Floxing Puns

How is this done?

I’ve taken 4 rounds of Cipro in my life for food poisoning (once in 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017). At the end of the last round I started feeling insanely bloated and experiencing lots of GI issues that have plagued me since. But it wasn’t until 2019 that things started getting really bad. It started slowly with right arm pain and numbness, which led to the other arm, pins and needles feelings in my feet, sharp pain in my spine, neck stiffness, and back spasms, along with depression and insomnia (a guy who has always been very positive and never had trouble sleeping). Saw every type of specialist (neuro, GI, rheum) who all told me I was fine. My doctor gave me a prescription for Valium, which certainly muted all of these symptoms, allowed me to sleep, and has kept me functional. But I am also just realizing benzos are likely contraindicated and will/have presented an obstacle to healing. Now in late 2021 I am experiencing extreme spasms, twitching in my calves and recently pain and burning in my Achilles. This last symptom seems to me like absolute confirmation that I have been floxed, but am interested in the opinion of other floxies.

It has taken me a long time to put 2 and 2 together and understand that my 2017 prescription could be related to these crippling symptoms I started experiencing over 2 years later. And now the Achilles pain! I’m in a dark place and need some optimism that I can turn this ship around.

What do you all think?

I was floxed 4 months ago after 8 levaquin pills for food poisoning. I was a lurker from google but I decided to make my account to post on this wonderful community. I have body wide tendonsosis on almost every tendon on my left side. Numbness is present on my right side, The fat padding in my hands and feet is gone and the veins are obvious. Fat padding on knees and elbows is gone. Plz can someone help because I have a wife and family to look after. The tendonitis makes it hard for me to work. Thank you for reading this post.

I've been meaning to do this writeup for a while but I just tried working out (if you can call it that) for the first time post-floxxing and it didn't go overly well and that really prompted me to put all this to paper. Let me preface all of this and say don't take any of this as medical advice, do your own research, and every person is different. I just want to share my story and what helped/hurt me so that maybe some other can avoid some of the same pitfalls.

TLDR : Keto/Paleo diet, CoQ10, Tumeric, D3, Magnesium, self-affirmation -> good.

NSAIDs , flouride, carbs, alcohol, caffiene, stress, blaming yourself -> bad

Dose : Levafloxin -> 8 pills (1 a day for 8 days).

Symptoms : Severe gut pain (stopped upon discontinuing Levafloxin) Bi-lateral achilles cramps / pain / feeling like they were ready to snap Peripheral neuropathy (more prevalent in arms than legs but present in both) Stomach ulcers (unsure if truly caused by floxing itself or by stress but either way...) Some insomnia Stabbing pain that seemed to appear randomly and last for 4-7 days that seemed to radiate from a tendon or muscle (inner thigh a couple times, chest cavity a couple times, arms once) Light sensitivity (my computer monitors are set to about 30% brightness now and sometimes that's even too bright) Heart Palpitations (solved with the addition of salt pills 4 times per day : more a result of a low-carb diet but definitely seems to be made worse by floxing.) A whole host of mental battles

Medications to avoid post-floxing: Was trying to think of how best to order the sections and felt this one absolutely needed to be near the top because both of these caused severe issues for me. NSAID's : As I mentioned earlier, everyone is different and do your own research but for me; I took 4 ibprofuen over the course of 3 days about 3 months post-floxing and it re-triggered my symptoms like they were back to day 1. I was back to being completely unable to walk again for days. The research I have found is that NSAID's contain a similar molecular structure to floroquins and can cause another flox-like attack after floxing. That was definitely my experience. Flouride : Flouride did something similar though not on the same scale as NSAID's did for me. I got the attack after going to the dentist for a cleaning and my research lead me to flouride being another thing to avoid (honestly just for all people in general, but especially for floxies). I hav

Hi, I’ve just remembered that when I had covid-19 I had exactly the same symptoms as I’ve had after cipro. I remember feeling the same head pressure, irritability, GI issues, nausea, tinnitus, vertigo. It went as soon as I recovered. After cipro, I had these same symptoms but they lasted a lot longer. What is the mechanism behind all of this?

After watching this video I have become very intrigued in regards of similarities between Long Covid, MCAS and our experience. https://youtu.be/sICD0Kn6pR4 What do you guys take of this?

