Levaquin and tiredness

I am 67 years old and I had a PSA level of 5.7 as of April 16th 2008. In the year 2000 my PSA level was 11 and Dr did biopsy and found no issues. On May 8th my present Dr prescribed Levaquin 500 Mg to treat my PSA. As of today I have taken 18 tablets of Levaquin 500 mg. On May 24th evening I started getting fever tiredness and diarrhea. Took Paracetamol 500 mg to reduce fever. Temperature reduced to 97. If I didn't take any fever reducing medicine my body temperature started increasing. on May 26th temperature started increasing and it reached 102.6 and got admitted into emergency. At emergency they did run several tests and later discharged asking me to continue with fever reducing medicine. Also I was told to continue with Levaquin 500mg. Though I am taking fever reducing medicine with Levaquin, today my body temperature reached 105. On May 19th,2008 I had a blood test and came to know that my PSA had reached 6.2. I don't want to take Levaquin any more.

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

I took 500 mg. Levaquin for 9 days for a sinus infection, beginning 2/20/08. I noticed my hips ached, my lower back (kidneys?) did as well along with chest pressure, insomnia and overall tiredness, which I suspect was associated with the insomnia. I took it at night, so while I noticed dizziness when I was up at night, it didn't affect my day. After speaking with my doctor, I stopped taking the medication, and I won't take it again. Has anyone tried naturopathic or homeopathic remedies to help cure the side effects? I'm tired of the "cure" being worse than the sickness. Thanks.

I took this medication for 8 days for a sinus infection. It cleared up my sinus infection but the side effects are frightening and painful. I wish I had read this site prior to agreeing to this drug. Initial onset of side effects were the bad taste, tiredness and muscle aches. The morning after the last dose was when the side effects became the worst. Dizziness upon waking, exhaustion, muscle and joint aches, headache an desire to sleep. I am able to exercise a bit and am going to work but with great diificulty and I am normally an energetc, active and healthy 42 year old female. Please discuss another drug with your doctor before considering taking this one for sinus infection or any other condition.

I've posted before so I won't bore you with the details just a quick synopsis and an update.

Prescribed Levaquin AND Prednisone for an upper respiratory infection during last December/January. Went through the roof! Two trips to the ER, couldn't eat (lost 10 pounds), thought I was going to die, anxiety out of this world. Then started sleeping constantly. Even light exertion caused profuse sweating and tiredness. Lost 3 months from work.

Gradually started feeling a little better but in August my left arm started hurting very badly. Couldn't turn it or lift with it at all. Presently, it is ok about 90% of the time with only occasional pain. Then bam! Bent over to pick up a light object with the other arm and the tendon connecting my right bicep snaps. Talk about pain! No warning, no discomfort, just snaps.

Visitedthe Ortho today and scheduled surgery to put it back. Not sure if the other side has sustained damage or not. One doctor agreed that it was the combination of Levaquin and Prednisone, the other doctor feels it is "inconclusive" due to the time lapse. Personally? I KNOW it was! I never had a problems with my arms in my life! I'm 47 and in great shape otherwise.

Please stay away from this stuff and spread the word to anyone who will listen. My respiratory problems are gone but I'm just beginning to experience real problems!

Hi all,

I am on my 30th day of this crap. Now, I haven't had the complications a lot of people have, but I have had an ache in my legs just above my knees for probably 3 of the four weeks and in the last week of this an ache in my shoulders and neck area.

I too had the night sweats problem and a LOT of anxiety when i was taking this at first, but I read somewhere else that you're not supposed to have caffeine while on this drug. So, I quit all caffeine, except chocolate, this past two weeks and all my night sweats, anxiety, and sleeplessness went away.

I do however, still have a terrible tiredness each day after taking it and it typically lasts till about 8-9 at night before it starts to lessen.

Funny thing is, i don't think this 500mg of it each day has fixed this supposed prostititus problem i allegedly have. I still think its a pinched nerve in my spinal cord, but the doctors think I'm nuts.

Anyways...good luck and I hope my aches go away after today since I am done taking this.

Phil
p.s. 35 years old...in good shape and I was doing karate before starting this, but been too tired while on it to want to do anything and the karate never made my legs constantly ache.

I am just now discovering that my problems may be linked to fluroquinolone. Where do I start? I have been prescribed Levaquin on and off for years for UTIs. I have insomnia, headaches, severe back and neck pain, tingling/numbness and shooting pains in my hands and feet, dizziness, heart palpitations, difficulty walking, depression, disorientation, pain when lifting my arms, unexplained pain in my legs and arms, mystery bruising, listlessness, overwhelming tiredness, achiness in bones of upper arms and upper legs and a general sense of "I don't want to be here anymore." No one has ever mentioned that any of my symptoms could be caused by the medication.

