Levaquin and penicillin

I went to the doctor on 9/11/09, having been sick for a couple of weeks w/ nasal congestion and then developing muscle aches, fatigue, and a fever, along with the new symptom of a cough. My doctor was on maternity leave, so saw someone else in the practice, who hastily diagnosed a sinus infection and prescribed penicillin. Got the beginnings of hives on Sunday early in the a.m., called the pharmacy, discontinued the penicillin. Still had a fever and was miserable, called the doctor on Monday to document the hives for my medical chart, and said I thought it was flu, not an infection. Finally was called back, and they called in levaquin, despite my thought it wasn't infection. Fever had broke finally, and I was making some progress, but figured the doctor knows best and took one dose of levaquin before bedtime. Had horribly vivid daymares/hallucinations and kept telling myself, "Its not real!" Woke the next morning, and could barely move. Couldn't get from the couch to the tv a few steps away and knew I was in serious trouble. Called the doctor and the nurse said they wouldn't see me, no appointments, so my husband took me to the ER. ER doctor said it was a reaction to levaquin, discontinue use, and it would take probably a day to pass through my system. Also said I had a virus, not an infection to begin with. (Horribly ironic, huh). It is now Thursday, 9/17, and I move like a snail. I have no stamina, and can barely walk. I went to work (I'm a teacher) and cried after walking my kids down to art. Am I ever going to feel normal again? This is really depressing. I was a healthy, active person before I took a dose of this poison.

If Levaquin has all these side effects why do the Doctors give this medication to patients??
My Doctor give me 5 samples and are to be taken once a day.
I have osteoarthritis etc. and had a cold plus I had a bladder infection, should I be taking Levaquin??

I started taking 750mg of Levaquin last Thursday, March 20, 2008, for a strep throat infection that was not responding to 500 mg. of Penicillin. I took Levaquin last summer due to another bad throat infection and had absolutely no side effects. However, this time I am experiencing a raft of them, from awful insomnia and sluggishness and tiredness, to sever headaches and coughing. I suffer from depression and this is effecting my reaction to the depression medication. I am feeling more depressed.

A few days ago, my head started to hurt near my left eye, and my skull became very sensitive on the top left side, midway between the middle of the skull and my left ear. If I cough, it feels as if my head is about to explode. To make matters worse, whenever I try to speak, I start coughing , which in turn hurts my head. My head is painful to the touch.

This is awful. Can anyone help me out with some pain relief or something?

Mikal

Struggling with a sinus infection that threatened to bore into my brain, resulting, ultimately, in seizures and death, I've been taking Levaquin now for three days. I'm experiencing anxiety and sleeplessness, however, it's not from the medication. It's from all the hyperbole on the internet.

Look, I understand that many have had adverse reactions to this medication. One dose of penicillin can kill you without warning. At anytime. No warning. I suspect that few of those labellings Levaquin "poison" would ever bother to consider that - or anything else. All wrapped up in your misery, you spout off with rhetoric that is really better left to lawyers and politicians.

If you were uninformed of the possible side-effects of this medication, blame your doctor. I see that the last post here is dated November 2007, and the bottom of this first page takes us to October 2006. Perhaps one could take a bit of responsibility for oneself and do some research on one's own before popping a pill handed out by a disinterested physician. This information is out there - and yes, your doctor could have seen it, too. But he didn't bother, did he? Neither did you.

So, yes, with my first dose, and despite the impact drill driving through my eye-socket, I waited for the seizures, swelling and signs of imminent demise. Nothing. Sorry. Oh, my sinuses feel better, I don't have a brain infection, and so I won't die frothing at the mouth on my living room floor.

I'm sorry you feel bad - and if you hadn't run off at the mouth calling what may be one of the last effective antibiotics "poison", I might mean that with some sincerity. Oh, and lest you forget, antibiotics are poison by definition - the idea being that they affect/poison/kill the source more than they do the host.

So let's stop the hyperbole, and simply say you had a bad reaction to this medication. Not everyone does. Your option might have been to skip the doctor and the meds altogether, and see how you'd fare. But that would leave the responsibility, and the blame, all on you, then, wouldn't it? Far better to spread it around some.