So my last flare lasted for a day to remind me not to push myself too much. I worked out too much over 2 days and I had some muscle pains that reminded me of my bad floxing days.

That was 4 days ago and since the flare ended. Since then I felt 💯 recovered and completely forgot about floxing till tonight when I had some floxies reach out to me.

I was like "oh yeah I'm floxed"

I think this is mainly down to the fact that I've trained my mindset to go on autopilot with flox related pain.

I think "ok this is painful but I can't do shit about it part from take things easier and work through the pain"

It's become so automatic now I barely notice when I'm switching my mindset due to my floxing flaring up!

I'm reading so many positive posts in here with people documenting good recoveries ❤️❤️❤️

Keep up the good work everyone, stay strong and as always I wish each and everyone of you a fast and full recovery ❤️❤️❤️

Edit: sorry for my poor English, I was super tired when I wrote this lol

Today has been my worst floxing day so far. Not because of the pain or even the symptoms but it has hit me how limited I truly am.

Today we went to the Zoo for my wife's birthday knowing there are benches and places for me to sit when ever I needed to since walking is still a struggle for me and I'm taking it slow and steady.

So today was the first real family day we had and our family days are full of being very active and loads of walking! So it was a massive shock to me how little I can still do without truly needing to sit down and rest my legs/tendons.

The main shock for me is how tiring it was to do today. I just felt like I wanted to nap after just an hour of being there and I didn't even walk that much. This is nothing like I was before. Made me feel a little sad.

That being said I had a freaking fantastic day. My family had an amazing day and I've got one VERY happy wife. We all had so many fun times were we got to joke around and just laugh.

The weather was stunning and the mood was wonderful. Yes floxing has taken a lot from me BUT it has left me with so much to be grateful for. Still being able to be apart of the love and fun times with my family is a blessing from God.

I get to hug and enjoy time with my son. I get to have struggles and I can still be a supportive husband to my wife.

I've let all the anger and frustration go and trying to enjoy every single moment I can in the day.

I don't think I've ever loved being alive more than I do right now. I truly believe you can find meaning in suffering and the meaning I've found is to be the best husband and father I can be ❤️

So, I was prescribed some antibiotics a while back, maybe three or four months ago now because of a problem I had with my stomach, surprise, surprise, they had some flox thing in it, forgot what the meds were called though, only took one or two pills, I forgot. I watched a video from Scare Theatre about fatal insomnia and floxing, before ignoring this, please keep reading....I’ve pushed the video out of my mind since then until recently, I’ve been getting very weird and vivid dreams as of late, like, extremely vivid dreams and been slowly losing sleep or waking up every other hour or so. Today I’ve only had one hour of sleep, I feel horrific, disconnected from reality a bit.....I’m not tired. My eyes do feel heavy, I think but, I’m not tired. I’m probably being paranoid but, I’m not sure. I haven’t had something like this happen before. I should also mention I’ve been getting hallucinations as well, both audible and visual. I’m really scared and I’m not sure if it’s just insomnia or something worse related to the meds I took. I don’t know what to do.. Edit : I took some medication for sleep and I hope this’ll help for now. Edit 2: sorry if I waste anyone’s time with this, I can’t think and my brain is just fogging up at this point.

I just wanted to post my random thoughts on how I've dealt with my floxing as I believe maybe others can relate somewhat to it.

Floxing has without a doubt turned my world upside down. It has left me with a very limited life compared to my pre-floxing life. I'd say I'm running at about 40% of my normal self in terms of abilities and strength. I believe that I may have somewhat underplayed how painful my floxing is and how it has limited what I can do and how much enjoyment I can now get from things which I once loved very dearly such doing 40/50 mile cycle rides.

All that said I am still VERY much enjoying my life. I have learnt to live in the moment and enjoy every special moment I have in my day. Floxing has forced me to live in the here and now in a way I've never done before. It has made me unbelievably grateful for the pain free times I have were I can almost forget that I am a floxie.

I feel blessed for every day that I have with my 2 year old son. He brings me more love and joy than any amount of floxing could over shadow. I enjoy all the things that I can still do with him such has have him sat on my lap while we watch the sea and play our pulling silly faces games which we both love.

