Ciprofloxacin poisoning?

I am so glad I found this discussion forum as I have been trying to figure out what is happening to my once perfectly healthy body.  I had a bout of UTI about 2 months ago and went to see a physician assistant in a pharmacy.  I live in the US and since I don't have health insurance it was cheaper to go see there for small health issues.  The PA prescribded to me 3 days (twice a day) of Cipro, it is my first time taking it.  I went to see my GP two days later b/c I wasn't feeling better after taking 4 pills and was afraid it was something other than an UTI.  He told me to finish taking the Cipro and he prescribed me a 7 day course of Bactrim.  I finished the Cipro and took the 14 Bactrim and I felt better afterward.  I didn't have any severe side effects while taking the Cipro or Bactrim.   But I was feeling fatigue all the time and loss of appetite but I attributed that to being sick from the UTI.  Then about a month later I started to feel this minor back pain in my back and feeling dizzy and experiencing vertigo, like I was about to fall or slip whenever I am standing.  The back pain spread to my sides and hips and up my spine, shoulders, down to my legs and my muscles is cramping in all the areas above.  I thought it was a gynecological problem when I got back pains so I went to see my gynecologist and she tested me for several things and they came back negative.  The pain is getting worse and there is tingling in my legs and shoulders are getting worse.  I also get headaches that are sometimes are debillitating.  I made an appointment with my GP to discuss these symptoms, I don't know whether he will believe me if I suggest they are side effects of Cipro.  At this point I am not even sure if they are related to Cipro but before taking Cipro I was a healthy individual full of energy that works out 5 times a week and runs 20 mills a week.  Now I am so tired and in pain all the time I don't want to do anything or go anywhere.  Going to work and being there for 8 hrs a day is already a big enough task for me, luckily my job isn't physical but mental exhaustion is hampering my ability to do my job also.  I just hope this will go away soon and I will get healthy soon again but reading some of your experience on this board I am really scared that the damage is done.  This drug is toxic and posionous and is far more harmful than the symptoms its supposed to treat.  It needs to be banned for good and taken away from patients.  It is scary how little our health care providers cares or knows and we are supposed to rely on these people to stay healthy.  

Hi Mike and All,

Recently I had what is a routine screening for kidney issues (very small stones that formed), to additionally check my bladder. After a cystoscopy, I was given only one tablet Cipro, 500 mg.  I was not taking any other medication before or after the procedure.

This was given to prevent infection, as it often is used for by urologists, since one of the uses specifically targets urinary tract infections.

I was shocked by what happened after taking this. Within a few hours (early evening) my head was in a fog. I couldn't easily move up stairs (it felt like my

kness had weights attached to them). By the next morning after sleeping, I couldn't

move off my bed, having excruciating pain in my knees.

I very slowly had to bend my knees until I could even get up.  I'm female, and had been intensely athletic in the past (not currently), surfing, weight lifting, running, skiing, etc. I never have had any type of pain or stiffness like this, and lesser pain than this only if I had injury or extreme overworking to cause it. Even a car accident  I was once in, didn't cause pain to my knees like this. 

I also have a naturally very high pain threshold, and a higher one due to my body's 'learned' ability to tolerate pain, having been so physically active. 

Easily attributing both issues to the Cipro, I did some reasearch on reactions, finding posts from both patients and doctors alike.  It was frightening how many people posted very negative side effects (even months and years after taking the drug).

(Risk of tendon tears, leg/ankle problems and other such issues are side effects known and listed by the drug manufacturers). However my experience, is that incapacitating effects are evidently overly quick in appearing, even ingesting a small amount of the drug.

 

I found an antidote online (from a physician) listed as magnesium as well as one other element recommended. 

Not being a lover of medication or tablets, I ate as much spinach, avocado and 

bananas per day as reasonable to get into my body. After a few days to a week, I started to get better and eventually the symptoms went away.

I am 100% certain that this drug is dangerous to the point of being deadly.

In the U.S. the Federal Drug Administration has issued some warnings, but not enough to take it off the market. I will be vesting a complaint.