I was put on a 5-day dose of Levaquin, and am on my 4th day. After the first dose, I started to get severe itching and pain in my vaginal area. I know it's a yeast infection because I had it once before. I have also had really bad insomnia for the past two days. Called my doc; she told me to continue the medicine and perscribed Diflucan and monistat 3-day. She also said to take Benadryl for itching, but I am feeling really tired already, and I think the Benadryl would just make it worse. I am very tempted to stop taking this med right now, but not sure if it's ok to do that. Has anyone else gotten a yeast infection from this? Thanks, and I hope everyone starts to feel better soon.

I had racing pulse, heart pain, headache and nausea the first time I was prescribed Levaquin for a UTI. I called the doc's office and was told I it had nothing to do with the med. I took it, all the while feeling miserable, for the whole prescibed dose. I was prescribed it again, and had similar reaction, called and asked about it, and was told that my culture came back negative and I should stop taking the med. I was happy to do so. Third time it was pneumonia. I got a shot first of a penicillin derivitive, then was prescribed Levaquin. Within 24 hours I had severe hives, along with feeling awful, which my have just been related to the pneumonia. Went in to the doc, and was taken off the Levaquin, and told to never take any of this class of drug again, because my doc said the next reaction could be much worse. I was switched to a penicillin derivitive and put on a prednisone pack for the hives, which took a couple of weeks to go away even after stopping the Leviquin.

I was diagnosed with bilateral ear infections and was prescribed 500mg Levaquin ( because I am allergic to most penicillin-based products) once a day for one week. On the fourth day I began to experience stiffness and pain in both feet, especially the heels, and also in my calves, and knees. I also had pain in my neck, at the base of my skull.These symptoms proceeded to worsen to the the point that I could barely walk on Sunday and had to go up and down stairs two feet at a time. I worked from home yesterday and took a Naproxen because the pain and stiffness was so debilitating. Today the symptoms have somewhat subsided, but I still feel stiff and can't walk or climb stairs very well. I was so deparate to figure out what was wrong with me and entered all search words that applied to my problem to Google. My search return included numerous sites connecting these symptoms with Levaquin. I found the PI and it is true. I have to say I feel better just knowing why this happened. I never suspected that the antibiotic was responsible. My question is this: has anyone else ever had this happen to them and what were you advised to do to "get back to normal"? I hope that these responses to the medication will go away now that I have finished the prescription. Please advise.
Ruth

My wife was put on Levaquin and Metronidazole together 2000mg per day for diverticulitis.. After 7 days she was so ill I thought she was going to die. Called the doc and he took her off these drugs and put her on penicillin. Yesterday she had such severe pain in her arms and in her back ( just below the shoulder blade) I had to take her to the E.R.. They tested her blood, x rays of the chest and stomach, EKG, Urine test. We were there 6 hours. All the test came back OK.They said ( they think) it was caused by a severe reaction to Levaquil. Today she is no better she still can't move her right hand above her waist and the pain in her back is excrutiating. What do I do now since all her tests at The E.R. were OK ? Will this go away after time and the drug has gone out of her system?

Peter

I TOOK MY FIRST DOSE OF 750MG LEVAQUIN LAST NIGHT AFTER STAYING UP LATE WATCHING A MOVIE..ABOUT 2:50AM. I WOKE UP, TOTALLY ALERT, AFTER ONLY 2 HOURS OF SLEEP. THERE WAS NO GOING BACK TO SLEEP. I WAS ALSO HAVING WHAT FELT LIKE A HOT FLASH BUT COOLED DOWN OK AFTER TURNING ON THE FAN.
TONIGHT, I TOOK MY SECOND DOSE AROUND 1 AM AND WOKE UP EXACTLY 2 HOURS LATER. AGAIN, WIDE AWAKE... BUT THIS TIME I AM HOT, BUT ALSO FEEL LIKE I AM HAVING AN ANIETY ATTACK OR SOMETHING...I FEEL LIKE MY HEART IS FLUTTERING IN MY THROAT. ANYWAY, IT SCARED ME ENOUGH TO GET ON MY COMPUTER AND GOOGLE/DOGPILE THE DRUG NAME... AND I WAS CERTAINLY SURPRISED TO SEE A SIMILAR RESPONSE. I ALSO TOOK SOME VITAMINS AND MINERALS AT BEDTIME AS WELL. I WILL NOT CONTINUE THIS DRUG AND HOPE I FEEL NORMAL SOON.

