Levaquin and acid reflux

Wow.....after reading so many of the stories here, I am immediately stopping my prescription. While visiting another state I was hospitalized with fever, extreme tremors, and after having a burning pain in my upper abdomen. Was immediately put on IV Levaquin while tests were being run. After 3 days of numerous blood tests, urine tests and 2 CT scans the doctors determined I had a blood infection and the bacteria was E-coli (but not the kind that comes from eating something???). No determination was made as to where the infection came from. During this time I experienced extreme diareah, headaches, insomnia, pain in my right shoulder, extreme heartburn, acid reflux and loss of appetite. All these symptoms were reported to the doctor and nursing staff, but no relief (except a dose of Malox and 2 Tylenol every 4 hours if I asked for it, which offered no relief). They wanted to do more tests but I finally checked myself out with the promise I would see a doctor when I returned home and get more testing. Could barely walk without assistance of my husband for the first hour but improved drastically a couple hours later. Had the first best night's sleep that night. Boarded the plane the next morning with a prescription for Levaquin 500 (11 pills) and took the first one on the plane and within 10 minutes felt a warm rush spread through the back of my throat and into my head. Felt extremely exhausted immediately. After arriving home I felt normal again and the best I had in 4 days. I took my 2nd pill the next afternoon at the same time of day and again felt the same symptoms and went from fully functioning to barely making it to the bed. After a 2 hour nap I arose and within another hour was feeling well and "normal" again. Went shopping for some necessities but found it extremely hard to make a decision on anything and came home with unnecessary items and not the things I needed. Slept well that night and woke up to feeling "normal" and energetic. Shampooed my carpet and cleaned house until time to take the pill. Again, severe fatigue, warm rush in the back of throat and chest pain within 10 minutes. I found this site while researching side effects and am scared to take any more of this stuff. Am still feeling the side effects 4 hours later and not bouncing back like last night. I will immediately stop these pills!!!!!! If the infection comes back I will deal with that in some other way. Good luck everyone and hang in there. I will tell everyone I know about this drug.

I was on Levaquin in February of 06. Although it helped the sinus infection, the price has been great. I had severe burning and tingling in my lips. Lower lip still numb after 20 months. Soreness and weakness in fingers--sprained two fingers while doing routine things. Stabbing pains in soles of feet, decreased over 4 months. Excruciatingly sore Achilles tendon, especially sore to the touch. Large muscle twitches in arms and legs. Decreased over several months. Ear ringing began--still have it. Dramatic increase in floaters in eyes also during the course of the drugs--still have them. Serious back problems began then also, with 4 herniated discs being diagnosed 5 months later. I have read that connective tissue damage may result from Levaquin. I feel that everthing that stated then is related: back, ears, eyes, numb lips, hands, etc. I checked with my doctors office, told them the symptoms, and I was instructed to keep taking the drug if I wanted to get well. But I only spoke with a nurse. . .shame on me. Good luck to all of you.

I had a chronic cough which got worse and developped into bronchitis. My doctor gave me 10 days of 500 mg levaquin. Ten days later I went back, still coughing, even though the bronchitis was a bit better. He gave me another prescription for 7 days of levaquin with a refill.
A week or so into this routine, my legs started to hurt a lot. I thought I was just out of shape and needed to get back to the gym and do some stretching exercises. I could barely climb the stairs to the gym, but I must say that after working with the trainer and stretching a lot (and it hurt a lot) I was able to walk easier and the pain lifted quite a bit. . . for a while.
I also have developped total diarrhea, which made sense to me; because I was trying to kill bad bacteria in my system which I thought was causing the bronchitis.
Fortunately, last week I decided to go to another doctor because I wasn't getting better and I felt my old doctor was just overwhelmed by the health care system and was just going through the motions. This doctor, an ENT doctor, immediately diagnosed me with LPRD (acid reflux which goes all the way to the vocal chords, resulting in cough, tightness in the throat, etc.) I know he's right because I have felt the acid reflux thing at night when I have eaten late and had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner.
Tomorrow I'm heading to a gastro doc to attack the diarrhea, but I wondered if the leg pain had anything to do with the levaquin, since it came about after a week or so on the stuff. and lo and behold found all these postings which have now scared whatever shit I have left out of me!
I'm off to get some magnesium, as someone suggested and would appreciate any other tips anyone might have. My only tip is that stretching out your legs and butt muscles, does temporarily help a bit.

