Levaquin and running down

I went to the doctor Friday night worried that I had pink eye. He says "No, your eyes are fine, nothing wrong there, but your cough sounds awful." so he listens to my lungs and says I have bronchitis. Yeah, I had a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago and the cough never went away. So I say, ok, what can you do? I have no insurance, the place I currently work at is cheap. He brings me 5 sample packets of Levaquin, 750 mg. Says to me "These are really good. Take one a day for the next five days. They should do the job, they are $25 a pill." I think, wow, that's some expensive medicine.
ANyway, I come home and take a pill around 8. I have a second job that I work on evenings and weekends, so I have to get up in the morning to go. I can't sleep like usual. I wake up every hour or two. First I am sweating, I get up and turn the heat down. Second time I wake up with tears running down my face, I'd been having a nightmare about one of the kids I watch dying od SIDS (How twisted is that?) Then I just keep waking up.... I go to work yesterday morning and after about 2 hours I start to get real light-headed and nauseous and my ears were burning like someone had embarrassed me to the extreme. I came home after being at work 4 hours. I felt sick to my stomach all day but thought it was because I hadn't eaten. WHen I finally ate, I couldn't stop eating. Then I did, and 2 hours later I was feeling sick again.
Not thinking anything about it being the drug, I took another one last night at 6:30. When I finally went to bed at midnight, the nightmares started all over again. I wake up crying, my body wracked with sobs, tears rolling down my face.
I don't want to keep taking this medicine if it is causing all of this but I don't have the money to go back to the doctor for something else, and I can't afford to still have bronchitis. What am I to do?

After taking Levaquin for 7 of the proscribed 10 days, I awoke with severe lower back ache, running down the front and backs of both legs. I did not connect the pain to the drug, as I have seen a chiropractor for similar pain. He said that it was highly unusual for a back issue to effect both legs, and that the hamstring pain must be some unrelated, coincidental muscle strain. After my treatment the pain got progressively worse. I could not sleep, and drank milk to ease the cramping in my legs in the night. The next day, I discontinued use of Levaquin, started drinking gallons of water and green tea to purse my system. On the 8th day, I strarted with the nausea, which I treated with crackers. No nausea on the 9th day. Receding muscle pain the night of the 9th day, and last night, the 10th day, receding still. Trouble is, the pain seems to magnify when I sit and espcially when I lay down. I am moving around pretty well during the day now, but my ability to sleep has been impaired and finally seems to be improving. Last night was pretty good.

I was given 14 days of 500mg for pneumonia. On day 5 I went through my house and got rid of everthing that is unique to me. I searched for my life insurance policy "just in case". I called my dr and said I was feeling horrible but I couln't describe it well and I thought it was the pn. They just said it could take weeks before I felt better. By day 10 I was feeling much better physically but still very depressed. Since I normally exercise a lot, I figured some excersize might lighten my mood. I didn't push at all, but now on day 23 my body is racked with pain. I have tendenitis in my left elbow. Shooting pains in my left shoulder, severe, almost unbearable sciatica both shooting pains and numbness running down my leg and overall joint pain from head to toe. My dr told me to take 4-6x the normal dose of ibuprofen. Today I found a new doctor.

Tremendous pain and pressure in eyes. Broken ankle feeling. Sprained wrist feeling. Unnatural headache. Less frequent peeing. Insomnia. Severe fatigue. Depression. Detachment. Anxiety. Crying fits. Nightmares. Manic episodes. Saying wrong words and dropping things from my hand very easily. Confusion while driving in my own neighborhood. Calf pain, as though it were going to split wide open, and at other times as though on the edge of a charley horse, lasting for several hours. Extremely DEEP shoulder pain. Funny taste in mouth. Substantial decrease of appetite. Misc deep and quite disturbing pains in fingers and toes and hands and feet. Strange 'bubbly' sensations under skin. Strange 'wet' feelings (like blood running down) under skin. Sore to the touch 'sunburned' feelings on skin. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE POISON AND MUST BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET!!! STILL AFFECTED 3 WEEKS AFTER STOPPING PILL AND COUNTING!!! DO NOT TAKE WITH STEROIDS OR IBUPROFIN OR CAFFINE - MAY LEAD TO MULTI-SYSTEM ORGAN FAILURE!!!!!!!

Adding to the nightmare stories I have just read. I must include horrible head pain on right side near ear, and running down neck. Also rapid heartbeat, light-headedness, insomnia and food and drink seemed to help absolve the problems somewhat. Took four days until I realized it must be the medicine!!

57 years female caucasian

Started with fever on Friday and felt so horrible by Monday saw my physician, who I might add, has been attending me for 3-4 years. Since I lost my job and have no insurance, my doctor gave me samples of Levaquin, due to congestion in lungs and head.

I was to start immediately with a daily dose of 500 mg. Almost immediately after 1st dose I started to feel drained of all life, and I cannot explain if my breathing was shallow or not. I called my sister and she reassured me that the flu or virus like bug I must have was like her and her husband had experienced several weeks earlier, and that I would slowly start to feel better, and that it might take 10 days or so.

Yesterday I started having sweats and the insomnia is getting worse. I started realizing today that after this morning's dose I was so scared of what I felt that I told my son I was afraid I would die. I WILL NEVER TAKE AGAIN after reading this website.

I am so happy that I had the sense to realize that something was not right, since I was not feeling better, but worse each day. I only hope that I am not too late.

I will call my doctor tomorrow and tell him, and get some treatment, perhaps the prednisone or something to boost me. I am scared to death that it has caused permanent damage, and that it will not leave my system.