Some tips for those who are dealing with the horrible effects of Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin, Floxin/ofloxacin, or any other fluoroquinolone antibiotic, can be found in the post, “I’m Floxed. Now What?”
Excerpted from the post:
First, read through the recovery stories on www.floxiehope.com. Every healing story is different. The journey through fluoroquinolone toxicity has not been the same for any two people. Even though each story is different, each story has some valuable wisdom and guidance in it. As you’re reading through the stories, I suggest that you write down the healing tips and steps that resonate with you. Try those things one-by-one and see if they work as well for you as they do for the person who recovered from fluoroquinolone toxicity and wrote the story.
Second, the ebook, The Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Solution*, has helped many people through fluoroquinolone toxicity, including Ruth, Cindy and Daniel. It gives particularly good guidance for those looking for supplements to help them to heal from fluoroquinolone toxicity.
You can find support, guidance and advice through many web sites and social-media groups. Comments on the home page of floxiehope.com are typically responded to quickly and there is a wealth of information in the past comments. The Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Group on Facebook is also an excellent resource for support and information that also has years of helpful posts stored on it. (Try not to get overwhelmed by these sites, and if you do get overwhelmed by them, I recommend that you step away from them until you are emotionally able to handle being on them.)
MORE TIPS CAN BE FOUND HERE – https://floxiehope.com/2015/10/12/im-floxed-now-what/
Please feel free to add additional tips in the comments section below. Thank you!
Where can someone get the DNA Adduct test done in UK & other blood tests the Toxicologist mentioned in his pdf JKing? Which test is it that shows the DNA attached as well? thank u appreciated lots…
Thank you. Are there any medical tests that have been found that can help measure the body’s response? For example, do most people affected by cipro or drugs like it show bloodwork abnormalities?
fluorine attacks the magnesium in your body (attaches to it and pulls it out from where it is, mostly in tendons, cartilage, etc.). so low magnesium is often the reason for injury–try to take it asap. a blood test will not show low magnesium generally, as most of the magnesium in your body is not in your blood (i think 1% or so is in your blood). the rest is elsewhere, and with the fluorine pulling it out of your body, the structures suffer. Athletes and people under stress tend to have low magnesium levels, which is why “participation in a sport” is
a risk factor (Mayo clinic article, 2011, by Hall, Finnoff, Smith).
in my case, i showed nothing in bloodwork at all, but my Achilles’ tendons were badly damaged, overnight, as were other things. they are getting better, but not healed yet, being overseen by a cautious physical therapist willing to learn about fq’s has been helpful.
If you are taking a fluoroquinolone still and have to (i.e. you have plague) there is some thing (NAC?) that doesn’t interfere with its antibiotic action. Magnesium interferes with its action.
If you are told there is no drug besides a fluoroquinolone that will work, that’s just not true, unless you can’t take sulfa drugs or doxycycline etc.
good luck!
I just came across this. I apologise if it is already on floxiehope.
Information for Newbie’s
This section contains information for people who are new to Adverse Drug Reactions from fluoroquinolone antibiotic therapy. We will update this section as we gather information.
QUINOLONE INDURED NEUROPATHY
This information comes from an ADR victim who has conducted extensive independent research after being floxed on numerous occasions.
One of the quinolone-induced adverse reactions most difficult to tackle is neuropathy. Every floxie has a degree of neuropathy, varying from mild to extremely severe, depending on the level of intoxication. I currently belong to the latter group, but as I have been floxed several times, I also know what it is like to belong to the mildly intoxicated group.
Apparently there are at least two main detrimental mechanisms that quinolones provoke on the nervous system.
First comes a chemical assault. According to some medical specialists, it binds to the GABA receptors, thus altering the normal neurological patterns. The nerves also become hypersensitive to many substances to which we were accustomed before, like caffeine for instance. According to those doctors, the toxicity acts mainly against the central nervous system, causing insomnia, restlessness, panic attacks, weird dreams and thoughts, suicidal tendencies, seizures or preseizure states, difficulty concentrating, loss of short and long term memory, and many more.
