Diverticulitis symptoms and conditions

Symptoms: joint pain, blisters on tongue, low blood pressure, dizziness, loss of vision. I started Levaquin 750 mg orally 11 days ago for diverticulitis, along with Flagyl. I had taken Levaquin in the past for this same condition without any side effects. I am also on Benicar 25 mg for high blood pressure. This time after spending $106 dollars AFTER insurance, I started having problems with dizziness where I would lose my vision for a few seconds every time I stood up from a sitting position, or sat up from laying down. My arms and legs felt very heavy and I was exhausted and felt like I could hardly walk. Since I had taken this drug before without complications, it didn't occur to me that this might be a side effect of the Levaquin. My doctor recommended I stop taking the Flagyl, which I did. Nothing improved. After several days of this I finally went to an after hours clinic and found that my blood pressure was 90/50. The nurse told me to stop taking my blood pressure med for a few days, that maybe there was a reaction. (She stated she had never heard of blood pressure being affected by an antibiotic). I stopped taking my blood pressure medication and it came up to normal within about 36 hours. Approximately 4 days ago my tongue broke out with little blisters all over, top and bottom and my lips are cracking. Yesterday my joints started aching and I feel like I'm 75 every time I take a step. (I'm 46) I took my last Levaquin yesterday and I still have the blisters and the joint pain is worse. This morning my blood pressure was back to my normal "mild high" range of about 130/83. I took my blood pressure med and it came back down to what is normal for me, 122/77. I haven't done anything different (meds, food, products, etc.) that should be causing these blisters, and I don't feel sick other than the joint pain, so I'm assuming these are side effects related to the Levaquin. I'm hoping they will clear up now that I'm done with the medication. I find it interesting that I spoke with two different pharmacists and two different physicians and none of them indicated there might be contra-indications with Levaquin and my blood pressure med. The good news is that the diverticulitis seems to be gone!

I was prescribed Avelox for diverticulitis. I have been taking it for 6 days. After taking it I feel nausea, light-headed and shaky. I have not left the house in 3 days. I have 2 pills left but I am not going to take them. I had cataract surgery in one eye 5 months ago - turned out great. Now, however, I feel blurry in that eye, plus trouble focusing. I don't know if it is a reaction to the medication but will see my eye doctor. I sure hope it does not do damage to the eyes as well. I read all the postings here and no one said anything about their eye vision. I have to go to a CAT scan for the diverticulitis but won't go until the nausea goes away as I have to drink 2 bottles of medication for the CAT. I will add this medication to the other medications that I cannot take. I am so sorry I did not know about it sooner - but will not take it again that is for sure. I just hope that the side effects that this medication has caused will go away soon!!!

Last week, I was prescribed to take Lasix, along with Klor-Don (potassium supplement) for Congestive Heart Failure. Also Levaquin for pneumonia.

I returned to doctor, to state that the Lasix was not having an effect on my urinary habits at all.

SO, the doctor prescribed 60mg Lasix per day, 30mg Klor-Don per day, with an additional 5mg og Lisinopril per day.

Now, everything I read about Lisinopril, is that it should not be taken with Lasix, or any potassium additive stuff.

Plus all the side symptoms that lead to my first prescriptions, are exactly the side effects of Lisinopril. How in the world would I ever know anything was working?

Also, my BP is 108/81. Doesn't look high to me.

Any thoughts? I watched my Dad wither away after being presented additional prescriptions when ones weren't working. To me, it complicated his problems. I'm not about to get into the same piss*** contest with doctors & prescriptions.

I had a sore throat. The first doctor said mono. The 2nd doc. said no mono or strep --must be viral. Third doc says viral and puts me on predinsone, levaquin and darvocet because my uvula was swelling from infection. White count was elevated and had low grade fever. That was Friday..............................The Monday after that I had severe pains in my left side. After teaching went to ER they said gas after 2 minutes. Next day level 8 pain same side went back to ER. They said skeletal prescribed me 4 more drugs and told me it was viral too. Went to internist on Wednesday had to miss teaching he scheduled CT on Thursday morn. Level10 pain almost passed out on Thursday eve missed school/teaching. Friday admitted to ER at different hospital beyond any level of pain I have ever had, blood pressure through the roof, heart palp, they gave me morphine and phenagrin and muscle relaxer for spasms.

