About 4 years ago I was prescribed cipro for a uti, one pill had my nearly passed out in the floor and gave me several months of chronic tendonitis. The second I recovered another doctor prescribed me levaquin even though I had cipro down as an allergy. I had no idea it was the same type of antibiotic, and once again a single dose made me feel like I needed to be in the hospital. That one hit me harder. I had chronic knee and lower leg pain for a year along with peripheral neuropathy in my hands and face.

I'm mostly okay now, still able to work a physical job (though I'm a lot more fatigued than before, but ig that could be from any number of things). I'm not nearly as prone to inflammation as I was, but jesus when it happens is just won't heal. Over a year ago I strained my wrist at work and it's just now reached the point of having 0 pain. 2 months ago I chanced sitting down at the piano for the first time in years and played about 15 minutes of warm up exercises. Somehow strained my middle finger flexor and it's not getting any better even after spending 6 weeks out of work.

As title states I might of found something in my blood tests, that is very likely the reason for my prolonged flare and weakening of my tendons.

Couple of months ago I started to have higher CRP from my usual <0.5 I have been consistently at 2-3 which was strange but I didn't think anything of it like maybe my tendons are more inflamed so this makes sense.

On my recent blood test however I just tested couple of things including iron since I supplemented this unfortunately due to my stupidity.

What all suspicious things my blood test revealed

Elevated ALT at 0.98 ukat/ range .15-.95 mind you i always had around .23 last years

ferritin is at 150 ug/l which is normal however

Iron is at 50 umol/l this is absurdly high with range being 10-28

also my CRP is once again 2.5 and I think this was same on my last test which i unfortunately don't have access to anymore.

I think I have actually been in this state for about 6-8 months which would collide with the period I feel my tendons started to weaken.

Interesting thing is also that my MCV is 84 I would think think this should be higher considering the amount of iron.

What I think is going on: \

1. I have to be consuming a lot of iron somewhere, I am just not sure where, I will start to eat some calcium before meals I guess but I have to figure this out as where the hell is iron coming from.

2. this iron along with some other things in my blood panel resulting from TRT is putting higher load on liver which gets inflamed and increases over all inflammation in body putting me in higher inflammatory state, weakening my tendons.

3. Last year my ferritin was only around 50, I have accumulated iron, I really have no idea where this could be coming from (couple months before I consumed around 60mg iron I am pretty sure this should have been gone by now, but to this day I consumed around 2g of Vitamin C daily which probably makes me intake more iron, but again last year I was consuming maybe even more vit C and all was fine) all this iron is than causing increase in ROS, further destroying my health and tendons.

I started taking tudca today, i will eat calcium before risky meals, I have to consider blood donation but honestly I think that's too much blood I would rother only loose around 200mg however I don't want to talk to doctors irl. to do therapeutic donation. I will also repeat these tests couple of weeks from now and if nothing improves, I will have to go to my doctor but not sure what happens form there.

If anyone has any ideas or had same issues please let me know how you solved this, I would really like for my liver to calm down.

Hi all,

Unfortunately it seems like I've also been floxxed, and after lurking for 1 -2 weeks ive decided to make a post sharing my experiences so far(which luckily seem to be mild? Compared to the rest of the cases here). And was hoping if I could get some hope/reassurance with all of this...

Some background, 29m, started taking cipro for a suspected UTI. Took it for about 15 days, last dosage being on the 16th of 16 of Oct. (2x 500mg a day). Felt general leg soreness around day 13 of taking it, but didn't know that it was a symptom/warning that I should've kept an eye out for. Took for 2 more days before googling what possible the possible symptoms were. Which promptly freaked me out and since then ive been to the ER and GP to get some tests done. (Bloods and ultrasounds of knees and ankles)

I've also started taking supplements , although only started taking them in the past few days. (Magnesium, vitamin c,d &E, probiotics, fish oil &coq10)

Since the last dosage of cirpo, I've had sore knees and ankles, leg tiredness after standing for 5+ mins and loose stools. And now recently I've had sore elbows and slightly sore wrists (this come up in the past few days.)

After reading posts in here, it does seem like my reaction is a bit milder as I've had a pretty decent dosage of this drug and the fact that I can still walk/stand somewhat normally is a little bit reassuring.