Drug companies and doctors are in cahoots, pharmaceuticals are a vastly big business, and every pateint is a guinea pig in some way.

To use this type of devastating drug for preventative use, is nothing short of 

negligence, when there are so many other choices for antibiotics that seem nowhere as dangerous (including broad spectrum antibiotics).

I hope my experience and what I uncovered in research re: antidote, may help some of you out there.

I obviously will never take this drug again and don't think anyone else should be. The risks seem to far outweigh the benefits. Would love to see this drug removed from the market and anyone whom has had a bad reaction should report it, so that it can be considered for removal. 

 

Hello Everybody

I took Cipro on mid June and it didn’t hit me then except minor bruising on my under arm .But then after a month I started feeling pain on my legs ,then shoulders and recently(after almost 3 months) I feel pain on my small joint of wrists, hands, feet, fingers etc. I am sick worried if I have rheumatoid arthritis or it is Cipro post side effects?

Does anybody know if the symptoms can wait that long to appear and be progressive after or it is probably rheumatoid arthritis?

The problem is it is progressive and gettign worse after 3 months...this is the crazy part...

Thanks

Sarah

Hello Everybody

I took Cipro on mid June and it didn’t hit me then except minor bruising on my under arm .But then after a month I started feeling pain on my legs ,then shoulders and recently(after almost 3 months) I feel pain on my small joint of wrists, hands, feet, fingers etc. I am sick worried if I have rheumatoid arthritis or it is Cipro post side effects?

Does anybody know if the symptoms can wait that long to appear and be progressive after or it is probably rheumatoid arthritis?

The problem is it is progressive and gettign worse after 3 months...this is the crazy part...

Thanks

Sarah

I cannot know, of course, but I'd say its the Cipro....I made the mistake of taking it again for an abscess tooth (which I have to save up $$ to have taken care of...unfortunately, I live in the US and am one of the 50 m still not covered) with an NSAID (my dentist told me it would b eok, but, then, he wants that $5000 for a 3 tooth bridge, doesnt he?) and starting throwing up last night, horribly.(I have an ostomy, so I have to watch for dehydration, but, my surgeon---the only one who would do it with charity care---lives 5 hrs away) They list diarrhea as a side effect, but it has always made me constipated...so, naturally, I took Senna, woke up with a fever, so I thought I should take the Cipro and NSAID again (how dumb am I? But, we are taught to trust these folks), with a Tums (before reading that Cipro is not to be taken with calcium)-I called the dentist, who, naturally, said that the fever I now have (did NOT have before) is caused by the tooth (round and round we go)-I am just (literally) sick to death of it (well, not quite, yet...but the night is young!)...I am throwing up again, and, in the US an Emergency room visit can cost upwards of $300, plus, wait times in the city are sometimes 4-6 hrs....

Whatever you do, UK, do NOT let PM Cameron jack around with your "most equal in the world" (and, from what I hear, it really is...) helath care SYSTEM (we have no system at all here!). Cipro was "invented" in the US by the same money-grubbing corps that gave penicillan to pigs and chickens, making more dangerous antibiotics, like Cipro, necessary.

I have considered moving to Denmark (I have some second gen. family there) just to be sure that I won't die in some for-profit ER due to the extremely uneven "helath care" here in the US....Cipro acts like poison, and, I say, it is...it will prob be long after we are gone when the manuf finally admits to it, tho....so sorry to those who lost loved ones....

Yes, I have not been able to work! I hope something could happen in the UK, as it is so hard to do anything related to health care here, maybe UK can tell the world? just hoping....

