My Ciprofloxacin experience. Help?

[Dano3000]

 Recently, I went to the emergency room with, well. Lets just call it man pain. I was diagnosed with epididymitis, and given the antibiotic cipro. The ER doc did not tell me to avoid exercise while on cipro, nor did the nurse when i asked "How long until I can get back on the bike?"
 Instead of my usual biking, I went on hikes and did kettlebell swings one day. Total time on cipro was 3 days.
 I began to deteriorate as if every movement, no matter how small, left permanent damage. At first my knees began to hurt. Then my elbows, shoulders. Then the nerve pain. It started feeling like a million cords all throughout my body were being pulled and twisted and set on fire. Finally, the morning of day three, I questioned my ability to lift my legs out of the shower. It hurt too much. The knives in my knees were getting worse. I felt like like I was 90 years old after 3 days of being on this drug. That, and it didnt help with the original problem at all. I went to a regular doc who looked at me as if I had done something wrong and asked, "Why the **** did they put you on cipro?!?!?" I stopped taking the cipro and have since been put on another antibiotic that is actually doing its job in clearing the infection.
 The pain that cipro has caused is still here, about 5 days after taking my last dose. My whole entire body hurts. My knees hurt, my elbows hurt. Nerve pain in my forearms, back, back of thighs, my right knee is more or less crippled.
 In the span of a week I have gone from a very active 21 year old athlete to a sedentary 90 year old man. This isn't fair.

 I'm really at a loss of what I should do. I have a doc apt. tomorrow morning, but I doubt any more will be said than "Avoid exercise and take painkillers for the rest of your life. Tough shit."
 Any suggestions on what I should do? Any experiences like this to share? I am scared. I am scared shitless, to be honest with you. I do not know if I can live like this. Correction: I know that I cannot live like this. Any help would be appreciated.

[Geronimo8201]

Hang in there, Dano.  While I know absolutely nothing of this drug, I'm sure that it's something that you'll be able to bounce back from this in no-time.  From your stories so far, it seems as if you're a very fit individual and, at your age, your body can recover from almost anything.  You just need to be patient from here on out.  See what your doctor says, get a second opinion, and just work through it.  Watching the olympics this weekend, they covered a story about the gold medal winner of the men's Super G.  About a year ago, he got in an incredibly bad skiing accident, plenty of broken bones, multiple fractures to the face, a concussion...the works.  They didn't think he would ski again for a very long time, but he just couldn't handle sitting around doing nothing anymore.  He made the decision that he was going to ski competatively again and he just appproached his recovery very methodically.  10 months later, he was back on the slopes, more of a powerhouse than ever before.  This weekend, he won gold in the Super G by more than 2 tenths of a second (pretty big gap).  His final line in the story was "it doesn't matter whether it takes you 2 months or 2 years to recover, just as long as you come back to 100%."

So just be patient here, listen to your body, and don't try and rush anything.  You'll get back to 100% if you're smart about this and approach it with the same mental attitude that you have on your bike rides.  Best of luck, man.  Keep us posted.

Geronimo

[Dano3000]

Thanks for the kind words man. Really cheered me up.
So I have an appointment with another doctor this following monday. Nerve pain is a little better today. Knees, hips, and elbows are still f****'d. I'm trying my hardest to just not do a damn thing at work or otherwise to see if my body can just heal. Trying not to worry too much.
I'll let you know what happens monday.

[susan123]

I really agree from dis post..

[Petals]