I'm learning the limits of my new body and I'm moving forward very slow and steady but I'm refusing not to live. I will live every day and NOTHING will stop me. I am not a floxie, I'm just someone who got floxed and it is just part of my life! No matter how bad things get I will never allow being floxed to be my life ever again.

Having this mind set has allowed me to feel blessed for every day that I have, it has made me bath in the sunlight on a beautiful Spring day and embrace the sun as it kisses me warmly on my face.

I believe that maybe I've only just started really living at the age of 38? who knows? But all I can say is that even though I'm not happy about being floxed, I am VERY happy with my life and grateful for the special things that life keeps giving me throughout the day.

Stay safe everyone, I hope each and everyone of you has a fast and full recovery!

Are there people out there who have healed 100% and recovered and moved on with their life? Or do they always think about being floxed?

Hey guys. I’ve been a floxie for about 18 months after receiving a 4 week course of cipro 500mg twice daily for prostatitis last June/July.

Like many I was pretty fit and healthy prior with no past medical history of note. I was 41 when floxed.

So I’ve made a lot of progress since then. I initially had really bad pain, burning, sore joints, fog, anxiety, flashers, tinnitus etc but mostly that has subsided and I am very nearly back to “normal”.

Some things have persisted though. Notably a bit of fatigue that gets worse with exerting myself either physically or mentally. I can deal with that though, it’s a pain but it’s manageable just with a bit of pacing, making sure I sleep properly etc

I do have ongoing neuropathy though. It’s mainly in my legs now below my knees. It’s there most of the time to a low degree, sometimes it’s almost not noticeable. However it will flare up pretty regularly where it becomes uncomfortable.

Was wondering what people though about this? Any hope for ongoing healing at this stage?

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question. But I started wondering when it would be safe to exercise again. Obviously I can't right now as I am having new tendon issues almost daily, and I'm only like 2 months out or a tad less. But I'm doing things to hopefully help prevent and repair damage.

I am just curious when is the damage "done"? I know tendon ruptures and things like that are common for months, or even more than a year out. But how much of that is just a continuation/exacerbation of damage that was done earlier? How long are MMPs upregulated from floxing? What about all the other issues that contribute to tendon degradation?

I know there probably isn't a good answer to this question. But I wanted to hear some input by people who are more knowledgeable than me.

What’s the opinion on this. I feel fine but I don’t wanna so to say rekindle the fire by taking an NSAID, however, I am in pain.

I have read people aging fast from floxing getting wrinkles and white hairs, and the treatment dr.G in Hollywood uses is anti aging vitamin Drips. Do we know why?

Did it age you? So far I feel my age but I don’t know I’m still new to floxing. I’ll update you all if I become old. This drug is fucked Up

So after having some blood work done (Vitamin D was still a little low, calcium, and thyroid is good) and waiting to have one more blood panel next week to rule out Lupus (he wants to make sure I didn't have a false negative, this was pre-floxing), my doctor believes my floxing may have triggered or flared Fibromyalgia. Looking back, it's very possible I may have had Fibro for some time and it wasn't diagnosed because it was really mild so I don't know that I can pinpoint it precisely to the floxing. I do believe, at the very least, it has caused an extreme flare. I wake up stiff, aching joints and muscles, and with some moderate fatigue. I've really been feeling it this week after returning to work (from home) and on the computer for long periods of time.

It seems some of the treatments for floxing and Fibro overlap, but I'm just curious if others have dealt with this as well.

If you needed surgery that wasn’t related to our issues with fluoroquinolones. How did you do? Did you have to specify what anesthesia or antibiotics or pain meds that needed to be on? Did you seem to heal normally? I may need a surgery done and I’m petrified that I’m may have a relapse or no heal the right way.

There aren’t a lot of 100% recovery stories on the internet, reason for that is not because people don’t recover 100% it’s just most people either move on with their lives and forget about it, and some don’t want to be reminded of traumatic event. I am now 100% recovered and I feel and look better than before the floxing. My healthy lifestyle, positive thinking avoiding stress is what helped with my recovery. It was hard at the start of the floxing, but I’m happy to report I’m stronger and healthier than ever before.

My symptoms were similar to a lot of people on here. I had nerve damage, tendonitis throughout my arm, finger, wrist pain, Achilles pain, joint pain and cracking, muscle twitching, dizziness, eye pain, crying uncontrollably. , anxiety, insomnia, dry skin, hives fatigue.

