Can't walk after Trimethoprim

Hi maz68,

A few years ago I had a scarily similar reaction ( you should be able to find my posts under my previous log-in of Rara) to yours. I can say that 3 and a half years on I still get twinges in my left knee/ankle and backache but mainly I am over the worst of it. The hospital referred me to a rheumatologist who told me I had arthritis and they wouldn't believe it had anything to do with Trimethoprim. In the end I had to discharge myself from her 'care' as she wanted to put me on all sorts of pills and potions and I wasn't prepared to risk my health further with more medication.

I wish something could be done about this drug as there are just too many cases and even GP's say it can't be these pills. Well I for one believe otherwise.

I hope you get well soon.

Hi thanks for reply.

I did see your other posts, your story is very similar to mine. I'm certain it is down to the antibiotic but doctors wont admit to it. There is no way i went to bed perfectly active and healthy and woke up with Rheumatoid arthritis. There are too many cases exactly like ours after just one or 2 Trimethoprim, they need taking off the market.

I wen't to see the Rheumatologist and was given Sulfasalazine. I'm really weary of taking any medication now so after looking up the affects of the sulfasalazine i decided not to take any and i'm not going back to hospital again. I've seen so many doctors and not one has admitted it is down to Trimethoprim but none of them has told me i definately have rheumatoid arthritis either.

Since i had Trimethoprim my knee, feet and finger swelled, my white blood cells were double the normal amount and i got a rash on my torso.

3 months on i am walking almost normally again, still a bit of a limp and my feet ache if i stand for long periods of time. My finger is still swollen and i cant bend it. I still cant run and i used to run a lot.

All in all i seem to be getting gradually better without medication.

I hope you continue to improve Rara, and i wish anyone who is given Trimethoprim for a simple UTI could read all these posts first, i certainly wish i had, the last few months have been terrible.

Hi,

I finished taking a 3-day course of Trimethoprim 2 weeks ago and my legs are still like jelly. I can only drive

short distances and as for doing the shopping, forget it! I'm going to get this drug put onto my medical

records as a no-no. I remember as a kid being able to take Amoxyllin no problem but I've heard that you can

develop an allergy at any time.

After the first tablet of Trimethoprim, I developed a pain similar to sciatica in the left leg which I got rid of by

keeping the leg cold. I kept taking the tablets because of a urine infection which cleared up but now I feel

ill - weak all over, a bit breathless, shaky and sensitive to bright light.

Does anybody know how long, if at all, it takes to get back to normal?

Thanks for any replies!

maz68, Sulfasalazine is the drug that I refused to take on the grounds that I would have had to have tri weekly blood tests as it could damage bone marrow (if I can recall correctly - it was 2 and a half years ago, not 3 and a half as I mentioned before). I was concerned that more medication would harm me more than the original 'dodgy' anti biotics. (Also, Sulfasalazine smelt of nail varnish remover and anything that smells that potent can't be good for your body)

When I finally discharged myself from the 'care' of the rheumatologist and went back to my GP to discuss coming off the prednisolone steroids the last thing he said to me as I left his surgery was 'get you and your odd body out of here'. I know this was banter but I was still amazed that no-one I spoke to believed Trimethoprim was the cause for my problems. He did note my records that I was potentially allergic to it but no-one was willing to actually admit that this drug was capable of turning a totally healthy young woman into a cripple overnight.

As you see I still pop on this forum from time to time to see if the posts stopped regarding this drug and maybe it was just me but as I see it still rumbles on.

Hi redshift12, I can't comment on your personal situation but at worst I was bed ridden for 3 weeks, after that it gradually improved with steroids, painkillers etc. However, 2 and a half years on I still get twinges in my left leg and lower back pain.

I hope everyone who has been affected by this drug makes a full recovery.

I wish I could get to the bottom of what is wrong with this drug but I have neither the money nor the time to do so. I did some research when I was off work unable to walk and did find that this is a cheap antibiotic compared to a lot of others, maybe that speaks for itself.

I didn't even open the Sulfasalazine, they expected me to have 6 a day and like you say Rara have regular blood tests to make sure other organs weren't affected which to me sounded worse than the original symptoms. I especially didn't want to take medication for a condition that no one could confirm i had, 2 blood tests showed negative for arthritis.

