Levaquin 500mg symptoms and conditions

I was diagnosed with Diverticulitis and put on the usual regime of Levaquin (500mg a day) and Flagel. The case turned worse and was admitted to the hospital (they thought I had a blockage but turned out did not) and was put on IV of the same medication. Released from the hospital 4 days later and stayed on the Levaquin as prescribed. When I ran out, I called my regular doctor who sent in the renewal prescription. However the his aide made an error and the bottle read 500mg 4 times a day…nobody including the pharmacy caught it. So for 3 days I was taking 2000mg a day of Levaquin. When I started getting worse (truly thought I was dying), I got to the doctor and he said I had taken turn for the worse and could not figure out why. He asked if I was taking the meds and I said yes 4 times a day…his face when white. I had the bottle with me and he panicked. They apologized for the error and I was told to stay off my feet, no heels, they ran ekg’s that day and the following Monday, blood work to check the kidneys etc.

Subsequently, I have had extreme pain in my joints and muscles – everyday, all day. Some days I just cry it hurts so bad. If I bend down I can hardly get back up because of my right knee. I have talked with a doctor I happened to run into about this and she said that Levaquin dosage has saturated my body and gotten into the joint and muscles and takes a long time to work it out. I can hardly lift my arms above my shoulder without severe pain. Stabbing pains in my knees, shoulders, arms and hands.

I have not gone back to the doctor because when I mentioned the pain the when I was in that last time…he just wanted to give me more meds! I have been seeing a massage therapist who specializes in deep tissue restoration and repair. It helps some, but he as well says this is going to take a lot to time to work out.

I have depression to the point of feeling like I am a nothing and what good am I to anyone feeling like this. So like snoop45...that is exactly what i feel like!

dawn62

J.

I have had an extremely stubborn sinus/respiratory infection for around 12 weeks or so. Weeks ago I finished a round of antibiotics (Doxycycline (sp?)) without much improvement. Went to ENT and he prescribed Levaquin 500mg once daily for 21 days. I have been on this med for about 14 or 15 days. Sinuses are some better but I don't think it is all gone. Interestingly though, about 3 or 4 days ago ALL of my joints began hurting...all of a sudden. I have had a really sore shoulder for about a week, maybe more, that really isn't getting better. How bizarre that this is the site I found. It must be the meds. It is Friday 11/30, 5:15, of course so I can't call them now. I have an appointment on Tuesday and I will assertively and aggressively inquire about this. This is pretty scary. If I learn something new I will gladly post it here--but I truly expect to be told it is not the Levaquin...

I was prescribed 20 days of Levaquin 500mg for a post surgery leg infection. I quit taking Levaquin after just 6 days. I had horrible hip and joint pain, depression and fatigue. I wanted to sleep all day and night. It worked and the infection was cleared up but the side effects were not worth it.

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 am 64 and have been taking 20mg of Lisinopril for 6 months. I thought I had a bad cold 6 months ago that would not go away and it was getting worse. I went to the doctor and was prescribed with my first round of antibiotics. It did no good and the coughing was getting worse as well as the congestion.
I went to another doctor and got another prescription for antibioctics. Still no progress and worse. Then my doctor prescribed 4 weeks of Levaquin 500mg and gave me a prescription for codene cough syrup and a nasal spray (Nasonex). Still getting worse. The coughing attacks were so bad that I felt I would vomit. My side muscles got so sore from the coughing that I could not breathe without pain pills. I was getting 2 hours of sleep a night at the most even with sleeping pills due to the coughing and congestion and anxiety. I thought I was dying. They gave me a CAT SCAN of my head and it was no polyps but my sinuses were all full. They gave me a chest xray and my chest was clear. They tried lots of blood test and I had no bacteria and a slight sign of allergy in my blood. Of course I have never been allergic to anything in my life. My doctor then prescribed 5 days of Prednisone at 2 pills a day. Still not better and very tired from all these drugs. I went to an ENT (ear, nose, throat specialist) who looked down my throat with a tube through my nose to see my voice box. He said my voice box was very red and irritated and he told me to take Prilosec (an acid reducer). Still no relief and worse. I was sure I was dying. Finally I realized that this all started about the same time my doctor had prescribed Lisinopril for my mildly high blood pressure in January. I stopped taking this drug as it was the only thing I could think of and the only drug I was taking. After about 6 days I started getting better. I had slept fairly well for 6 nights when my sister-in-law died and I felt I really needed a blood pressure reducer to get through the funeral. I took one more Lisenopril to get me through that one day and that night all my symptoms came back with a vengeance as bad or worse than ever. I stopped taking the pill again and experienced extreme fatigue from the withdrawl but am now getting better again. This pill can kill you!! There is nothing about this side effect on the drug. There must be hundreds of people out there with this same experience. I am writing this for YOU. Hopefully I can save some other people from this same life threatening, horrible experience. ( I did not find this site on the computer until this week as I am so mad about the loss of 6 months of my life. I thought I would check the computer out. Thanks so much for having this site as the minute I looked at some of the other responses I knew they had gone through exactly the same side effects from Lisenopril.) We could not go anywhere or do anything this summer due to my coughing attacks and no sleep. This drug is very DANGEROUS.