All These sudden symptoms combined plus worrying about the unknown made me depressed for months. I am now 100% recovered. (Thank you Jesus) I think I could’ve recovered sooner if I came to my senses sooner, and didn’t waste my time being stressed.

If you just found out you got floxed you most likely feel Fear and anxiety, that is completely normal.

Reading about floxing online will make you spiral out of control mentally, it did to me. Learn from me and don’t make the same mistakes I made. You need to realize that What happened to you has already happened. The best thing you can do is calm yourself. Being in anxiety mode will cause your symptoms to feel way worse than they actually are.
Your mind has huge Influence over your body.

Don’t focus on how you got floxed for no reason, how your doctor was ignorant, or how you made the mistake of taking the antibiotics. Don’t read the angry and horrifying stories of others. It doesn’t benefit you. Focus on yourself. LET THE ANGER, AND REGRET GO NOW...

Only you have the power to heal yourself. Self care is important for floxing, and if you’re not mentally strong you can’t take care of yourself good physically. It is important to have a positive mindset and believe that you can heal.

MY ADVICE FOR YOU

1. Keep moving

Being bedridden and resting too much will cause you additional problems you don’t need . Including blood clot, fatigue, pressure sores.

The more you rest the more you’re at high risk for developing osteoporosis and having a fracture.

You can lose 1 percent of your lean muscle mass each day you spend in bed. Spending 3 weeks immobilized can lead to a 50 percent decrease in muscle stre

I was recently looking up videos about benzo withdrawal, mostly out of boredom. I found this guy: https://youtu.be/A55NRkSv8cc ...and flipped when he talked about healing gut and food sensitivities! he was also diagnosed with SIBO, ebv, lyme etc. That sounded very familiar. then i went on benzobuddies, and searched for the floxing symptoms. Whatever I typed in the box, a few topics popped up. Hyperacusis, Raynauds, SIBO, MCAS, POTS, tendonitis, dry eyes and mouth... It also turned out that floxie protocols are nearly completely copied from... 'benzies' lol. I then suspected that many fqt symptoms are caused by malfunctioning damaged nerves. Then, for example, if someone tells me to heal the gut, should I focus on the flora or the 'gut brain', the numerous nerve endings in my intestines? So, that was a stunning observation for me :/ 'benzies' seem to get these severe symptoms after chronic use and then quitting cold turkey... we needed a few pills.

One year ago today I began exhibiting floxing symptoms, three days after starting a round of Cipro for a post-surgery infection. I’m happy to say I’m mostly better today, and wanted to share some hope, especially for those recently floxed.

I really did try to keep this short, but that’s near impossible when there’s so much to share about your experience.

Background: I was a healthy 30 year old when I was floxed. In fact, I was in the best shape of my life and eating healthier than I ever had.

Initial floxing: Before I started on Cipro, I was experiencing very mild cold symptoms. I made a point of asking both my doctor’s assistant and the pharmacist if it was ok to take pain meds while on Cipro. Both said yes. I took ibuprofen on night 2 of my Cipro course (boy, do I regret that!). On day 3, I woke up and basically immediately started noticing symptoms: neuropathy, joint cracking and rashes on my feet. Like many of us here, when I alerted my doctor, they insisted it couldn’t be from the Cipro because those types of side effects were “rare” and that I likely had osteoarthritis. Like I just developed it overnight while also on a drug that’s known to cause joint issues…

I wasn’t able to get a replacement antibiotic until day 5, at which point things just had gotten worse.

Acute phase: The first three months of being floxed were hell. Not even thinking about the physiological symptoms - the anxiety! Oh god, the anxiety. I went from never having it to basically having a mental health emergency overnight. Finding a therapist who specializes in health anxiety was one of the very first things I did into my floxing (and I highly recommend doing this, one of the most helpful things I did for myself).

Now, as you all know, the physical symptoms were all over the place. I enjoyed everything from tendon/muscle pain (including Achielles, shoulder were primary for me), neck pain, joint popping and pain (primarily ankle and knee), eye issues (ranging from extreme sensitivity to light to floaters to strain), headaches, random rashes, neuropathy, strange muscle pulsing sensations in my back, occasional racing heart and fatigue.

