*The following is an individual’s story of surviving fluoroquinolone toxicity. It is not medical advice. Please see the disclaimer at the bottom of the story. Thank you, and please be cautious with all treatments.
James’s Cipro story–This drug nearly took my life.
I have put off writing this story for some time now, purely to the fact i wanted to be somewhere near myself in my body and my mind to write it.
My story involves different medications and how they had different effects on me, take my advice as you wish but just to say this is MY story not yours, so its not to say it wont happen to you.
June 2nd 2016, it was a normal work day. Just like any day, I’d drive my van to work an hour every day to be there for 7am. I was scheduled to go on holiday the following week to the USA to florida with my girlfriend at the time and friends and family. That morning i noticed a constant nagging in my upper Right teeth. (don’t ask me which one it was i am not a dentist) But i thought to myself, what could be worse than having a horrible nagging toothache during my ten day stay in the states? i was desperate so the following day off to the dentist i went. X rays taken, nothing to find apart from a small crack which wasn’t anything serious. no sign of infection. I explained my situation about going on holiday. The dentists words were, “ To be on the safe side, i would like to prescribe an anti- biotic – metronidazole. it wont hurt you mr pitney, its just to be on the safe side.” I was desperate for some relief from this nagging tooth pain, rest assured at the time i wasn’t to know this single appointment changed my life forever.
So, life went on as usual for the next for days, work was great me and my girlfriend at the time were shopping for holiday clothes we were so excited for our holiday. my toothache persisted but i just put it to the back of my mind. Here is where it got interesting, The 5th day of taking the metronidazole, i had severe lower abdominal pain shooting down towards the right side of my groin and testicle. The pain was excruciating, like nothing id had ever experienced before. i could barely walk, it looked like i had been riding a horse for the last week constantly. needless to say, i thought my testicle had became twisted or something out of the ordinary so off to accident and emergency i went or as you americans like to call it ER. i saw a doctor briefly after around a 5 hour wait, only for him to tell me i had strained myself. I said to him, could these antibiotics cause anything like this? (metronidazole). He replied with, not be absurd mr pitney, you are going to be okay….. he sent me away with some pain killers, and off i went on my holiday.
I never forget the day i went on holiday dragging my case behind me with every ounce of strength i had with severe pain in my abdomen, in the waiting area for the flight basically in tears because of the pain. But i carried on, i wanted to make my girlfriend happy as she had never been to the USA before , and as my family had always been great fans of it.
We landed in Orlando, i had already had it in my mind that i NEEDED to go to the hospital, after a nine hour flight of severe pain and misery. it wasn’t effecting only me, i could see it in my families eyes i was putting them on edge. So we landed, before we had even got to our villa i was driven by my mum and dad to the hospital where i had various tests including an ultra- sound scan which all that was found were some small cysts. Once again i asked if This anti- biotic can cause this, No said the doctor . It just isn’t possible. He prescribed some very strong painkillers but i don’t remember what they were called , needless to say they were strong and got me through the holiday
Even though the pain was awful, i got through the holiday . I had an amazing time, and we flew home back into the normalcy of every day life. i returned to work, and the pain increased. you see i was an engineer back then , on heavy machinery. so taking it “easy” wasn’t in its jurisdiction. I couldn’t handle it, i had to go back to hospital at this time the pain had radiated to my back. It was awful, i was sweating. little did i know it was to get much much worse.