Here I am a perfect state of health get a sore throat and the next week I am in the hospital because of the 2nd ct saying that I am full of poo. 4 weeks later I am still in pain, missed 12 days of teaching and now they say i have ibs. I miss my active life before. I believe the combination of these drugs caused this. I am young no children and very healthy. Ultrasound,s blood works, 2 ct scans with dye, colonscopy, xrays show no probs. Which is great but still in pain. Anyone PLEASE HELP the doctors are taking their sweet time while I have lost weight and stay in bed which helps the pain. Bending over, lifting, eating, pooing, sneezing, coughing, hiccuping can make it worse. It is intense SHARP pain. I have cut out everything med wise except for Miralax and now I have diarrhea and joint pain.

They want me to take Dicyclomine and IMIPRAMINE, MIRALAX and Levisin sublingual and Diflucan.

I was given Avelox after a hospital stay with diverticulitis. My insurance woudn't cover the other anti-biotic which I can't remember the name of right now, so they replaced it with Avelox. About 30 minutes after taking my first dose of Avelox I had a rapid and pounding heart beat, shortness of breath, disorientation, and extreme anxiety. I went to the ER and they told me I was having a panic attack, but I know this was the Avelox! They gave me Ativan to take with the Avelox so I would fall asleep instead of feeling like crap with the avelox. Two months later I still suffer from a pounding in my chest which the doctors can't figure out. I believe I am having long term effects from the Avelox. It should be banned. Don't take it and don't let the doctors convince you that you are having anxiety.

In the past I had taken two separate three day courses for diverticulits, it worked right off, no problems. Last time I had diverticulitis, my doctor prescribed 10 day course of combo levaquin and flagl. After 7 days, I started to get hip joint pain, foot joint pain, and mild numbness in fingers on both hands and toes on one. I called doctor, and stopped the levaquin, and fortunately, the divertiltis was gone. However, the joint pain lessened after stopping but is taking weeks to fully go away.

I have found that silica (usually found in horsetail or oceanic) is helpful against the joint pain. (I had also tried selenium, msm, but were of no help for this joint pain.) Most of the joint pain is gone after several doses of silica, but the numbness, though lessened, lingers on a bit.

i don't think I'll take levaquin again for diverticulitis unless I'm dying. I've found that garlic tablets (I like solary's) very helpful, as is vitamin-c, for fighting back my intenstial bugs, and if I use garlic & vit-c for 5 or more days, it seems to cure the problem. Also I've heard that bacteria do not build up immunity to garlic, that it is a broad-spectrum antiboitic and antiviral, and so even if I stop taking it too soon and the bug comes right back, I can just get back on the garlic for a longer time, no worries about mutant bacteria.

My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year. It has been in the mild stages until last week when she was hospitalized for diverticulitis.
Upon being discharged she was prescribed Levaquin 500mg to be taken once a day for 12 days. Because the cost of the drug was $132.00, I had them cut the rx in half.
Since taking this drug my mother has had morning sweats and worst of all it has made her combative and belligerent. I know as Alzheimer's progresses that some patient become this way but based on the fact this she did not become this way until she began taking this medication, I believe it exasperated her condition. And since taking her off of this drug, she has become more calm but it has had to work itself out of her system over the past 6 days.

I have recently been hospitalized for diverticulitis and was on Leqquin 500 Mg and Metronidazole 500 mg. From the 2nd day of medication I began to have a lot of aching expecially in shoulders and hips. I just thought that my arthritis was acting up as I was in active. Symptoms became worse each day and finally on the 7th day they were intolerable and I looked up info on the computer and was horrified at what I found. I stopped the Rx and after a week was able to see my doctor. She assured me that the Rx was not the problem and it was indeed my arthritis but as time goes by my symptoms have decreased by have not gone away. This goes on my list of Rx not to ever take again. I believe it is very dangerous to some people and I am one of them.

I have been on Topamax for 5 years. At first I believed it was a miracle drug. It was being used to treat bipolar 2. Over the course of 7 months I lost 40lbs, which at that time I did not know was caused from the drug. I was losing parts of my memory, and I worked in a high performance sales job, but was able to cover the mistakes. Over the course of the next year and a half things began to get worse. I believed at that point it was my illness. I began to have panic attacks and began to be more depressed. Eventually I had to leave my job 3 years ago. I was given other drugs with the topamax but nothing did anything, so they upped the dosage to 400mg, which put me in bed almost constantly. The dosage was taken back to 200mg. Over the course of this process I complained of back pain, losing the feeling in my left side of my body, vision loss (I had perfect vision before taking this drug) headaches, eye twitching, stomache problems ( which developed into diverticulitis)hair loss. I had nerve testing done, which came back negative. I had the first eye test done which came back with some eye loss. My doctor assured me that the topamax could not be causing any of these problems.
The last vision test from an opthmologist now says that I need surgery to correct my eyes, because of the problems that this drug can cause. He says I need lazer surgery.
Well, the fact remains, that this drug I believe has caused all of my problems. Most of all, my lack of motivation, my depression, and my lack of will to do anything. My sleeping pattern has been totally changed, and I suffer my panic attacks which I never had prior to taking this drug, and anxiety. I have no libido, which I believe has been a gradual thing, it was not immediate.
I am now weaning myself off, and it is not easy. The lower dosage has withdrawl effects, and the fear of weight gain has always been a problem. However I realize now after researching this drug to great extent the long term effects are not worth weight loss, and natural products maybe the better solution.