For the first 2- 3 months, walking was tough. I could do it, but I had to be very slow and not go too far. Walking a block to the grocery store suddenly became terrifying. What if my Achielles’ ruptures while I’m out? Luckily, that never happened - but it did swell up about 2 weeks into floxing. That wasn’t fun.

**Post-3 months

I’ve tried to read what I could about it in past posts, but I’m a little overwhelmed reading this and stuff on another issue. Forgive me.

Post floxing, has anyone used Flagyl (oral or gel) and been okay? I know we are all different, just wondering.

3 months out. Mostly leg pain - walking, but with a limp.

I’ve taken it in the past with no issues, but I’m a different person now and all...

When I try to explain being floxed to friends and doctors they usually say to me 3 things.

1. “You can’t blame all your problems on that antibiotic”
2. Side effects can’t last for months
3. “It might be all in your head”

How do I explain to people what these medications can do to people? Most people think you have allergic reaction right away, and that’s that.. I’m having hard time explaining to people what happened to me without sounding crazy... it makes me mad especially when doctors roll their eyes at me and tell me my pain doesn’t make sense, when I tell them I didn’t do anything to cause my tendon problem :( they think I’m hiding something or I’m in an abusive relationship.

So I’ve heard that getting floxed is cumulative! So people can take a little and then feel fine and take it again and be messed up! Do you think someone who has been floxed once before and completely recovered would be more likely to recover again if they got refloxed or would the second recovery be harder and longer or even not guaranteed .. I’m convinced this is my second time being floxed .. I’ve taken FQs in the past via ear drops and eye drops many times . Then i took a high dose of methylpredsilone and had a bad reaction that was almost identical to my floxing now , if just feels more intense now which makes sense because i took a much higher dose now 9 500mg Levaquin. Everything to my reaction is identical to that first reaction to the steroid, even how certain symptoms have cycled .. ( eye floaters are new this time however , but that’s the only thing i can think of ) i made a complete recovery from that time being potentially floxed in around 14 months with some PTSD anxiety, after words i was so relieved and kept thinking that whole thing was hell i wouldn’t wish it upon anyone and how I’d never go through it again.. during the whole first time i went to gastro docs cardiologists countless ER visits and primary care doctors , psychologists and they all said it was just anxiety . So i was floxed but the doctors said it was just anxiety and i was unconvinced at first but eventually myself truly believed that and eventually i was better! Only supplements i took were probiotics a multi vitamin and fish oil! And throughout the whole thing i was pretty unhealthy in my habits because i didn’t know i was floxed! I was going out drinking every weekend and poppin Advil like they were candy in the morning . Still recovered! I don’t know if this probable first time being floxed and recovering makes me happy or sad! I’m stuck between thinking my chances of recovering again is good since i did it once . And thinking i May have a worse chance of recovering since it’s cumulative/maybe it taking a few years which would be terrible for me! Sometimes i wished i didn’t know i was floxed .. a lot of stress and anxiety comes from knowing.... and im complete positive that my theory of me being floxed before is positive i could write on for hours of the identical things that would happen that make it all make sense .. ! Sorry for the long read but I’d love to hear your opinions on refloxed recovery’s and the cumulative effect on recovery! I hope you all have a great d

Hey first off I want to say thank you to everyone who was so supportive and I took your advice and stopped reading everything for a bit to calm down and it somewhat worked. I had some shoulder pain, back pain and joint pain but I don't know if it was related to the Cipro or it was from stress or something. I don't have anything that I would describe as too bad.

However my UTI returned as in I still got symptoms that kinda prevent me from enjoying my day so I was given a course of Keflex (cephalexin) which I always take (took it two months ago for a tooth extraction and infection). Can something happen if I take this antibiotic so shortly after Cipro? I took my first dose and I sit here with my heart pounding but that could just be stress too :( Not sure if I was floxed at all but I have to get that UTI under control.

This is going to be somewhere between a vent and sharing my symptoms. And maybe looking for a little advice.

