Levaquin and arm muscles

My ENT prescribed Levaquin 500mg per day for 12 days for an unusual bacterial sinus infection. Within four days I was feeling horrible. I have been off the medication for four days now but my symptoms haven't improved much.

My biggest complaint is that I can hardly walk due to terrible ankle and foot pain. All of the joints in my feet hurt but particularly both ankle and big toe joints. I can’t find a pair of shoes or even slippers that are comfortable. Every joint in my entire body aches. My shoulders and my arm muscles are so sore that it hurts to do anything. My wrists and my hands and fingers hurt and feel swollen. I can’t open jars or similar tasks. My knees and hips are sore so walking is painful. My lower back hurts if I walk much. Joints that I've had problems with in the past hurt even worse including my neck (cervical spine). My skin is very sensitive to touch even to my clothes, bed sheets and slippers. I’m miserable. I already had dry eyes but this drug has made them MUCH worse. My eyes are so dry, they both hurt and they are both bloodshot. My eyes are now even more sensitive to light so I wear sunglasses to reduce pain causing glare. Cognitively, I feel like I am in a fog; it’s kind of a spacey, surreal feeling. I feel like jumping out of my skin. I have had chest pain twice. My heart races at times. I have an intermittent, frequent knife like pain in between my shoulder blades (on the left side) and it is worse when I breathe deeply. I have tingling in my hands and they usually feel cold. I feel queasy at times. In general I feel ill and I have no energy. I fatigue easily. I don't know whether to cry or to scream but I feel like doing both. I've always had headaches but they are more frequent now. On top of it all I still have intermittent burning in my sinuses so I don't know if the drug has even cleared up the infection or not. I was re cultured today.

I have taken Cipro (similar to Levaquin) in the past so I did not make the connection between the Levaquin and my symptoms until two days after I had completed the drug. It was Christmas Day. I was too sick to join in the festivities. As I sat alone I started to think about my symptoms and I went online to research my symptoms. To my shock I discovered that there are thousands suffering as I am with similar symptoms due to this drug. I now fear that I may suffer permanent damage as a result of this drug. I was never warned regarding ANY of the dangers. The common adverse problems associated with this drug is NOT common knowledge in the health care setting but it should be. I printed out pages and pages of postings of sufferers and brought them to my ENT. I provided him with a list of sufferers web sites. He sat in stunned silence and it was obvious that he had been painfully unaware of the suffering that this drug was causing.

I blame the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA for allowing this tragedy to continue. I would like the name of a competent, experienced attorney with a proven track record against pharmaceutical companies. If any of you can provide me with the name of an attorney I will be in your debt.

I thank you all for your postings because at least I know that I am not alone. My heart goes out to you all.

Chris

I started using Levaquin for an infection in my leg. After taking it for a short while, I started having severe pain in my shoulders and arm muscles. As soon as the infection was cleared up, I called my doctor and told him I was going to stop taking it and stated why (having read the side effects). He said he never heard of such a reaction. It has been almost three weeks and the pain is lessening.

I just completed 5 day's on Levaquin for a sinus infection.Well the infection is better but the aftermath of Levaquin is far worse than the reason I started it. I feel like I have been run over by a train...pain in the arm muscles mostly, hands & fingers swollen,I tried pain medication & no help there. Very tired..all I can do is get up from the chair with great difficulty. It has also affected the strength on my legs..I got out of bed last nite and wondered if I could even walk to the bathroom without help...Please please...if this is prescribed for you, discuss these side-effects with your physician...