January 1th
2009
7:00 PM
I was prescribed 750 mg. for 3 days of Levaquin for a UTI by a doctor (not my regular) I did notice the slight dizziness but wasn't too concerned. I also had some insomnia but didn't connect it to Levaquin. Then in the a.m. after 21 hours of taking the first dose, I had elevated heart rate and blood pressure along with nervousness. Scary! I've taken 250 mg of Levaquin for sinus infection previously (3 days) and never had any side effects. I even asked for this prescription...can you believe that. It's New Years Day so I can't even contact my regular doctor but I am stopping Levaquin and requesting to not ever prescribe this drug to me again!!!!!
-- By meberhar | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
November 26th
2008
3:41 AM
Thank you for this site...although it is too late being I already poisoned myself with my 1st dosage - I know better now to STOP TAKING THIS DRUG IMMEDIATELY.
31 y/o male - non smoker - In good overall health.
What happened...(brief history of what got me to the point of being prescribed this horrid drug)
I caught a cold a few days after drinking quite heavily at a wedding (Aprox 1 month ago). It was severe enough for me to take a trip to this new doctor that is in my network and nearby (how I wish I could use my old family doctor that is out of network).
Symptoms then were congestion in my head and upper chest, cold sweats, runny nose. The doctor told me to take some over the counter stuff and try to fight it off w/ Mucinex, and Zyrtec - and lots of liquids. If that didn't work, he asked me to return.
It took about 5 days, and I seemed to kick the cold.
Approximately 2 weeks went by where I was feeling fine, then it seemed as if I was coming down with something again. (Last Thursday was when I started feeling ill)
I think what brought it on this time was breathing in excess dust at work opening some skids of paper in our warehouse.
Anyhow, this time around I had a pretty serious cough, felt feverish, and fatigued.
Sunday morning I woke up and took two Mucinex to break up the cough (which work great by the way)...and I hacked up something awful enough to call my doctors emergency line and have him paged. I was ready to go to the ER. It wasn't just phlegm or mucas - it was a soild mass of lord knows what containing blood. It look like an organ from a small critter.
Doctor said to keep taking the Mucinex and if I didn't feel better to come see him.
The coughing got worse on Monday, and the mucus I was spitting up wasn't pretty.
I went to see him yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and he said its time to start you on an antibiotic and diagonsed me with an Upper Respiratory Infection.
He gave me Avelox, and Advair, and I asked for some of the good cough syrup w/ the codeine. He also sent me for a chest X-ray.
I got home around 4pm, made some food, then took some syrup and tried the advair.
I waited to take the Avelox til later on in the evening so I could set up a routine as I work nights and 9pm would be good.
I took the Avelox, around then, along with another dose of the cough syrup.
Around 1 hour later I felt extremely nauseous. I would burp, and feel almost ready to vomit...it was my body rejecting this horrible drug. The nausea came and went, came and went - then I got tired.
I laid down around 11pm and then the REAL trouble started. I must have fell asleep for about 30 mins, then woke up suddenly gasping for air...It felt like my heart was about to stop. I sat up in the bed panicked. I then got a little nervous, but calmed myself down, drank another glass of water and tried to fall back asleep. Sure enough just as I was about to drift off, the same sudden feeling of my breathing or heartbeat was interrupted and I sat up again. I had tingling in my chin area and in my arms. Walking to the bathroom I felt slightly disoriented and dizzy, and my legs and whole body felt weak. I also started getting itchy in my legs and groin area. Now I'm scared to go to sleep so I come to the computer and started researching this Avelox. It's 3:30 am now as I'm writing this. I looked at this site and http://www.fluoroquinolones.org/ before decided to post my experience.
I am still very itchy, slight nauseous, and feel disoriented. I'm scared to lay down to sleep now, but hopefully that will wear off soon - but I feel very nervous, uncontrollably. I almost want to induce vomiting to maybe get out any of the drug that is left in my stomach, but hate vomiting.
I will not take another dosage of this Avelox, no matter what this doctor tells me...and will give him a piece of my mind for prescribing this instead of something like ammoxocillin or just penicillin.
