March 25th
2009
3:38 PM
PSSAT (and all others suffering) -
Your side effects will NOT go away in a few days.
I was told the same thing after taking JUST ONE pill of Avelox in early February. I was not able to sleep or eat for a month. I was not able to work (my mental acuity was "off"). I lost 15 lbs and wound up in the ER with extreme insomnia/anxiety a month later, after repeatedly asking my doctors if the Avelox caused this and not getting a straight answer (why would they say "yes" when they prescribed it?).
A psychiatrist confirmed Avelox did it. He has seen other patients with the same problem.
Do not take Avelox unless no other meds (Ceftin and Augmentin) work. I've suggested friends & family to put it on their medication allergy lists.
My advice for recovery:
-If you are having anxiety, insomnia, crazy dreams, etc. after taking even one dose of Avelox, STOP TAKING IT, and get in to see a psychiatrist ASAP.
-They will prescribe an anti-psychotic or anti-depressant medication to help you sleep and increase the seratonin and/or dopamine levels in your brain.
-If you think you can recover without medication, you are wrong. I suffered needlessly for a month.
-Acupuncture, exercise, and yoga are great - you should do all three, but if someone leads you to believe it will "heal" you, they're wrong. Avelox is a hardcore drug that damaged your biochemistry - it requires another hardcore med to reverse the damage.
Get on a med like Seroquel, and ease yourself into taking it (take 1/4 or 1/2 tab the first night and work up as needed)...within a few days, you should feel like your old self again.
-- By evilbayer | Reply | Private Message me
March 11th
2009
7:26 PM
Prescribed Avelox after previous antibiotic could not clear up sinusitis. Avelox cleared it up within three days, but I feel worse now. Extreme agitation/anxiety, tremors, twitches, no appetite, boughts of depression, dizzy, lack of coordination, accelerated heart rate, leg shake, cold extremities, very strange, vivid dreams. Doctor told me to stop taking and side effects should clear up in a few days ( I hope). This is nuts. I feel like I am going insane. I could not go to work for three days due to side effects.
-- By pssat | Reply | (9) replies | Private Message me
December 9th
2008
2:23 PM
I was prescribed 400 mg Avelox 1x a day for pneumonia. Had 1 in the hospital and an additional 4 doses at home. That 4th evening my vision in my right eye became totally blurred, like a heat mirage type of blurred is the only way to describe it. I called the on call doctor and while I don't think he believed me, he did change me to Ceftin. I have arthritis in my knee and after 5 days of bed rest from the pneumonia I had to go and get 35cc's of fluid drained off my knee. It is now almost one week after I stopped the Avelox and I'm having extreme calf cramps in my left leg. I have no history of this. Very strange drug that I will not be taking again. It did get rid of the pneumonia.
-- By eyesworld | Reply | Private Message me
September 18th
2006
7:26 PM
Nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, acid stomach, dry mouth, dry throat, tight breathing.
I'm taking 200 mg doxycycline, twice a day. I'm 6 weeks into a 9 week regimen for suspected but unconfirmed lyme disease (no memory of tick bite and no positive tests), and in conjunction with permanent Ceftin 500 mg twice daily as a prophylactic against strep which triggered an apparent and ongoing Rheumatic Fever. (I think my doctor is more confused than I am.)
I've gotten nausea and acid stomach, but both of these are lessened if I drink a large glass of water with the doxycycline. 200 mg can be hard to keep down.
I vomited once but only after taking it with other medicines which my doctor assured me wouldn't interfere. So I spaced them apart by 2 hours and started eating some food prior to the doxycycline, and the result was no more nausea or vomiting, and a much easier time.
Headache & dizziness are reduced when I take the doxycycline with food, and then it seems not to hit me as fast or as hard, and so I tolerate it much better.
At first I thought the doxycylline was helping relieve some kind of bronchial infection, but it was actually just drying out my mucus membranes. Now I wake up early with dry mouth, dry throat, and even my lungs get dry which is causing mild difficulty breathing. The bronchitis I thought it was helping was actually not an infection but an autoimmune symptom of the Rheumatic Fever, and it wasn't really helping with that, it just made it drier. Now instead of coughing up fluid, I get this unproductive dry pain when I cough, and my cough sometimes tastes like blood. I feel the dry pain in my lungs all the time now. I'd rather have the fluid.
3 weeks left on this regimen, which seems like an eternity, but I'll try to stay the course since I want to rule out lyme disease. All these high-dose powerful antibiotics and doctors don't even know what I have. They don't seem to be helping me much.
-- By dbrenn | Reply | Private Message me
March 4th
2006
10:54 AM
Recently I was prescribed 500 MG of Levaquin daily for a bacterial infection. I took only ONE pill Friday night and the next morning my right ankle would not work. I could not walk and had extreme pain! I had not injured or strained my ankle...had never had any other problems with walking or joint pain. I called the on-call physician who said to go to an Urgent Care or an Emergency ward...(You can die in those places....very slowly LOL) I stopped the pills and the next day my ankle was fine. My Doctor switched me to Ceftin. The first doctor said it could NOT be the levaquin but my physician said it was a tendenitis caused by the levaquin and I should stay away from that "class" of antibiotics.
-- By sherryhall | Reply | Private Message me
June 27th
2003
4:43 PM
I went to ER yesterday via ambulance because of a kidney stone. The CAT scan showed I also have a UTI. The doctor ordered Levaquin through the IV. When I passed the stone and went home, she sent a prescription for Levaquin with me. I bought the prescription but read this website before I took it. I called the doctor and she said a certain percentage of patients will be very allergic to any medication. She said I did not have any reaction to it when given the IV. The alternative was Septra, which is a sulfa drug. That has serious, sometimes fatal, side effects as well. I asked for Ceftin (a cousin to penicillin), but she said that would not get rid of my UTI. I bought the Septra, but after researching both on the Internet, I decided to go with the Levaquin. I hope I don't get any of these awful side effects this site talks about. My prescription is for 500 mg once a day for 7 days. I'll keep you posted as to whether I have any sides.
-- By tigerhawksoars | Reply | Private Message me
October 7th
2009
7:21 PM
I started taking Avelox 9 days ago. I was prescribed 14 days of Avelox after a round of Ceftin failed to clear up a sinus infection.
-- By hollygb66 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message meI am an avid tennis player, playing 3-5 times a week. My first bad experience happened yesterday when I went out to play and as soon as I walked outside I had a head to toe tingling feeling. This felt like I had chills but no goosebumps were showing. Over an hour or so later, the goosebumps showed up. This was in 90 degree heat!! I first thought it was dehydration, which it may have been, since I didn't seem to be able to get enough water/Gatorade no matter how much I would drink. This is even at night when I am not in the heat!!
I didn't take the medicine today. Played again this morning. I had the same tingling feeling head to toe, but no chills this time. To explain the tingling, I told a friend my skin felt like it was creepy crawly! It was a horrible feeling again in extreme heat!
I, also, have a hamstring that feels a lil tinge to it. I never have these problems and I am guessing this is due to the medicine, too.
If I walk outside, my body temperature feels like it shoots up! Even though I do not have a fever.
I went to my doctor's office and he is out of town! I asked to see another Dr. and he was "too busy to see me" since he was trying to get to the hospital! I was told to call my family Dr.which I did, only to be told he was also booked and I couldn't be seen. So, I gave up! And, not taking the medicine anymore!! Never again. This will be on my list of 'Allergic to.'
I usually have no side effects from medicines.