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:
https://nobleresearch.org/Doi/10.14312/2052-4994.2020-3
This is scary. They are using fluroquinolones on some covid patients. Also there are 10 companies try to get their covid vaccine out first ignoring the safety measures.
Barbara Arnold….. Your right Barbara. The whole treatment thing is scary. Fluoroquinolones are being used on people who have no idea what they could be in for. Many are in no condition to make decisions. I have always maintained that MD doctors treat what they see or can get from a lab report. Very few are concerned about the ancillary adverse effects they could be causing for the patient.
Hi Barbara- I read some months ago that Bayer had sent a shedload of Cipro to China just like they did to Africa for Ebola. The symptoms of Long Covid are eerily similar to those of floxing. I don’t think all those suffering from Long Covid will have been floxed because many did not have severe symptoms requiring medical treatment when they got infected but some might . How’s it going in Spain? We are on our second lockdown and it just as bad as the first . I have got my op date for my hip replacement -16th Dec. The bad news is that the last lot of xrays showed the other hip needs replacing too. The deterioration has been spectacular and I wonder if this is another gift from Cipro. They will not do the second hip for anotber year. Also kratom has been made illegal here. Hope you are taking your vit D . There has been a trial of Calcifediol at Reina Sofia University Hospital in Cordoba on covid patients with fantastic results. Why is it not being shouted from the rooftops? Because vit D is cheap as chips and there is no money in it for Pharma.
Hi Madge,
I’m so glad you at last have a date for your hip op. I’m really sorry you have to have the other one done to. What a bummer. Who knows if cipro played a part in this. I guess we’ll never know.
Yes they have been giving covid patients fluroquinolones, that and the other treatments ie ventalators, there is no doubt in my mind that long covid is a result of this. Many of the symptoms from long covid match the side effects of fluroquinolones. Makes me sick, they are still dishing out these poisonous antibioctics to innocent people, when they KNOW the dangers.
Here in Spain where I am, its not to bad. We have surrounding towns that are shut. You are not allowed in or out. I live on the border of one town not shut with another that is. We still go out for lunch, tapas, coffee etc. If it were not for the mask wearing and supposidly social distancing you would not think anything was wrong. We are careful and we don’t go out that much. I havn’t seen my family for over 14 months. I am determined to see them next year, no matter what. I’m not getting any younger and I’m waiting for a kidney specialist to phone me as my recent blood test showed very high creatinine, which means my kidney’s are not functioning properly. It’s a mistery though as I have no symptoms from high creatinine levels at all, like diabetes, high blood pressure, fluid retention, foamy urine. Indeed I feel better than I’ve felt for a long time, so I’ve no idea whats going on. If I don’t hear from the specialist by next week, I’m going to chase him up. I’ve been left with a bomshell hanging in the air, so to speak.
For anyone interested, one of the reasons I feel so much better is since I’ve been taking C60 . I have so much more energy and less pain. I’ve been taking it for 2 months and when this bottle runs out, I will wait and see what happens. I’ve been taking half a dropper twice a day.
All I take now apart from C60 is magnesium, VitD and zinc. I was taking VitC but I learned that VitC help with iron absorbtion and as this is the last thing my kidney’s need I stopped taking it. I also had high ferritin levels.
I expect any moment now we will go into another lockdown, so I’m just taking things a day at a time.
Stay well Madge. It’s always good to hear from you and I will be thinking of you when you have your op, hoping all goes well for you.
Virtual Hugs xxxx
Thanks Barbara- my husband has fairly high creatinine levels but our doc has never said anything about it – I think men’s run higher anyway. I really hope nothing is wrong and you can get some finite news soon. All our restaurants are shut which I think is ridiculous round here as there is not much virus circulation and it is ruining the restauranteurs. I am sick of having to cook everyday especially as by dinner time my pain is always worse. What is this C60?
