Medwatch website symptoms and conditions

In my case, Cipro tablets were prescribed for a potential prostate infection. The first dose was taken on 12/12/07. While taking this medication, I experienced "pens and needles" and shooting pains all over my body, leg pains behind my knees, right groin swelling to the point I could barely walk, and chest discomfort just below the sternum. The chest discomfort started after the second dose. My use of this drug was discontinued on about 12/17/07 (after 6 doses). I threw it away. Read the label BEFORE you start this medication. It's quite alarming after the fact.

I let my physician know about my problems with the Cipro and he then prescribed Levaquin, 500 mg, which is the same class of antibiotic. This was confusing to me later since I told them about the problems with Cipro. The doctor knows best...right- so I took 1 Levaquin per day from 12/21/07 until 12/26/07, again about 6 doses. My symptoms re-appeared after about the third day. Pen and needle pains re-occurred although they never entirely went away from the Cipro, severe swelling and tendon pain behind knees- especially the left knee, some chest discomfort, swelling in the armpits, and groin area. Swelling sensations were most prevalent behind both knees and the armpits. Shooting pains also occurred everywhere in my body, especially in the arms and legs. Shooting pains also occurred in my head and jaw with no warning but were less severe. The bottoms of my feet also hurt at times. Sleep was difficult to come by so extreme fatigue set in. I have been off the Levaquin now since 12/26/07 (5 days) and still have some shooting pains but some of the swelling has subsided. The symptoms have reduced but not disappeared entirely. I will never take a quinolone antibiotic again. My suggestion to others is to file an Adverse Drug Reaction report with FDA on their Medwatch website.

I again saw the physician on 12/27/07 and he said that it's "possible" I could be having a rare side effect. Another physician I know said I was having some type of hypersensitivity to the medication but that he had never come across such a case in his practice. Just my luck.

This website may not have saved my life, but it has certainly saved my sanity. Beginning in May 2007 I was prescribed Toprol XL for a supposed heart condition. I was instructed to begin with 50 mg per day and go to 100 mg per day after 10 days. Since I already had the 50 mg tablets, I simply started taking 2 of them together when I raised the dosage. On July 25 I ran out of the 50 mg tabs and filled a prescription for 100 mg tabs. Immediately upon starting the 100 mg tabs I began experiencing side effects which increased in severity daily. By Monday July 30 I was convinced I was losing my mind. Then I discovered this website, and read that many other people had suffered in the same way. What I have trouble grasping is why the same dosage had different effects. I tolerated the 100 mg/day dose just fine when taking 2 50 mg tabs, but the 100 mg was dreadful. I've checked the pills, and both the 50 mg and 100 mg are Astra-Zeneca products, not generic. The markings, shape and size are consistent with 100 mg tabs, so I haven't been inadvertently given an overdose. I immediately backed off the dosage, and am gradually going to reduce and stop the medication. I urge anyone who is having these problems not to stop at reporting them here, but also to contact Astra-Zeneca at www.astrazeneca.com, and to report them to the FDA's Medwatch website, www.fda.gov/medwatch. It may seem fruitless to contact Astra Zeneca, but they need to be made aware of these problems.