Severe nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, headache, exhaustion, weakness, sweats. I stopped this after 7 days. I hope this horrible feeling goes away soon. I did not feel this bad with the diverticulitis I had before going on this, and now I feel horribly sick and have even missed work because of this. I am also having trouble sleeping. I never will take this again.

Admitted to the hospital for diverticulitis. Was put on an IV of Levaquin. When I reminded the dr and nurse that I'm sensitive to meds I asked what side effects might come along with it. I was told that "it's just an antibiotic" and the most I could expect was nausea. That night I couldn't sleep and by morning the elbow tendons in my right arm were in severe pain but was told that it was most likely due to the IV entry point.

Was sent home with 7 days oral dosage. I began to experience spaciness, confusion, short term memory problems, burning and tingling in my feet and hands, pain in my wrist, my right arm was no longer usable having no grip strength and weakened muscles. A general feeling of exhaustion came along with it all. I stopped the meds on the 3rd day after reading the stories of others who experienced similar madness.

My GP was reluctant to agree that it could be Levaquin but I feel fortunate that she did indeed refer me to a neurologist. Tomorrow will be the full workup and blood tests for liver functions.

I would very much like to be involved in any project, legal action or otherwise, that is focused on bringing to light the dangers of this family of medicines. You can contact me at VFrancis@southbuffalo.net Good luck to everyone!

I was given Sulfameth along w/ Flagyl for what my Dr. thought was diverticulitis. The pain (diverticulitis) went away by the fourth day of meds but on the fifth day I had other things going on. I thought I had the flu. I kept getting extremely hot (but didn't have a fever), then cold chills. My lower back ached terrible along w/ a major headache and I had never been so nausious in my life w/o vomitting. I couldn't even look at food or even sip water w/o feeling extremely ill. I was constipated as well. I kept making excuses for it all saying I must have the flu instead of suspecting the drugs I was on. On the 8th day I returned to the doctor and by now I was completely broke out and my face, ears and back of my upper arms felt like they were on fire. He knew immediately that it was a reaction to this drug! He advised me to stop taking both meds I was prescribed but didn't offer me any options for relief from the burning. I found spraying Solarcaine on my arms helped alot. I feel for everyone who has ever experienced this type or any type of reaction and for those who haven't...may you never have to.

My wife was put on Levaquin and Metronidazole together 2000mg per day for diverticulitis.. After 7 days she was so ill I thought she was going to die. Called the doc and he took her off these drugs and put her on penicillin. Yesterday she had such severe pain in her arms and in her back ( just below the shoulder blade) I had to take her to the E.R.. They tested her blood, x rays of the chest and stomach, EKG, Urine test. We were there 6 hours. All the test came back OK.They said ( they think) it was caused by a severe reaction to Levaquil. Today she is no better she still can't move her right hand above her waist and the pain in her back is excrutiating. What do I do now since all her tests at The E.R. were OK ? Will this go away after time and the drug has gone out of her system?

Peter

I had a bout with diverticulitis and had severe cramping pain.
An ER doctor prescribed Meprozine 50/25. After four capsules over the same number of days, I awoke one morning with an allergic reaction, manifested by a low blood pressure and difficulty breathing.

I am bipolar and have been taking Lamictal for 2 to 2 1/2 months, worked my way slowly up to 200 mg/day now. Finally thought I was fine and maintaining well. A few days ago I started getting dizzy and light-headed. I've been going through a lot of stress and thought the dizziness might be because I'm smoking a lot now. This is what I've noticed besides the dizziness (I am dizzy right now): YELLING OUT during sleep (can't stop myself) and waking myself up some nights, stomach aches (may be due to diverticulitis that I have), sores in my mouth (two so far), irritibility and anger so bad I can't believe it (on two occasions recently), Cystic Acne on my face, also I have been confused, clumsy, and at a loss for words (very bad). Have tried to call my doctor today and her nurse, no luck. Will try again tomorrow. I went through hell, five medicines from January to September of this year, and I dread changing again. The holidays are here; my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and my daughter and grandson are coming for Christmas from another state. I think that I would rather endure the side effects than try another med right now. Good luck to you all. A good doctor can make all the difference, but one must still go through the valley of death when one must change meds.

