Sharing Recovery Stories

Several people have asked me why there aren’t more recovery stories on www.floxiehope.com. Perhaps I’m reading into the question too much, but I sense some disappointment in the question—as if the questioner believes that since there are only 37 (as of 4/23/15) stories of healing on Floxie Hope, there must only be 37 people who have recovered and everyone else must still be sick and suffering, and that’s really not very many stories and therefore most people must still be sick, and recovery is rare and everything is horrible.

I encourage you not to think those things, mainly because I don’t think they’re true.

There are many, probably thousands, of reasons why some people don’t want to share their recovery stories on Floxie Hope. Some people are too private to share things about their health on the internet. Some people feel guilty and ashamed about what they went through and don’t want their friends, family or co-workers to know that they have been dealing with health problems. Some don’t want to jinx their recovery. Some may not think that recovery from FQ toxicity is a big enough deal to write about. Some people don’t like to write. A lot of people recover from FQ toxicity without fully knowing that they were floxed – they were sick, they didn’t know why, then they got better – c’est la vie. Some people just want to forget their time of sickness and move on with their life. Some people don’t know about Floxie Hope. Some people don’t think that anyone else would be interested in their story. Some people neither like nor trust me and don’t want to contribute to my site. Some people would rather forget their time of being poisoned, and writing about it is too hard and traumatic. And there are many, many other reasons why many people who are recovered from fluoroquinolone toxicity don’t put their story up on Floxie Hope.

Please try not to read into the quantity of stories on the site, or the frequency at which recovery stories are published, as a data point about rates of recovery. I don’t think that it’s a very accurate or reliable one.

Any recovered floxies who want to write their story for Floxie Hope—I would LOVE to publish your story! Recovery stories help those who are suffering. I have received countless messages from people saying that they read the stories on Floxie Hope over and over again and that the stories of hope and recovery are what keep them going. If you can/want to give that gift to your fellow floxies, it will be greatly appreciated! Please email me any recovery stories through the Contact link on this site. Thank you!

A lot of people who have recovered from fluoroquinolone toxicity post a note about their recovery on one of the floxie facebook support groups (The Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/floxies/ – is currently the biggest and most active group). Facebook is great, and there’s nothing wrong with posting a recovery story on facebook per se, my only objection to that method of conveying recovery stories is that they get lost. After a day or two, no one can find or refer back to the recovery story. The recovery post on facebook gives the people who see it hope, but it’s not available to help other people weeks, months or years down the road. Stories on web sites (Floxie Hope, or elsewhere – if you want to put it on another site, that’s cool) are stored in a single location, they’re easy for people to find, people can learn and gain from them for a long time, and the search engines can index them, raising the profile of FQ toxicity on the internet.

There’s no length or detail requirements for stories on Floxie Hope. If you want to copy your recovery blurb from facebook into an email for me to put up on the site, that can be your recovery story – no problem.

All recovery stories are GREATLY appreciated! I appreciate them and thank you in advance for your contribution to the site! Recovery stories aren’t about maintaining this site though, they’re about giving hope to your fellow floxies. Recovery stories truly do give hope, strength, and ideas for how to go about recovering to fellow floxies. Hope is immeasurably important. It’s a beautiful gift to give to others and I thank everyone who has contributed their story of hope and healing to those who are hurting – you are appreciated!

Stories about fluoroquinolone toxicity are not all recovery stories. Fluoroquinolone toxicity involves neither puppy-dogs nor sunshine. There is genuine suffering that comes before the recovery stories are possible. There are people who don’t recover. Stories of pain caused by fluoroquinolones are important and they should be shared too. I’ll write another post about the importance of sharing stories of pain caused by fluoroquinolones shortly.

Thank you to all my floxie friends who have given support, advice, and hope to their fellow floxies – especially those who have contributed (stories and comments) to this site. You are appreciated!