For the sake of background, I took one 500 mg pill of Levofloxacin on 7/21/2020 for recurrent UTIs. I discontinued after the first pill as I initially had neuropathy down my left arm and left leg, joint pain in multiple joints by the next morning, insomnia, and anxiety (for the first 48 hours). I've since taken a round of Clindamycin (which I tolerate really well) to help knock out most of the bacteria and my last urine sample was clear. I'm using preventative measures (lots of water, Vitamin C, etc.) to prevent the UTI from flaring up again but because the UTI has been reoccurring since January, still have some inflammation and have possibly developed Interstitial Cystitis. I also admittedly have sciatica on that left side preceding the floxing so that's not unusual for me but was intensified, especially that first week.

The first week (7/21 to 7/28-ish) most of my joints were cracking/popping and I felt some instability so I took it really easy. I'm fortunate to be working from home right now and work for a school system so I was on break until this week. So I was able to rest quite a bit. I've also felt general fatigue. I get tired really easy. I ended up going to the ER that first week and I had one night I felt so weak I didn't think I was going to make it into the bedroom. They gave me Ativan for the anxiety, Toradol for the joint pain (it actually worked really well on it), and IV fluids since I was dehydrated.

Since the ER visit I've been gradually getting better. Still have had a fair amount of fatigue, as I tire easy. I'm sure being sedentary since we shutdown in March for COVID hasn't helped that either but I worry about doing "too much" in the acute stages.

Then yesterday, I had to carry several bags of groceries up my apartment stairs and it set me back quite a bit. Lots of muscle pain/discomfort and increase fatigue. Almost had chills from the muscle discomfort. Today I'm still achy and just feel worn down. It's so incredibly frustrating.

I'm taking Magnesium derived from Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate (200 mg a day, working my way up to larger dosage of 400 mg). I already take a large dose of Vitamin D3 weekly due to Vitamin D deficiency. I also take a Vitamin C supplement for the rUTIs and will throw in a packet of Emergen-C if I'm feeling particularly worn down. I am overweight and am trying to lose weight but it mak

Hey gang!

I started my reddit account just to join this group and i guess I’m turning into somewhat of a regular 🤣

I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts to an immunity component to floxing?

Random I know but I ask because before this floxing started, I’d been struggling for a few months with what my doctors think is post viral (most likely Covid-related) hyper immunity. I had been having reactions to pretty much everything, including medications that I always take and foods that I always eat.

Since my flox, I’ve again been reacting to everything, but it’s difficult to tease the two apart. I guess there’s no real question here, but if there had to be one, I guess it would be how does one distinguish between another reaction from a secondary cause, to a reaction from a floxing?

Hello everyone,

I'm so glad I found this forum. I found the intro info very helpful, and find people's posts very helpful, thanks for getting this setup! I especially appreciate the emphasis on educating floxers about the importance of keeping calm (and trying to keep a healthy mental state) and approaching problems as optimistically as possible. I've seen many sites that tell nothing but horror/life destructive stories, and also some sites that seem to be run by scammers or charlatans that seem to only be interested in selling something. I find this forum to be such a contrast and very logically built, and a true source of hope. And thank you for info on supplements that everyone can access with a modest budget! I've already ordered a bunch of the ones mentioned in the intro post.

My journey into floxing is just started. Well, sort of: I have a long history of UTI's and prostatitis, am in my early 40's, and I've actually taken FQ's in the past. But not until the last flareup about a couple of weeks ago, where I came down with a UTI, did I start experiencing a broad set of symptoms about 4-5 days into a Norfloxacin treatment: flu-like symptoms, low-grade fever (which went away after about a week, but I still have 'malaise' and chills/temperature sensitivity, not to mention my Dr had me tested for COVID which came back negative), itchy skin (almost uncontrollably, can only be alleviated with antihistamines), insomnia, anxiety, and since yesterday I've started experiencing some mild achilles heel pain. Now that I think of it, I may have already been floxed from before : For a few years now, I've experienced chronic tinnitus. All the standard tests (hearing, brain scans, blood tests, etc...) came back normal and so this leads me to believe some previous floxing may have caused this. The principal FQ I've been taking on and off was Norfloxacin, and there may have been some sprinkles of Cipro, mostly as post-operative preventative antibiotics (I've had several urethral reconstructive surgeries that stem from having been born with Hypospadias). It's now all starting to make sense and a common picture is emerging.