Apart from the cartilage degeneration which is also worse in my ribs too I feel better generally and hope that I am starting to heal . It is too late for the cartilage – once gone that’s it at my age but I don’t have many days when I feel crap now. I’ve had a flare up of hives and mild PN but it’s not really bothersome. Next July I will be 6 years out so it’s about time ! We have been enjoying a spell of sunny weather and I have been able to sunbathe on the terrace for about 90 mins in the middle of the day. Frosts overnight though
Look after yourself . I do hope you get to see your family next year. Our granddaughter and her husband were meant to come this month – everything was planned his visa obtained, the ferry tickets booked and then it all had to be cancelled 2 weeks before departure because of the lockdown. Bisous Madge
Why do you think the magnesium is causing your pain in lower legs. I don’t take a lot of magnesium and I have the same thing. Floxed over 7 years ago.
Bob…. Who are you asking about painful legs?
Whoever it was that thought that magnesium was causing them leg pain.
I have decided to enter a 22 day fast. I bought all these supplements for mitochondria repair and I am all set to change to a keto / mito diet, however I feel like before I embark on my battle of the good vs bad mitochondria and whilst the tendonopothies in my shoulders and Achilles are keeping me out the gym anyway I should fast. Close my machine down and let it search out and destroy the damaged cells whilst also hopefully finding anything in there that shouldnt be and detox it OUT. If the theory i didnt metabolise the cipro correctly is true then it should be an opportunity to find it and flush it, if the postulation that its mitochondria damage is to be believed then once again fasting is the best way to target bad cells. Win – Win. Also im so stressed right now about everything im eating and running out of money that 22 days of not thinking about it and not spending eliminates that stress. To be honest researching what cipro does to the body has STRESSED me out the most and that stress has exacerbated all my symptoms and im struggling to differentiate between what is stress related and what is floxie related. I appreciate the info on this site and others but I have become much worse since reading it.
Hi Juju. I’ve read a lot about fasting in the last years. There’s a (quite) famous Italian doctor named Valter Longo, who studied how fasting affects longevity and illness and so on. He promotes something called the fasting mimiking diet, wich is a 5 days diet with very little calorie intake (something like 1000 calories the first day and only 750 calories the other days).
Me personally, I’ve tried a 3 day water fast a few times during the last 2 years, I belive, but in my case, it didn’t help. It went more or less always this way ; the first 24 hrs I’m just fine, of course hungry but overall ok. The second day I start to feel weak, and the floxie symptoms (joint-muscle-bone pain) start to come back. By the third day, I find myself very very weak, almost exausted, and the pain come back in full force.
This is only my experience of course, but keep in mind that fasting creates a lot of alterations inside your body. In some cases it could be very beneficial, in other cases it could trigger problems, and this is expecially true for people like us. Now, I’m not saying this would happen to you, but I’m just telling you to be careful. A 22 day water fast is a very long fast, and unless you’re already familiar with fasting, I don’t think you should go for something so extreme the first time. There’re many risks involved in a such a long fast. This is also what fast experts have to say about it. Also keep in mind that, not only the fast it’s important, but even more the refeeding process. You should avoid binge eating after a fast and try to eat the healthiest and easiest to digest food.
Good luck anyway, Andrea.
Hi guys,
How are you doing? I have a question if any of you tried milk thistle supplement to detox the liver?
Thanks, Aga
Hi Aga, I used milk thistle successfully to support my liver when I was on Mepron for my Babesia. This medication can raise the ALT level in the liver, which is did mine. My doctor recommended milk thistle, and it really did bring down the ALT level. So it did work for me.
Thank you Virginia, that sounds promising! Have a great day!
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for taking the time to give me advice. I am well aware that as a floxie; nutrient deficiencies are the root cause of most of our problems, therefore reducing my nutrients to nothing sounds like a terrible idea, however fasting stimulates autophagy!: Where the body begins to clean out the old, unwanted, and unneeded cellular material, as well as fixing and recycling damaged parts.
So I am wondering how on earth this antibiotic can still be effecting me 6 years later and I am reading it causes mitochondria damage.. Seems logical to me that to heal I need to concentrate on reversing this damage. Voila: Autophagy.
I have took your advice on board about the length of the fast and thank you for giving me a steady head. After all the reason why my symptoms flared up so badly again was due to returning to exercising like I did when I was 22 years old, with no gradual build up just overtraining right off the bat. (I am also grateful for the experience as the resulting tendon problems made me research about cipro and what lasting damage can occur – to my initial horror)
It is life changing.. but for me it is the perfect excuse to be clean as a whistle healthy!! No drugs, no booze, no sugar and only organic vegetables, nuts seeds etc, good fats and clean water and strict supplements that detox the body. Its what I also wanted but lacked the motivation for.
