*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.
My name is Steffen, and I am from Germany. I am 12 months out now. My nightmare began with one pill of tavanic (levofloxacin) in Feb 2015. I can not rule out that I may be before in my life took this kind of antibiotic without side effect and for this reason my reaction the second time was extreme.
In the first few weeks it was very extreme. The whole body ached. I was constantly like woozy in the head. Again and again came anxiety. A horrible feeling that I never before experienced. I was very afraid, if everything will be good again with time. No one who has not felt the side effects on his own body can understand how bad it is. Because often we are stuck with some kind of Problem for long time until it gets better. Today I feel much better and I feel almost back to normal.
I really spent a lot of money and tried everything possible. I would therefore tell what has most helped. The only thing I never did is to let me things directly inject into the vein. I was afraid of possible reactions. Overall my trust in doctors is very low now. Never again I want to feel something similar. And never again I want to be a victim of a drug side effect.
Against fear helped the combination of the following: 5HTP and Passion flower dry extract. I tried to use less than possible. Anxiety was strong in the first days, it was very crazy, than it got better and better with some setbacks….
My stress tolerance was very low. Relaxing in the nature helped a lot. Others helped me with cooking good meals and so on… the first weeks, I couldn’t walk more that 50 meters and even drive a car was difficult.
Against fatigue and Brainfog:
Adenosylcobalamine and methylcobalamin daily small dose injected into the abdominal fat. For 4 days, then a break. One day Adenosylcobalamine the other day methylcobalamin and so on.
The Combination of NADH (5mg 3 times daily) and MitoQ (morning) is more effective than MitoQ alone. There is also a scientific explanation for why NADH blends well with Q10. This with high dose of OPC (140mg 3 times daily) and a good VitC was very effective for me. Important is to use OPC with VitC in combination.
I take 3 times daily Magnesium since the beginning. Magnesium oil topically is also very good as an additional source.
Another substance that has helped me a lot is chlorophyllin from Life Extension. This substance protects and repairs the DNA. It also brings magnesium deep into the cells. The effect(less pain, longer walks) showing up after 3 weeks of consuming it every day with every meal. (3x daily.)
Iam not 100% yet, but I am getting better from month to month. I wish you all the best !!!
in my experience, most doctors in Germany knowing little about the side effects and therefore can not really help. Most did not even believe that the physical problems are the cause of an antibiotic. They only looked at me, and thought what this guy is telling me? One doctor even tells me that this antibiotic is one of the best available – “I love it,” he tells me. Some people around you also may force you to let you help by a doctor. Nobody really can believe that this kind of problems can exist for many months and there is no magic cure around to fix it in a few days, there are moments where you are feeling alone… In this time it helps me a lot to read the storys here and looking for new advices for better healing…
** 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.
Not in the least surprised your doctor “loves” Levaquin. I had several tell me the same about Cipro, and out of 12 only one thought “some” of the side effects (not all) could be from the Cipro. It just makes a bad situation worse when you have to deal with all that disbelief. Glad you are much improved. Never heard of several of the things you mentioned, and I am one that did get IVs (all nutrient, not chemical) but from a naturopath, and they are what saved me. Thanks for posting.
Steffan, I’m so glad you found some things that helped you and that you’re healing from this. I called dozens of doctors in the New York City area and none of them heard of FQ toxicity and all of them said they prescribed FQs. One got mad at me for suggesting there was such a thing and actually yelled at me on the phone and these were all so called “Functional Medicine” doctors. I have very little trust in doctors, even the ones that claim they use natural methods.
Steffen,
Can you provide the study that show chlorophyllin gets magnesium deep into cells?
Thanks,
Mark
Where do you get the medicine to inject ? I’m 4 months out and getting worse.
@ Mark: I have read that where chlorophyllin is there is no magnesium deficiency…… and chlorophyllin goes in every cell. I have no study for this….@ Kathy, Adenosylcobalamine and methylcobalamin are the active form of Vit B12. Its a little bit difficult to get it. In germany I know only one pharmacy that have this stuff…. everyone have his own cycle. And every cycle have an peak. after that peak, its not getting more worse and healing starts slowly….
