Learning to Dance in the Rain!

While I try to fill my life full of sunshine, I must admit that Cipro has added quite a bit of rain! It has now been nine months since I was floxed and I thought that it was high time I updated my symptoms. During the first few days and weeks I was barely able to walk. Sitting was also an issue as my knees and hips did not want to bend. The knees felt as though they would explode if I bent them. The upper back of my thighs, where the muscles connect to your bum, were excruciating. I used to say that my "bender-overer" was broken! The air literally cause pain in the balls of my feet and toes. Absolutely NOTHING could touch them!

My brain, now that was another special feature of being floxed. I often found the milk in the pantry and the mail in the back yard. I would leave the sprinklers running after watering the garden...... all night long. I would walk around the house aimlessly wondering what I was doing or what I was looking for.

I honestly thought that if this was to be my life I should just jump in front of the bus and get it over with. Doctors and pharmacists offerd no help. No treatment, no protocol. The only person to offer any suggestions at all was Dr. Carroll, a chiropractor and my daughters friend, Laura Laffranchini, the owner of Harvest Health Foods. Being that they were the only ones to offer any sort of suggestions, I followed their advice. I began to see improvement in about 3 weeks. I began to slowly dance again. I found that the more stationary I was the more pain I was in.

Today, nine months later, I just competed at the World Championships of Country Dancers. I placed ninth out of 23 dancers in the newcomer division. I was so thrilled to have come so far and to be able to participate in the competition. I dance my personal best of the entire year and was relatively pain free until my last two dances out of 16. Not bad fro a gal that could barely walk nine months ago.

So for my update: My knees, ankles and hips are close to being "normal". I still cannot squat!

My feet, especially the balls of my feet and toes are very much improved. I can now bend my toes and can even push forward with them. They only start to hurt about 2 hours into my dance practice and typically recover by the next day.

The brain fog is clearing, but is still lurking. Of course I am trying to figure out if that is Cipro or old age!

The overall fatigue comes and goes, but I have more good days than bad.

The aversion to bright light, mostly in the morning is getting better

The newest "symptom" that I have noticed is eye pain and headaches. I saw an eye doctor last week. He informed me that I have broken blood vessels inside my eyes, he is referring me to a retina specialist. I shall wait and see what he has to say, but in my heart of heart I feel as though this condition will also be Cipro related. I will keep you posted!

Take care and hope you are all improving daily!

9 Months Floxed

Well, it has been nine months since my Cipro journey began. I think that my greatest amazement is the amount of other victims that I have met. Many of them did not even realize that their pain stemmed from an antibiotic. It was not until after asking that frightening question, "I know that this may seem like an odd question, BUT have you ever taken Cipro, Levaquinn or Avelox"? , that I began to recognize the plethora of victims. The amount of people that I have met that have been effected is astounding. My realization of the under-reported side effects of these drugs is infuriating. I cannot believe that this abuse continues. I tell every doctor, dentist and pharmacist that I run across about the severe, and life altering side effects of these drugs and they all act surprised. Their typical response is that they have never heard of anything like this before. Are they really ignorant to the side effects or are they just turning a blind eye? Somehow, this has got to be stopped!

Any suggestions, please leave a comment.

Puppy Limping from Cipro.

While at our annual Dance Event in Palm Springs, Ca., I was talking to a friend of mine. She said that she had been thinking about me and about my Cirpo story. You see, she has a six month old puppy that needed surgery. She came through the surgery just fine and was given Cipro. When my friend took her puppy home, she was limping. Back to the doctor she went and was told that it was growing pains.

Now, I don't know about you, but puppy sure didn't have "growing pains" BEFORE the Cipro. The limping occurred after she was given Cipro. My guess, and I would bet money on it, she is suffering from the side effects of Cipro! Poor puppy!