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This is painful for me to type due to the pain in my hands & fing...

Posted at 5:48 PM on Dec 12, 2008 by ffmedic, #37265
This is painful for me to type due to the pain in my hands & fingers. I had ankle surgery to fix a torn ligament and an ankle scope on Oct. 30, 2008. I was put on 500 mg of Levaquin to prevent infection. On Nov 4th, my entire body felt like it was beat up. I could barely get up off of the couch. I also developed severe pain and burning in my foot. I couldn’t support my weight on crutches due to pain in my arms & wrists. I took this dose for 10 days. On Nov 24th, I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I ended up being hospitalized for 10 days. I had severe swelling in my ankle and bruising up to & including my toes. The doc thought it was an infection so I was started on 2 types of IV antibiotics. Didn’t get any better. On Nov 26th, the doc tried to aspirate it and only dried blood came out. It was sent for a culture and came back negative. He asked me how my pain was and I told him the back of my ankle hurt really bad. He said “the MRI that was done on Nov 25th showed I developed tendinitis in the Achilles tendon. I asked him how that happened since I haven’t walked on that foot since my injury date of August 23rd. He said he wasn’t sure. I had 2 previous MRIs (Sept & Oct) which did not show tendinitis at all! On Dec. 1st I went back to the operating room so the doctor could cut open the golf ball size hematoma on the outside of my ankle. He got a lot of jelly-like blood from the back part of my ankle. He left the drain in overnight and then removed it. I was released on Dec 3rd with a script for 750 mg of Levaquin for 7 days (which I finished yesterday). The swelling is down about 25% and I have been out of the hospital for 8 days now. The pain in my body was so horrible today that I went to my family doctor. She did a thorough exam of my joints-which was complete agony!!!! She explained that she was going to run some tests to see what is wrong. She explained to me that she thinks this is a reaction to the Levaquin & she has had patients who have had ruptured tendons from this medication. She sent me for bloodwork and gave me a script for morphine (Avinza) to control the pain, which 750 mg of ES Vicodin and 800 mg of Ibuprofen didn’t make it any better. I feel helpless as my 9 year old has to do everything for me because I simply cannot get up. I hope my doctor figures this out real soon! This is unreal to have to suffer like this. I will keep everyone on this page in my prayers! Good Luck to everyone!
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Reply 11 months ago on Dec 17, 2008 by rosaria67, #15327

I'm so sorry you are going through this. However, your dr. will probably never realize or admit that the levaquin caused this. You will be able to find much information at the following websites: www.fluoroquinolones.org, www.favc.info, www.fqresearch.org. Also support groups available on yahoo health groups. You should never take another fluoroquinolone antibiotic ever again. This includes levaquin, cipro, avelox, etc. Good luck to you and time does heal. However, you could be talking months or years. Get plenty of rest and don't overstress your body.

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Reply 10 months ago on Jan 03, 2009 by heidiwitherspoon, #15690

I am so sorry to hear your pain! Im now 17 months post Levaquin...just went back and read my post here on this thread. Unfortunately, the pain is still with me and I won't even go into the countless doc visits and lab bills. Where the joints hurt during the dosing has now been replaced with cracking, popping and stiffness, along with trouble walking due to foot pain and knee cartilage fried. I was in stellar health. I think about ending it.

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