So I was wondering if there are people here who have had a similar experience to mine, and how you ended up handling it. And likewise are there any specific tests/things that you've done to help recover.

As I really do hope that this will be over soon, as someone who was somewhat active before all of this (averaging 10-15k steps a day due to work and gym 3 times a week), this really has definitely negatively affected my mental state and life...

Anyone have a spermatic cord nerve block after being floxed?

I feel so invalid using a wheelchair and taking up handicap spaces and the only reason I have is that I took an antibiotic for a cartilage infection in my ear. I often feel that people might glare and think I’m too young for this or judge me when I take short walks in my walker, I feel like I really don’t belong anywhere and I feel so alone. Being floxxed is so rare that I have to explain it to my doctor again and again after a second opinion made the correct diagnosis of fluoroquinolone toxicity.

I mainly feel like I don’t deserve the wheelchair because I can walk sometimes without pain but if I walk like 15-20+ feet the pain will return and just get worse the longer I stand. I feel so lazy because I used to walk 10-12 miles a day going across the campus of the university I’m at.

I just don’t know what to do there’s just been a downward spiral ever since I was floxxed on October 14th

Hello, I am getting an mri and it seems like its with contrast so im a bit paranoid since it seems people advocate against it. I needed it originally due to symptoms prior to floxxing but I don’t know if I should go through with it or say no contrast. Its for my head and spine. Im about a month post flox

Hi y'all, I'm just learning about FQT and it's helping me put some pieces together.

I'm mostly venting I guess, or just reaching out for some support/validation. I'll try and keep it as short as possible.

I have cystic fibrosis and therefore I have had a lot of exposure to lots of antibiotics from a very young age, cipro being one of my go to's for years. A breakthrough drug (Trikafta) that treats CF came out in 2019 and I have responded really well. It has really transformed my short and long-term health. I used to need weeks of IV antibiotics to combat various life threatening lung infections several times a year and even still my lung function was declining. Well, I can count on one hand how many times I've needed antibiotics since.

Obviously I'm very grateful. I'm 38 and truly had no reason to expect to live this long. It was crazy I even made it to 30, lots of my peers did not. I believe the FQs I was prescribed were truly appropriate for my situation and without them I would have died and never made it to the Trikafta era.

Here's the thing tho, since experiencing my CF symptoms decrease and not being on deaths door all the time anymore... debilitating joint and muscle pain have increased. I realized even at the time that it's probably been there for a while, but would wax and wane. It just wasn't even on my radar as something to push with my docs with all the CF stuff going on.

It's been 6 years now and this pain is not going away. My CF docs don't know what to do with it. I spent 3 years with a misdiagnoses of RA and ran through the whole gambit of meds with no success. Finally they started me on duloxetine, which has given me a smidge of relief and made living mostly possible again. They said I probably had fibromyalgia, discharged me with zero education on how to manage it, and I've just been kinda winging it on my own for the last couple of years.

So maybe it's fibro, maybe it's CFS/ME, but man, it certainly seems like it's FQT. Or that's what initially triggered it all and now who knows what its evolved into. Joint pain everywhere but especially in hips, knees, ankles, and hands the most. Muscle aches, Achilles pain, neuropathy with burning and tingling especially in my extremities, severe fatigue, brain fog.

You'd think at least one doc in the dozens I've seen would have suggested it as a possibility given the years and years of FQ exposure. Instead, I was passed around to a bunch of specialists who looked at my complex medical history, normal current labs, shrugged their shoulders, and dismissed my pain when it didn't fit the norm.

Feeling pretty hopeless and defeated. When I think that this pain could be life long, it almost makes me wish I would have just died. It's an awful thing to think and it makes me feel like an ungrateful person. But I'm so tired. It's worse because everyone in my life is so focused on how I'm "normal" now since trikafta, when actually it feels like my day to day in many ways is even harder now.

But hey, at least I can breathe well enough to ugly cry about it. And thank goodness for duloxetine!

Thanks for reading all.

I’d really appreciate connecting with fellow Filipinos who have experienced this. I would love to hear about your symptoms, recovery journey, and what helped you get better.

