Levaquin and staph infection

I was given Levaquin after a post surgical Staph infection was confirmed. I too had the side effects described by so many others. Extreme muscle aches, joint pain even in my fingers, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, dizziness. My Dr. said to try to fight through it because the Staph infection needed thia particular antibiotic to cure it. I am 5 days into my 10 day dose and I can't keep taking the pills. I am scared and don't want to end up in the hospital again. He tried to give me a prescription for Bactrim but I said no because i can't take it. I have worse side effects with it than I have the Levaquin. I can't stay wake for more then 1 hour and I dose off but wake up with 15 minutes feeling drained. I can't walk very far without my legs feeling like jello. My WHOLE BODY HURTS!!

I had a hip replacement in June, then contracted a staph infection after that (non-MRSA, thank goodness!), for which I have been on a 12 week antibiotic protocol, in addition to having the hip opened again for cleaning and replacement. For the first 6 weeks, I had a PICC line in my arm, which was infusing Oxacillin every four hours 24/7, as well as two oral doses per day of Rifampin. After the removal of the PICC line, I was put on a daily dose of 750 mg of Levaquin (I was also on Levaquin in the hospital, and couldn't sleep for weeks after coming home from the hospital). I have now been on Levaquin for 4 weeks and have incredible pain. The first symptom and most annoying was insomnia, as well as EXTREME rotator ruff pain, stiff fingers, tendor pain in my left elbow, and right knee. I can't walk well, the bottoms of my feet hurt (what's up with that?), and I can't even put on my bra by myself, my shoulders hurt so much. I thought I could take the pain because I just DO NOT want to have the staph infection come back and have another hip replacement, but I think I will actually have to go off of it. It's just too much pain. And I'm worried about long term damage.

Uh, I have read a number of postings where people are PROUD they stopped taking this last-line of defense antibiotic. Read up and be prepared before you take it. Stopping short only breeds drug resistant bacteria. If people didn't do this, we wouldn't need these horrible medicines.

You, and all the others that do the same, are RESPONSIBLE for this medication's existence. Had you kept taking that Amoxicillin back, when you were a spry 18 year old, instead of stopping when you "felt better", there wouldn't be a constant bacterial arms race.

Stopping these medications mid-treatment is a disservice to HUMANITY.

Keep it up, and next time you get a staph infection, you might find there are no antibiotics that work anymore.

I have Chronic Lyme Disease, as well as several very resistent co-infections and secondary infections. I've been following several treatments over the past few years, the last one included Levaquin.

Within two days of starting it, I couldn't get up by myself after kneeling down because of extremely severe joint pain. I thought I was having a bad reaction and cut my daily dose in half; should have been smarter and stopped it altogether. I also had insominia.

After a few more days, the hands and elbows were affected. After a while, I decided to research Levaquin online and realized that I wasn't having a Lyme outburst, but were being "poisoned" by Levaquin.

I cannot get up by myself, I canno't go up or down the stairs, I cannot peel potatoes or open jars, typing is painful, my whole body is in constant pain and I don't know how long it will last. I'm 35.

I should have taken my chances with Lyme. This is even worse.

I have been experiencing joint pain while being on this drug. I had to take it for a staph infection. The joint pain has increased daily along with dizziness and irritability. I stuck with it to heal the infection but pray the pain in my joints goes away.

I was prescribed lavaquin for a staph infection. I took two 500 mg pills for 4 days and then one a day for 10 days. On the 10th day I developed severe pain in my knees and calves. I continued taking this antibiotic until it was finished (four more days), since I was worried about the staph infection returning. However, I now have pain in the middle of my back plus the pain in my knees and calves makes it difficult to walk and is very painful unless I am sitting. I just hope that I will recover soon. I will NEVER take this medication again.

What most people don't read, is that if you are taking Levaquin or any of the quinine based antibiotics you are NOT supposed to ingest caffeine. No tea, no coffee, no chocolate. I was getting major rushes off of it. It was kinda neat :) But not when the heart started racing like crazy. It also contributed to a lot of other icky symptoms. Stopped the caffeine as opposed to the antibiotics and the infection is getting better. Now I just have to kill the caffeine deficiency headache :) Oh, and if you go off caffeine, you're going to sleep like the dead for a couple days.

I have an MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph infection) did a round of Zithro, a round of Cipro and now on a round of Clindamycin. Infection is finally being held at bay from getting worse. Now I have to convince it to die and go away.

What fun

Kat

I was recently prescribed 500 mg of Levaquin per day (for a total of 10 days) to treat a sinus infection and a staph infection of the eye (the systemic Levaquin was in addition to Ciloxin eye drops).

I have almost always been prescribed Zithromycin for infections in the past, which I have used without incident.

All I can say is that I'm on day 7 of the Levaquin now and I'm having several very weird side effects.

I'm anxious as hell, irritable, terrible nightmares, flashes of hot and cold that seem to have nothing to do with the actual temperature of the environment. This Levaquin seems to be having effects on me that are more akin to a psychotropic drug than a regular antibiotic.

I did some research on the web and found out that fluoroquinolone antibiotics compete with GABA receptors in the brain, which means that, at least for some people, the fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as Levaquin will have an effect on them that is pretty much the opposite of valium . . . instead of calming you down . . . it ramps up your central nervous system and can seemingly cause all sorts of weird things.

At least for me, I don't think I'll be wanting to take this Levaquin drug ever again. I can't say it's bad for all people, but it's been a very unsettling experience for me.

I went into the hospital to treat a staph infection after orthoscopy surgery of the right knee. That was 4/30/03. The doctor treated me with vencomiacin for 10 days then switched me to levaquin. Three 4 weeks later I have joint problems in BOTH my knees- excruciating pain- over the last 2 weeks. I left the hospital with a cain and now I am using a walker ! I hurt so much sometimes I just want to cry - I keep thinking maybe I need a wheel chair. 3 days ago I discovered olive leaf extract & rosemary from my chiropractor. It has taken a lot of the sharpness of the pain away. My physician has not been sympathetic - says I just have arthritis. I'm 50 years old and had no problems with my left knee at all before this medication. Thanks everyone for your posting of symptoms, now I'm sure this is one more of the side effects. I'm going the herb/homepathic route now...