Que the man that could have ruined my life without even knowing it, i wonder what he is doing now ? i wonder if he is still prescribing this pig filth. But anyway, examinations were done, a previous doctor took urine samples and found no infection, for some reason this man did find some evidence of an infection , this i will never know if i even had one. “ Mr pitney, i think you have eppididimitis , we have two choices for you, we can prescribe you some anti – bionics or we can take you into theatre….. tonight. The thought of theatre frightened me to death. I mean , being asleep while somebody slices your testicles open , i could think of anything worse. I was desperate for anything to stop this, for looking for the answer to what was wrong with me. You can imagine what i said, “ yes lets try the antibiotics, they can’t hurt, can they doc (with a cheesy grin) “ of course not mr pitney , not at all. Que the nurse , as i was staying in for more test that night they kept me in over night. Armed with a plastic cup around the width of the size of your two fingers , filled with my prescription, which included ibuprofen, paracetamol and a word i try to avoid using. CIPRO, or CIPROFLOXACIN, personally i like to call it Pig filth but needless to say that was what i had. with a swift flick of the wrist, like i was drinking a shot of whiskey, i took back the cocktail of drugs, and let the tiredness of the night take me.
That morning, i was woken by the nurse taking my observations. I rubbed my eyes, and rubbed them again, i couldn’t see properly. everything was fuzzy, the nurse took my blood pressure, “well mr pitney your blood pressure seems too high so we are going to need to keep an eye on you, here is some more pain relief for you” i sat up in the bed , reached over for a glass of water to sooth the dryness of my mouth, i grabbed the glass with my right hand , i leaned it back over towards me and it spilled everywhere . My grip, had literally disappeared overnight. I mean, can you imagine waking up with effected vision, and heightened grip over night? it scared the living fuck out of me.I got out of bed, right leg first. Collapsed into a giant heap onto the floor. Now I’m 23 years old, What was happening to me ?! i headed down the corridor after being helped up by the nurse, everything was fuzzy, my heart was racing , the pain in my abdomen increased by arround 50 percent, i barely made it to the toilet, i did what i had to, i found blood in my faeces that morning, and not just a little bit. I was scared, and alone i waited hours to see a doctors and explained to him what was happening, he barely even looked at me. That same day i was discharged being pushed in a wheel chair, i remember thinking. “ ok so this morning i collapsed into a giant heap on the floor and they are discharging me? , right now as i sit in this wheelchair , thew whole right side of my body is numb , i can barely walk. I didn’t know at the time that CIPRO was causing this. I didn’t know, NO ONE had any advice to give me , or to believe that this so commonly prescribed antibiotic could cause such catastrophe. I was picked up that day by my mother and girlfriend and taken home with a ten day course of CIPRO. I felt tired, i felt sick i didn’t feel right, my heart was pounding.
I woke early the next morning, i had my morning dose of CIPRO, i can still remember the feeling of it slowly being digested in my stomach, ( not to mention it made me throw up regularly ) around the fourth day of a ten Day course, i had had enough i called the doctor and said , “ YOU NEED TO PUT ME ON ANOTHER ANTIBIOTIC BECAUSE I CAN BARELY WALK. So just like that i stopped the prescription and was put on something much safer, DOXYCYCLINE
So , for around Two weeks after stopping the CIPRO, i had some weird and wonderful symptoms, i thought to myself, if it is the CIPRO, it will go once it is out of my system. WRONG. You see, CIPROFLOXACIN damages you from a cellular level, once the damage is done it is extremely hard to repair, Take someone with cancer for instance, the treatment destroys unhealthy cells , but also healthy cells depending on the humans immune system.
Anyway, here are some of the symptoms i experienced over a 7 month Period. Some are disturbing .
1. headaches
2. dizziness
3. testiclular pain
4. Abdominal pain
5. Joint issues
6. i was being sick for around 3 weeks, i lost over a stone.
7. Serious eye issues, my vision was badly effected ,and i had this bizarre pressure being my eyes like someone was squeezing the life out of them
8. peripheral neuropathy , i had burning sensations, tingling, numbers, speech problems, brain fog, i never forget the second week , i woke up in the middle of the night screaming my head off, it was like someone was injecting ice into my veins, and pushing it through them . By far the most worst pain i have every felt
9. pressure in my chest, irregular heart beat. it felt like someone had inserted an air line into my chest
10. tendon issues, but not as serious as some people, i was still able to keep working .