Steffan, do you think that niacin (vit b3) would do instead the NADH. I am taking B3 like 25-30mg daily. Actually I am on 200,300mg benfotiamin,milgamma(B1), 100mg B2, 25-30mg B3 , 500mg B5, 50mg B6 and once or twice daily 1000mcg methilcobalamin(B12). Where in Germany I can find Adenosylcobalamine and methylcobalamin? Is there a tablet form I have many friends in Germany, especially in Berlin and they could easily get it for me, I am in Serbia. Thanks , wish you best
Hi boban, niacin is not the same as NADH. In general, when you take high doses vit b, don´t forget to take a rest at some point. When you overdose over longer time it could result in side effects…. the vit B12 in the active form please search for “arnika apotheke” google will show up the right one. One hint: take vit B12 together with biotin.
Thank you for sharing your story, Steffen! Would you say your brain fog is completely gone now? It’s been about three months, and the brain fog is still very debilitating for me.
Hi Alexandra, everyone is different you know. But I can tell you for me it was very bad in the first months, but then it gets better and better. Still after 15 month out, I have my weak days sometimes, but they are no longer so dominant and so frequent.
Is chlorophyllin like chlorella?
Hi Steffen, thanks for writing. I live in Berlin, I need to say that I was positively suprised that my Orthopedic doctor in Berlin’s famous Charite Hospital, acknowledged FQ influence on tendoms and ligaments.
I asked him directly: Can tendoms and ligaments regenrate, even if the damage is on the mitochondrial level? He replied: “Yes, but this can take a long time, even 2 years or more”.
How are you doing now? Best
something that may help them regenerate that you might want to look into is prolozone injections
Dear Steffen, do you know any good German doctor who recognizes FQ toxicity? Thanks.
I had thought that they were the same thing, but this site says differently. I had the prolozone, which has ozone. http://prolotherapyphoenix.com/Prolotherapy-vs-Prolozone.aspx
Thanks a lot L, It might be difficult to get in in Germany. I couldn’t find any in Berlin where I live..and this is huge city so to speak.
Did you check out this place? http://www.medicalcenter-mommsenstrasse.de/en/the-clinic/therapy-offers/oxygen-ozone-therapy
You also might, if you have a naturopath or integrative doctor you like, ask them to look into it. I got mine from my naturopath
Dear Steffen, I am Dan Jervis, the last name on the long list. Would you please consider sharing your story to CBS 60 Minutes? 60m@cbs.news.com
OUR STORIES NEED TO BE HEARD, Dan
Dear Steffen,
I am Michael from germany as you are.
It’s been some time since you have posted something. How are you doing after 5 years now?
Liebe Grüße
Michael
Hi Michael, thanks for asking. I am back to normal, for live a normal life. That means back to 90-95%. Iam verry happy about that. I think reach 100% again its very diificult.
Hey Steffen,
didn’t expect an reply after this long time. It’s good to hear that you are back to normal. 🙂
Yeh, getting back to 100% is probably difficult. I could imagine that it is also difficult to say how 100% feels after being floxed. Considering after what we went through and how long it took to recover?! Also considering that we age aswell and so does our overall health (metabolism, cells, mitochondria etc) decline with age.
Well, I’ve been floxed as well with Levofloxacin, 14 pills in total last year. I’am just recovering right now and thanks to god I’am doing better from month to month. Gladly no set-backs to date. I’am also doing the full repertoire of supplements and it seems to help. Also tried Chlorophyllin and mitoQ. The latter seemed to have helped in my recovery but I cannot say if Chlorophyllin helped to improve too. The effect of Chlorophyllin might have been subtle because I tried it only at 100mg per day among with alot of other supplements. At least it didn’t do any harm, so I think it’s still worth a try for floxed persons.
My biggest problems at the moment are my achilles tendons, followed by a not-so-worse-anymore neuropathy, but I’am hopeful that I will cure these side-effects of Levofloxacin with time and the right supplements too.
Wish you all the best.
Michael