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 750 mg of Levaquin for sinus/ear infections, along with a prescription cough syrup. The first night, I had difficulty sleeping, along with racing heartbeat. I thought it was from the codene in the cough syrup, so I left it off the second night, but continued with the Levaquin. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING CRAZY! I had racing thoughts, pounding heart, leg cramps, terrible acid reflux and nausea, but worse than that, was CONSTANT thoughts of someone close to me dying. It was the next morning that I read in the 'packaging information' that the side effects 'could cause' sleeplessness, leg pain, anxiety, depression, nausea, etc. I won't take it again.
D

I took a 10-day course of levaquin for a sinus infection starting 12/22/06 and ending 12/31/06. I am a 43-year old female, fairly healthy. I experienced the following side effects intermittently during that time: acid reflux, diarrhea, tremors in my hands, fast heart-beat and I had a period in the middle of my cycle (I take birth control pills). I am not sure if that last one is related to the levaquin, but it's never happened to me before. Has any other woman experienced that with this or another antibiotic? I've taken other antibiotics before and only experienced nausea when taking it on an empty stomach and occasionally a yeast infection.

I had acid reflux for about 4 weeks with no relief. My doctor checked my liver, pancreas, and gallbladder and all were fine. She thought perhaps I had an infection so she gave me a 7 day course of Levaquin. I questioned her nurse and the pharmacist if the medication was safe to take or if it had side effects that I should worry about. Both said it was safe and that there were no known "bad" side effects. Both failed to warn me of the dangers of this medication. On the fifth day I noticed a "hives" like rash on both my arms. At the time, I didn't connect them to the Levaquin. After the 7th day (yesterday) I began to wonder if it could be a reaction to the drug. Last night the rash got worse, and this morning I had a very difficult time getting out of bed. I took a Benadryl last night thinking that perhaps I was having an allergic reaction to something I had eaten. This morning when the rash was worse I came on line and did a "Goggle" search on Levaquin and rashes... OMG, how could the doctor and pharmacist not told me about the problems associated with this drug??? They both were totally negligent about warning me about possible side effects. The worse part is that I was trying to be a knowledgeable patient, I asked the right questions and got the wrong answers!

What do I do now and will this rash go away and the pain in my legs go away without permanent damage???

This is a total lack of responsibility from the medical community and the drug company!

Started taking Lavaquin 9 days ago for a sinus infection. I'm in the military and work out 3 to 4 times a week. I'm finishing the 10 day anitbiotic because I was told to but I have had several side affects. I have had severe acid reflux, stiff neck, stiff back, insomnia, short tempered, and made me feel like crud all together. I have never had a side affect to a drug in the 27 years I've been alive. I will never take this drug again.

I have been on Levequin, for about one week. Has anyone experienced severe stomach pain, naseau, vommiting and/or acid reflux, and a very bad taste in the mouth. Please someone shed some light on this for me. Thanks

After two doses, 250 mg, of Levaquin, I could not move. Instead of going to work, I went to bed. Three days later, my husband took me to ER. The first guess was a stroke, because I was so disoriented and could not move. There were specialists all around me. I was tested for meningitis, lupus, West Nile, arthiritis, etc. I had severe body aches and muscle pain.I spent 1 1/2 weeks in the hospital, unable to function. Body pain, no appetite, fever/chills, twitches, weak, very tired. My legs hurt the worst - knees and especially calves. I had no idea what was going on around me. I was incoherent. The hospital staff had me finish the Levaquin prescription.