11. mood issues, aniexty , depression ( ill get to that later ) and low sex drive
12. depersonalisation. My girlfriend at the time asked me who i was many times
13. weight loss , then weight gain. i lost weight due to the CIRPO destroying my gut flora, so i wasn’t able to keep anything down. and weight gain, when i got my gut under control i was in too much pain to do any exercise
14. extreme tiredness.
To most people that would have all those sorts of symptoms , would think autoimmune disease ? fibromyalgia? which the doctors atually suspected. This couldn’t be caused by some pills could it ? i mean . i only took five pills, FIVE FUCKING PILLS>? let that sink in for a minute, the average time to take a pill is around 5 seconds right ? so thats 25 seconds , which cost me 7 MONTHS of my life. Anyway, i did what any normal person would do , i did my research. What i found was horrific, people being permanently disabled, people going fucking blind ? BLIND?! from some fucking pills some piece of shit doctor prescribed because they are too bone idle lazy to do a proper diagnosis, I’m sorry for my language but you can’t imagine how angry i am towards those doctors. “we know best “ PFFFT.
I went to many doctors about this , had scan. Brain and spinal cord. found nothing, i only found one doctor that actually believed me and i am so grateful for him!
So ok, things i did to try and help me to begin with
1. Got connected, it was surprising to see how many other people were effected by this. mostly americans were effected i only found a handful of people effected in the UK. i found advice on floxie hope , a lady named LISA helped me a great deal. So stay connected , dont isolate yourself.
2. I tried supplements , a lot of supplements. MAGNESIUM ,Coenzyme q10, vitamin B, Vitamin C, folic acid, an lots lots more , I’m not sure if they worked, i don’t take any supplements anymore but i took these for around 5 months.
3. I tried lots of diets, but they made me miserable. yes they work for some people, but for me it really messed with my mind, i felt like i HAD to do this to feel better, but it just wasn’t me.
4. Stay positive, you have to, what else can you do ? kill yourself, believe me i tried that and it makes things so much worse. yes this happened to you, but you CAN beat it.
5. stay connected, see your friends, go out, have fun as much fun as you can.
6. try and do exercise, i walked my dogs every day.
7. keep normality! , don’t change major things. Keep going to your job, turn up . DRAG yourself if you have to.
8. Don’t blame everything on CIPRO, god yes. it really fucked you. big time , like seriously, can’t think of anything worse
9. Acupuncture, Mike if you are reading this, you will know that i made it.
10. Keep away from brainiacs, yes they are giving good advice but it was too overwhelming for me. take this take that do this do that don’t do that. BOLLOCKS, do what YOU want, because its worth it. yes, stick to a small schedule of supplementation, but don’t go crazy
11. My pets, i love my dogs more than anything.
12. Music, (head banging music )
13. Knowing that there are people much worse of than you, people are dying out there. i know its hard to believe but things can ALWAYS be worse.
14. don’t give up never give up , what are you ? a pussy? I can handle anything you throw at me
15 my faith in god
The night CIPRO NEARLY GOT ME
It was around late novemeber, My girlfriend had just left me . She said “ i can’t handle this anymore , there is nothing wrong with you , you are fine you are okay i think we need some time apart” That really got me, how could she leave me in such a state , at this point i was seeing some improvements physically, but mentally my head was fucked. I wanted it to end, i felt trapped, like i was drowning and no one was there to pull me up. I attempted to end my own life, i wont get into detail but you have to be in a dark place to attempt what i did, i it wasn’t for my pets i don’t think id be here today. That night i had dream , it was my great grandma. telling me to never give up, that i wasn’t ready to leave and i had more to offer. i woke up in a huge sweat, and i just burst into tears. i had to hide the marks on my neck for a week or so.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
I continued to work, i never gave up, i was demoted into a less Hours role, i was only to do 40 hours a week , for 7 months i did this, until recently i started to feel better, much much better not just in my body but in my head, i am a little overweight now, but i will take that. tomorrow morning i will be starting my old role as an engineer again, this gives me so much confidence and is part of the reason i decided to write my story. You see, I’m just an average joe. I’m clever in what i do, but before CIPRO, i didn’t know anything about my body or health. I wanted to write this story on behalf of the regular every day people, because this is what is happening to them and it shouldn’t it really shouldn’t. My story is a lot different to the others, I’m not very good at english or what not so you will have to bare with me with the bad grammar but needless to say, EVERY STORY MATTERS, no matter how different or similar they are they will get us heard one day.