After suffering severe reaction to a penicillin based antibiotic, my doctor switched me to Levaquin. Luckily I purchased only 4 days worth. The second night, I had excrutiating pain in my left knee. I took one more dose of Levaquin and then reread the warnings. After only 3 doses, I cannot walk for the pain and swelling in my left knee, hip, ankel, shoulder etc. It is spreading to the right side as well. I have a headache and dizziness. I assumed much like the diarrea reaction from the first antibiotic, that the symptoms would go away as the drug left my body. I am now concerned that they may linger indeffinately. What is the average time frame for the swelling, painful, joint reaction?

I was recently given a five day 750mg@day prescription of Levaquin for a treatment of "walking" Pneumonia. During the second day of Levaquin I developed a body rash--like, all over my body. Back to the hospital with seasoned medical "experts" telling me I had "chicken pox", "hives", "herpes", etc..etc... A young female Doctor looked at my rash and diagnosed: "Drug Reaction". She took me off Levaquin, prescribed a two week course of Penicillin, plus drugs to combat the rash and within two weeks the Pneumonia and the body rash was gone. Sooooo, with what I'm reading on this site, my question is: Why is this poison...this Levaquin still being prescribed??

I've been on Levaquin for a throat infection for 12 days, taking the pill at bedtime. On the morning after the 12th dose, i noticed lots of red dots that were slightly itchy on the palms and fingers of both hands. Later in the day, i noticed its concentrating on my ankles and legs and a few are scattered on my torso. It rings back to an allergic reaction I had to penicillin (amoxacillin) about 20 years ago but without as much itching. Thus it dawned on me that it must be the Levaquin. I will not take another dose of Levaquin and I will go see my doctor in the morning.

I did spend some time in the sun (with 40spf sunblock) this weekend, so that may have aggravated the reaction.

I have also had the metallic taste in my mouth but did not think much about it. Otherwise, i have had no other effects.

I have had sinusitis(es) for 12 years, and been prescribed most of the different
antibiotics. Sometimes, they do a culture and sensitivity, but usually not.
They just roll the dice, and pick their favorite one.
I have had confirmed sinusitis that responded only to Levaquin (or Tequin), and some
that didn't, but did get cured under Augmentin (amoxicillin +), or one of the others:
Biaxin, penicillin, Cipro, you name it.
The side effect I noticed most with Levaquin, though, is the stomach upset.
When I remember to eat yogurt everyday, though, I am fine.
Why don't Americans know about yogurt?
In Europe, I am told, the pharmacist "prescribes" some pills that have the same
cultures as yogurt, when you get antibiotics.

I went to ER yesterday via ambulance because of a kidney stone. The CAT scan showed I also have a UTI. The doctor ordered Levaquin through the IV. When I passed the stone and went home, she sent a prescription for Levaquin with me. I bought the prescription but read this website before I took it. I called the doctor and she said a certain percentage of patients will be very allergic to any medication. She said I did not have any reaction to it when given the IV. The alternative was Septra, which is a sulfa drug. That has serious, sometimes fatal, side effects as well. I asked for Ceftin (a cousin to penicillin), but she said that would not get rid of my UTI. I bought the Septra, but after researching both on the Internet, I decided to go with the Levaquin. I hope I don't get any of these awful side effects this site talks about. My prescription is for 500 mg once a day for 7 days. I'll keep you posted as to whether I have any sides.

I was prescribed Levaquin for sever Sinusitus. Almost one hour after the 2nd dose I began experiencing tightness in my chest that became progressively worse. At the 1.5 hour mark on day 2 I was in anaphylactic shock and had to be taken to the ER in an ambulance.
I am 41 years old and have know of an allergy to both Penicillin (from age 2) and Quibron (from age 15). I was saved with multiple doses of benadryl, adrenaline and another med I cannot remember.