My doctor prescribed Levaquin 500mg as the 3rd antibiotic to treat a sinus infection that just would not go away. Unfortunately I'd taken 12 of the 14 pills prescribed before I found this site while trying to figure out what was worng with me. I'm experiencing sleeplessness, extreme lethargy, neck pain, muscle & joint pain and I'm having difficulty concentrating at work. I've stopped taking this awful drug and can't wait for that point it works its way out of my system.

I am very sorry to hear about the problems you all have experienced. I thank you for taking the time to post your experiences here so that people like me have others to turn to.

FALSE POSSITIVES FOR OPIATS!

I had taken Levaquin 500mg for a Uninary track infection. The first day I took it I had a drug test for work and I failed it for opiates! I thought there must have a been a mistake but as I looked further into it it ends up that Levaquin along with 12 other antibiotics can show up as an opiate in a urine drug test. So do not take this if you know you are going to have a drug test!

I am a caregiver for my 75 yo stroke victim Mom; on dialysis, diabetes and hypertension. I took her to the ER fearing she was suffering from either another stroke or heart attack but they couldn't find anything instead of spots of pneumonia in her lungs. The ER doc prescribe her Levaquin 500mg, and she became "looney" for 5 days; verbally combative, talking to herself incessantly while slipping in and out of consciousness in between. Short term memory was lost - big time! On the 5th day, I read the med literature Walmart Pharm inserted in the bag. IN BOLD LETTERS, IT WARNED: BE CAREFUL IN GIVING THIS MED TO ELDERLY. They may be more susceptible to suffer from side effects of dizziness, weakness and tremors. So I stopped giving it to her that very day, the next morning she open her eyes wide but slept for 2 days. As if to regain strength from what she went through for 5 days. Then, 2 days ago, she suffered from tremors or muscle spasm in her injured leg which caused her to scream in pain. I wonder if this still the side effects of Levaquin!?!

Leizel S.
Gloucester, VA

On Jan 5th I started a 10 day treatment of Levaquin 500mg. On the 2nd night i experienced sever pain in the lower calf area of my right leg. This continued on the following nights and days. I had and have constant extreme pain and diffucility walking. I thought the problem would go away after i finished the Levaquin, but still continues to this day.

After taking Levaquin 500mg for 7 days I developed
muscle aches and pains and could hardly move. After contacting my doctor, they put me on another antibiotic to finish the term. I continued having muscle and joint pain.
My doctor told me that it may take 2wks for this Levaquin to clear my system and if I didn't feel better to call back after this time if I continued to feel worse. For anyone who has experience this and would like to know what relief for the pain that helped, I started taking ALEVE a over the counter medicine for arthritis and it helped tremendously! But I will never again take Levaquin again. I will finish taking the ALEVE and hopefully my condition will not return but I feel great now. Make sure you take the ALEVE after meals. This can cause ACID REFLUX which is another condition that I had after taking NAPROXEN. I will never take NSAIDS for a long term ever again either and if I do I will make sure I eat a FULL COURSE MEAL!!

I was given Levaquin (500mg) for 20 days back in 2004 for what the doctor believed was a sinus infection. In fact, I was actually experiencing an eye infection for prolonged contact use. After two days on the Levaquin, I started feeling really tired. My eyes were extremely heavy and I had a difficult time staying awake. I called the doctor right away, as I tend to be very medication sensitive. I told him what I was feeling and asked if it could be a side effect of the meds. He said he never heard of such a thing and to continue on the antibiotics. I wish I had not listened to him. The fatigue in my eyes continued for months afterward. I also began having abnormal bowel movements, which led to a colonoscopy and small bowel follow-through. All tests came back negative, and my doctors shrugged their shoulders in confusion. They said I had IBS and I would have to live with it. My eye fatigue eventually went away, but the bowel issues continued on and off for over a year. Now, the bowel issues are gone, and the fatigue in my eyes and acute insomnia have replaced them. My doctors continue to shrug their shoulders and now insist that I am suffering from depression. D'uh! Of course I'm depressed. Look at what I'm going through. It has been two years now, and I am really hoping for some relief. I'm convinced that due to the bizarre nature of my problems, those 20 pills of Levaquin in 2004 are to blame for the constant issues I deal with daily. Anyone else suffering like this? And if so, please say it gets better. I need it to get better. I would appreciate anyone who would post updates on their conditions. I know this poison can wreak havoc for years, but I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I started taking Levaquin 500mg 3 22 07 on the 3rd day My legs hurt so bad I could hardly walk. My knees also hurt, My hips & back of legs allthe way down my legs the muscles hurt so bad I cried,even when I walked the back of my ankles it would pull I would have to set down, My memory has changed, like short term it is so weird, My son asked me yesturday If I was ok. My joints or so sore, i can't hardly do my hair, lifting my arms it is so painful. My fingers also are hurting so bad.

