Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Missing Cipro Victim

This post is a little different than any I have ever posted before. It regards an individual named "James" Romero from Gaithersburg, MD, that has visited my blog before, and like me was poisoned by Cipro. It seems that he has been missing since April, A friend of his posted the below comment on my blog.
I am just passing it along; feel free to either email me or leave a post if you have any pertinent information.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/04202011/damanew221203_32544.php




Dear All,
Sorry for all the pain and suffering that this medication has caused everyone. My best friend has suffered the same symptoms that all of you are reporting. He even actually posted a comment in this thread back in late 2010. Unfortunately he has gone missing since back in April 2011 and I was reaching out to this community to see if anyone has had any interaction with user James @ jer2rom@yahoo.com? His Mom, Dad, Sister, Fiancé, and all of us, are extremely worry about him and are pleading for any information that may lead us to finding him. If any of you had any communication with him, please reply back and I will be truly grateful!

Best regards to all,

Abraham

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Updating My Update; One Year after Being Poisoned by Cipro

Well, it seems as though I have struck a nerve, with at least one person out there that has also been affected by the antibiotic Cipro. My update was not written to discredit any ones’ pain or suffering from this devastating drug; it was merely written to give hope and to state my current condition one year after being poisoned by Cipro.

Let me state that I am not a medical professional and I am not suggesting that what I have done or what I am currently doing, is or was a “cure” to the side effects that I suffered. If you choose to read and follow my journey, that is up to you. I went to traditional doctors, a chiropractor and a health nutritionist. The traditional doctors did little for me with the exception of saying that I was “rare” and asked me if I wanted pain meds. The chiropractor and the nutritionist gave me suggestions and told me why they were suggesting certain supplements and foods.

I chose to follow their suggestions as I had no others. I was desperate; and willing to try just about anything, with-in reason, in hopes to regain the ability to walk and dance again; like a normal person and without pain. I wanted my old life back. I wanted my body back; I was weary of being in constant pain. I made every effort possible to not allow my pain to rob me of everything that I enjoyed.

I continued dancing through the pain; with knees and ankles braced, and feet taped. I took too much Ibuprofen in order to do so. Was it easy? No, it was not. Did it hurt like hell? Yes, especially after I stopped dancing. My feet and legs throbbed all night long and I often spent an entire day down and out; paying for those few hours of enjoyment. But let me tell you, those few hours of painful enjoyment allowed my spirit to soar, to hold out hope that someday things would be better.

Currently I am growing my own "damn beets!"
One year down the road, some things are better. The pain in my muscles, joints and tendons is greatly reduced. My toes bend again and I can even use them to walk. My knees and hips bend and there is less popping. Is this because I ate red beets? I would say no. Is this because of the supplements? Probably not directly. Is there a magic cure? Unfortunately not. But is there hope? Yes, there is hope and if everything I did and ingested helped me to heal, I am glad that I took the chance. Nothing I ingested was harmful, so what did I have to lose?

We will never know why some people react better or worse to any medication, but I still believe that this is a devastating medication that should not be doled out, like candy, for simple infections. Like the black box warning states; Not a first drug of choice.  I will continue to warn any one that will listen to the life changing side effects of these drugs known as floroquinolines. And I will continue to have empathy to all that have been affected. Cipro stole a part of my life, but it did not steal my soul.

I am on a new journey now; shortly after feeling better from the effects of my Cipro poisoning, I was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. If anyone out there had been poisoned by these drugs and also has leukemia, I would love to hear from you.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

One Year Update after Being Floxed; There is Hope

It has been one year and one month since I was poisoned by the drug named Ciprofloxacin. It is in a class of drugs known as floroquinolones and while it may be a miracle drug for some; it can be a devastating, debilitating drug for other. It is my continued belief that the side effects of these drugs are highly under reported thus allowing them to continue to be distributed freely.

Three days after taking my first dose of Cipro, I was crippled. I walked as if I was an 85 year old woman that had been hit by a train. My feet felt as though I was walking on razor blades or shards of glass; my toes would not bend. My knees were swollen and felt as though they would explode if I bent them. I could not bend at the hip without excruciating pain. Sitting down and getting back up was nearly impossible. Even just the plain air on my feet hurt. I have never experienced such pain before; or since. I also could not stand bright light; it hurt my eyes and it was often noon before I could open my drapes.

You can search my blog to follow my progress and all of the remedies that I experimented with.  I am elated with the progress that I have made with my physical issues. I can now dance with little pain, bend my toes, bend my knees and bend my hips. While my toes are much improved, they still do not bend like they used to, but I am actually able to send myself from one foot to another, instead of having to lift my leg and put it on the floor. I walk like a normal person again. I am able to bend my knees and squat down about half way to the floor. I still cannot put them completely under myself in order to stand from a sitting position; such as getting out of the bathtub but the overall improvement is grand.

My hips are pretty much back to normal. My ankles and Achilles still give me just a little trouble when I dance. Sometimes after dancing for an hour or so I will have to revert back to my ankle braces for some additional support, just to be on the safe side. The light sensitivity is 80% improved and the overall achiness, muscle joint and tendon pain is relatively gone.

The latest development in my health has been my diagnoses of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. I was diagnosed in February 2011. Seems as though someone thought that since I had survived my Cipro poisoning so well, that I needed another challenge! So forgive me for not keeping you all informed and updated on the poisoning from Cipro, but I have been busy fighting cancer; Go Figure!

Anyway, I know that we are all different and we all deal with pain and illness in different manners; but for me, I pushed myself every day since I was floxed.  After the first three to four weeks, when I literally was bound to my bed or sofa, I pushed myself more and more every day. I started dancing again; knees, ankles and feet braced and taped. I took too much Ibuprofen in order to be able to do what I loved; even if it was just one or two dances at a time. Dancing fed my soul and helped me climb the very large mountain of tackling a poisoning from a drug called Cipro. My best wishes to all of you out there suffering from the side effects of these drugs. I really never thought that the day would come that I would walk normally again and not be in constant pain. I wished the last year of my life away in hopes of feeling better a year down the road. Don’t give up; there is hope for you too.