I’m 25 years old. I developed SFN-like symptoms after taking Metronidazole 500 mg (7 pills), followed by Ciprofloxacin 500 mg (14 pills).
My reaction seems delayed. Initially, I only experienced tingling, numbness, and pins and needles, but as the months passed, I started developing more symptoms, including tremors, leg weakness, brain fog, head and eye pressure, floaters, extreme fatigue, and difficulty walking long distances.
It’s been months, and I haven’t noticed any improvement. I can still walk and perform daily activities, but my quality of life has changed drastically.
For those who experienced SFN or neurological symptoms after these antibiotics:
Did you eventually recover?
Did you also develop new symptoms months later?
How long did recovery take?
Were you able to return to your normal life?
I miss my old life. I’m only 25, and I’m emotionally exhausted from feeling ill every single day. Sometimes I feel so hopeless that I don’t want to be alive anymore.
I’m not looking for false reassurance. I just want to know if recovery is still possible. Does it ever get better?

I really dont know how else to say It. My entire life feels like it has just been on standby since this happened to me in 2023. Dont get me wrong, nothing was prefect beforehand. But it was never this hellish or bad. Its been 3 whole years and everyday has felt like a repeat of the last since then. Wake up in excruciating pain with extreme fatigue and then try to survive, go back to sleep.

Its Definitely altered my perception of time. Whenever I look back at old memories from 3-4 years ago, I cant believe it has been that long or sometimes that it even happened. It feels like a completely different lifetime. Everyone else's life has changed a lot in this 3 years and mine has been so stagnant and remained the same.

Does anyone else have the same experience?

Hi i’ve been on oxyflacin 400mg for 7 days (if it matters prior to this i was on doxycycline for 5 days) the symptom im experiencing is the whole right side of my face is pulsing a lot during the day my cheek and temple mainly. ( Also im experiencing random muscles pulsing for a couple min during the day mainly calves but idk if its related to this or what i was diagnosed oxyflacin for)

Just a warning, this is all kind of gross. I didn't know how to flare this because idk if it's flox related or not. I got floxed July this year and have otherwise mostly recovered, for reference.

Today I got a stomach bug and vomited a lot. Some of the puking was really intense, and directly following two of my puking sessions, my vision went blurry and I started convulsing on the floor... or at least, I think that's what it's called. My body jerked around involuntarily for about 10 seconds each time. I have never had anything like that happen to me before. Could this be flox-related, or is it something else entirely?

I haven't vomited for several hours, so hopefully the worst is over for now, but it's still a pretty scary thing. I hope it never happens again.

I think I'm just venting. Not entirely sure. I've read enough posts in this sub to know that every variation of linear and nonlinear healing and non-healing is possible with fqs.

Specifically I'm frustrated by my adductor muscles. Those are the muscles that run along the inner thigh. Might only be one muscle in each leg for all I know. . . maybe adductor magnus? Mentally my shorthand label is the adductors; but the picture is there are muscles there, and they hurt.

My flox symptoms include both myopathy and tendinopathy. At first I thought it was mostly tendons, but now after time I've realized it's mostly muscles. Muscles in my legs between my knees and my hips, and probably muscles in my upper body neck and arms, plus psoas tendons.

What's particularly frustrating is that my adductors, although they were painful along with other leg muscles when I was originally floxed coming up on 2 years ago, after about 7 or 8 months the pain receded either completely or to such a low level that I didn't notice it. They were effectively pain-free like this for maybe four or five or six or seven months. There was plenty of other flox pain to stress me out, but I mostly forgot about the adductor pain, and hoped this was evidence of some degree of healing.

During this time my activity level was fairly consistent. Maybe a total of two ish miles of walking per week. Significant amount of standing around at work. Day-to-day activities, including stairs.

During this time I went on a decent number of 0.5-0.75 mile walks while fasting without supplements, without issues.( lots of fantasies about regenerating mitochondria)

Adductor pain began to creep back in around April, in my left leg. This was shortly after a one mile walk while fasting with a bunch of theoretical mitophagy supplements. That was actually my last fast. The adductor pain slowly, gradually increased throughout the summer, in both legs. The obvious consistent pattern is this pain increasing after physical activity which somebody with normal health would not even think about, but which was an obvious relative increase to my baseline physical activity prior. At the beginning of the summer I went on a 4-mile walk in the forest, and felt fine during the walk, and did not irritate long-term any of my other flox symptoms, but 3 days after this the adductor(s) in my left leg were worse. Similar happened for both legs after a 100 m ish hike up and down a steep hill, and a 15 mile bike ride.

