are all my symptoms side effects of ciprofloxacin? any experience?

Yes doctor has diagnosed tendonitis in right heel but assures me it will fix itself in no time with rest. I was warned this was a side effect but the doctor who prescribed it reassured me chances of a healthy 25 year old developing it is highly unlikely.

My partner works a lot so I'm not gonna get much chance to rest or wallow in self pity for long with two young children. I'm not quite sure my partner actually believes all this can come from antibiotics.

You've given me hope knowing things will improve, thanks for the help.

Hi Emma

To me it seems as though the GP is taking the tendonitis a bit too lightly. As a pharmacist we have always been told to counsel a patient to stop taking a quinolone antibiotic (such as ciprofloxacin) if symptoms of tendonitis develop because of the risk of tendon damage. Agree with the above comment to avoid anti-inflammatories for the time being.

Tarun (hospital pharmacist)

Tarun- what is your knowledge around mitochondria? I'm trying to undo all the effects these tablets gave gad on me naturally. After a bit of research it would seem the drug has the ability to change dna of the mitochondria cell and this is what can cause intolerances and other affects such as gi problems or joint pain?

I've approached pharmacist s and excuse me for saying this but don't seem to know a great deal about interactions if the drug. I was even told to take ibroprofen by one gp!!.

If I tailor my diet to the repair of these particular cells un your opinion do you believe this will help?

Chris

Tauran I insisted recently on a kidney and liver test as I wanted reassurance they've nit been damaged. Both have come back within range. Surely I should be able to take comfort this?? Or can damage be caused further down the line??

Any advice (from a professional) wiuld be greatly appreciated.

Emma also worth mentioning that tendon damage caused by quinolones is different to that of a normal case of tendinitus. This is because its thought the drug itself attacks and alters dna in our cells which breaks down collagen and connective tissues. Therefore shouldn't be treated in the same way as tendinitus caused by overuse injuries. Effectively the damage is already done now. Start to eat extremely healthy cut out anything that depletes magnesium such as alcohol, stress, other medications, and hopec

That things will get better with time.

Rest/ice will not necessarily work.

If your kidney and liver function tests have come back normal then you can be very re-assured !

As for the previous post, ciprofloxacin and other quinolones (and indeed antibiotics in general) work because they target bacterial cells rather than human cells. Antibiotics are designed to target differences between human cells and bacterial cells otherwise they would be useless drugs because they would cause too much damage to humans. Ciprofloxacin targets an enzyme that is ONLY present in bacteria. I'm not entirely sure what effects if any it has on human cells - I would leave this to researchers to be honest ! When you start doing trials and studies at this level it becomes near impossible to prove a specific effect of a drug on the body based on lab tests.

Hi Emma

My story is written on another discussion here called 'Ciprofloxacin Poisoning?' but I would just like to add, that I was first affected by Levofloxacin (same group of Fluoroquinolone antibiotics as Cipro) 9 months ago, and I literally couldn't walk for nearly 5 months and was in severe pain. The good news is that now I have improved hugely. I still have pain in all the affected tendons and can't walk for too long but things are so much better.

I agree all that Chris above, has said and wouldn't bother doing the rounds of many medical specialisms. I am not a doctor but from my research on Fluoroquinolones, which has been quite extensive, I don't believe there is any quick fix and you do have to take care for a few months yet, that you don't put too much strain on your tendons (especially the large ones) because of the risk of rupture. As Chris says, Collagen is destroyed and doesn't actually regrow exactly the same as before the toxic effect - because the DNA strands are damaged.

The reason why this particular group of antibiotics causes so many problems is that it penetrates more deeply than others and doesn't only attack bacterial cells, contrary to what Tarun says, I'm afraid.

I would also strongly urge you to get your GP to mark your notes in bold, that you must never be given another Fluoroquinolone!

I wish you a speedy recovery........everyone else too.......

