This personal story was originally posted to the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum. If you are a victim of a quinolone antibiotic and need support or advice then please visit the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinolones/).
 

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Levaquin
Posted on 10 September 2003
Here's a thumbnail of my experience w/Levaquin, and I am seeking advice.

In mid June 2003, PCP (primary care physician) gave me a week's worth of Levaquin 500 mg for a sinus and bronchial infection that was not responding to 2 days on Erythromycin.

Within hours of the first dose taken around 9 p.m., I was "edgy", jittery, unable to sleep. The second day dose produced similar nervousness, and I started to experience joint pain in my left hand. By the third day I was dizzy, utterly exhausted, as if a vampire had sucked all the blood from me, I had heart palpitations, anxiety, weird dreams and continued to have the joint pain. My PCP advised me to take Xanax at night to sleep. The following morning I was feeling so unwell--- I had never had an adverse reaction to an antibiotic before--- that I went to see my doctor. He advised me to finish the course of Levaquin since I only had 4 more days, but he said I could cut the dose in half.

On the way home from the doctor, I nearly passed out while driving. I had never experienced this sort of fatigue/dizziness before. I was frightened by this and only took one more Levaquin pill before deciding that it was having a toxic effect on me.

It is important to note that my PCP at no time warned me of any side effects of this drug. He did not tell me not to consume caffeine or NSAIDs which I was doing (coffee in the morning, and Advil for the sinus headaches), nor to avoid the sun nor that the antibiotic would do a clean sweep of my friendly bacteria in my colon and I would need
to supplement with yogurt or pro-biotics. In short, he seemed unaware of the potentially serious side effects of the drug.

In the ensuing weeks I experienced intestinal pain/tenderness which the gastro-entero I consulted with said was probably "mild colitis" from the antibiotic. I continue to have joint pain off and on, as well as some degree of cloudy thinking, forgetfulness,
agitation, fatigue, insomnia which is worsened by caffeine and ingesting sugar. Most recently I developed involuntary twitches/tremors in my left hand, the same area where I have joint pain, as well as some degree of peripheral neuropathy
(tingling/numbness in arm), in addition to my right ankle periodically feeling "sprained".

I am a basically healthy 47 year old woman, mom to 2 year old twins,and have had an active life with no major complaints. But I am angered by the experience of taking a potentially dangerous drug without being advised of the side effects. When I actually read the list of acknowledged side effects (provided by the drug company), I was shocked. There is no way I would have taken this drug had I been aware of the potentially serious adverse effects.

My questions are the following:
Are there others out there who continue to experience agitation,
nervousness, CNS effects long after discontinuing Levaquin, but
related to consumption of caffeine, sugar, NSAIDs?

Is there a legal practice out there that is specializing in cases of
adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones? Have any class action suits
been filed?

Are there any effective remedies to counter the CNS reactions and
peripheral neuropathy, as well as joint and tendon pain?

Thank you for your help!!

Originally posted on the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinolones/message/15799