Levaquin 500mg prescribed for bronchitis for 10 days. Doctor had to stop on day 7 because of migraine aura told to be low blood sugar. This was in December, 2006. After stopping there has been difficulty walking, with severe pain in legs. Also migraine auras return and are still present three months later. These symptoms were not present in December. This is a poison. Why this drug was given I do not know. There are plenty of other antibiotics which I have taken which did not cause symptoms once stopped.
There was one other that was horrible, Ketek, which has now been stopped because of liver problems.
Would not take Levaquin again.

Mu husband was hospitalized with a severe urinary tract infection - Dec.18, 2006 and was treated with levaquin intravenously. Upon release, Dec.22nd, he was given levaquin - 500mg - to take orally for seven days. While taking the medication he had no side effects, but the day after he took the last dose he started getting pains in the jaw and shoulder, which then spread to the chest. He has a history of heart problems ( 4 angioplasties) so I gave him nitro, although he insisted this was not a "heart" pain. The nitro didn't work and the pain worsened - he was sweating and obviously distressed. I called 911 and he was admitted to the hospital where they ran all the heart tests - EKG's, echogram, chest x-ray, cat scan, etc. The pain became excruciating and they finally administered morphine which was the only thing that helped. The doctors admitted they just didn't know what ws causing the intense pain, as all his heart tests were good. I decided to check the side effects of levaquin and lo and behold, right on the printout from the drug store they list "crushing chest pain" as one of the possible side effects. I pointed this out to the doctors, but they were very sceptical. However by the time he left tht hospital, five days later, they admitted that it could possibly be the levaquin. The chest pain never entirely went away, although it was much milder. He was fine for a few days, then the pain returned again - it was severe and this time he experienced rapid heartbeat (143) which he had never had before. I took him to the emergency room and he was admitted once again and of course, they did all the heart tests again. He explained that he had been through this before and it wasn't his heart, but they have to be sure, especially at his age - 81. I once again brought up the possibility of levaquin side effects but they were sure that as he had finished taking it 10 days ago, it couldn't be that. Once again they gave him morphine and he was abl to relax and his heart rate returned to normal. When he was discharged two days later, they put on his record and notified the drug store that he was allergic to levaquin. He was given a prescription for hydrocodone to take if the pain returns. The chest pain never really goes away - he says it hurts deep inside, somewhat like pleurisy, but all lung tests are negative. He is constantly fatigued and I realize that at 81 you don't have the energy of a 20-year-old, but prior to this he was very healthy - excercise class three times a week, walks regularly and plays golf. I wish I knew how long these side effects will last, especially as in view of the rapid heart beat, they now have him on Coumadin. Before this, he took only three prescription meds now he takes nine! I know they have to use powerful antibiotics to kill bacterial infections, but they should know of an "antidote" for these serious side effects. It's all very well tosay "it hardly ever happens" but reading the dozens of reports on this and other websites, I would say that it happens all too often. If anyone has found a remedy or anything that helps - please let us know.

I was prescribed levaquin 500mg for 7 days for sinus infection.
On day 3, I was very dizzy for few minutes where I thought I'd pass out. Next day, I cut down to 250mg but was still getting dizzy to a lesser extent.
Day 6, I didn't take it but started getting lower abdominal and lower back pain. So I'll be going to see my doc to see what is going on. Also, knee joint pain.

This medication is too difficult to take. I personally think the side effects are greater than the benefits.

I was prescribed Levaquin 500mg for a sinus infection and it has caused me to have extreme nausea and gastric distress. I felt better before I took the drug and have a call in to my doctor for a different antibiotic. A friend of mine took this drug and had bad joint pain that stopped when she stopped the Levaquin. A drug with so many different side effects shouldn't be prescribed to anyone. I never usually have any bad reactions to medication. I felt better before I took the Levaquin - I feel lousy now!