Very warm wishes

Plodding on

PS. I forgot to say, that there are a couple of good, closed groups, for people affected by FQT but they have to be accessed via Facebook. There is a wealth of information there but you must take care not to freak yourself out.....it's easily done!

There is also a very comprehensive list of all the Fluoroquinolones and their brand names on the Quinolone Vigilance Foundation site.

Plodding on

Tarun, if what you're saying is accurate, then how is it that a side effect of the drug is able to penetrate tendons and cause ruptures/tendinitus/periphial neuropayhy amongst many other side effects? All antibiotics not inly wipe out bad bacteria but also the good as well which is why you should also take a prebiotic whilst taking them?. I'm not a trained pharmacist but I'm sure that is common knowledge. The people that I've had contact with are all in professional positions, teachers, it consultants and myself in professional banking so I can't believe why medical staff still to this day will find it difficult to believe thats its affected us all in the same way. I'm not interested about placing blame - I'm passed that, I just need to understand whats been damaged so I'm able to put things right and concentrate on getting backbto normal.

As all my blood tests have come back normal uts difficult for me to prove anything anyway, and believe me if u pursue this its likely that you'll be treated like a hypochondriac. Better just get on with and hope that you'll body will recover through a nutritious diet and exercise.

Chris

Fluoroquinolones can penetrate any cell, organ, all soft and connective tissues, cross the blood-brain barrier and can cause a myriad of known side effects, which can and do (very often) cause systemic damage; often occurring as delayed adverse reactions. It is the fluoride molecule (sometimes more than one molecule of it) that allows such deep penetration. There are warnings in the doctor/patient literature about the many and varied side effects and that some of the damage is permanent. This is fact and there are also clear statements sent out by MHRA (these are readily available on the site for all to read) that these antibiotics should never be give as a first line defence but only if other antibiotics have failed.

Although my blood tests didn't show anything unusual, the Ultrasound on my Achilles tendons and feet did show damage and I was asked if I was a regular serious walker or went running........I have never done either and so the damage was attributed to the Quinolone.

Plodding on

Plodding on - what course of treatment was given to the recovery of your achilles tendons? Or what were u advised to do to aid recovery?.

Also what are your symptoms? I just ache around my ankle achilles area, it doesn't stop me from walking/swimming/cycling but it is constantly there.. also they ache by thw end of the day. Therws no stiffness, theyre not aesnsitve to touch or painful just achey. Is that similiar to you.

I won't be pursuing this any further through rheumatologist though as I don't want people thinking I'm juat making this up and by all accounts I just want to get on with life..

Hi Chris.

My symptoms with the tendons, sound like yours are at the moment - lots of aching, especially by the evening. At first the pain was horrendous and I couldn't even lift my feet off the floor; I could only shuffle (luckily I have wooden floors). Both Achilles and all the tendons round my ankles plus under and across my feet were affected and I could only lie there, with my legs wrapped in wheat bags that were heated regularly in the microwave and I took (still do) liquid morphing for the pain.

I saw a musculoskeletal specialist! who sent me to a physiotherapist. He gave me exercises to do with Resistance Bands but these made my knees hurt and the pain afterwards was really bad. He did say it would take months of physio but in the end, after discussing it with my GP, I stopped going, because the Physio was setting me completely unrealistic goals. My GP felt, as I did; that I knew my own body and I could do gentle stretches and heel lifts but slowly. I have been recovering myself really, without doing anything specific. I have been told that Physios who have had no experience of this unique type of tendon damage, should be avoided, as they don't understand that it is unlike a repetitive strain or sport's injury, as the breakdown of the collagen is all over the tendon and that it's a case of gently trying to help the collagen repair faster than it breaks down. The action is like a cascade throughout the body and it's ongoing, as opposed to stopping once the drug has left the system - it never actually does.

Sorry, I've banged on a bit here.......I've heard swimming is good but I can't do that as I have other health issues that prevent me. I do believe that slowly slowly is the way, with much care.

Plodding on