I spent the rest of the month in a rehabilitation unit learning how to eat, walk, tell time, write, and other mundane tasks. I have been off work since Oct. 7. Mentally, I'm doing ok now, but physically, I cannot walk without a cane. I cannot go up and down stairs. My knees are still a problem. Acid reflux is better. My wrists and hands are weak. If my leg is straight and I bend it, I get a burning pain in my knee ... when I am laying down. When I get up in the morning, my calves are so stiff that I cannot stand. I have to grab the furniture. My hips are weak and have lost bone density. I cannot drive yet. I still get tired easily.

I was normally a low blood pressure person with a heart rate in the 60's. Now, I am taking beta blockers. My blood pressure is beginning to come down, but my heart rate is still high for me, but safe.

The doctors were not familiar with the side effects of Levaquin. I had a sensory nueropathy before Levaquin, but was totally functional. My physician prescribed Levaquin for a sinus infection. She never would have prescribed Levaquin, if she had known that it could attack your central nervous system! (My nuerologist said that "something" recently attacked my central nervous system.) I printed out some of the experiences from this website to convince her to fill out an FDA report. I will follow through with a letter to the drug company and my congressmen. And, I have spent some time educating the medical professionals in our community. I have considered legal action, but I don't know how to go about it.

I have been going to physical therapy. Those therapists can do a lot without drugs. My coordination is improved. I even have exercises to improve my digestive tract. We worked on isolated muscles for two months. Now, I'm trying water therapy. I am not strong, but I have gained coordination.

Two other suggestions for temporary relief: 1) Use a vibrator on your calves in the morning, and 2) Wear support hose/socks.

I had a severe case of cellulitis, caused by a fast-moving bacteria. It was on my face. I was on Levaquin for six weeks, first at 700mg and then at 500mg. My shoulders and knees froze up and became very painful. My left foot had electrical spasms which made my life miserable. My doctor said that was probably from sciatica. I have arthritis and recently changed from Vioxx to Bextra (frying pan into the fire), and my doctor didn't seem to know about a link between Levaquin and joint pain. I only found out by reading this site. One suggestion if you have stomach problems--they gave me Protonix, a drug for acid reflux, and that kept me from having any stomach reactions to the Levaquin. I now have been off Levaquin for six days, and my joint pain has diminished by 80%. My foot pain is down to a dull ache and a lot of itching. I know that the Levaquin saved my life, but in hindsight, I wonder if there was a different drug I could have been given, that would not have caused me such severe joint and foot pain.

I am into my 6th day of taking 500mgs a day. The first day my calves tightened up-felt like I'd been exercising too hard. My mouth has been dry, and now the bones in my hands ache and I have a fever. Today was spent over the sink barfing, or rather, trying to. I have heartburn/acid reflux that keeps gagging me. Feels like someone punched me in the chest and then set it on fire. I haven't been able to eat anything since yesterday because it just sits in my throat and then comes right back up. I also wasn't expecting severe constipation, as the other antibiotics had given me diarrhea. I'm glad I found this site because none of the literature mentions any of these side effects, and my doctor said there were no side effects. I was prescribed for pneumonia/bronchitis/sinus infection, and after the first day I was impressed because the lung pain and coughing had lessened considerably, my head stopped hurting and I could breathe. I didn't think much of these symptoms, even though they were new, because I was told there were none. I attributed them to the fact that I have Epstein-Barr. Now my guess would be they are directly related to the medication. I'm glad I found that other people have had these reactions, too.

Started on Levaquin 500 mg five days ago for a sinus infection and suffered severe cramps in my back after on it for less than 12 hrs. The cramps have fortunately largely abated by now, but last night I woke up with acid reflux and decided to take OTC Prilosec for it. An hour later I experienced the most vivid and horrific nightmares of my life! I couldn't get out of them and they felt like waking hallucinations. Would be interested in whether anyone else has experienced nightmares with Levaquin alone, or in combination with other drugs like Prilosec.