I was prescribed Levaquin (500mg. for 10 days) for pnueamona. By day three I wanted to jump out of my skin. I felt like I was going crazy, I had the shakes, dizziness, trouble catching my breath, couldn't sleep etc. I called the the doctor and he said keep taking the medcine. By day 6 I had it...I no longer could take it, I stopped the medicine, come to find out I talked to other people and they had the same symptoms...sometime of bad reaction...I have been off of this for two full days and still feel strange....This medicine is not good....they need more warnings....

I just had surgery and they prescribed Levaquin 500mg. I have just started taken three days ago. My legs has sharp pains as well as my achilles. I have had numbness in my arms and hands. Also, minor confusion and comprehension. I DID NOT know all of this. The side effects on the labels does not say all these side effects on this bored. Now, I am worried after reading all of this. I am not putting another pill in my mouth. My doctor did not say " stop taking this at the sign of ..." This sounds like poison rather than a cure.

I started Levaquin 500mg 7days ago. Every day my knees and legs felt tender, now I have begun to feel severe pain in both my knees and tendons. I am experiencing heaviness in both arms too. I have decide to stop the remainder doses left.

I took levaquin 500mg for seven days. I have been off it for 4 week and am still having severe lower flank leg and ankle pain. I cannot sit or stand for long. It is a sad story. I hope this goes away. God bless all of you. I have been in bed for almost 5 weeks now. I wish I new if there was a class action going on. I need money to hire a freekin housekeeper.

24 yr old relativly healthy Male. I developed a Urinary Tract infection and was prescribed by an ER doctor 8 days worth of Levaquin (500mg) within days I was so depressed, anxious, couldn't keep any food down. its been 6 days and I've lost 14 lbs. I stopped after the 4th dose and refuse to take it again. I threw up after just about every meal and was only able to keep the broth portion of Chicken Noodle soup down. I experienced several panic attacks, numbess in all my extremities, and my heart was racing. My blood pressure was normal but I felt as if it was beating out of my chest and the pulse could be felt in various portions of my body. I remember by the 4th day of taking it that I wanted my Urinary Tract Infection back as the side effects were much worse than a UTI. Its been 3 days since I've been off it and I'm still experiencing some nervousness, tingling in arms and feet. my body is aching. I am still exhausted and still trying to gain my appetite back. I can eat solid foods agian but only so much and I find I'm turned off by foods I would normally be craving. I experienced confusion, loss of concentration and cold sweats. I remember waking up in the middle of the night freezing but within minutes of wrapping up in a blanket I felt I was in a Sauna. This Drug has no place on the market and I'm scared to find people on here who have been off it for months and still feeling side effects. I am also relieved that I figured out the cause. If the side effects linger for long than a couple of weeks, you can add me to the list of people who will look into a lawsuit!

After reading some of the other postings, I consider myself lucky so far! I took my first dose of Levaquin 500mg yesterday evening. Last night I went to bed and after about 1/2 hour of sleep, I woke up and shot out of bed. I just wasn't feeling right...kind of anxious, couldn't focus, stomach cramps and nausea, had chills and a bad cough, and some chest discomfort. Later, I started developing a headache. Today, I still don't feel right at all and have put a call in to my doctor, but honestly, I don't want to put any more medication into my body! I will not be taking this medication again.

I want to thank you all for sharing your stories, at the same time im VERY sorry for all youve all been thru that is just HORRIBLE!!!!!
The main reason im saying thanks is because today I took a Levaquin 500mg I happened to have in my car from a yr ago when I had a UTI, (but I never used them) I didnt know anything about it, but I took it anyway now that I have another one thinking it would help...which it did! But now I wont take anymore knowing my chances of something awful happening, I have 2 young girls and work 40hrs a week, so I dont have the time to become sick like that...nor would I want to anyway, hehe

I took Levaquin - 500mg for 10 days for a sinus infection. It was only on the 9th day that I bagan having side effects. At first I thought it was bursitis, but when I read the side effects after checking on the internet, I realized that it is from the Levaquin. It is not getting any better and even my right leg is painful. I cannot lift my arm or even move it too much.
I also notices that my hair is falling out more than usual, I don't know if this could be related.
I was hoping that this would be better after a few days,but after having read all the reports on this drug, I am beginning to worry.
Where do I find a reliable doctor?
Is there any treatment at all for the pain?

I was given Levaquin ( 500MG ) 6/12/06 for a bronchitis infection. I stopped taking the med 6/19/06 as I devloped pain in my archillies tenons on my left foot. I them devloped pain at the same place on my right foot. I called my doctor Friday and she will see Monday. She does'nt seem to concern but I sure am. I get serious pain when I try to walk.