Fortunately I have a new Dr who joined my GP's office, and he's very keen on helping me pursue the root cause of my ailments. He's also had patients that have been floxed, so that's reassuring. He had me immediately change to a non-FQ antibiotic (fosfomycin) as there still a remnant of the bacteria causing the UTI/Prostatitis. I can't wait for

I already knew all the horror stories about cipro, and I hate it because I got horrific Yeast infections on it but I have a UTI (prone to them) and the doctor wouldnt take no for an answer. What Can I do to protect myself? Im going to be taking probiotics with this as well as slamming down as much water as possible. Anything else? Any Tips?

So I was talking over cipro with a friend and they told me they had taken a full course of cipro. Granted they didn't have the side effects that have plauged me and many others but, there was some interesting things that happened a month later. Now , I suppose it could be the cipro since sometimes the side effects don't mainfest until many weeks or months later but, I don't want to go straight away to that conclusion.

They had some problems with their pancreas a month later (pancreaitis) and had to get surgery it . They also had some problems with chest pains that will not go away and are on and off. They're going to see a cardiologist soon and get a holter monitor exam and stress test done to see whats going on there.

Has there been any stories from people who took FQs that had any complications with their pancreas or chest pains after cipro? I know there's one post on here that mentioned chest pains after taking cipro

I can't sleep more than 90 minutes to.2 hours in a row. I've considered Benadryl to sleep but is that okay after being floxed 9 months ago? My neuropathy is nuts again after flagyl so I'm nervous.

I was floxed in 2019, took levofloxacin without any knowledge of what it could do, got unpleasant symptoms, found out about floxing, thought my life is over, and then fully recovered. But that fear has become very permanent.

I've been depressed since 2020, and I've refused to try antidepressants because I figured it was an unnecessary risk if I could deal with it with therapy. But I've gotten increasingly depressed, unable to get out of bed, and seriously suicidal, so I decided to go to a psychiatrist.

I know that SSRIs and SNRIs can cause terrible side effects, and in some cases, PSSD (which I think is mostly permanent), so I did some research into antidepressants and found a few that don't have such awful side effects and I was willing to try those. However, now that my appointment with a psychiatrist nears, I'm chickening out of it entirely because what if there's a tiny risk of permanent side effects from these antidepressants that shouldn't cause them, but it's just under reported? What if I'm in some minuscule percentage of people that will suffer, and I might not be as lucky as I was when I recovered from being floxed.

It's absolutely debilitating. I'm so depressed, but I'm so scared of certain medication (this doesn't go for vaccines as covid itself causes permanent damage) because of a negative experience with meds.

How do I get over this? Does anyone else suffer from this fear of medication now?

I mean dryness everywhere... Dry eyes, nasal passages, mouth, skin, etc.?

Did you also lose the ability to sweat?

Let me start by saying no pharmacist or Dr ever warned me over the last 22 months about the dangers of these drugs. I looked at my pharmacy app yesterday and was surprised to see I was potentially floxed around 15 times during this period. During this period, I was given the drugs for recurrent phenomenia, other Respritory infection , uti, urethritis and suspected prostatis. From what I read, these issues are not uncommon with this subclass ig2 deficiency. What really did me in, I think, are the long periods of time I was prescribed these meds for the issues below the belt (I was/am 36/37 during this period I speak of btw). E.coli is the infection that has power to fight off these antibiotics and stay harassin my body. I keep getting the same e.coli infection with the same resistance. Every dr that sees my culture usually is surprised because uti’s apparently should be easier to treat. This is highly resistant. I still have this infection as of today, actually. Waiting for the lab results to see what will kill it this time. Not fun.

I can hardly move as of this past 5-6 weeks. Towards the end of the 37 day period in which I last took cipro , I’ve noticed as I was doing my push-ups, my fingers hurt, then the next time, my toes, then it was history from there. Woke up with so much soft tissue pain on/under my foot and toes, below/above the ankles, upper thigh connective tissue, right above/below the knee and my shoulders actually popped that day from normal activity. Till this day I can’t lift them passed a certain point without extreme pain. I’m pretty sure both of my shoulders have permanent injury by now.