Persisting symptoms here is a list of things i still deal with on a daily basis, But are getting better every week.
* joint pain, But maybe i get the odd, OUCH maybe once a day. so very minor.
* vision issues , but resolved by glasses. sometimes pain (maybe once a week)
* occasional brain fog, (maybe once a week)
* chronic back ache,( i can feel it getting better as every week goes by)
* Minor testicular ache.( dealing with that very well).
i consider myself to be seriously lucky, don’t get me wrong i haven’t beaten this yet. i hear of people having relapses but fucking bring it on, give it to me. I WILL BEAT YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY LIFE FROM ME. consider myself right now at around a 89% recovery. which is pretty darn good at 7 months, some people are sick for YEARS, this is unacceptable.
Things i have lost to CIPRO
* My good eyesight. i can still see but have to wear my glasses, some people have retinal desttachment which can cause blindness
* The love of my life (at the time ) i don’t blame her for leaving me , i was a burden, would i have done the same?
* ALOT of money, not including the hours i lost at work, i lost around 5000 pounds, which is around 7000 dollars?
* My amazing job (which i am getting back on monday wa hoooooo)
* one of my dogs passed away while i was flexed. 
daisy
Things i have learnt from CIPRO
* To be compassionate, take time for myself.
* Lots about the human body and how it works.
* acupuncture makes me jump
* i appreciate my life a lot more
* i am more caring
* i don’t smoke
* i am a lot wiser.
* my family mean EVERYTHING to me
* My kidneys hurt sometimes when i drink ( i try not to drink too much)
* People care, they just have different ways of showing it
* DOCTORS DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING don’t leave your trust in them, because they might just screw you without knowing it
* NEVER take a floraquinalone again, they are poison to our bodies, i remember an episode years ago i had severe chest pain when i was being treated for an infection in my foot, i checked the medical records. i was prescribed , you guessed it CIPRO!
In conclusion , i have written my story to raise awareness for others . i want to thank everyone for being there for me when i needed you all the most, thats it for me now. Nothing else in my life will go wrong , the crisis is nearly over. And also, don’t give up , you seriously wanna spend the rest of your life droning on about the pain ? because you can beat this , its possible i thought at the time it wasn’t , but it is , its nearly over for me. i might have a relapse but fuck it, its gonna get better i know it. 89 percent in 7 months , not bad. But even if it takes 7 years, keep at it , don’t give up your life is just as much important as your neighbour who runs 7 miles a day. Now days, i do what i want, i go out to eat , i see friends, i go for drinks and socialise. i never say no to new opportunity and never let it pass me by . Because my life is for living, not for loathing. So fuck it, get yourselves better YOU CAN DO THIS !.
Out of darkness comes the light, as i am my saviour in this world of internal light.
** The story above is truthful, accurate and told to the best of the ability of the writer. It is not intended as medical advice. No person who submits his or her story, nor the people associated with Floxie Hope, diagnoses or treats any illness. The story above should not be substituted for professionally provided medical advice. Please consult your doctor before trying anything that has been mentioned in this story, or in any other story on this site. Please also note that people have varying responses to the treatments mentioned in each story. What helps one person may not help, and may even hurt, another person. It is important that you understand that supplements, IVs, essential oils, and all other treatments, effect people differently depending on the millions of variables that make each of us unique. Please use appropriate caution and prudence, and get professional medical advice.
Wow James! I didn’t realise you’d been through all of this!
This must of been such a scary time for you, no control over you’re body thinking what the doctors were giving you were gonna make you better, as any of us would do.