But on top of the chemical intoxication there is an even stronger pathway towards severe damage. If the nervous system was just affected chemically and became permanently on edge, any soothing, calming substance would be of help. That is not the case, and most products, drugs or supplements that in a normal situation help to relax and ease the over stimulation symptoms, do exacerbate them. For example, if you take lecithin supplements, or serotonin inducers, your symptoms will surely worsen a lot.
Why?
Because as strong as the chemical insult is, there is another, even stronger alteration of the whole body’s system. The quinolones cause a small vessel vasculitis, a narrowing of the clear inner duct of the smallest arteries and veins that supply oxygen, nutrients and remove the byproducts of their metabolic activity. The vasculitis is massive and arise immediately (in allergic reactions) or has a progressive onset that becomes apparent only long afterwards when the organs and tissues are symptomatic after a progressive ischemic (blood flow deprivation) process.
The vasculitis could be an inmuno mediated deposition of immunological complexes in the walls of the vessels, which in turn would explain that symptoms are pretty much the same for some people that have taken just one pill and for those that have taken more than 200.
The only way of proving it is through a muscle biopsy. Such a biopsy is tremendously difficult to perform adequately. Firstly you have to select the more affected muscle, what causes further inconveniences, and then find a laboratory that knows perfectly well how to preserve the sample, prepare the slices, reactives and what to look for in a case like this. It is possible but not within the reach of a standard laboratory.
Some parts of the body become damaged in the first place, such as some tendons and connective tissues, that are very little irrigated areas. Others like cartilages simply die off (the chondrocites of the four layers). And many other parts start a necrotizing or dysfunctioning mechanism and some weeks or months later the symptoms appear with full force:
-joint pains, mostly neurological, that on average appear at the 3 month mark
-hearing problems, tinnitus, head pressures, jaw problems, and many many more
-vision problems: floaters, photophobia, trailing, wandering lights, loss of vision, diplopia, focusing problems, blurred vision, and many more.
-dry eye, dry sinus, sometimes dry mouth, that tend to be permanent, mimicking a Sjögren’s syndrome.
-very cold hands and feet; poor circulation, soft erections or semi impotence in men
-extreme negative reactions and relapses due to stressing situations
-electrical (neurological) alterations of heart rhythm (palpitations, arrhythmias) that have ended with some fellow floxies wearing a pacemaker
-extremely persistent and long lasting neuropathies all over the body, some of them very similar to diabetic neuropathies.
We all have been tested negative to all the markers, titers, and so on. Most of the EMGs provide negative results, but not all. When there are only pains, fasciculations, tremors, twitchings, the EMG’S are negative. If there is also strong numbness then they can be positive. The main mechanism and the most difficult to cure is vasculitic. It is the origin of nearly all of our neurological problems.
Our neuropathies are systemic (body) and peripheral. The systemic ones are more asymptomatic, so it is difficult to make a follow up of them but they have enough manifestations to be recognized like intestine spasms (some extremely painful that have made some members to black out), bladder dysfunctions, heart arrhythmias, and the above mentioned central nervous system disorders.
The peripheral neuropathies can be permanent in severe cases. They manifest like pains in hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, wrists, tingling, twitchings, throbbing pains (very characteristic), numbness, fasciculations, etc.
The peripheral neuropathies of the floxies are a common cause of atrophy of muscles, specially quads, peroneal groups, calves, biceps, triceps and hamstrings. The wasted muscles do not support the joints properly, and thus the joint pains increase and lead to overloads in cartilages and other structures, perpetuating the cycle of pain-limitations-more atrophy-more pain-destruction.
Floxies tolerate badly any strenuous exercise. The demand of oxygen in the muscles cannot be matched by the vascular system, and then muscle breakdown leads to great pains some hours after exercise, with increased CPK levels in serum tests for at least one to three days. On the other hand, moderate exercise promotes circulation, improving symptoms slightly.