Since this day, every connective tissue I use hurts/aches severely. I read I should be as immobile as possible to limit the permanent damage I’ll sustain. But I’m going broke. Before dealing with this, I was/am dealing with an unknown neuro illness. I’ve been hospitalized from not being able to swallow food for weeks (I still can’t swallow right). Deep aching to the bone pain in my legs and arms (my worst symptom next to the new soft tissue issues. Autonomic failure or dysfunction. Retinal damage that terrorizes me with burning pain. Sjogrens was on the table but not anymore. Eye dryness and retina damage is too severe. I have normal strength ,have hyerprefleixia in all limbs , positive Hoffman’s sign. Which tells central nervous system is damaged. I have a boatload of doctors and I’ve gotten extensive workups in and out of the hospital. I saw a dr H

Hello,

I’m 6 mo out. My biggest problem is I still can’t walk more than very short distances. The tendon pain (plantar fasciitis and Achilles) quickly makes more than this unbearable. I feel like I re-injur myself every day just walking around my home. This is extremely frustrating. I feel like my recovery has stopped since month 3....

I want to know how normal this experience is and what outcomes were. Are these likely characteristics of a long termer? I want an honest message. If it’s unlikely I’ll make 90% I want to prepare now.

Relevant symptoms and severity of preventing normal function: Achilles and plantar fasciitis pain (high) Bilateral knee tendon pain (mild) Right wrist tendon pain (mild) Right elbow tendon pain (mild) Right shoulder tendon pain (mild) Widespread peripheral neuropathy (low)

Yes, I know all floxing is different. But there are clear characteristics and trajectories. I think this is important to recognize. People that get to 75-90% in the span of 3-5 months have better outcomes than people 2+ years out at ~20%.

Hi All,

I am in a terrible situation overall. New pains come every day, I was floxed last year in March.

Is there some anti-depression medication that can help and it is tolerated without many side effects ?

Previous update here for reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/floxies/comments/q53u6t/five_month_update_a_partial_recovery_story/

Hello All,

It has been quite a while since I've posted here, and, as you would guess, that is probably a good sign! I don't want to leave you guys hanging without giving a final update, especially if this post gives up to someone who is suffering greatly right now. If you are suffering greatly, please hang in there and stay strong -- your mind and body are more resilient than you would ever expect and you will make it through to the other side.

About two months ago, I was diagnose with a probable case of spondyloathritis or reactive athritis. It turns out that not all of my symptoms were due to being floxed. The initial two to three months were definitely flox symptoms -- tendonitis, floaters, depression, fatigue. I followed the supplement stack in the stickied post and also the mitophagy stack (nicotinamide riboside, urolithin, AKG) and tried healing peptides (BPC-157) and extra protein (especially collagen protein). While I cannot say for sure how much each contributed to my healing, in some areas, such as workout recovery, I'm actually doing better than before despite getting almost a year older (in my 30s now). Anyway, back to the diagnosis -- while I may never know whether the cipro triggered these conditions or if they just happen to occur simultaneously with floxing, I'm glad that I have an accepted medical diagnosis for my enthesitis and tendonitis.

Currently, I am able to do daily life tasks on my own, from walking to take public transit, to lifting heavy objects, to riding my bike and other low impact exercises. I am still unable to walk more than 9000 steps per day without pain or engage in high-impact sports. In the meantime, I continue to get medical treatment, including physical therapy and continue to train my body to hopefully restore it to a state where I can engage with most of the past hobbies.

The hardest part of the experience is suddenly and unexpectedly losing my ability to participate in things I loved to do. I would say the second hardest part is living alone and handling most of it myself. If I could do it over again, I would spend less time ruminating over the things I lost and seek out more support from friends, family, neighbors for help.

Since my condition now is a rheumatological condition due to reactive arthritis, I will post more in the appropriate forums rather than here. Special thanks t

I got covid and got prescribed levoflox on the same day for a uti. I took the pills for 5 days and each day my symptoms just got worse but I attributed it to the covid and continued to take them. I asked my doctor if it was safe to take during covid and he said yeah no issues all fine. Now I am 6/7 weeks after covid and I'm barely able to work. Blood tests are showing nothing wrong and people are saying long covid but I just realised that I'd taken those damn antibiotics at the exact time this started with covid.

Main issues are: debilitating muscle pain in back neck and shoulders. Shakey and weak. Feels like my body is vibrating inside. Could this be a flox issue? Where do I go from here?