I was on my second round of a 10 day courses of Levoquin for diverticulitis. 5 days into my second round, I started to have an allergic reaction every evening from 8:30 ish to midnight-ish. It would start with a tingly painful tongue, then tongue feeling slightly swollen ,then slighlty swollen and numb, itchy lips and gums, then to the back of my throat and up my ears. My salvatory gland production increased, was slighlty nauseated and had a headache. Then 2 hours into the reaction, I began to get short of breathe and had a racing heart and palpiations. I currently take prendisone for Lupus so I'm sure this masked the allergy to some extent. I continued on the drug for another 5 days of these nightly reactions, elimainating other meds and foods I was eating in an attempt to figrer out what I allergic to, until I finally saw my doctor who immediately discontinued my leviquin. Because of my Lupus, I am always in chronic pain but since taking the levoquin, every single muslce in my body is extremely sore and tender, even my scalp. I've been off it for 3 days and on high doses of prednisone and my lips are still a bit sore and puffy feeling and my muscles still hurt but seems to be improving a little bit but not as much as I would have expected being on such high prednisone.

I started taking this on 7/21/05 along with metronidazole for diverticulitis. On Thursday started with severe vomiting; Friday called the doctor because I was still vomiting; they told me to go to the ER if it continued which it did. Sunday went to ER and they gave me two prescriptions for nausea, one a prescritpon pill and the other suppositroy I did not use. This afternooon I got hives; I too have a a hard time sleepng and having very jittery thoughts. Hard time sitting still. This has been a nightmare for me.

Hello everyone. I am here to add my "two cents" about Yasmin. I have been off of it for about 2 months now, and I am feeling much better. I originally was put on birth control pills to control horrible cramps during both ovulation and my period. I am a 47-year old female who has been getting worse and worse pms and periods. I tried a couple other birth control pills, but my blood pressure was on the high side, so my OB/GYN explained that it might be worth trying Yasmin, since it has a diruetic in it. Like most of the other posts I have read, I don't know if I am "crazy" or not, but all I can attribute my symptoms to is Yasmin. I started taking Yasmin in the end of February, and by day two, I was nauseous and was constantly in the bathroom. Within a week, my entire lower abdomin was tender to the touch. By this past Easter (the end of March), I began running a fever and went to the Dr. I was put on Cipro, as they thought I had either a lower abdominal infection or diverticulitis. I was sent for a lower GI and they did see some small kidney stones and a 4 mm cyst on my right ovary. The cyst eventually went away and I continued to experience nausea and tenderness in my lower abdomin. After my period in the end of March/beginning of April, I went off Yasmin. ALL IS NOW FINE. Am I crazy? I don't know if this is a coincidence, or if these symptoms were caused by the Yasmin. I have never been so sick in my life. I am now hormone free - I will put up with the heavy painful periods for awhile longer!
Good luck to all!

I have taken Avelox, Cipro and Levaquin within the past two years - all with side effects:
CIPRO: (Rx for diverticulitis) Dry raspy cough, irritated throat, sneezing - all started shortly after each daily dose and eased off until next dose. Poor sleep, wakeful and unable to go to sleep. I did not continue the medication as prescribed and the symptoms were gone within 24 hours.
AVELOX: Dementia - something like Alzheimers - I could not do a simple crossword puzzle, knowing that I knew the answers at one time. I could not think or function and, again, stopped the medication early. Symptoms went away.
LEVAQUIN: Confusion, sleeplessness, anxiety, frequest urination.

My husband is currently taking Avelox and is having some strange symptoms: Hallucinations, strange dreams, confusion, raspy cough and laryngitis. He was put on Avelox two days before he came down with Influenza and the cough and laryngitis may be a result of the flu - but I am recovering from the flu and he is not, and should be.

I will no longer take any quinolone and may need to change doctors if he insists prescribing them. He wants my husband to continue taking his last two doses of Avelox. I just hope he survives this!

nausea, vomiting, joint pain tenseness - treatment for diverticulitis..

