Levaquin put me in a wheelchair....

2003-2007 - I have ulcerative colitis and can dehydrate when it flares up.

I went to Dr. due to flare up, trying to prevent the dehydration. Was given a shot of Levaquin and a prescription. That night, I took the first pill. 15 min later, I had horrible chest pains and could not breath. Thought I was having a heart attack. I had six small children and was alone (my husband worked nights).

Called my parents to watch the kids (they could barely understand me because I couldn't get enough breath to talk). Rushed to hospital. I was admitted. I told them I took the antibiotic and was either having a reaction or a heart attack. After tests, heart attack eliminated. I was admitted and everything focused on colitis. I was given IV's of Levaquin as well as fluid to rehydrate me. I got worse.

I started throwing up all the time. I couldn't smell food without throwing up. I got horrible pain in my legs and could not even tolerate the sheet being moved on them. I could no longer walk.

After a few days, welts appeared on my legs that took months to vanish. My finger joints started hurting. This progressed to me being unable to use either hand. I could not bend my wrist or fingers. They told me it was arthritis due to colitis.

No tests were ran on my hands or legs. After 7 or 8 days, insurance booted me out of the hospital (even though I had not eaten any food at all, the entire time in the hospital), and could not stand/walk without help. They did not even give me a wheelchair. A friend delivered one. I could not cleanse myself. I could not care for myself, much less my children. I could not smell any foods without getting sick. I became completely bedridden. It was a battle just to get me to Dr. appts. My family Dr. was horrified when he saw me the first time, after release from the hospital. He flat out said, "I am afraid you are dying". He spent about an hour...with me in my wheelchair, barely able to answer his questions, pooring over hospital records.

He finally saw where the admitting nurse stated I thought the Levaquin might have caused the heart pains. he took me off levaquin. He put me on Penecillin. I came back the very next day, and could pull myself to standing.

I couldn't walk, but could stand for the first time since being admitted to the hospital. He told me never, ever to take anything from the levaquin family again. It took me 6 months to recover my ability to walk normally. 75% of my hair fell out and what was left was dead and brittle.

Almost immediately, the pain in my joints vanished when I stopped the Levaquin. Bloodwork showed my white cell count started dropping quickly once I was on Penicillin and off Levaquin.

Two years later, the colitis flares up again. I go into a different hospital (due to relocation of husband). Told them and wrote on papers, alergic to Levaquin. Explained in detail how it put me in a wheelchair and made me bedridden, almost killed me. They gave me cipro, from the same family (told me it was not in the same family). The first night, the pain returned to my legs. I demanded they stop the cipro. they refused to give me penicillin and threatened me with denial of insurance if I did not take the Dr's recommended Cipro.

My husband was taking care of our six children, my parents hours away... I was alone, horribly sick, and terrified we would be facing tens of thousands in hospital bills if I refused the Cipro. I took it again. Once again, I could not walk. Once again, I couldn't tolerate the smell of food. I got worse everyday. once again, insurance sent me home, where I stopped taking the Cipro and started getting better. This time, it only took about 3 months to walk normally again. Within a few weeks, I could walk, just not up ramps, up stairs, or get in a car without pulling my legs into the vehicle. My legs would shuffle me along but not lift.

No one ever tested my legs to find out why they wouldn't work, nor did they prescribe physical therapy. I still have no idea if I had/have tendon damage.

Right now, I just focus on preventing a colitis flare up and the dehydration that follows. I had never had any alergic reaction to any antibiotic before.


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Joshua Answers:


You didn't leave a name or email address for response notification, so I hope you find this.

Wow. That sounds extraordinarily bad. Where do you live? That kind of refusal to stop giving you a particular med and kicking a person out if they can't walk and aren't eating -shouldn't- be happening here in the US.

Why? Because the hospital can get SUED. Big Time.

Aside from the Levaquin Damage, you may want to consider that you are Gluten Intolerant, even Celiac 'disease'. Which means that eating gluten can hurt your stomach -and- leave you malnourished.

Go off of ALL gluten for two months, and see what happens.

You can find a lot of great information about this on my Kerri's site, www.easy-immune-health.com.

You may also want to get The Healthy Urban Kitchen cookbook and health plan. It talks about all this.

You have to get rid of GLUTEN if you want to heal your gut.

As for the Levaquin Tendonitis, ABSOLUTELY never again take any fluoroquinolone.

Some would consider it criminal that hospital staff didn't know that Cipro wasn't in the same family/class as Levaquin.


You may also want to get on high doses of Magnesium. You were already likely nutrient deficient, and everything with the Levaquin made things worse.

Also, have you been checked for h-pylori infection?




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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com