Autophagy can be achieved by intermittent fasting which is what I do most of the time anyway and a long term fast can be imitated by being in ketosis, which i will be striving to be in as often as possible by eliminating gluten and non complex carbs. So there are other options for healing my cells and prolonging life.
I am currently 48 hours into my fast drinking only water – laced with liquid magnesium and sodium. I had fasciculation in my abdomen last night but its has stopped now, I was imagining it was my intestines pumping out any lingering cipro ( read an article from a dr who had cipro poisonng and he reckoned it makes a cavity in the intestines where t is stored) I think it can be explained by my body reacting to lack of nutrients but I am focusng the power of my mind on healing so i am going with my theory I cleaning and renewing my body!
Many experts agree that the autophagy process initiates in humans after 18-20 hours of fasting, with maximal benefits occurring once the 48–72 hour mark has been reached.
My initial aim was begin fasting wednesday night, Thursday will feel like a normal intermittent fasting day then get through friday as one unpleasant day in work then its weekend! Judge on Sunday whether to break fast for returning to work on monday. Now I think I may end it at the 72 hour mark (saturday night) I don’t want to over do it like you say and I have had no tests done so any longer is irresponsible.
Oh and the borax!! Is a miracle!! My ankles and achilles are so much better!!! I can sleep without a pillow under them again!
Next up is tendon rehab!
Stay positive everyone!
Hey Juju, I’m glad you’ve found my advice helpful. Yeah, I’ve read a lot about autophagy, hoping that it could help me, but it didn’t. By the way, a 72 hrs water fast is a terrific achievment, and hopefully you’ll feel better, just don’t go too overboard, if you start feeling like crap before the 72 hrs mark, just start to eat again, but remember, no binge eating, give your body the time to readapt to food, and no junk food or animal products in the first 24hrs. Maybe start with vegetable soups, fruits, then start to add fats again like peanut butter or almonds and remember : small portions!
Oh, and let us know how it ended up for you.
I am at 63 hours mark. I feel fantastic! I just walked the dog and was aware I lacked energy but being able to walk without the achilles pain is just wonderful on its own.
My eyesight is so good right now i feel like its better than 20/20 vision.
Hunger ‘pains’ are much less frequent.
Still have the globus sensation in my esophagus and the shoulder tendinitis/tendinosis though. Im gonna change my eating habits to smaller meals and neck stretches and do rehab therapy too for shoulder!! Being a floxie is a full time job eh?
Good news is the fast has not exacerbated any symptoms !!
I have been drinking San Benedetto / Evian or when in work there is Reverse osmosis (which is supposedly fluoride free) but i take my own bottle with magnesium liquid inside (RE-mag).
IF i break fast tonight (72 hour mark) I will do it by first having bone broth (I live in S>E Asia and Pho is everywhere!!) I think and some omegas, to keep myself in ketosis. BUT as it will be 8:40 pm I might just hold out for one more sleep! That way I can break it tomorrow day time when the local vegan cafe is open and have their Kefir probiotic drink!! I think starting again by building my gut flora is gonna be perfect!
Im moving away from worrying about cell damage because its hopeless and moving towards the gut isnt doing its job properly.
Is anyone aware of the recently discovered connection between mold and being floxed?
Also Im confused about iron. Some say good some say VERY bad along with Oxalates as it causes high Ferrin levels. (and heres me thinking spinach was a superfood *facepalm*)
I am developing orthorexia I know but I just want to get this right. Only when I have full understanding can I start to completely relax.
Hi Juju, that’s great! I’m really happy that fasting it’s working for you. Remember, as Dr Valter Longo says, the refeeding process it’s even more important than the fast itself. That’s when the cells in your body would absorb everything you feed them after a period of starvation.
It’s strange how we’re all damaged by the same poison, but we react so differently. Like I wrote earlier, in my case fasting only make me feel weaker and in more pain, but who knows, maybe in a week or two I might give it another try, I don’t know.
