Taken Cipro Over 50 Times

My name is Susan Sandberg and I am (was) a healthy 66 year old woman. All of my life I have been afflicted with frequent UTIs--no matter the holistic and medical things I tried--all the teas, the cranberry tablets, extra cleanliness measures, etc, etc, etc--I still got them with great frequency (I am also not sexually active--a frequent causation for women), at least 4-5 times a year, sometimes more. I am allergic to sulfa drugs (a simple and harmless cure for UTIs), so my "only alternative", according to my doctors, was Cipro. Let me point out that in me, a UTI means searing, fiery pain that is debilitating--nausea, fevers, and sweats--the only thing I could do is sit and rock back and forth, holding my lower belly, moaning and crying. NO TREATMENT EXCEPT ANTIBIOTICS WOULD RID ME OF THE INFECTION. Every. single. time. One urologist (I've been to many) actually put me on a low dosage of macrobid for a year...no infections that whole year, and for 7 years after!!! But they returned with a vengeance, to say the least. I never found another Dr who would do that for me again. In trying to figure this math, I did a rough count of just the last ten years--and my estimation is that I took a full course of Cipro at least 50 times in those years. This is NOT an exaggeration, and may indeed be low. 

Believe it or not, I did not notice any effect until the last 2-3 years...except for being overweight, I was an active, always-moving teacher. Then...I began to experience terrible pain in my joints--especially my arms between the shoulder and elbow, my hips, and my legs. I had (have) almost complete exhaustion--by the time I got ready for work, I was so tired it took a huge act of sheer will to go out the door. And to me, the worst of all is this: I cannot walk!!! I can make it for say 300 feet--and then I literally collapse onto the ground like a drunk monkey. I have twice gone to the floor in airports--so embarrasing, everyone assumes you are intoxicated when this happens! Of all these awful things, that one distresses me the most. (Never had alcohol in my life, or smoked.) It was awful--and I went from Dr to Dr to discover the cause; not to mention I had every medical test known to mankind at least twice--and they all came back normal. Over and over I heard this: "Susan, there's nothing wrong with you. I suggest a good therapist." Be aware that I am almost fearless about pain--three ten-pound babies with no pain relief of any kind, I walked around with a broken back from a fall on the ice for three weeks (L2 broken clean through, both sides) before I finally got it diagnosed and repaired--and for those of you who say "that's impossible", you'd be wrong--you can do it, if you're willing to ignore a crap-load of pain. That's only the start, really. Seriously, I'm a legend at my doctor's office. So don't tell me I'm "imagining things". I am trying so hard to live a normal life--this forced me into retirement but I still try to stay very busy with church work and service. Now I'm at a standstill--my family is impatient with my "constant complaining"--they all beleive if the Drs say there's nothing wrong with  you, then there ISN'T. They are nice to me but I'm being avoided. I'd avoid me too, if I could. I know it is the Cipro that has done this to me...I have not one shred of doubt, and after reading many of these stories that happened from one dose, I'm surprised I'm alive. I think my GP believes this; she's just doesn't know what to do. It feels good jut to be able to say this...thanks for listening. 

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