Typically when I compete, it is at 8:00 am, with warm ups at 7:00 am. Luckily at this competition we didn't need to be in the ballroom until 9:30, which was a huge relief. I slept well and woke up feeling OK. I had actually managed to finish sewing and stoning my new costume and I thought that it was going to be a great day. Wrong!

By the time that I got to the ballroom, I had that achy, fevery feeling, so I took an Ibuprofen. We had also decided to delay my daily dose of Sprycel (Dasatinib) until later in the day. Joe actually came up with this brilliant theory; if I take Sprycel at my “normal” time, 10:00 am; I usually start feeling crappy around 3:00 pm, about five hours after I take it. Usually, I start feeling better around 9 or 10 pm; so, he suggested that I try to start taking it at 10:00 pm, right before I go to bed, that way I would sleep through the “yucky” part. Worth a try, right?

Anyway, back to the ballroom; besides feeling a bit achy and extremely tired, I realized that I had left my brain back in bed, still sound asleep. I was present in body, but not in mind. It was the strangest feeling; it was as though my head was completely vacant .I actually felt a bit like I feel when I need a shot of Neupogen. The only other time that I have experienced that vacant-ness was when I was actually in the hospital going through chemotherapy. I was very odd and disconcerting.

I seemed to do alright during warm up’s, despite not having a brain and I remember walking out onto the floor for our first dance. I remember hearing the music, starting the dance and then all I remember was turning and turning and turning, thinking why in the world isn’t he picking up my hip! I knew that I must have blown out of the routine, yet I hadn’t a clue of when or where. Somehow, being the Pro that Joe is, he managed to pick me up, get us back into the routine and finish the dance with no one, the wiser. I apologized profusely and wondered how the rest of the day was going to play out. It was not a great start to the morning!

The next dance is a Polka, which ought to get the nerves out and wake me up, right? Nope, just as vacant as the last dance but fortunately I only had one mis-step and it was an easy, no-brainer fix. The day continued on this way for another two dances; a friend of mine then offered me a sip of that five hour energy stuff in a small bottle. I was a bit reluctant so I only took a small sip after making sure that there was no grapefruit in it.

Waltz was our next dance. It began with the same empty brain, but somewhere near the end I actually felt like myself. I knew where I was and I knew what I was doing. It was a miracle; a short lived miracle, but a miracle nonetheless. The clarity came about quite suddenly and left just as quickly. I spent the remaining part of the competition and the rest of the entire day in a foggy, I just don’t feel good, daze.

Now, for the topper of the entire day; After the competition, I approached one of my judges to ask for constructive criticism. I expected some sort of dance related tip, but instead, she asked me; “What in the world is up with those black panties???” Great, right?

Now, let me explain; if you remember, I had previously bought material and a TON of rhinestones, a bathing suit pattern and some elastic. I put my imagination to work and made my own costume. The short skirt was almost to my knees so I thought that it was long enough to NOT show my panties. It actually has a full bathing suit/body suit underneath the outer costume, so there was absolutely no reason for my “black dance panties” anyways; I had actually put them on without even thinking about it, as I had worn them in all of my other previous competitions.

As it turns out, the bottom couple of inches of the black, dance panties were sticking out below the leg of the orange ( in recognition of leukemia), body suit. Mind you, I had previously asked four different people if my skirt was too short, or went up to high when I turned. “Did everything look ok?” Every one of them said, “No, it didn’t go up to high and everything looks just fine.”

Thanks guys, for NOT mentioning the black panties!!  I am now, and forever will be; “The Black Panty Girl!” A perfect ending to a not so perfect day! It seems as though I gave many dancers’ something to talk about for the entire weekend.

Despite my complete out of body experience I finished second overall; more importantly I danced better than I did at my last competition and managed to compete in all eight dances instead of only five. Nowhere to go but up, right?

Be sure to watch for the Black Panties!!

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.

Halloween Cipro Pain: Trick or Treat?

Usually the only pain that I get from the aftermath of Halloween is tummy pain from too much chocolate! This year, while I am eternally grateful to have been able to take my son and grandson Trick or Treating, I am paying for it thanks to Cipro.