I still take Diclofenac to keep the pain under control.

Redshift... i was off work for 10 weeks, i couldn't walk for a few weeks and was pretty much housebound, it seems to get easier week after week so hopefully you will improve too.

I know a fair few people who react to that particular antibiotic. Two of those people are my husband and daughter. They just normally end up being violently sick for a few days. But I do hope you get things sorted out soon.

Thanks Linda, this particular antibiotic seems to turn some people in to injvalids. Being sick i could cope with but going from being really active, running 10k and cycling to becoming bed bound needs investigating. I've never had a days illness in my life until i took the first Trimethoprim

It is so wrong that this has happened to you. I am thinking it all these problems were reported direct to the manufacturer either by the prescribing GP or patients themselves then they would have to look into it. There has to be something bad about this particular antibiotic for it to do this to people. I really do think medications should be reviewed periodically to see if problems arise. And they obviously do arise. I wish you well as it really is all I can do for you xx Lin

Hi, Im new to this forum and just had to let you all know that i was given this medication 200mg twice a day for UTI which i don't think i have!! after two days of taking this antibiotics i just couldn't take any more... i had severe cramps in my stomach, fatigue, nausea and severe diarrhoea.. i could only swollow liquids and feel terribly bloated too, i have to force myself to eat.. N

Never again will i take this tablet.

My experience is not as bad as some of those I have read about here but it's early days yet! I was prescribed this drug 4 days ago for a UTI and the day after I started the 3 day course I started to have pain in my knees. Later on I had discomfort in my elbows but it took me until the day they were to be finished to wonder if the tablets could be to blame. I looked at the leaflet which like most drug warnings lists every symptom you could name and then went onto the internet and was troubled by how many people have suffered. I rang one of our doctors and she told me that she did not think it would be the tablets as I have had them before and she had not heard of this side effect. My problem now is in my knees - if I stand for more than a minute the pressure mounts in them as though they are swelling, I am aware that the veins are standing out more than usual and I feel that I am about to get cramp. If I walk about the pain goes and it's getting easier as the day wears on. I have made an appointment to see a doctor because if it isn't the tablets it's something else and I want to know what!

Hi Diane, Yes it's really scary reading all of this. Too much of a coincidence for it not to be anything to do withthis drug. No doctor has ever admitted to me that it could be down to Trimethoprim but i have no doubt.

To put your mind at rest, i have pretty much fully recovered apart from slight ache in leg and back when i

stand for long periods. My foot is a little deformed and so i my index finger which i cant fully bend. I find

exercise helps a lot, the more i cycled the better i got. It did take a long time, about a year to get fully back to

fitness. You do have some symptoms that i had, I hope you feel better soon. please come back on here and let me know how you get on. It makes me angry that no medical professional seems to have picked up on

the problems this nasty cheap drug has caused to so many people.

Thanks Maz.

I went to see my doctor yesterday - he is brilliant and I trust him. He said it certainly seems like a reaction to the tablets but he thinks the pain should stop in a few days or 3 weeks at most. I think it was something that my body decided it just didn't like because, as I have said , I have taken the tablets before without reaction.

There is a really good case for some sort of easily accessible and simple to use national forum where people can note reactions to any drug and for the manufacturers to check on and take note.

I am sure that a lot of people must have reactions to all sorts of drugs and not go on to log their symptoms so a lot goes unreported

It should be possible for doctors surgeries to be able to log customers comments as many people do not have internet access or knowledge

I will never ever take another tablet without first going onto the net to obtain some realistic advise from other users as the warnings on instructions are so copious as to be meaningless.

I will update this with my progress

Hello, if you look at my own blog concerning Trimethoprim you will see the I also had really bad side effects, and 6 weeks later am still not completely better. Good luck to all you others who had different but equally debilitating problems.

HI, luckily, I am OK now. What my doctor said was right for me and the pain went in 3 days.

Unluckily I had been misdiagnosed by the nurse practitioner I saw at the out of hours surgery and a week later I was back there with horrendous back pain.

This time I saw a doctor who said it wasn't a UTI at all and he suspected gallstones I was sent to hospital at once for an ultrasound and am now waiting to have my gallbladder removed - happy days!!!!