Peripheric neurological pains at night can be sometimes excruciating, specially after exercise. Adding this to the general insomnia and brain for state, makes life miserable. In other words, this condition is very debilitating. Some fellow members of the FQ group could not bear it any longer and took their lives.
Drug induced vasculitis are frequently recorded in the medical literature. It is common knowledge that they can start months or even years after the discontinuation of the drug. There is no cure protocol, neither any suggestion in order to counteract their negative effects.
The only really helpful recommendations are the following:
avoid any further contact with these drugs
avoid vasoconstrictors
promote vasodilators
avoid any mega doses of vitamins
take some magnesium, calcium
depending on the peripheral neuropathies, take some vitamins of the B group, perhaps benfotiamine to
avoid long term treatments with corticoids. I am not so sure that short treatments should be avoided too
avoid anti-inflammatory (make symptoms worse, that is for sure)
Our needs are to find a scientific research group or a doctor that cares enough and has the determination and funding to conduct a program with some volunteers that may render useful results like:
-way of damage
-a diagnostic method to asses severity of damage
-some suggestions towards speeding recovery
-patterns of conduct for floxies
-recommendations to severely cut down applications of these defective drugs.
Unfortunately, when all these questions are answered, quinolones will be probably out of the market as first line antibiotics, but it will be too late for many of us.
Hi Clare – Can you give me the link to the source for your information on QUINOLONE INDURED NEUROPATHY? I’d like to give this to my doctor who is treating me for anxiety, panic, & insomnia. But he’ll ask for the source. Thanks.
how much magnesium does one have to take and for how long.
Wow, it’s been a month since I was floxied (Cipro), and I’m trying to get on the Facebook Fluoroquinolone Toxicity group. Would you know how long the requests take to get granted?
I’m in Singapore and there seems to be very little support available here. Everything is controlled by the Health Sciences Authority which does not recognize fluoroquinolone toxicity.
It started with my swollen feet and calves and now my shoulders and back, knees and joints hurt. I can’t even hold my mobile phone for too long as that hurts too. All the symptoms low vitamin d, iron, magnesium. Abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Anyone from Singapore who had been floxied too?
Hi Shaun,
The admins of the Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Group send an email to people to make sure that they are aware of the rules of the group. Check your Message Requests folder on facebook to see if they’ve reached out to you.
There are some “floxies” in Singapore who have participated in commenting on this site, and in the Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Group in the past. Most of the activity is in the US, but there are people who have been hurt by these drugs all over the world.
I hope that you are able to get the support you need either online or in person!
Best regards,
Lisa
Hello, can you provide any antibiotic alternatives that are considered safer and non-fluoroquinolones? I have a health situation that will require antibiotic and want to make sure my doctor prescribes me something safe…..
Hi Natalie,
Most people seem to be okay with penicillin, tetracycline, and cephalosporins. https://floxiehope.com/2014/08/08/antibiotics-after-fluoroquinolone-toxicity/
Regards,
Lisa
Lisa, is it typical for the teeth/ears to hurt. I’m not even sure it’s my teeth. The pain moves from side to side and top to bottom.
Hello all,
It’s ok if I take calcium and mag and d for 16 months every day with vitamins C 1000 ?
Hello
Has anybody taken local anesthesia after being floxed? Its my 5th week after being floxed and I can’t even walk without crutches. Even with crutches, I can only take a few steps but I have to first ice and put tighter strechbands around my heel and tendon because as I stand, I feel like I am standing on thousands of needles and don’t feel firmness in my heel. If I don’t put tight bandages, it feels like my heel is just going to burst (I haven’t even dared to try it though but even with bandages it feels this way).
However, I have a cystoscopy (male) scheduled after a week and the doctor is going to push local anesthesia into the gentleman’s part before he can put scope it and take a look at bladder. Would anyone please share their experience, any article, knowledge or anything before I go for it. I am scared but like many have written, doctors have no clue of anything and their thought is ‘local anesthesia’ is not gonna do anything as it is going to wear off….And I am wondering if I should postpone it, cancel it etc etc etc. ANY information would be greatly helpful. I hope people are still reading this page.
Thanks.