November 1th
2008
7:22 PM
First I am someone who believes in the less drugs a person has to take, the better off they are. I will go days with a headache before I take an asprin. Recently, on Oct 19, 2008 I was prescribed Bactrim DS and Keflex for what DR. said looked like staph infection in ear. I had a cyst or a pimple or something in my ear that burst the night before so I went to the Urgent care to have it checked out (should never have gone to the doctor for this). Against my better judgment I filled the prescription and took the antibiotics for the first 6 days out of the 10 day course. Honestly I think hydrogen peroxide would have been fine for the ear issue and no need for overkill with antibiotics. I informed this Doctor that in 2005 I had been bitten by a dog and was given a double dose of antibiotics for that, I had a slight reaction and I wasn't sure he should be putting me on another double dose of antibiotics because of this. He went on and on about drug resistant staph strains these days. I stopped taking the drugs on day 6 as I could tell I was going to have problems. The next day my left eye swelled and I was itchy all over my body. The day after that, woke up, left eye swelled again and still really itchy all over. I tried calling the Urgent Care no one answer the phone. Called the pharmacy told them what was happening. They told me to stop taking the drugs which I already had done and to take benadryl. Started benadryl. Next day swollen left eye, itchy all over and now I had two hives, one on my upper left leg/pelvic area, and on on the right side of my waist. Went back to the Urgent Care I told them this is due to the antibiotics they prescribed, note it in my chart and find out what they prescribed 3 years earlier when I was bitten by the dog. Was told to take benedryl or Claritin and work on this from the inside and use hydrocortizone creams and oatmeal baths for the itching on the outside. Started all of this, but nothing helped with the itching. Next morning woke up, my eye was not swollen, but I had hives all over my body (mainly on my butt, legs, lower torso, and scalp) and really intense itching everywhere. My skin temperature felt extremely warm when I touched myself. I also started wheezing a bit but grabbed an outdated inhaler for Provental took a few puffs and the wheezing went away. Next morning, woke up now the hives were on the left side of my face, back, moving onto the chest, a few on the stomach, lower torso covered, legs covered, moving onto my ankles, scalp covered, and the left side of my bottom lip was really swollen. My left ear was flaming red (both ears hurt badly) and was swollen to twice it's normal size. The itching was unbearable. I took photos of myself, popped a Claritin, and a benadryl and knocked myself out for 4 hours. When I woke up I still looked the same (like s*#t) but the itching was finally gone. I took myself and the photos back to the Urgent Care. The doctor could not believe I looked like that as he had seen me two days prior with only two small hives and a slightly swollen eye. I was given a shot of epinephrine and am now taking prednisone and was told if I have any more breathing issues go straight to the ER. That night the hives moved to my wrist and palms of my hands. The palms were extremely painful, swollen, and flaming red. They were itchy, but if I touched or rubbed them, they burned like they were on fire. Pretty much over the course of this, any of the areas that were nuclear red burned like they were on fire (one day it was my knees, one day my ankle, three or four times it was the ears, the palms continuous for two days). I went to bed that night with my palms resting on bags of ice. Yesterday woke up, had small hives all over my face (luckily no swollen lip or eye), hives were now on my neck, moving onto my arms, hands, and feet, a couple on my chest, and they are still all over the rest of my body. At lunch time yesterday (Friday I started sweating behind my neck and I took it as a good sign since I had not broke a sweat in the past 5 days and my skin did not feel like it was 5, 10, 15 degrees hotter then normal when I touched it (other then my flaming red palms and ankle which still really hurt). It is Saturday November 1, 2008 and this is my first day (trial day) not taking Claritin or Benadryl but still on the prednisone. I still feel very drained due to the previous six days of hell (sinus hurts as well). I am pretty ticked off as I missed a concert on Thursday night because of this. Couldn't exactly go to the event with hives all over my body, especially on my face, swollen lip, and feeling really drained.