I went to the emergency room for a dull pain in my lower back left side and was given an IV, a blood test, and a CT scan. After no signs of kidney stones were found the ER doctor sent me home and prescribed LEVAQUIN, IBUPROFEN, and METRONIDAZOLE antibiotics thinking that I might have gotten diverticulitis.
After 1 week of taking LEVAQUIN the side effects were right on! I could not sleep for more than 3 hours, I have anxiety attacks and my skin became dry no matter what lotion I put on it. I also had the runs and blackened stool ( and I thought I had a serious case of internal bleeding ). I have prolonged dizziness and nausea that even when lying down I feel like I'm gonna throw up. I have a lower center backpain that makes me feel strained ( like dead weight on my shoulders )and although my backpains have dulled a little bit but now, I'm still feeling muscle cramps in my lower and upper back, and have muscle spasms on my left inner thigh.
I always feel like I'm going to have a headache but I become lightheaded like I can't think straight and I am very anxious.
I have not have had any serious diseases and my checkups are always clean.
By reading these articles I have found relief knowing it could not be a serious problem I have, but could be major side effects caused by this drug.
I don't know what this drug cures but one thing i know is that it is very potent and dangerous for people with other health disorders relating to asthma, anxiety, insomnia, and others.

I cannot recommend this drug at all from what I see posted here today. And knowing the side effects are so extreme I begin to wonder why it is being recommended by physicians.

Should'nt they know any better?!
This experience has really awaken me to the new culture of drugs we have in the market today. Before I take another drug, I will find out more about the side effects.

I had been on levaquin for only 3 days for diverticulitis, I have been dizzy, wheezing, BUT the worst is the itching rash it stared out small tiny bumps from my waist down, they itched so badly I have rubbed them until they are sore. I had only been on for 3 days total, today is the fourth & the tiny bumps have turned into hives. It is Sunday here & the Dr office is closed so I called ER & the Dr on call has instructed me to take 25mg of benadryl 3 times a day. I would think the hives would get better he told me not to take anymore Levaquin, but today they seem larger. I guess it will take it some time to get out of my system. I will never take this drug again. The Dr on call also told me to see the Dr for an appt first thing in the morning. Good thing I work at the Dr office. I am itching like mad.

been on this for 3 days and have been sick to stomach and bad headache. the doctor prescribed it for diverticulitis.

so glad i came upon this site. i'm called the doctor's office today and having this medication changed.

While I am truly sorry that many of you have/had such terrible side affects from Levaquin, I just finished taking a 10 day supply of the drug about 2 weeks ago for diverticulitis, and only had very mild effects (metal taste in mouth, and very slight pinging pains in my gut the first day or so, which still was much better than the constant pain of diverticulits).

On the 3rd day I was doing some internet research on this drug and came upon this site. Even though all of these messages scared me tremendously I decided to continue with the rest of the dosage, and just pray that I didn't get any worse effects. I thank God that was the case!

Several things that I did while taking this drug that may or may not have limited the side effects: Stayed out of the sun religiously (I already had a bad sun reaction to Doryx Tablets about a month previously, so I learned my lesson from that). I also drank A LOT of water each time I took the medicine, which I'm pretty sure helped reduce the pains in my gut that I had the first day. I also was already on a soup diet for the diverticulitis, which may have helped but I'm not sure. Finally, I took the drug every day at around 5:00pm and then ate my dinner at 6:00pm which probably doesn't mean anything but who knows!

Anyways if I get prescribed this medicine again in the future, I probably will ask if I can have some other drug due to everything I've read on this site (I've looked and have hardly seen any other sites about other drugs that told of so many people with so many side effects).

Istarted my second round of Levaquin yesterday along with Metrodiazanole
for treatment of ongoing diverticulitis. I was hospitalized the first week in May, admitted via the ER. I spent 4 days on IV without food , liquids or solids. Upon discharge I was given prescriptions for the above drugs for a 14 day period. Finishing up the week before Memorial Day. I began to experience weakness and pain in my knees(I have had arthroscopic surgery in the past two years and was doing well. The pain progressd throughout my joints and into my lower back, Raising myself up off the bed and walking has been wery painful I was also told that I was now somewhat anemic. When checking with My gastroentrologist's physician asistant, my docter is never personally available, I expressed my concern, I was advised there was no incidence of pain or joint problems connected with this drug. I then contacted my orthopedic surgeon and after he looked it up told me my concerns were indeed valid. As you can imagine the other docter told me this was all my imagination and would not consider an alternate plan. This morning after my first dose of levaquin, I became extremely flushed. experienced pressure in my skull and sharp pain with dizziness. I have been unstable on my feet , dizzy nauseous and in pain that even Darvocet does not relieve since I first started this treatment last month. I feel as if I am between a rock and a hard place. I need to heal from diverticulitis but at what price? Three years ago I was treated for this same condition with metrodizanole and cipro, I felt nauseous and flu like, but not as bad as this time