I wrote my recovery story about a year ago. A lot changes in a year, so I thought I’d write an update.
I was pretty well recovered when I wrote my story. In most areas, I was about 95% of my pre-flox capacity. I could do most of the physical and mental things that I needed and wanted to do to with relative ease. I could walk, hike, do pilates, swim, dance, work, have good conversations with my friends, maintain relationships, etc. I was healthy enough and life was good. I would have felt fine about staying in the condition that I was a year ago indefinitely.
It has been a nice surprise that I have continued to get better. Little things have improved/gone back to how they were pre-flox.
I started sweating again. I was kind of enjoying not sweating, but it’s good to have that part of my autonomic nervous system working normally again.
I stopped being cold all the time. I had a hard time feeling warm for a long time after taking cipro. Sometime in the last year my body has gone back to its normal – being “hot blooded” (I’m Swedish).
I feel like I felt pre-flox when drinking coffee and alcohol. It’s difficult for me to describe how I felt different after having caffeine or alcohol while I was sick – but it just felt different – and now it feels normal again.
I went through a period of nausea in the last year. For a couple of months, I couldn’t eat without feeling nauseous. I’m not sure if the nausea was because of a break-up that I went through right before it started (lots of people don’t eat for a while after a break-up), if it was a floxing symptom, or if it was a combination – my digestive tract shuts down now when I go through a period of stress. Whatever the source, it went away when I started supplementing hydrochloric acid (HCL – stomach acid).
I also had some issues with feeling a tightness in my chest that went away when I started supplementing HCL.
My mental capacity is as good as it was before I got floxed. It may even be better than it was pre-flox. I had no interest in biochem before I started researching how fluoroquinolones work – now I read biochem articles for fun, and they’re making me smarter. Also, my writing has gotten better – which is nice.
My energy, endurance, flexibility and strength have continued to improve. It’s difficult to tell if I am capable of as much physical activity now as I was before I got floxed for a couple of reasons. First, I am a bit out of shape. I have an office job so I sit for 8 hours a day. That’s not good for anyone’s physical fitness. Getting floxed certainly didn’t help, as it left me completely sedentary for a while and semi-sedentary for a while after that. Second, I was in really excellent physical condition before I got floxed. I’m not sure how fair it is to compare myself to how I was 2.5-3.5 years ago because I was really fit at that point in my life. Anyhow, those are details. My point is that I’m doing well physically. I can keep up with my boyfriend (who has never touched a fluoroquinolone) while hiking, swimming, etc.
I still struggle a bit with my motivation. I felt like cipro stole my “give a damn.” I’m very passionate about exposing the dangers of fluoroquinolones, and about helping people through fluoroquinolone toxicity, but I still struggle to “give a damn” about other areas of my life. It’s getting better though.
My level of fearfulness has subsided over the last year. (It had actually improved tremendously a year ago when I wrote my story – it was horrible when I first got floxed – I was terrified.) It has taken a long time for me to convince myself that this isn’t going to kill me. I can’t say that the fear about the consequences of the cellular damage done is completely gone. But I can say that I feel good right now. It’s not going to kill me today. Today, I’m doing well.
Diet – I am not on any specific diet. I avoid junk food but other than that, I eat whatever. Food does affect how I feel, but I don’t think that it affects how I feel any more than it did before I got floxed.
Supplements – I’ve switched out my supplements a bit. I still take iron (Pur Absorb 5 mg/day) and I still think that it helps me a lot. I also think that magnesium (250 mgs. Chelated mag/day) helps me. Lecithin helped to clear my brain fog. Hydrochloric acid (HCL) helped to get rid of my nausea and heartburn. I also take a fish-oil supplement, chlorella, glucosamine, vitamin D3, vitamin K2, coenzyme Q10 and a probiotic.
Food Supplements – These supplements are actually food, so I’m putting them into a different category from the supplements. I think that all of them have helped me a lot. Brewer’s yeast – it’s full of B vitamins, amino acids, trace minerals and has things like uridine and iodine in it that are helpful. I think that brewer’s yeast has helped me a lot. Cod liver oil – full of good fats. Raw crushed garlic – for the thiamine and other nutrients. Beets – they make me feel better (nitric oxide??) – do NOT get scared when you pee/poo purple after eating beets.
Exercise – I still find pilates, swimming and walking to be very therapeutic. I haven’t been as diligent in sticking with them this year as I was the year before.
Meditation – I still think that meditation is a wonderful thing for everyone to do. I have gotten horribly lazy about doing it myself.
Acupuncture – I go to my acupuncturist about once a quarter now. I was going at least once a month previously.
Staying off the internet – I’ll give myself a big fat F- on this one. Being involved in floxie stuff over the internet doesn’t induce anxiety for me any more though – so I don’t think that it’s unhealthy for me that I concentrate on it too much.
Having a positive attitude – I think that I’m still doing pretty well with this one. It has been wonderful and touching to have a group of positive people commenting on this site – letting their fellow floxies know what they know – and everyone encouraging each other and having faith in the notion that this too shall pass. I thank everyone who has supported a floxie through their time of need with a positive attitude and/or words of wisdom.
As I have gotten healthier and healthier, I have become less diligent about doing the things that helped me to get to a place of health. It would probably be better for my continued health if I was more diligent about sticking with them. Oh well. I think that it’s relatively normal to get lazy about doing the things that you did to get healthy once you have reached a point where you feel healthy enough.
I consider myself to be 99-100% recovered.
I am very, very, very lucky.
I wish luck, healing and recovery for all of you! I know that a complete recovery is not possible for everyone, and, well, read this about partial recoveries – https://floxiehope.com/2014/03/05/redefining-recovery/. I like the quote at the end of it, “Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.” If a full recovery isn’t possible, I wish you a recovery in which the damage no longer controls your life.
I am incredibly grateful for everything that I have gained in the last year. This site has reached more people, and touched more lives, than I could have possibly imagined a year ago. More people have read, and cared about, my healing story than I ever could have imagined. I hope that it has helped you. I hope that this follow-up, letting you know that the improvements have continued for me, give you even more hope for your own healing.
Xoxo
-Lisa
