did the cheese give the same effect as colostrum?
I’m lost.There most be some way we can plug in all the data,and come up with
an answer to this riddle of pain that we are all experiencing.
well that’s a mystery. I would have guessed the fresh basil or olive oil (and that all made me hungry even though I just ate.) IF anything I think most of us have problems with cheese. In fact, I mostly switched to goat’s milk cheese. It is infuriating to never know WHAT caused and relapse and WHAT made us feel better. But hey, keep eating the cheese if it seems to help!
Hi guys, some time ago I found this article on this website, here’s the link :
https://floxiehope.com/2016/06/07/researching-cures-for-fluoroquinolone-toxicity/
It’s about a relatively new study about this supplement (Cicatendon), that supposedly helps tendon healing. So a few weeks ago, I ordered it, both capsules and gel.
It’s been almost 2 weeks since i started using it, and,while the gel, used directly on the skin, SLIGHTLY relieves some pain for maybe an hour or so, I didn’t noticed anything from the capsules. Of course is way too early to judge, I know, but recently,and maybe It’s just a coincidence,the pain in my legs is getting worse. At first I didn’t linked the pain to the supplement. But after reading a lot about what fluoroquinolones do to our sytem, I found out, and maybe I’m wrong about this one, that they cause symptoms similar to an autoimmune disease. So I googled Spirulina (wich is one of the main ingredient of Cicatendon) and autoimmune disease, and I discovered a few sources, such as this one :
http://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/spirulina
saying you shouldn’t take spiruline if you have an autoimmune disease, because “Theoretically, it could stimulate your immune system and make your condition worse.”
I don’t what to think. Could a supplement that should help tendon healing, making it worse? Let me know what you guys think. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
For now, I suspended it and I’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you updated 🙂
Andrea.
P.S.
I hope I didn’t do anything wrong by posting links on this website.
Hi Andrea. I can see why you make the connection between flq toxicity and autoimmune disease. The former is often mistaken for the latter by doctors who cannot believe that their precious Cipro or Levaquin could possibly do so much damage. I and am sure many many floxies are tested for autoimmune for that very reason. That was one of the first tests I was given. My tests came up negative.
While both involve mitochondrial damage, I do not believe they are “in the same family,” therefore I do not think the spirulina warning for those with autoimmune would necessarily be applicable to floxies for the same reason. On the other hand, since we are all so different, it is of course possible that someone with flq toxicity could react badly to spirulina. (I see a half used bottle in my “stash” of supplements, so I think I took some early on. If I recall, I stopped only because I was on SO many supplements, and I wasn’t sure if it was helping.) I think the bigger concern might be, as pointed out several times in the article, that the source be reputable because of possible toxins.
If you are specifically looking for something for damaged tendons, I would look into prolozone or prolotherapy. These are similar but with different components. I can’t tell you anything personally about the latter, but I did have prolozone injections in both knees for torn meniscus post-Cipro. They work by stimulating your body to heal itself. It has been about 8 months and so far my knees feel very good. The prolozone is ozone and procaine, an anesthetic. (It is actually not for the pain so much as it helps the ozone enter the tissue.) I know some have had a problems with different topical anesthetics, but luckily I have had none.
Hi L and thank you for sharing your thoughts.
You gave me some precious informations, especially the autoimmune disease test part, Could you please tell me what kind of test have you done specifically?
I was also already interested in prolotherapy, because the theory of your body healing itself after an irritant stimulation seems interesting,but after reading a lot about it, I’ve come to the conclusion that it could be just another expensive snake oil thing. I don’t know, and I don’t mean any disrespect to anyone who tried it and found it beneficial. But spending lots of money just for some sugar solution injections seems a little suspicious to me.Plus there’s limited evidence about its benefits.But who knows…maybe I’m wrong.
Anyway I didn’t know about the prolozone therapy,and I’m glad to read it worked for you 🙂 , I’ll look into it,
Another thing I was interested in, after discarding the idea of prolotherapy, was PRP, what do you think about it? Thank you again!
THere is a whole panel of tests a main one is called ANA which tests for antibodies. THere is also one for rheumatoid arthritis and others. Any doctor could order the panel AS for prolotherapy it has been used for over 40 years. I do not believe it is snake oil. Even though the mixture sounds so simple. PRP I think is likely also good but I have no prtsonal experience with it—-just the prolozone. If you don’t have an integrative MD who does these, many sports doctors do now.
I’m 3 months out from cipro. My main symptom is twithching and little vibrations. My question is that is there anyone who recovered from this? I also have moving toe that is constatly twitching. Though the intensity of twitching and vibrating and moving toe got better. it’s not gone yet.
I had to fingers on one hand that twitched uncontrollably. They spasmed so wildly that if I TRIED to make them do it I couldn’t. For me, that went away, although those two fingers don’t seem quite right—like if I try to catch something they don’t seem to grab on effectively. ANyhow the spasming for me last about a few months.
Thanks for the comment. I hope mine goes away too. and I think it will because the intensity got much less.
Does anyone know if antifungal foot sprays with ingredients like Tolnaftate,terbinafine, or miconazole are safe to use? I’ve tried all natural remedies for the past 4 weeks and no luck with getting rid of it and dont want it to get worse.