How well you’re doing now from that dark time for you is amazing though. You’re obviously making progress and doing the best you can.
Well done you for telling this story and fighting through this all.
Hope being back in you’re old job role went well for you.
Big hugs & thinking of you ❤️
James, glad you made it through the darkness. Yes this stuff is absolute excrement. I had most of your side effects (and more)…and I imagine yours was exacerbated by the ibuprofen—something you want to avoid from here on out.
Hasnt been easy, im not where i was but im a darn site better than i was!. i feel better as every week passes. thankyou for the love 🙂 if anyone has any questions please contact me on facebook or comment on here.
That’s such a tragic story, James. I’m glad you’re doing better. I didn’t have an adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone–it was actually metronidazole that got me. But it wasn’t pain; metronidazole can act as a neurotoxin in the brain, and cause a lot of the symptoms you experienced, including the difficulty walking (was it due to pain or was it like a disconnect from your legs to your brain, like you couldn’t get them to move the way you wanted?).
It is possible that both medications screwed with your head; there are a lot of people I’ve talked to about metronidazole that experienced the psychiatric/physical effects right as they stopped taking the drug. However, the joint pain is more of a Cipro-related issue. I just wonder if you got hit with both meds, as sometimes they are even prescribed together.
It’s taken me almost two years to recover from metronidazole neurotoxicity and I know people who have never fully recovered. It’s really scary stuff.
it was reallly a bit of both. at the start it felt like i was trying alot harder to move my legs, there were times when i would wake in the night and not be able to move my limbs, kind if like when you sleep on them but i always sleep on my back ,and every time this happend i wasnt lying on any limb. but that kinda stopped and then rolled in all the joint issues!. It is very scary and i was scared, to think some children take these meds its horrific !!
James,
Thanks for your story. I took Cipro/flagyl in October for suspected diverticulitis. The worst of the floxing started in December and has continued, mostly in cycles. All the same symptoms you described. I am having a rough week, as the vision issues ramped up. I am always more anxious when the vision issues come on strong, as I had LASIK years ago and had perfect vision for ten years. I was hit hard a few months earlier with a reaction to steroids and doxycycline- same type of neurotoxicity. Test after test and kept being told it’s anxiety and nothing is wrong— yeahhhhh… I have a doctorate and a neuropsych background, so I knew there was likely a chemical agent causing the symptoms, as I was perfectly healthy prior to this course of events. These drugs are absolutely poison- 100% and I learned a lot about the “puppet” doctors who are ill-advised and feed into Big Pharma. I appreciate your story and I hope that you continue to recover fully. The hardest part when you are toxic is the uncertainty about your course of recovery. You are always waiting for the “hammer to fall again” in another area of the body. Whenever I have a better day, I think “Could this really be the day it all just goes away?” I still work full-time and take care of three young children. My husband works evenings, so I even on my worst days, I pull through it… I’ve learned a lot about my resiliency through all of this. I am hoping for a full recovery. Thanks for your story and for being resilient… I’m glad you didn’t end your life. I’ve been in those dark places and there is always something that pulls me through. Please keep us updated!
See this is how it messes with your mind as it always seems to get better then worse again then better and worse again like you explained it comes in cyles, it also did for me. You have to be strong Thats the only thing you can do. chances are you will get better, alot of the people that never do never walk again or walk with difficulties and as you explained you are still able to work which is great! keep up the good work, let me know how you get on :). thanks for the comment. X Also, if anyone would like to contact me on facebook my full name is James Pitney. thanks
“my eyes were not working properly either”—–I had that too. Not just floaters and black specks, not just blurred vision…but the sense that my brain was not making my eyes work as normal. I was seeing different things from each eye. Your brain normally puts those together. Only it wasn’t doing that for me. So disconcerting!!!
Yes, the eyes not “Merging” their vision did go away. I still have floaters, little black specks (far less than before) and ocassional blurred vision. I have been taking NAC eyedrops (4x day) for almost a year and I think it did help some with the floaters. I know what you mean about feeling possessed! BTW, I think the grocery store is worse because of all the fluroescent lighting. I have a very difficult time with fluorescent lighting post-floxing (and also strong sunlight.)
