Current Cipro Weapons!

Here's the current drill:

2000 mg plus of vitamin C, Magnesium Malate (833mgMalic Acid), Glucosamine and Chondrioten, Vitamin E, D and Calcium, oh, wait let's not forget the Fish Oil and probiotics and Ocuvite so I can still see to be able to warn others to be very careful taking any flouroquinolone!! Seems as all I do is eat and drink supplements!

I have noticed an improvement after about 3 weeks of the high doses of Vitamin C.

You never know what really helps and I do have frequent setbacks, fortunately they seem shorter lived as time goes on!

Cipro Makes Your Skin Hurt, Too!

So, I guess there are two things bothering me today:

1. Cipro poisoning SUCKS! I know that I should be grateful for the improvements that I have made, and I AM however, I am still so irritated that my body has been so compromised by Cipro. The fact that they continually dispense this drug without informing the patient of the potential side effects is criminal!

Of course, my small improvement of being able to slightly bend my toes caused me to test my limits and try to walk and dance like a normal person. That would be USING my toes and pushing off with my toes as opposed to walking and dancing on my heels. That unfortunately led to a bit of a toe injury on my right foot, yup, the BIG TOE! Ugh, wonder how long it will take that to heal?
2. I hate the inflammation underneath the skin that causes the skin itself to be so tender that you don't want to sit or lie on it. The back of my thighs are killing me today, thank God it seems to be an intermittent side effect. It is so strange because een the slightest touch makes them feel as tough they are on fire! It has been long 5 months now.

So that being said, I hope those of you that have never been effected by Cipro, Levaquinn, Avelox, or any other floroquinolone, take my advice and steer clear of this poison! For those of you in the same boat or worse off, my best wishes to you and I hope you are having one of those "good" days!

My Cipro Toes are Starting to Bend!

For the past 4 1/2 months of my life, after being poisoned by Cipro, the very first thing I did every morning, while just barely awake, was to try to bend my toes. And for the past 4 1/2 months, every morning was the same.........No, Not Today - Maybe Tomorrow. I know how odd that may seem to some, but Cipro has robbed me of so many simple things. Bending my toes is just one of them.

Almost two weeks ago, on August 31, 2010 in my still somewhat comatose state, I tried to bend my toes and much to my surprise, it worked! At first I wasn't sure, so I tried again and low and behold my toes bent! I whipped off the covers to see with my own eyes and sure enough they were bending. Not much, but it is a start. I was reluctant to believe my good fortune and could hardly wait to check out my new trick again the next morning. Voila', bending toes! It has now been a little over two weeks and the toes are still bending and the balls of my feet are a bit less painful. It seems as though I have reached a new plateau, hopefully this one will not be as long as the past one and the improvement will begin to accelerate, as opposed to remain stagnant.

If you are a dancer you know how important your toes are to your dancing! Cipro has hindered my physical ability to pursue my passion. Besides the constant pain in the balls of my feet and toes, the fact that they were so locked up caused me to change the way I walked and the way I danced. I was back weighted and turned on my heels. I was often off balance and had to change from one foot to the other quickly, due to the pain. With this improvement, I am now attempting to make the necessary changes in the way that I have been dancing to dancing the way I should be dancing!

This improvement came about 3-4 weeks after I began increasing my Vitamin C level. Vitamin C helps promote the production of collagen. I am not sure whether or not the Vitamin C was instrumental in my improvement, or just purely coincidental, but either way, I thought I would share my improvements and methods with you. It seems to me that it could be beneficial in helping to restore the destroyed sheath around the tendons and muscles from the antibiotic Cipro. (Levaquinn and Avelox are in the same class of Fluoroquinolones) I am currently taking 2000 mg per day and I weight 128 lbs.

Thanks to Cipro, Dancer Injured Again!

Last weekend we were at the Palm Springs Summer Dance Camp and a friend of mine who had previously taken Cipro, and has had two previous surgeries on her calves due to ruptures, re-ruptured her calf while dancing. It is a harsh punishment to take a drug that robs you of your passion.

What I would like to know is when this will ever end! The fact that Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox (flouroquinolones) cause severe muscle, tendon, joint pain and rupture and are still being prescribed without telling the patient of these risks is ludicrous! They claim that "only" 1% of people taking these drugs are effected and that they are otherwise "safe". I believe that to be an inaccurate number of people effected due to the lack of correlation between the antibiotic and an injury, therefore there is a lack of reporting the incidence to the FDA.

I have found numerous people that have been effected by these drugs and never realized that the antibiotics were the cause until it was brought to their attention. How many of you ever even thought that your muscle and joint pain, or ruptured tendons might be related to an antibiotic? I know that I never correlated my first tendon rupture due to Cipro, until one year later when I took it again and could not even walk. It was then that I re-examined my medical records and found that I was on the drug for 2 days when the rupture occurred.

I urge anyone that has had any injury of been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, or Rheumatoid Arthritis to go back and check their medical records to see if you had previously taken any of these drugs. You may be amazed to finally be able to figure out why your physical health seemed to deteriorate overnight.

Doctors and hospitals love these drugs and prescribe them like candy. It is a crime that they continue to do so with no warning, and no cure once the damage has been done. You will be hard pressed to find any help or even someone to believe you if you are poisoned by these drugs. Dancers' and all others please Beware of the Antibiotics called: Cipro, Avelox and Levaquin.

4 1/2 Months Floxed and Dancing!

It is now 4 1/2 months since I was floxed by Cipro for the second time. I am happy to report that after hitting a 2 month plateau on improvement, I have reached a new plateau. I was almost afraid to admit to myself or anyone else, that I felt as though I am experiencing a slight improvement in my feet. A VERY important improvement for me, as my passion is dancing. I passed my true test after a week of dancing every night. 3 nights of classes and 4 days at Palm Springs Summer Dance Camp. Yes, my feet were swollen, but I could still walk and they have since returned to their original shape and size!

My actual daily improvement is: A bit less pain in the balls of my feet and A bit more flexibility in my toes. Two mornings in a row now, I have been able to bend my toes, just a bit, but a great feat considering that they have been locked up for 4 1/2 months. My knees have improved more than my feet, but my pots and pans, and tupperware cabinets are still a disaster as I still cannot bear any weight on them in a squatting position....yet! I can now almost bend them to within 6 inches of my buttocks while lying down, which is miraculous, as when I was first floxed I could not bend them at all. I am also now able to maneuver stairs, both up and down, like a normal person. Slower than most, but still able to go up and down. In the beginning I could barely get up and down the 2 stairs into our living room. I had to use the railing and take them one step at a time, pulling myself up the stairs and holding my weight in my arms while going down them. I remember my chiropractor telling me that I would know when I was getting better when I could go up and down those stairs without having to think about it. Right now I think about it every time, in awe that I can now actually go up and down without the railing! Wow, the simple things in life!

I find that the more I move the better off I am, even if it is painful. The more I sit or lie down, the stiffer I am. I have continued to take the supplements and vitamins listed in another post, but have also increased my vitamin C to 2500 mg per day to increase my collagen. I actually began to notice the improvement 2 weeks after the increase in Vitamin C. I also am continuing to see a chiropractor every 3-4 weeks for therapy. It seems that this whole floxing episode has caused both of my arches to fall, which has led to increased pain. Custom Orthotics have helped tremendously. I am not a medical doctor and am only wishing to share what is working for me.

My best wishes to you all,
Michele