I am a Cipro victim myself.  We as a group are called "Floxies" because Cipro is an antibiotic in the fluroquinoline category--hence "Floxie".  I, too, experienced a devastating destruction of my body after being on Cipro twice (4 months apart) in early 2008.  I took 22 pills all total. Unfortunately, I have not recovered.  All of my tendons, ligaments, and joints were damaged and I have chronic Achilles tendon pain and micro tearing.  My knees have bursitis flare-ups if I do any kind of minor movement such as air bicycling.  I started to have panic attacks which Cipro can cause.  I have the nerve pain as well.  Try Alpha lipoic acid for the nerve pain.  It works.  Don't take more than 600 mg. daily.  Take a 200 mg. dose three times daily and within a week or so, the pain will subside.  You won't be able to discontinue it, however.  Most main stream doctors won't have a clue about it but it's been in use in Europe for decades and is good for diabetic neuropathy (nerve pain due to diabetes).  Go to MedicationSense.com  to read all about the side effects of Cipro and some suggested treatments.  I can't walk much at all and I used to be a nightly walker.  It's killing me not to be able to do anything.  My spine is so weak that I can no longer lift anything.  I used to be strong and do yard work, etc.  I can't walk up stairs, etc.  Ice helps for the pain too.  I use ice packs in bed also for the Achilles tendons.  I'm older and my body is probably not going to be able to recover but at your age, you should see improvement.   You will have to back off from all exercise while your tendons are painful.  You will only damage them further.  They need time to heal.  I started to walk again in early 2009 and I suffered a complete relapse which has lasted 9 months and counting.  I fear that I will never be independent again.  I must conserve my ability to walk so I use a wheelchair whenever I go out.  I've had bad experiences with doctors.  None know anything about it and they dismiss it out of hand if you try to educate them.  I've been thrown out of a few offices.  I can't get health care where I live.  The doctors have blacklisted me.  They don't like patients who know more than they do or who question them.  I've read extensively on the subject matter.  The FDA knew about the damaging impact of Cipro back in the late 1980's and it was only after they were sued and lost in 2006 that they finally issued a black box warning in 2008 (3 weeks after I had finished my 2nd course of treatment with Cipro!)  Cipro has been used to treat anthrax.  It's probably part of the most powerful antibiotic class on the market and its use should be severely restricted.  I'll check your posts and you can respond to my reply.  Pray that God heals you because nothing else will. 

[Dano3000]

Thankyou so much for the advice Petals, I'll look into the Alpha Lipoic Acid right away. Lately I've just been taking colloidal silver (binds to fluoride, fluoro-(flourinated)-quinolone, should leach any out if its lingering), coq10, msm. I mistakenly tried riding my bike the other day under the presumption that my muscles are fine, thus I am fine. I wish I hadn't done that. Knocked me back to square one.
You are right as far as doctors not giving a shit. I am getting so mad, I am beginning to think doctors are instructed to not give a shit about patients affected by anti-biotics. I don't understand how you can be a doctor, have a 21 year old patient who tells you "I used to be active, I used to ride my bike 45 miles before going to work. I used to lift weights. I loved being able to do things with my body, now I am unable to do anything without severe pain. Please help me, I feel like I am 90." and do absolutely nothing but stare at them like they just dropped their pants and shat in your office.
No "We need to do an MRI", no "When did the pain start?", no "What does the pain feel like?", no "[INSERT EFFORT REQUIRED TO EVEN PRETEND THAT YOU WENT TO SCHOOL TO WEAR THAT WHITE COAT]", there is none of it.
I mention cipro and pain, and the result is always an intense brick wall chiseled with "GET. THE. FUCK. OUT. OF. MY. OFFICE."
None of this is fair.
But dwelling on it like that doesn't do anything but make it worse.

P.S., i totally forgot I was going to update this thread about "what happened monday". Nothing. Got stared at like an idiot when I tried to explain when the symptoms started, how I have read that tendon pain and neuropathy are related to cipro, and how I was unable to walk.
Thinking about it just makes me more angry.

[Geronimo8201]

Looks like you need to try and find some new doctors, man.  Keep your spirits up and just do your best to recover for now.  Your body will recover from this.

[Dano3000]

Thanks Geronimo.
www.certainadverseevents.com will give you a link on youtube to a documentary about the side effects of this drug and the lives it has affected. Please watch it, it also has very interesting info on how the FDA operates and the like.
Finally got an apt. with an ortho specialist. They seemed very willing to see me, and the front desk lady has a son with lupus, which is in itself a very difficult to diagnose problem with a host of nasty medications involved, so I trust that they will be able to help me. Sucks that the apt is on the 14th though.

[Dano3000]

I'm not the first person the ortho has seen with this reaction to quinolones, which is a relief considering everyone else I have talked to has looked at me like an idiot when I mention it. The worst case he has seen took six months to recover. I hope I am better before then, but it is still great to hear that every case hes seen HAS RECOVERED COMPLETELY. It's just a waiting game.
Over last weekend I felt well enough to be active and now I am suffering for it. I almost fell over because of the pain at work today. I haven't been able to work much. Its a matter of time before I'm better. I have to keep reminding myself of that. Just time.
It's hard when your addicted to dopamine and adrenaline, though. I literally have no ideas on how to get my fix without exercising and delaying recovery.
Physical therapy may or may not help. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm worried everything will just fall apart again. Who knows?