Yeah, it is SO hard to explain ANY of this to anyone else. I was severely floxed, mentally and physically and some of it was terrifying (gasping for breath for months; being asphyxiated by EVERYTHING in the world—that is SO hard to explain. Like being surrounded by vats of bleach constantly.) I remember saying over and over “you just don’t understand how horrible it is to be in this body right now.” I always said it was like being caught somewhere between the Twilight Zone and a Stephen King novel.
yes, it truly is criminal. One of the first side effects to go away for me was the excruciating mid-back pain. Just crippling. All I could do was sit rolled over and cry….deep in the bone nad like no pain I ever experienced, not even cracked ribs. It went away within weeks of my starting IVs. I can’t say for sure which one(s) helped. I was getting H2O2 but I think that is the least likely. I am guessing it was either the high dose vitamin C or the phosphatidylcholine. (I got both with a push of glutathione.) It is also one of the side effects that never came back.
feb 16 2015….given prednisone with cipro
Sorry, not sure what happened above!
yes, the vision stuff is very scary! I raced to the eye doctor only to have him tell me nothing was wrong (although later an ophtomologist said I now have mac deg…which he totally denies could be from the cipro.) There was a point where I couldn’t see the tv a few feet away. It was like looking through gauze most days, and at its worst those little black specks would literally cover an entire wall or floor. I remember going into a costco where a friend was picking up a prescription for me, and I just started crying because the entire floor was just covered with black spots. I also had a terrifying episode once that lasted about ten minutes where I had what looked like an electrical charge in my right eye. It was an arc with little bright electron-looking things on either side of it. So scary. Lasted about ten minutes.
Not sure if I mentioned it in a post to you or elsewhere, but I have been taking NAC eyedrops, 4 times a day for almost a year now, and the floaters have improved, though they are not completely gone, and the little black dots are much less frequent (they are just a type of floater I think.) I still have sun sensitivity and again the sensitivity to florescent lighting.
Yes—I was wondering what happened above. Interesting titles though…”Bad Baby Giant Gumball Poop Attacks.” 🙂
Strength of the mind is so powerful, use it 🙂 . i wish you all healing and love. no one should go through this, especially alone.
Thanks James! And thanks L for chatting the past few days. I am moving toward the “gauze” stage with the vision issues. It’s like when you’re at the eye doctor and they tell you to look through the instrument with the holes. It is also like your right and left brain don’t communicate with each other. I had to stop at the grocery store today and I almost cried because it was so hard to even do my shopping. May I ask how old you are? I’m 41. I think my son was looking up funny videos and somehow it got combined?
I was 24 yesterday, add me on facebook if you have any questions 🙂
I will be mutual friends with Lisa 🙂 if anyone has trouble finding me x
I’d like to leave a comment here. I’m currently at month 3 after taking Levo. Maybe that’s the cause of my issues or maybe it’s not.
Some things I want to mention:
1. I have some nerve issues on the inside side of my foot. Gentle and gradual (the two most important factors for me) Nerve Flossing of that area, gentle and gradual stretching of all unaffected muscle groups (at the moment 20 seconds a stretch for 2 reps done regularly), very gentle foam rolling of my hips and sides of my legs, and exercises used for plantar factitis without the band as well as seated foot raises with the band, have helped lower my pain.
2. B-Vitamins at month 2.5 have helped immensely to improve my mood, but at month 1 made me violently sick and worsened my pain significantly.
3. In regards to medical professionals, always get a second opinion no matter how terrified you are at the time. I’d recommend NOT leading the second doctor and not mentioning they are a second opinion to avoid bias (this is very, very real and ruins the point of a second opinion). Also, try to take a non-operative, non-invasive approach at first. I have a rehab focused sports doctor who absolutely doesn’t prescribe anything (including pain killers) unless absolutely necessary. I’ve found that these kinds of doctors find work arounds for your problems that medication and surgery based doctors do not know.