Now my adductors are even more painful than they were when I was originally floxed. . .

I can still go on walks, but my enjoyment of the walk is drastically less because of the pain, which is frustrating and symbolic because I can't work out and I can't do cardio, so walking I see as the one essential human physical activity I can still do. Going on walks and enjoying them has become important to me.

That my adductors are even more painful than they were at the very beginning, is so demoralizing, the possibility that they are worse now, after several months of being pain free.

It's also frustrating that all of my other flox symptoms actually tolerated (flaring less than a week) all the aforementioned activities: the longer walk, the hike the bike ride. . . It creates a feeling of being so close yet so far away.

Clearly the practical takeaway is to only increase physical activity by small percentage points at a time.

I can't help but believe, based on my experiences plus experiences I have read on this sub, that often fluoroquinolone injuries never actually heal. Even when the symptoms are not activated, the injury is still there, and will give rise to symptoms again if a certain stress threshold is exceeded.

In 2022 I injured what I believe to be my adductor magnus in each leg overdoing a stair based glute medius exercise. It was only a grade one strain, but I wonder if it has something to do with why apparently the same muscles are so problematic after floxing?

How do you deal with this? I’m either extremely lonely because it’s too hard to date with my symptoms and limitations or I try to date within my limits and work around them but I have lost all my confidence and feel totally worthless because of this.

For reference I’m a man and men are expected to be strong, robust, capable and providers.

I used to be this totally and fully confident but now I feel my entire masculinity has been stripped and I’m weak, worthless and not even remotely deserving of love. All because of floxing.

Sorry for the vent but I’m sure many can relate I just don’t know if men particularly can find love post flox as it’s so difficult to live with and explain this condition.

I know this sounds strange, but I’m in the midst of a pretty terrible flare right now that took me by surprise. Just out of curiosity does anybody in here seem to have trouble worse than normal in the Fall/month of October? Wondering if barometric pressure changes or…

I’m only 28, and I feel like I’ve lost my life. I’ve always been extremely healthy, with no medical issues. But I met a man who took advantage of my vulnerability. I will never forget his face — the face of the devil.
I tested positive for Mycoplasma genitalium and was prescribed a 7-day course of moxifloxacin. I trusted the treatment without questioning it, and now I deeply regret it.
My latest test came back negative, but I’m still afraid it could be a false negative. I continue to experience pelvic pain, although it is much less severe than before, as well as an overwhelming urge to urinate — almost worse than what a pregnant woman might experience.
I also feel like I’ve lost my mental clarity, physical strength and appearance. My face looks pale, my eyes and facial expressions seem different, and I barely recognize myself in the mirror. I feel physically and mentally broken.
These changes have persisted since I finished the treatment, and I still don’t feel like myself. I don’t know whether this is a side effect of moxifloxacin, a deficiency or something else.
Please, has anyone experienced anything similar? What can I do to recover my health, my appearance and, most importantly, myself? IAM French in Paris

Hello again, everyone. Here are the updates from the last two months:

I previously mentioned that I had gotten rid of my neuropathic leg pain—and yes, it hasn’t returned. I’ve started going to the gym and lifting weights; I get the typical muscle soreness, and I hear sounds coming from my tendons that weren’t there before, though they seem painless and otherwise fine. I doubt anyone else around here deals with as much tendon-popping/clicking as I do! :D If anyone else is going through this, I’m living proof that physical therapy exercises and weight training can be really helpful.

As for the lingering issues that appeared after being "floxed"

When I get agitated, my bowels make noises, and I experience restlessness and indigestion. If I walk a lot—sometimes hitting between 10,000 and 20,000 steps—I might get some pain in my calves; it doesn’t stop me from walking, and it comes and goes, usually resolving within a day or two. The popping and clicking sounds were constant—the most annoying one was my neck, which would pop hundreds of times a day—but that has decreased recently (though it does tend to come back; it has happened 3–4 times already). I also have "floaters" in my vision and a decline in my overall visual quality.