I was prescribed Cipro a little over a year ago, for a severe kidney infection.  I went back to a 24 hour emergency clinic within 3 days to beg for a different antibiotic.  Almost right away, I felt HORRIBLE.  The abdominal pain had changed to nausea, vomiting, severe anxiety, leg pain, breathing issues, etc.  I couldn't sleep, I was seeing things, scared to fall asleep.  I literally thought that I was losing my mind.  I felt so bad, I thought that I was dying on top of that.  As soon as I got the new prescription, all of those things stopped.  I started to feel 100% better.  I will never be able to explain why I had such a severe reaction.   When I told  other people about my experience, they had nothing but positive things to say about it, nothing but great results.  All I know is, I will NEVER take it again, and I will try to encourage my family and friends to avoid it, at all costs! 

what can we do? I am in US and all the settlements have been "out of court" (par for the course here, no one cares, unless it effects them) I made the mistake of listening to doctors and friends, telling me "cipro is fine"--I took it again and all the same problems came back...I have permanent floaters and flashes now and I didn't even wear glasses before...I now have a "bad leg" and I cannot exercise....it is horrible, as you all know

It has been a year since I have been on this forum - I have been reading through the posts and would like to say I am sorry I missed this discussion and have not received my messages until just now. I am still suffering from the effects of Cipro and Levaquin and it has been 11 years now - I recently started consulting with an herbalist and have received more help in the past six months than I have in the last 10 1/2 years with doctors. She has educated me so much and I am actually feeling much more normal. I would like to add that I was diagnosed with premature cataracts 7 months ago and want to encourage all of you to take precautions to possibly prevent this from happening to you. Start taking a good eye supplement. I wish I had known earlier on to check for any deficiencies and embalances and address those issues along the way. Please check for any deficincies in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes both digestive and systemic, check for embalances such as hormonal and glandular - check for heavy metal toxins such as mercury. Adrenal fatigue can really make you feel bad and cause fatigue and even chronic bronchitis. I wish one of my doctors had checked me for these things in the past 10 1/2 years. It took an herbal pharmacist to show me the proper path to recovery - better late than never I suppose.

Hi all.    

I was prescribed ciprofloxcian some 20 months ago. I was unaware of any other choice of medication but foolishly trusted my doctor, after taking them for 5 days I had severe pains in my legs so I immediately contacted my G.P who insisted that no matter what pain I had don't stop taking the tablets until the course was complete.

This has proven to be the worst mistake of my life.  

3 months off work with incredible pain in both legs and only returning to work part time for financial reasons with the advise from my gp to take ibuprofen to help with the pain, the amounts I had to take was 1000mg 3 times a day just to work (this I was told was safe as long as my stomach could handle it) But the pain meant I would need the following day of work to recover enough to go back the following day.

    This went on for some time before I pushed my g.p to get me in to see a spacialist at the norfolk and Norwich hospital.   After various tests I was told they could find nothing wrong and could do nothing to help.     The frustration this caused led me to find this site some 6 months ago, so I sent the hospital specialist the link for him to check out.........the reply I received was that he categorically would not link my pain to ciprolfloxacin. (Before this I went to the gym 2 times a week and my job was carpentery and roofing so it kept me in shape)

i have my own company and a family so I constantly have to push through the pain to work and survive in life but more recent devolpments have raised my concerns over my shoe size drooping from a 10 u.k size to a 7 uk size with my hands shrinking in length by over 1/2 inch.   This made me decided to return to my new G.P to get this checked out.   

More blood tests and the same answer........"everything is normal and you will just have to put up with the pain" ..........nothing flipping wrong ......what is it with the cover up or denials of the nhs......pain for nearly 2 years in my legs spreading to my hands and now my feet and hands have shrunk....... Pretty normal my a.rse.

yet they told me to stop smoking for health reasons and would get me help lol guess that's a bit more easy for the nhs rather than solving something different. !

 

Hi Mike, 

i am having a really bad time, loads of tests, to find out what is wrong with me, however at new year I took Ciprofluxacin for 3 days & was on high dose ibuprofen after an op, I now having pins & needles everywhere, sweating on &doff throughout the day & total insomnia, now on sleeping tablets, loads of blood tests show nothing, had an endoscopy, & CT scan tomorrow, I feel I am going mad, I have 'lost' myself & I have 3 children living at home my youngest is only 13' & I haven't been mum for 3 months, pleas tell me how you are doing? Have you recovered?