4. (This advice is not practical) Don’t blame your doctors too much. If I knew the risks (not the result), I would have taken the Levo anyway. I would have believed I was fine. Nothing would have changed (unless I had known the result). When you are fixed, and you likely will as most people’s issues resolve over time (true of almost everything), you’ll need some clear boundaries about what medications (particularly anti-botics) that you are willing to take. Having a list of items that are “okay” rather than a list of “not okay” is best. Also, asking a doctor for 20 minutes in the waiting room and taking time to research on your phone is a must. A lot of Fluros have names that you won’t recognize. Best not to do this recovery twice.
5. Clean up your diet. That has helped me somewhat. I no longer eat junk food and mostly focus on eating a healthy diet full of vegetables, meats (even fish, which I didn’t like), and so on. Probotics have also helped me. Knowing what foods give you a allergic reaction (milk) or upset your stomach helps too. You can get a test for this very cheaply and it helps to reduce flare ups.
6. On flare ups and relapses, be aware that you have probably had many small and large ones. You are probably feeling pretty bad and didn’t notice. It helps to realize that you’ve already been there. It’s nothing new and you’ve handled a relapse already. Now you get to enjoy periods of normality (kinda) between them. That’s all.
7. Don’t push yourself physically. Realize that sometimes washing the dishes (standing) or lying in a comfortable position (insides of feet touching) might be something that some days you don’t get to enjoy. Take it easy (but not too easy) and this’ll happen less.
8. Realize that a VERY large number of people experience negative effects from Fluros and think it’s something else and frequently recover after 3 to 6 months and forget about it. There’s also a group that doesn’t speak on it and just heals. The people you see here and elsewhere are only the tip of the iceberg, but you should bear in mind that a VERY large number of people recovered with time and didn’t even know they were hurt by the meds. You are one among a huge number of people (much more than the 1% that stats suggest) and a lot of untold stories involve recovery (in my opinion).
9. One last thing: Treat the symptoms conservatively and without medication or surgery where possible. If you try to treat being floxed then it’s not going to work. An example is Cling Wrap. I wrap it around my feet up to the knees and put on thick socks when I go to bed. This has significantly reduced pain when I sleep (nerves being pressed on due to me being a side sleeper) and helped to make the next morning more pain free.
At one month, I couldn’t sit or stand without intense pain and burning in my feet and calves. At three months, I can walk for about 2 hours a day (in small bursts – under 20 minutes), I can sometimes stand for 10-30 minutes, I can clean the house (bending hurts my feet), I can usually sleep comfortable, I can think somewhat clearly, I am getting ‘functionally’ better (don’t always look to the pain – look to what more you can do this week from two weeks before [that’s where the improvement usually can be found])
I’m three months better than I was in that first hell month. From what I’ve seen my symptoms are pretty typical but not extreme (aside from my feet and the nerves within). Jame’s story is very close to my own. In 9 months I’ll be back to normal but better. My life was good but unhealthy and probably poisoning me before this. Like so many others I am being forced to clean up my act. In 12 months I will be a far better man and far better overall thanks to this life event. That’s something I can say with some strong surety after 3 months of real change.
Be well.
I agree with not treating with meds or surgery. I would advise re second opinion to go diretly to an integrative doctor. As someone who was severely floxed, too many doctors insisting it couldn’t possibly be the cipro just worsened the nightmare and prevented me from getting the help I needed. As for “Don’t blame your doctors too much,” –sorry, I cannot agree with that. I would NOT have taken Cipro, which destroyed life as I knew it, for a simple UTI.. These people are professionals, who are supposed to follow an oath to first do no harm. They need to be held accountable. IT is unconscionable that while these dangers have been known for decades, they remain so willfully ignorant.
Thanks for your Podcast! I enjoyed listening to your story after reading and chatting with you. I hope things are still getting better for you. How are your eyes? This is my biggest problem right now.