The Urgent Care got back to me on Friday regarding the antibiotics I was prescribed when I suffered the dog bite. I was prescribed Augmentin and Bactrim DS. I am trying to find out from an ear nose throat doctor what he prescribed for me right after the dog bite and I will have a list of all the antibiotics to potentially stay away from. After the dog bite incident and taking the antibiotics to clear up the infection in my leg it felt like I was having sinus issues (in hindsight I thing it was an antibiotic reaction as I am having those same symptoms now) so I went to a sinus doctor. He prescribe and antibiotic thinking I had a sinus infection. I told him I just finished a few days before a double round of antibiotics for a dog bite (how on earth could I possibly have a sinus infection?). Stupid me I should have waited for the lab results to come back before I started taking that third round of antibiotics. Of course I did not have a sinus infection. Took a round of antibiotics for nothing, but then had a swollen eye issue for the next 6 to 9 months to deal with along with trying to get all the residual antibiotics out of my system, get rid of the yeast infections I now had due to the antibiotics killing everything good in my body, and reestablishing the good flora and fauna back into my intestinal system. It took months to recover from that.
I am concerned how many months or years will I be suffering from the consequences of this unnecessary round of antibiotics? Will my eye periodically swell for the next 6 to 9 months? Will I continue to get hives? Have I suffered any permanent internal organ damage due to this? Will I die the next time a doctor prescribes me antibiotics? Pretty positive I will not let any doctor prescribe to me the Bactrim DS ever again as that one looks like it could be the one I am allergic too, but I do not know if I am allergic to the others.
Pretty much people If any DR tries to prescribe to you Bactrim DS or one of it's relatives under a different name, my advise is to insist on some other type of antibiotic as this one the harmful side effects outway the good.
-- By lori64 | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
May 18th
2008
6:53 PM
I am posting the metabolism profile for montelukast. Maybe someone here has chemist friends who might know if it is possible that the dicarboxylic acid major metabolite could also have been derived from quinolinic acid under metabolic circumstances less than ideal. The quinoline ring, is a benzene-pyridine. Quinolinic acid, a dicarboxylic acid with a pyridine is produced by the oxidation of quinoline possibly by acid hydrogen peroxide. So the only structural difference between the dicarboxylic acid mentioned in the study as the major metabolite and quinolinic acid is nitrogen. Fascinating drug Singulair. Macrophages (immune cells) make quinolinic acid and release nitric oxide in order to kill micro-organisms. Quinolinic acid a neurotoxin.
Unless you are someone who plans to get help from experts, I would ignore this post. In my opinion, the only way that real answers will come from the investigation is that there is a provable chemical reason that the brain is affected by Singulair. I just post what I find and hope that eventually there will be experts who can explain why people are having such problems. I am unable to draw any conclusions from the report below.
dmd.aspetjournals.org/.../1/1996&journalcode=dmd
-- By concernedcitizen | Reply | Private Message me
May 12th
2008
2:09 PM
Flindy is correct. It is easily possible to be just plain allergic to montelukast- Singulair. Where were the other "allergens" that her child was exposed to? It was, at least hopefully, a sterile environment.
Montelukast is a quinoline. Drugs often are built around a core molecular called a pharmacophore, the molecule responsible for the drug's important characteristics. There is an enormous amount of literature regarding adverse side effects for other drugs in that category.
At the time when Merck was pursuing quinoline as the pharmacophore, other companies were pursing other core molecules. So a quinoline core is not the only choice of drugs. The huge problem is that doctors are not aware that Singulair is not an anti-histamine. They are not warned that the core molecule is a quinoline so they don't know to watch out for allergic reactions especially serious ones.
It would be common knowledge that a quinoline radical (in an acid pH) could react with hydrogen peroxide to produce quinilinic acid, a nasty neurotoxin. When I hear of neuro-psychiatric side effects that appear to coincide with times when hypoglycemia could be happening, then maybe there are some genetically pre-disposed people that actually are experiencing times of ketoacidosis. Scientist have known about quinolinic acid since the 1940's. Malaria drugs containing quinoline come with a warning about hypoglycemia and electrolyte imbalance. Which comes first - the chicken or the egg- the reaction to the drug then the hypoglycemia or the hypoglycemia then the reaction? It would be amazingly easy to prove whether quinolinic acid is responsible for these neurological side effects.