Now about iron : for what I understand, iron, like zinc and other minerals, it’s very important, but you shouldn’t take too much of it. Some doctors belive it promotes acidity in your blood, and that’s not a good thing, as it promotes inflammation, thus cancer. That’s why, most of the time, people recommend to eat less meat. Meat = lots of iron. I suggest you to do a blood screaning (minerals, vitamins and so on) and see if you have deficencies or not, then decide what you should or shouldn’t be supplementing. That’s just my advice, of course.
I never heard about the connection between mold and being floxed, can you elaborate on it please?
Lastly, about food and orthorexia, my suggestion is to defently be careful about what you eat, find out what foods seem to help and what not, but don’t too crazy with it either, remember, worry too much about somehting, causes stress, and that’s another thing you want to avoid.
Thanks again Andrea!
I am now at the 72 hours mark WOO HOO! Which is supposed to be full immune system reset mark! I have decided to sleep on it and break tomorrow.
I read watermelon is the most popular choice to break fast. I bought an organic pineapple before my fast and forgot to eat it so if thats still good tomorrow then I think pineapple and probiotic natural yoghurt. Then later l’ll go to a local cafe which does kefir drink and a veggie bowl containing tempeh . spinach . sesame pumpkin . quinoa . brown rice . red pepper hummus . fermented pickled beetroot . ginger . sauerkraut . cashew cheese . activated almonds . salad. It might be too big though so I may change my mind.
would ideally like to stay in ketosis so maybe ditch the brown rice quinoa bowl and have bone broth instead and drink some healthy fats / take omegas. I really want all those probiotics though (kefir, Sauerkraut, fermented pickle beets,) but there is always the next day!
Here is a link to the doctors youtube account whom is looking at mold exposure, he is on-going in the pursuit of finding solutions to being floxed and I think its well worth subscribing:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCujM4lCEXQ5PeOxZMg-_E7Q/videos
Ive read contradictory things about iron, actually ive read contradicting things about everything but as you say we are all different and being floxed was a genetic thing to begin with.
You said you were okay with 24 hour fast.. so why not just do one day a week? Or Intermittent. Or build up your tolerance with intermittent. (I should note.. for anyone that may read my experience and try it themselves that I have built up to this fast with intermittent fasting gradually making my break fast later and later, I haven’t just dived in)
From my research every floxie should be doing intermittent fasting allowing insulin levels and glucose stores to drop before eating. Intermittent fasting and HIIT. Our bodies don’t come from a long history of convenience stores on every corner this is quite unnatural.
Oh and yes I am trying to de-stress but I was a health freak and hypochondriac before being floxed so.. you can only imagine how many laps my head is doing digesting the fact ive been spoon fed chemotherapy.
Thank for the link Juju, I’ll look it up…
I was very into fitness and training myself, but have to drasticly slow it down after being floxed 4 years ago. I was 30. Now I still try to do something. I’m into hill walking (and sometimes, jogging, if I feel good that day) now. I walk on a very steep hill everyday, and I walk at least 10 km everyday, sometimes more. May I ask you how old are you now and when did you get floxed?
To answer your question, I sometimes do a 24hrs fast, but, as you pointed out in another post, the peak of the benefits from fasting are obteined after 72 hrs, but yeah, even 24 hrs every week could be still something.
Oh, another thing I’d like to ask you, what kind of intermittent fasting do you follow?
I usually stay with the 12/12 fasting and it’s good for me.
Whether you believe COVID-19 is a serious health threat to society or not, one thing we all can agree on is that there is no long-term health information available. We do not have the luxury of historical data. Will those who seemingly had no initial reaction to the virus, come down with something serious, months or years down the road? Only time will tell. https://www.myquinstory.info/covid-19-fluoroquinolones-and-the-long-haulers/?fbclid=IwAR0t86LHMDiA0ac57iaucPW22Xy19eMbHbibDSmd14g3s9w9VCccKo03fwA
As I understand it the vaccine research is centered around breaking the RNA of the virus. This looks like it will not bode well for anyone who is a floxie or who has taken a Fluoroquinolone.
Will you take a shot of the vaccine?