I have been on this drug for two weeks now. It was given to me for pneumonia which had started out as bronchitus but was not caught in time. Since beeing on this medicine, I feel worse. My joints hurt (

I was bit by 4 fire ants. Of course I cannot be sure, I was sitting at a picnic table. It could have been a spider, but I'm sure I would have killed it before the second or third bite. One of the bites, evidently was successful with its poison. I was bit on the upper inner thigh. The infection spread on my leg to an area of 7 inches by about 9 inches. There was also a lump forming in my leg. It was at this point when the infected area would turn purple for 20 minutes at a time that I was prescribed levaquin. I am currently at day 11 of 14. I cannot take the itching. There is itching everywhere, my face, my arms, but particularly painful is the orafice for BMs. I put up with the nausea, the sleeping troubles, the acid reflux, the getting dizzy once in a while, the exhaustion in tyring to exercise, my neck and shoulder joint hurting. I just can't handle the anus itching, because you just cannot scratch there. And yet I'm not sure what the trade off is because there is still the lump from the insect poison in my leg. I'd like to finish with this nasty medicine (we'll see if I can suffer the last 3 days) but I will never willingly take levaquin again.

In addition to joint pains and fatique, I have experienced an increase in acid reflux. I find that I have to supplement my prescription medication with OTC anti-acid medications. Likewise, my stomach seems a little upset in general.

I have been seriously ill for 8 months now after taking 3 500 mg. doses of Levaquin for a simple uncomplicated UTI. My doctor assured me that the antibiotic was perfectly safe. I trusted him, to my regret. I have been plagued with Severe Central Nervous System neurotoxicity. I also have severe tenonitis in both wrists and both ankles. My veins bulge. I have blurred vision, visual distortions, headache, muscle spasms through my whole body, abdominal pain with indigestion,,nausea, acid reflux, memory loss, confusion, agitation, abnormal dreams, tingling in my feet, toes, legs, arms, head and back. Severe back pain. Lumpy large muscule tissue in lower back. Pain upon walking. Difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to light and sound. Ringing in ears. Neuromuscular pain in chest, underarms,legs, arms, shoulders, all over body. This nightmare is ongoing and getting worse. I hope that I can help others with these problems. I flew to Indianapolis, Indiana to see Dr. David A. Flockhart, Chief of Clinical Pharmacology at IU School of Medicine. He was the only person that I read about that had background and experience in fluoroquinolone antibiotic adverse drug reations. He told me that this class of drugs, when not eliminated from the body, binds to the nerve endings/gaba receeptors in the brain. He stated that the drug does not metabolize much and sits in the brain and causes events to happen. He also stated that the drug binds to the nerve endings throughout the body including the stomach and also binds to the ends of the bone. He stated that it would take time for me to get better. He stated it would take three years if everything went ok. He prescribed Valium in as low a dose as possible to control tremors,seizures, and muscle spasms. If that did not work he recommended the gabapentin/Neurontin that my current neurologist had me on. The valium does help with the muscle spasms and nausea. The Neurontin helps me to sleep better and helps with the nerve pain. I still need further testing to determine the possibility of front temporal lobe partial epilepsy. I have already experienced two episodes of full body convulsions. Don't let your doctors tell you that its all in your head or dismiss your syptoms. If you have tendon problems, refrain from strenous exercise and lifting heavy objects as you are at risk for tendon rupture. I take low dose valium and 1 Neurontin at bedtime to help with nerve pain. The set back to these types of drugs are that your body builds up a tolerance and you eventually need to increase dosage. They are hard to come off of and can cause increased seizures if withdrawn too quickly. Dr. Flockhart told me that I would need to check in to a drug rehab center to come off of valium after prolonged use. I think that all victims of fluoroquinolone antibiotics should come together and work to get these drugs removed from the market. That's what it will take. The FDA cannot ignore publicity in numbers. Thanks to all for listening. Jessica/adrvictim