I am appalled by two things. One is that Merck has such power over the FDA that the FDA fails to even recognize basic pharmacophore characteristics. Merck manages to snow them somehow with just words - leukotriene receptor antagonist. So what is the FDA reaction? Merck should review their clinical data. How about find some people who are suffering from Singulair side effects and do some tests? Then you might actually find out why.
If it turns out that anyone at Merck or FDA knew that montelukast carried significant risk of allergic reactions due to it's pharmacophore and they chose not to reveal that in the literature for marketing reasons, those people should be prosecuted. It should not be the job of doctors who prescribe medications to do their own research.
-- By concernedcitizen | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
May 11th
2008
3:16 PM
Quinolinic acid and neurotoxicity:
Montelukast contains a quinoline radical. Quinolinic acid, a well known damaging neurotoxin that kills neurons, can be produced from a quinoline and hydrogen peroxide. The body produces hydrogen peroxide for a numbers of reasons. White blood cells produce hydrogen peroxide when activated by antigens such as bacteria, virus, fungus etc. It is also produced under conditions when the body is stressed. It is also produced in the gastrointestinal track.
If we knew how montelukast could break up to free the quinoline radical, then we might be able to define a number of different scenarios under which hydrogen peroxide could cause montelukast to generate the neurotoxin quinolinic acid.
If we could prove that montelukast is capable of produce quinolinic acid under unusual circumstances (doesn't happen to everybody), then we would have a very good explanation for all of the psychiatric adverse drug reactions that are mentioned here which include hallucinations, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations, night mares, etc. etc.
Anyone looking for answers should try to pursue the possibility that quinolinic acid is causing bad side effects. I wish that I was much better at chemistry. I am stuck here at the moment. I keep hoping that somebody else with more expertise will come here to tell us how it happens.
-- By concernedcitizen | Reply | Private Message me
April 24th
2008
5:42 AM
DO NOT take antibiotics unless it is a Life or Death situation!
I have been diagnosed with CYSTITIS, based in my breasts & bladder, and now I'm scheduled to go in for other tests because I have had excessive bloating, IBS & pain in my gut.
I thought the Nuva Ring was causing my extreme random cramps, my breast soreness (Extremely Painful, making me want to inject them with novacaine, if it were a good idea...), my Pain During Sex (esp. since I have a lovely sex drive) and most recently, the constant urge to pee when I didn't, but it was NOT the birth control.
ANTIBIOTICS CAUSED THIS!
In the last month I have met 3 more women (& 1 man) with the same/similar problems and diagnosis, All on heavy antibiotics in the last year.
The good news is that it is Not cancerous to my knowledge, there are foods you can eat, like those that are good for reducing swelling, and it's a good idea to Avoid certain foods such as soy, anything too acidic like tomatoes, cranberries or citrus fruits & juices, preservatives, additives, really spicy foods, etc. **It is Very Important to take a Pro-Biotic capsule with At Least 4 different types such as Acidophilus, Bifidum, and others, depending on your symptoms & areas of concern (look up what bacteria does what). Taking these only during antibiotic usage Is NOT Enough!
The bad news? If a few months to a year of partial/full diet change does not help, it is considered either too late to help (get used to the pain, it's not going anywhere) or it may be an auto-immune disease, though this is quite rare.
PLEASE, LADIES -- Take Care when dealing with antibiotics, they are much more dangerous than many people/doctors know/are lead to believe. (And as for the yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis? Take 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide, 3 parts water, douche (rinse, do not let it set for more than 10 sec's) once a day before bed/naptime for a few days, splash Outside Only with cool water if needed, but Not inside. Burn/irritation for about 1 min. but Absolutely worth not waiting for a doc's prescript. or spending endless $ on crappy worthless ointments/creams. Totally safe when Diluted -- Hydrogen peroxide is made naturally on its own in All Vaginas, this just helps to kill yeasts and bad bacteria which are Anaerobic (do not like oxygen).)