Part of the issue I am sure, is my own stupidity and fault. It seems as though every time that I have a relatively pain free day I think that I am cured!! Ha Ha Ha, Joke's on me!

I use Custom Orthotics daily and they have helped my feet tremendously, the issue I have is with my shoes. When I am having a "good" day, I slip my Orthotics into a pair of slip- on shoes because it is "easy". The slip-on shoes have a very thin sole.

My sneakers have a cushioned sole and are MUCH better for my feet. Problem is that they require tying! lol OK, I know that seems ridiculous, but sometimes I am just plain lazy and put on the slip-ons even though I know the other ones are better for my feet. That is precisely how I found myself, visiting my mother, with only my slip-on shoes.

The sun went down and it was time to take the boys Trick or Treating. It wasn't until I was 4 blocks from home that I realized what I had done. I was wearing the wrong shoes for walking on asphalt!! Many blocks later I was hobbling...needless to say, the night was cut short by my own stupidity and Cipro! It is 3 days later and I am still paying for it! I REALLY hate being STUPID!!

Moral of the story: Even when my feet aren't throbbing, put on the "Good Shoes"!

Yes, Another Dancer Poisoned by Cipro

Today at our dance workshop a gentleman that I had not seen in many months showed up. I said, "Long time no see, where have you been"? He said, "Cipro Poisoning, my shoulders". I actually thought that he was kidding me and said, "Yeah, right"! But unfortunately he wasn't kidding. He just just another casualty of the wonderful side effects of flouroquinolones.

He said that he had heard me whine about my feet and legs, and that a friend told him that she also had muscle, joint and tendon pain and injuries from the same drug, but he said it just went in one ear and out the other. He is really sorry now that he didn't really understand the severity and likelihood that he, too would be effected. He is now facing surgery on his shoulder.

Cipro, Levaquinn and Avelox are VERY DANGEROUS drugs with very real, debilitating side effects. The drug companies claim that it is 1% of the population that is effected, but I am here to tell you that this is a very underestimated amount. People simply DO NOT correlate their symptoms with the antibiotic. I have met in excess of 35 dancers that have been effected in the past 5 months.

Once again, a warning, I do not want anyone to suffer the way I have!

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.

31 Days Post Cipro Poisoning

Well, it has been 31 days since I was floxed. It seems lately that no matter what I do: sit, lie down, walk, garden or dance, the results are the same. It hurts like hell the entire time, but I seem to be making small strides toward less pain each day, with each activity.

In the beginning on the days that I felt "better" I would try and regain some portion of my daily routine. That only led to a relapse and I spent the next day flat on my back recovering. At about 3 weeks out it seemed as though even if I slowly increased my activity, the next day I was remaining status quo or a bit improved. The pain was still there, but I was better able to move and walk. I can even walk up the 3 stairs in my house like a normal person does, instead of one at a time. I can bend my knees without them feeling as though they are going to explode and I can bend over without shooting pains down the back of my legs.

So last night I decided to put my theory to the test and took my first trial run on the dance floor. I taped my feet, put braces on my ankles and knees for protection from tendon rupture and threw caution to the wind! I felt as though I was dancing in muddy fire as my feet burned tremendously and the muscles in my legs felt very weak and fatigued, but I am tickled to death that the only repercussions that I suffered were that this morning it took me an extra hour to get moving. Since dancing is a my passion and a huge part of my life, the pain was worth it! I hope that day by day the pain will lessen and the strength will return. I am still in utter disbelief that an antibiotic could reek such havoc on your body is so short of time.

I addition to everything that I have been taking, mentioned here: http://www.cipropoisoning.com/2010/04/helpful-suggestions-post-cipro-poisonng.html
I have also added 2 scoops of Whey Isolates to help rebuild the damaged muscles.

Whether or not these things have helped to heal my body, I began improving 2 days after implementing them, and I am so desperate to regain my life that I fully intend to continue what I have been doing and pray for full recovery! I wish you all the same!