I don’t but have you tried oil of oregano?
Yep I’m using tea tree, oil of oregano, acv, coconut oil, foot soaks, and a couple different things but it just hasn’t been working. I think I’m dealing with athletes foot or ring worm. I’m gonna keep at it for a few more days but if it doesn’t work I’m gonna have to try one of the sprays
I’d speak with a naturopath. There are also IV therapies that might be able to help
Consider trying emuaid. This is a homeopathic rub that contains Argentum Metallicum (Among other natural ingredients). I’ve used this for various skin ailments and have not had a negative reaction to it. Just do your own research on it before proceeding.
Next, I’d suggest sitting with your foot higher than your heart if you can sit comfortably. The same would be true for sleeping at night (Raising your foot above your heart with pillows). This will improve circulation to your feet and aid in your body fighting the ailment.
E This might sound strange,but have you tried using bleach? Of course you would
want it very diluted,about two cap fulls per foot pan and only soak your foot for 5 minutes
a day.I had athletes foot as a teen and I tried every over and under med to cure it.
Then my father told my mother that when he was in the Army they used diluted bleach
soaks.Gave it a shot and it was gone after two days and it never came back.You may
also want to try soaking in a magnesium bath.While treating my flox symptoms with magnesium soaks,I accidentally discovered that it cured my fungus nails after about a month of soaking. I was using magnesium chloride flakes in the bath.
Hey Ryan I was wondering how you got along with formigenes ??
Hey Joanne,
It actually arrived in a normal shipping container, and since it did not include any type of cold storage, I just assumed that the bacteria probably didn’t make it intact from China to the USA (oxalobacter formigenes is required to stay cold). Thus, I figured there was no point in taking a dead probiotic. Since that time, I came across Elixa probiotics through Daniel L’s story. What I like about this brand is not just the quantity of probiotics, but the encapsulation technology (Fortress Five) which helps it to remain intact past the stomach (Bypassing the stomach acid) and then it releases the good bacteria into the intestines. I’ve had some improvements since starting that.
I hope you’re continuing to improve. God Bless.
Ryan
Hi Ryan, good to hear from you😊 Sorry they weren’t shipped properly and you didn’t even get a chance to try them! I also tried Elixa along with a bunch of other probiotics. The one that works best for me is vsl. Here’s a study showing how vsl can help reduce oxalates which that’s what the o formigenes bacteria are known for. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20224931
Thoughts on all types of ozone therapies? Also hyperbaric oxygen? Also cbd oil?
Hi Ursula, I had ozone autohemotherapy and I believe it really helped me. There were moments I felt completely normal, but it is not a cure as I found out later, it’s just another tool to use in the path to healing. After a really bad relapse from a nerve test, which turned out that my nerves were not, according to them damaged, the ozone really helped. I may have some more in the future. At the moment I am on a protocol of mag, Curcumin, zinc, multivit,VitC, MSM, Astaxanthin, biotin. I am completely gluten sugar free. I drink red wine, and the odd brandy, both are natural and good for you in moderation. After being floxed nearly three years ago I gained 35 Ib, so far now I have lost 27lbs and still going. I feel so much better in many ways. The only symptom left is fibro like pains in my legs and feet, but during the day they hardly bother me. It’s during the night they wake me up several times and can be anything from level 4 to level 9, with 10 being the worst. During the day they are around 1 to 3. I believe these to, will improve over time. From being in a wheelchair when this first began with a crop of horrible symptoms, to today, I am 95 % better. Hope this helps and you all continue to heal xx
I have personally had none but thumbs up on all of them. The only reason the doctor (ND didn’t use ozone on me is because I was getting H2O2 IVs and he said there was a lot of overlap. The new doctor has been URGING me to do hyperbaric but I am just too claustrophobic. If I wasn’t I would do it in a heartbeat. Also heard good things on CBD oil
I would do hyperbaric too, but can’t find it in Spain. Also CBD oil read lots of good stuff about both.
Hello everyone. I am glad I found this site. I’m 4 months out from my last cipro pill. I guess compared to others, I’m pretty mildly floxed. My symptoms were mostly peripheral neuropathy related. I got random burning on my torso. pins and needles etc. after 4 months, all of my other symptom has gone away, except for the mild buzzing, vibrating feeling in my hand and feet. sometimes it feels like electrical current moving in and out. it is not painful or anything but it is annoying. Fortunately, the intensity of this sensation eased down a lot. but it is with me 24/7 throughout the day. I’m wondering if it’s constant like this, will it ever go away completely? Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks.
I had a bad relapse from using CBD oil last year.I suspect it was from the
carrier oil that they use.I tried two reputable brands.I will not
try it again until I can get a high CBD strain of MJ flower.
Still illegal here in NY.I hate this state.
Frank, every time I’ve had a bad flare up it was from using natural things that kill bacteria and it took me a very long time to figure that out. Anyhow cbd oil is a powerful antibacterial, so it might be something to consider. https://arstechnica.com/science/2008/08/killing-bacteria-with-cannabis/