Singulair (3) PredniSONE (1) NuvaRing (1) Levaquin (1) Burrows Solution (1) Bactrim (1) Avelox (1)
March 2th
2009
11:25 PM
I have AIHA and am doing better since getting off the Prednisone.
-- By linn | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message meI posted back in Oct. 2008. I finally got off the Prednisone in Nov. and surely don't want to be on it again, ever, (hopefully). I'm still using Danazol but was at 400 mg a day, am down to 200 mg hopefully will go in remission, if not it's spleen surgery time. All the fat pockets do go away, it just takes time. I would advise anyone using Prednisone to take good daily vitamins and minerals ( got mine from the health food store), also Calcium with Vitamin D (Citracal caplets w/ D maximum dose). Prednisone depletes minerals, stay on a regime. I also have to take prescription folic acid. Eat and orange EVERY day for extra vitamin C, DR. advised me. I eat 3 good square meals a day and made sure breakfast was a main meal. Eat a small container of plain yogurt daily to ward off fungus, such as thrush, and to keep the intestinal track clean, plain is nasty, just wolf it down (Dannon makes a small container) A lot of people taking Prednisone have problems with acne. Wash your face daily then using cotton balls apply "Topical Hydrogen Peroxide" to the facial skin and let dry, then a moisturizer, face and body (Gold Bond is very rich for body). I use to turn on the fan and let the air blow in my face because it seemed to take for-ever for the peroxide to dry and the smell of it will gag you too! My skin stayed very clear while I was on the Prednisone for 9 months. My skin was the softest ever while I was on the high doses and I felt soooo good then also, but my mind was so foggy and feeling of being heavily medicated was hard, plus all the muscular shaking. I use to get mad getting behind people in traffic that drove like the little old lady wearing coke bottle glasses. Then I became that little old lady when I was on the high dose Prednisone. I told myself I would NEVER complain about any one going to slow in traffic again!!!! I still have joint problems after 4 months off but also heard it takes 2 months recovery for every 1 month on Prednisone. hopefully I will be better within the next year. I had a lot of nausea after getting down towards the lower doses, hated to get up in the morning, was like having morning sickness and bouts through out the day also. I would just go home after work and lay down and also on the weekends. I feel for anyone with small kids who have to keep up with work, daily family life and trying to cope with illness and drug life. I'm just glad my kids are grown while I'm going through this mess. My daughters have been very supportive and helpful. Lower doses for me were the worst though. My Dr. wouldn't give me anything lower than 2.5mg. I was having a hard time and cut those little suckers in 4 pieces and took them a week every day and then every other day till I could stop. It's hard at first going off but once off, didn't go back again. I haven't found anything yet to help the joint pain but they say time cures all. I still have racing thoughts at times and some concentration issues also. Sometimes I think I'm a little old lady with ADD!!!! ha ha Had some issues with anger, wanting to slap co workers into next week at times. A lot of problems with taking Prednisone is because the adrenals shut down and it affects what is called the HPA axis. The Hypothalamus in the brain controls numerous things in the body and I think that's why the body balance becomes disrupted, it effects hunger,taste, smell, weight, on and on and on. Everything at first tasted to salty or sugary. Some foods I didn't want to eat because they tasted awful. Maybe that helped me also with not gaining to much weight. The pituitary and hypoThalamus try to balance everything and with out the adrenals not working a person becomes screwy bodily and mentally. I did a lot of reading online while I was off work for 2 months, especially with trying to take care of my self physically. If you have problems with being hungry eat something protein, it will stick with you longer and eat small snacks between meals, like bananas or avocados, raw veggies too. I would make a pot of beans once a week, because of lower calorie intake and they are high in protein, any kind of legumes are good. For awhile I craved liver maybe needed the iron and B12. Try to take a short walk everyday, even if it's 2 blocks. Maybe this will help someone out there cause the Prednisone is crazy stuff. Take care of your selves and you will be better, it may not seem that way but you will get better in time, just don't GIVE UP!!! L. from Kansas