About a month ago, I was put on Bactrim for a sinus infection. Could only handle four days as it made me short of breath and nervous. Told my doctor and she put me on azithromycin which I started taking about 5 days after the Bactrim (wanted to get it out of my system first). One of the side effects was tiredness. I finished that course of antibiotic but was still very fatigued. Went back to the doctor and she said the azithromycin must not have cleared the infection so she put me on a 5 day course (1 a day) of Levaquin. My tiredeness continued and have been off for 6 days and the fatigue is so bad I had to go back to the doctor a few days ago and she ran blood work. None of the extreme fatigue started until I started on these antibiotics. Can it still be the antibiotics in my system causing me to be so extremely tired? Any thoughts would be welcomed. I'm chopping at the bit worried waiting for blood results. Thanks.

Hi there. I started levaquin again today because i am having bronchial pnemonia. I have 250, 500, and 750 mg stocked at home, because i have taken this medication a LOT this last year for chronic kidney infections due to kidney stones that keep popping up.

For me, levaquin works great, with NO side effects on any type of dosage, except for the occasional tiredness. I am 23 years old. I would just like to say that i believe the benefits outweight the risks in the case of this drug, unless you are have horrible reactions such as rashes, losing hearing and sight etc which have been described. For the eye sight problem, if i was you i would SERIOUSLY find out if levaquin is really the cause for that, it doesnt make much sense how a drug designed to kill bacteria could actually interfere with cornea and eye functions, seems like there might be a possibility of some underlying and unrelated problem with the eye but seriously i wouldnt know. Just wanted to say that for me, this anti biotic has been a life saver, right now i just took me dose about an hour ago so i wont see any improvements soon but i feel like crap. My chest hurts, i cant stop coughing, fever etc i really hope this will lower my fever. I cant find any cough medicine at the store that is helping me i dont know how i will sleep tonight. =(

No new side effects, just want to reiterate what Levaquin did to me. What I resent is that no doctor involved ever mentioned problematic and painful side effects of the drug, yet when I had to be admitted to the emergency room for severe muscle and joint pains, the first thing the ER doctor said was "Levaquin causes painful, swollen joints and severe muscle and tendon pain, including rupture of the Achilles tendon."

Amazing that an unknown ER doctor, who had seen my case for less than 5 minutes, immediately caught and explained the cause of my problems. Thank God I hadn't forced myself to exercise, which I had considered doing, as I have now read on this website that exercise exacerbates the problem and could have caused ruptured tendons.

My main symptoms, which gradually grew worse as I continued the drug for 10 days, were metallic taste in my mouth, feeling of tiredness and heaviness in my body, increasing muscle and joint pain, especially in my knees, eventually spreading down the back of my legs toward my ankles. When I finally gave up and went to the Emergency Room, I could barely walk in; had to hold on to walls, chairs, etc. just to stay upright.

The ER doctor stopped the Levaquin and started me on Ibuprofin to combat the inflammation of the joints. (yet another drug??) So far it has been 24 hours since I stopped the Levaquin and I feel a little better - can almost walk again. I hope and pray the side effects will go away quickly, but I'm concerned since reading other people's lingering problems.

Thank you for this forum; I wish I had discovered it sooner!

If you do have to stop talk to the doc and get a replacement.

I have been taking it for almost four weeks, will be glad when i stop as i am tired sweat irritable out of it, none of it too bad exept for the tiredness, but i have had an infection for years which was hidden in my prostate, some symptoms but never could find the bactiria, then durring a period of greater effect got tested and they found it was staff, so lots of levaquin 500 mg for four weeks, i will be glad to be rid of the infection and its effects, so it is worth it. If i had really bad effects from the levaquin i would have gone back to the doc and gotten something else.

Oh my gosh-thank god I found this website-I started taking this medication last Thursday for a UTI and I thought there was something really wrong with me-headaches, tiredness, feeling generally spaced out, vision problems, not sleeping-I felt good this AM and then took my dose and same exact thing-I'm not taking the rest of my doses and just called my doctor to complain-this is a terrible anitibiotic-get it off the market-NOW

I was prescribed 500 mg. Levaquin for 10 days for gall stones. I am to have my gall bladder removed in about 5 weeks. My reactions started after my second pill. I have felt extremely tired, my hands are achy -- I can barely open a jar --, and I've been totally depressed. I stopped taking the drug yesterday, after 4 pills.

Until my gall bladder attack, I was completely healthy. I am physically fit -- walking between 4-6 miles most days, combined with weight lifting and yoga. I am so tired since taking Levaquin, I am not exercising at all. On the third day of the medication, I made myself take a 4 mile walk -- not at my usual brisk pace -- more like a stroll. I completed the walk but was totally exhausted and spent the remainder of the day and the next day in bed. My tiredness has to be a reaction to Levaquin. I certainly wasn't feeling this way prior to taking the medication. I will never take this medication again.