Pain from taking Avelox antibiotic
 

I have had a bad sinus infection and bronchitis for several weeks now. I was first put on doxycycline then Biaxin. Was not getting better, so my asthma doc put me on Avelox. They did warn me it could cause tendon problems, or muscle pain when they called me to tell me they were changing my medication. But, she said that effect is very, very rare.

The day after I took the first pill, I had a terrible back ache. Not normal for me.

By the next day, I could barely move. It is like my muscles won't work right. I cannot seem to stand up straight or fully open up my arms or legs. Like they are stuck at 60% movement. The pain feels like I have been hit repeatedly in the lower back with a ball bat. I cannot sit, laydown, stand etc - nothing helps. I have tried heat, voltaren gel, baclofen, vicoden, percoset, celebrex, motrin -- not all at once of course!

By the fourth day, I figured out it was the Avelox that caused this... as I had done nothing to strain my back - no fall, no extra activity etc. I stopped taking the medication on the fourth day.

It has been 6 days now since I stopped taking the Avelox, and the pain is not going away. Yesterday, I could bend a little bit, but by last night, it was back to being stiff and very painful. When I called the asthma docs office, they said they didn't know how long this would last, as they have not had anyone with this side effect before.

My neighbor was over yesterday to visit, and he said he had similar problems with an antibiotic "cipro" (I think that is what he said the name was) and he had very sore tendons for months after... but it took more than a month after he was off the medication for the pain to show up.

I **assume** the pain is so severe because of RSD. I also have fibro and myofacial pain syndrome.

Just wanted to put something up here on this medication so others might think twice about taking it.

Jules

All of the fluoroquinolones can cause neuropathy. (Avelox, Cipro and Levaquin)

http://www.medicationsense.com/fluoroquinolone.html
http://www.medicationsense.com/artic...cs_052205.html

Dr. Cohen's website is a very interesting read. You might look around there further.

I am sorry, your doctor told you it was "rare" as it is not.
There are many reports on the web you can Google.
Use this keyword: fluoroquinolone damage

My family doctor's nurse just called and said they were calling in a medrol dose pack for me, as that has helped me with severe pain in the past.

Reading the links you gave, sounds like that might increase my chances of tendon rupture.

does not sound like there is any good option for relief from this. It is awful not knowing if the pain will end in a couple days, or will it be months, or never go away.

I don't take pain meds on a regular basis, but do have vicoden, vicuprophen on hand for use as needed. Maybe I should just stick with those and not take the steroids.

I understand that you are in a tough place.

This wiki link goes more into detail on how fluoroquinolones damage cells.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciprofloxacin

There is a warning not to use NSAIDs (like ibuprofen) with them as well.

I don't know of any remedy other than what was printed on Dr. Cohen's website. Over the years we've had some posters on our PN forum here with residual neuropathy following fluoroquinolone use.

I don't believe the muscle effects are allergic. The standard practice is to give steroids when reactions to an antibiotic occur.
But this is not really allergic. So it is up to you to decide. If it were me, I wouldn't do them.

I do think you should get a CPK test run to see if there is muscle damage....rhabdomyolysis can damage the kidneys, and should be treated promptly. So getting tested may reveal the extent of your muscle issues. If the CPK is normal, then that would be a relief of sorts.

Just a note, many of the new antibiotics do have a longer half life. May want to see if this is the case.

Hi Daylily and MrsD.

Daylily, I am so sorry you are having yet another pain syndrome to deal after taking the antibiotic! But when you've had sinuitis and bronchitis for that long you have a dilemma!!!
I am in the same situation...terrible sinusitis and bronchitis diagnosed today...
When I went to urgent care nine days ago, with sore throat, etc. the doc gave me an antibiotic rx, and the pills were HUGE...the proverbial horse pill size!!! (Augmentin)

I went to my regular doc today out of desperation with terible coughing jags that feel like I have cotton candy in my lungs..
The doc today gave me a new antibiotic (liquid) to take for 5 days..Azithromycin ..she diagnosed bronchitis...

She also prescribed two inhalers today...an advair disc which is a powder inhaler with steroid in it.....2 puffs a day..... and a regular inhaler as well, (albuterol) to use every four or 6 hours..

Now i'm in a quasi-panic as I don't know what these will surprise me with after a couple of weeks when I hope my bronchitis has resolved....
Yikes, will my brains fall out? :eek:

We are so fortunate to have Mrs. D on our side, especially since she is so well-versed in pharmaceuticals as well as natural remedies.

So, Ive taken the inhalers tonight already and hope I don't wake up immobilzed! I'm waiting to take the new antibiotic in the morning and see what happens...I take Neurontin and she said there are no contraindications..
It's so treacherous to trust her info and to ingest chemicals we are not sure of...I did as much research as I could....

Daylily, I am hoping your new symptoms are short lived...maybe somewhere out there is an antidote to take to reverse the effect. I hope the medrol helps you, but mostly I hope this is temporary...

Daylily, about three weeks ago I ended up in ER with the same terrible sympoms in my back and hip.....this was before I took anything....that pain started after I took a few steps out of my car...it sent me to the E.R.!!
I couldn't move, get out of bed, etc for about 4 or 5 days...the pain was a 9 1/2 ..of course I missed work which wreaked havoc...

It's much better now but is still 'there' I hope it's not RSD going north from my legs....I also have the same pain ache in my right shoulder..

Daylily, I'm thinkin about you and hope this spontaneously resolves....it's diffiuclt to know what to do to treat our ailments...when there is a possible bacterial infection involved
Thanks for listening :grouphug:
Hope4thebest xoxox

I opted not to start the steroid pack.

I am a bit better, so there is light at the end of the tunnel for this not lasting forever.

Thanks MrsD ! your help was greatly appreciated.

Jules

Hope4thebest
I have been on all the meds you mentioned in the past for my asthma/bronchitis issues. Never had any problem with them. The inhalers might make your throat a bit sore. Be sure to eat yogurt or take asidophillus (sp?) with the antibiotic. Might give you a "personal" yeast infection so watch for that.

Drink a lot of fluid - will help get the crud out of your lungs. I also use a Neti with good success - I use the bottle cause I could not get the hang of the pot. My asthma doc has me doing it twice a day.

Jules

one thing you should know about the netti pots...

You should use sterile water for that irrigation. There have been organisms that colonize the sinuses from non-sterilized water.
These are not normal pathogens and they don't respond well to
antibiotics. One is a mycobacterium and very hard to get rid of.

So get some sterile water or saline for irrigation at your pharmacy or online from Amazon to use in the netti pot. And make sure that pot stays clean too!

This is an article from the doctor one of our members at PN went to when she was cultured positive for this pathogen from using a netti pot.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...cal&id=6046064

Doctor told me to use distilled water. That is ok, isn't it?