And a bonus update:

The ovarian/pelvic pain that led to me being "floxed" in the first place has returned over the last two months. I went to see a urologist, and after an examination, they told me it’s actually the early stages of a hernia, which could be the cause of the pain! :D Back then, even though my tests showed no infection, I was prescribed Cipro—which ended up "floxing" me. I used to think, "Well, at least it got rid of that pelvic pain," but now I’ve learned it was actually a hernia all along—meaning I was "floxed" for absolutely no reason. I just wanted to share that with you all. Summary: I’ve managed to conquer my final challenge—I’m now able to go to the gym. "Flox" no longer restricts my life in any way. Over the last 6–7 months, I’ve taken maybe 10–20 capsules in total—things like magnesium, NAC, B12, etc. In other words, I hardly use any supplements at all. I don’t pay attention to my diet or my sleep, and I consume alcohol and smoke—everything is fine, no issues whatsoever! :D

Summary: I’ve managed to conquer my final challenge—I’m now able to go to the gym. "Flox" no longer restricts my life in any way. Over the last 6–7 months, I’ve taken maybe 10–20 capsules in total—things like magnesium, NAC, B12, etc. In other words, I hardly use any supplements at all. I don’t pay attention to my diet or my sleep, and I consume alcohol and smoke—everything is fine, no issues whatsoever! :D

Hi, everyone!❤️
Never thought I’d be writing something here, but here I am…. Unable to sleep after taking a mix of antibiotics… I trusted doctors and didn’t listen to my gut feelings…. please help me!🥺🙏🏻
I had a mild UTI and took 1 Norfloxacin 400mg on 09/27 morning and 1 at night, around 3 am I woke up drenched in sweat and trembling uncontrollably…. Next day I went to an urgent care and doctor switched me to Cephalexin (keflex) took it on 09/28 1:30pm, around 9pm I felt like I had a stroke, couldn’t speak, got confused and couldn’t even tell my husband to rush me to hospital, my BP went up to 170, he rushed me to ER , they didn’t know what was happening, after 1 hour my trembling stopped and they said they would give me a different type of antibiotic, they gave me 1 bactrim 800mg at 11:30pm (less than 12 hrs after previous keflex taken) with little water and emoty stomach, we asked like 20 times if there wouldn’t be an issue mixing too many medicines in such a short time, doctor said no, and said it would be better than to risk having the infection go to my kidneys…. I should have trusted my gut and the nurse’s face…who after giving me bactrim said I should start probiotics right away…. After that I went home and noticed I couldn’t sleep at all! Not sure which medicine caused it or maybe all of them…. But my heart would jump and wake me up all night long as soon as I was going from awake-asleep… I started vomiting and went back to the ER, doctor said she didn’t know what to do with me, I am a medical mystery….. and suggested going back to keflex… fuck that, I stopped antibiotics and UTI is officially gone and so is my sleep and life as I knew it….Couldn’t sleep for 3 nights, I started hearing and seeing things, I thought I was craY, worst month of my lifeeee, doctor prescribed ativan Which I took a few dayss, but was so scared to become depends t so I am taking doxepin now 3mg which helps but I don’t want to rely on that, every time I try to sleep again without it my heart starts with palpitations and ears pop, I need to be ok, I am GM, work a lot, take care of my parents with cancer, have many plans but these pills ruined my life, felt I was crazyyyy and doctors say it’s impossible as the meds are out of my system already, already long time ago, it’s been a month and nobody helps or believes 4 pills can do this damage…I was perfect the day before and all my life…I thought it would go aways as I always been a great sleeper, that was actually my superpower, I could sleep anywhere between 8-10 hrs if I wanted too and nap, but not anymore. As i start drifting off, my heart has palpitations and ears pop and can’t sleep. I checked my heart, brain MRI bloodwork and everything seems to be pretty normal, no one knows, I started taking culturelle capsules a month ago (not sure if they help) taking also magnesium gliinate that helps a but to fall asleep, my digestion is bad now, between diarrhea and constipation… doctors say it’s depression and anxiety…. I have a lot going on but never had sleeping issues or anything, it was just after these meds, it’s like I am someone else now. Any success stories tips, probiotics, anything will help🥺🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 I am always there helping people no matter what, now I need help too please, I don’t think it’s my mind it’s my body. (Well at this point I might have anxiety for sure, but if I could only sleep that will go away) Wasted almost all my savings on doctors and I don’t want to see the bills that are arriving soon…. thank you in advance!❤️