Hows your ribs, Geronimo?

[Geronimo8201]

I checked out that youtube link you posted and watched the whole series.  Incredible!  It's just amazing how little these company's care about supplying and prescribing a harmful drug, just as long as it only negatively effects a small "percentage" of people.  What they don't take into account is the fact that a small percentage of a 100 million people is still a big number of people, with real lives, and real pain.  I honestly couldn't believe some of these stories.

When you first mentioned what you were going through I had absolutely no idea that something like this was possible and couldn't even imagine how a simple antibiotic could do this to a person.  After watching these videos, I see that it's a pretty common reaction to have for not just people like me, but actual doctors as well.  There definitely needs to be more awareness about this sort of stuff, especially if the majority of the medical profession is not even convinced that this is a real side effect of the drugs.

Dano, it seems like you just need to take it easy and not push yourself until you're fully recovered.  It seems as if this is something where you can really get yourself in a world of sh*t if you push your body before it's ready to handle any sort of stresses.  It's best to just lay low and get that body 100% before you start exercising again.  Just don't get down on yourself.  This isn't your fault and you just have to be patient with your body.  I know you're seeking your daily adrenaline fix, but you should just put it on hold for a while.  Find stuff to distract yourself in the meantime...a few good books, learn a new language, study some new material, or even go out and buy yourself an xbox or PS3 and just pass the time until your body's recovered, man.  Also, don't cut back on your calorie intake too much.  I know that your initial reaction is to eat a lot less because you're now suddenly sedentary.  But keep in mind that your body requires a lot of calories to repair damage and you're burning a lot more calories than if you were sedentary and uninjured.  Keep feeding nutrients to your tissues.  If you eat good, whole food, you'll be surprised at how little weight you gain.

My ribs are almost completely healed now and I barely feel any pain.  I took it really easy for two weeks and didn't exercise at all.  I then went to the gym on Monday morning of the third week and still felt the pain.  Naturally I figured I'd just push past it, which wasn't a good idea.  Luckily I got hit by a really bad flu that same afternoon, so I didn't couldn't go to the gym for another week and a half.  This was probably the best thing to happen to me, because by the time I was over the flu, the pain in my ribs was almost completely gone.  That rest time was exactly what my body needed and I could go and hit the gym full out without worrying about my ribs.  The pentathlon was actually this past weekend and I placed 11th, just 6 minutes out of the top ten thanks to capsizing my damn kayak and almost losing the boat down the river.  It was a great event and my ribs feel fine.  So even after losing almost 4 weeks of training due to my ribs, I still completed the event and almost made my goal of placing in the top ten, which should be more of a reality next year.

Just hang in there and try to remind yourself that this is just a very short period in your life.  These next 6 months of rest is just a small blip in the timeline of your life, and doing a few hills or bike rides right now is not worth the significant risk of causing your body greater injury that could effect you the rest of your life.  Remember, it doesn't matter how long it takes to recover, just as long as you come back 100%.  Good luck, man.  Keep us posted.

[Dano3000]

Im going to listen to you, Geronimo. This is one of the hardest things I've gone through but I'm going to listen. You're right.
You're story about the flu kind of puts it into perspective. And at least now we know it takes something as big as capsizing a ****ing kayak to keep you one away from your goals. Looking at it like it is, coming out of an injury that big, and having to race through a mishap that big, you must be pretty damn fast
That video scared the pants off of me to, but also made me grateful that I quit taking the garbage when I did. Otherwise it could have been WHEELCHAIR. And if I keep trying to push past it, its going to be WHEELCHAIR. You're right, man, I just need to chill.
Today was the first day I haven't had any pain. None. ~3 months out. Still feel kind of breakable, like if I move or twist something will snap, but I'm not going to move or twist now am I?
I'm going to get better from this.
Thanks for the re-alignment, Geronimo.

[Geronimo8201]

Anything we can do to help, man.  Congrats on the painless day, I'm sure it's like waking up and seeing the sun for the first time.  Hang in there, and when your body's ready for it, go out and destroy the pavement!  Keep us updated with your recovery.

[divingduck]

i use cipro when i got gonore.. and it works fine

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