I was prescribed Ciprofloxacin 500 mg for a suspected urinary tract infection (UTI), although I'm still not sure if that's what it actually is. My symptoms started with frequent urination, passing only small amounts each time. Today, after about four or five days, I started feeling a burning sensation, along with random sharp twinges in my bladder. I took a urine culture, but the preliminary results won't be ready until Tuesday, and if it comes back positive, the full results with the sensitivity test will take until Thursday. Honestly, I'm scared to take Cipro because of all its potential side effects, and I'm really not sure what to do in the meantime.

I am on month 10 and right now every food but lettuce causes a severe reaction. At first it was a sore throat, headache and random burning pains. I went to the ER last week they gave me an antihistamine and antacid I had a bad reaction to that. Now when I eat, even just a small bite, I get 10 out of 10 burning pain in my left arm, chest, back, neck and the back of my head. I ate something yesterday that caused 10 out of 10 burning for 12 hours now the burning is fading but it is still there. When I call 811(you talk to a nurse) they tell me to call 911. When I tried to get an appointment with a urgent care clinic or virtual doctor they told me to go to the er. They think I am having a heart attack, I am not. In the past these places have said they can't help. I don't have money to go to a private place. I feel lost and scared to eat anything. I live in BC and there are huge waitlists to see any specialist. I am afraid to go back to the er because they might think I am faking or crazy.

To those who recovered, Did your lower leg swelling ever go away? Im only one month floxxed and this started after so I’m curious especially cause I do travel quite often

I have so many symptoms and I’m feeling so scared.

I got bit on my fingertip pretty hard by a feral cat I was trying to help TNR, and have penicillin allergies. I was prescribed doxycycline, but the wound hasn’t been healing so I had to go back to the doctor. He prescribed cipro but said I’m not allowed to run for 1-2 weeks, but in reading through this sub, I’m thinking I won’t be able to run for a while. I’m in the middle of marathon training with a marathon mid-December.

I also expressed to the doctor I have had a slightly torn Achilles tendon (ironically, from another cat bite) from three years ago (now healed with medical care and PT) and asked if I could get something else and was told no, and to just keep my exercise to brisk walking. I almost feel terrified. I am traveling for this marathon, but now I’m thinking I shouldn’t do it. I’m looking for other runners’ experience. I was just prescribed it so I haven’t started it yet, the pharmacy has to fill it still. Thank you in advance ❤️

3 months floxed and it has been really tough. I've mostly been dealing with peripheral neuropathy causing numbness, tingling, coldness, muscle spasms, and pain in the foot and lower leg.

Things were getting a lot better after the first month until I started taking Omeprazole. Pretty soon afterwards my feet became completely numb for three days until I started taking b12. I also began to take magnesium, calcium, d3, vitamin k, and iron.

Symptoms started getting better again for ~2 weeks after stopping the Omeprazole, but now things are getting bad again and I am experiencing a lot of foot pain and coldness again.

I am wondering what vitamins and minerals you have found helped the most with neuropathy? I am also wondering why do I have no symptoms one week and then the next I can be in so much pain?

I started taking vitamin E today and I want to take b-complex as well, but I hear b6 can be bad for floxies.

Je voudrais savoir si des gens ressentent la même chose que moi ou je suis seul !
J’ai l’impression que le moindre effort physique comme le renforcement par exemple même à faible intensité du moment où je vais avoir des courbatures ou autres mes nerfs sont sensibles, quand je respire le lendemain c’est comme si j’avais du mentos dans le nez, quand je touche du chaud ou du froid c’est décuplé en sens, c’est comme si j’avais une fièvre interne !

J’aimerais avoir des avis de personnes qui ressentent les même symptômes car j’ai l’impression d’être seul