Toxic neuropathy????
 

I am a 23 year old male, in very good physical shape until around 6 month ago.

I self prescribed Levofloxacin because i thought i had a chest infection, i took 1 tablet a day for 5 days. On the 4th day of the course (saturday) i planned to go out drinking. I checked if the anti-biotic reacted with alcohol, it does'nt, so i embarked on the night out.

I took that days anti-biotic at around 7pm, the same time i had taken the previous three days dose. Throughout the evening i drank heavily until around 11pm when i was offered 1 ecstasy/MDMA tablet. Foolishly i accepted, without so much of a thought that it may react with the anti-biotic. Between 11pm and around 2am i would hazard a guess and say i took 4 more ecstasy tablets, 5 in total.

I returned home at around 6am feeling all the usual effects of ecstasy.(increased heart rate, jaw clenching, inability to urinate etc.) I started to worry when i started to feel sick, my heart rate would not lower and my muscles were aching from head to toe. I was unable to sleep and had no appertite, i managed to eat a sandwich and two yoghurts. At around 4pm on the sunday i finally started to feel better and fell asleep for an hour or so, when i awoke my pinky and ring fingers on both hands were numb, feeling returned straight away after straightening my arms.

Since that evening if i sleep with arms bent i will always suffer numbness in my fourth and fifth fingers in both hands, also in my thumbs, forearms and somtimes upper arms.

Other symptoms that i have started feeling since the event six month ago include, tingling in both feet when crossing legs, electric shock pains in hands and feet when over stretching, slight burning sensations in both hands and feet, elbow soreness, sporadic muscle twitching, slight blurred vision in right eye.

Only recently i have developed pressure headaches, stomach cramps, constipation and diarreah ( undigested food in stool)

Any information on Toxic Neuropathys would be greatly appreciated??

Hello, MightyB, welcome to PN forum.

I have a question for you: How often have you used Levaquin in the past 5 years?

As far as I'm aware mrs d I have never previously used levofloxacin, I have taken other antibiotics before such as erythromycin and amoxicillin with no adverse effects. I have read on the Internet that levofloxacin is a inhibitor of the enzyme that metabolises MDMA but I cannot find any information of side effects of the interaction?!?

Let me also state mrs d that I am by no means a regular illegal drug user, I would probably say that since the age of 18 I have taken recreational drugs 10 times without experiencing any adverse effects to my health.

Well, Levofloxacin has some neurotoxic effects of its own.

The family it belongs to, all share this characteristic.
Here is a monograph with more information:
http://www.drugs.com/ppa/levofloxacin.html

This drug can cause neuropathy. If you Google it with the
keywords--- Levofloxacin neuropathy--- you will see various
reports.

This antibiotic can disrupt the GI flora and cause diarrhea.
In patients who use other antibiotics often, this may lead to
infection with C. difficle, or other forms of colitis. (diarrhea)
This may need special treatment and should be evaluated by a doctor.

Levofloxacin prolongs QT interval of the heart, and therefore can be additive to other drugs, be dangerous if you are dehydrated and low in potassium and magnesium, or have a genetic tendency for this. There are isolated reports of MDMA affecting the heart, but not much else is available that I can find now.
Levaquin itself is a major drug and has potential for causing long term reactions. One of these is tendon ruptures, which may occur up to a year after use of this drug.
Some people have visited on this forum after one course of this antibiotic with neuropathy as a side effect.

CNS effects are also possible, but depend on age and dose.
Elderly taking high dose may develop confusion, seizures and other CNS effects. This is less likely in younger patients.
This drug can damage the liver and in fact two other fluoroquinolones have been taken off the market in the US for this. In fact Floxin oral has fallen also into disuse because of seizures it caused. The book Bitter Pills deals with it.
http://www.stephenfried.com/bitter-pills/

This site discusses the side effects of fluroquinolones from a medical perspective:
http://www.medicationsense.com/artic...cs_052205.html

thank you mrs d for the hasty replies.

from trawling the internet i was aware that fluoroquiniline antibiotics have, in rare cases caused nerve damage along with other medical complications.
I am convinced though that the symptoms i am feeling now are the result of an interaction with MDMA.

I have had a number of tests done in the previous 5 months. i have had a resting ECG, a exercise ECG and a echocardiogram done and heart bloods taken, because of sporadic palpitations and chest area aches all of which came back normal.

i have also had a cervical MRI taken which came back normal.

I have had my eyes tested (because of the slight blurred vision in one eye) the optician said i am slightly short sighted in one eye but that it was so minor no prescription was needed and that the overall health of my eyes was fine.

With all of the above tests i choose not to mention the incident which preceded the onset of symptoms mainly out of shame but also the fact that i did not want to believe that it could have caused these symtoms.

None of the symptoms that i am experiencing have had any real negative effect on my overall health in terms of being able to do my job etc. but mentally i have been agonising over whats happening to my body and the progression it may take So maybe this is playing a part somewhat in my symptoms????

Any information or advice on what course these types of symptoms are likely to take would be greatly appreciated, is it a case of ignoring them and sooner or later they will improve or do i need to seek professional help??

I appreciate that everybody is different therefore prognosis is difficult but i have ceased exposure to the anti- biotic and lead a healthy lifestyle, exercising everyday. Needless to say exposure to recreational drugs has stopped as has drinking alcohol.

As you can probably tell im clutching at straws with what might be happening to me so i appreciate all opinions on the matter.

Based on what I have seen about MDMA so far (one researcher is in my area and was on cable with his studies)..Dr. Galloway

both papers abstracts here:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&gl=us



The effects of MDMA are mostly immediate. If you survive an overdose or heavy use without a seizure or hyperthermia, there is not much to worry about. The only thing I have seen so far is the suggestion that MDMA affects serotonin functions and may cause depression or some permanent damage to the brain and its neurotransmitter systems of dopamine and serotonin.

The effects of Levaquin however, are not rare. Many people are on the net about that drug, some with neuropathies that do not resolve.
example:
http://www.fqresearch.org/ftrf_common_adrs.htm
http://www.fqresearch.org/cns_1.htm
Fluroquinolone antibiotics should not be used first line for minor infections. They are to be used when the risk/benefit ratio determines other agents are not effective.

This link is to one of the abstracts on PubMed.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...m&ordinalpos=1
It has an email to one of the authors (Dr. Perrine).
I suggest you contact this researcher for more data on the drug.

The net has many sites about MDMA...like this one:
http://www.mdma.net/#mdmatox

Ive been away a while now but thought i would update you on some tests that i have had done recently.

I have had nerve conduction studies done on both my arms and legs which came back "PERFECTLY NORMAL", blood tests ordered by the neurologist which came back "PERFECTLY NORMAL", a full neurological exam which came back "PERFECTLY NORMAL" a cranial MRI which came back "PERFECTLY NORMAL"

The neurologist said i was a perfectly fit and healthy young man. I was a little surprised that all the tests came back normal as my symptoms, i think, have gotten worse?!?!?

I am slightly puzzled????

It is now time for you to investigate Gluten intolerance.

This can cause GI upsets and vague neurological symptoms.

http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com...eralneuropathy

Was B12 tested? What are your numbers? "normal" is often misreported for this nutrient. Did you have Vit D testing?

It is possible some of your GI problems (if they occurred only after the Levaquin use) are due to dysbiosis that occurs after antibiotics. Since you state you have used other ones as well before the Levaquin, you could have a problem brewing from pathogens in the GI tract. If you have chronic or frequent diarrhea, you lose electrolytes quickly and this affects nerves. Low magnesium and low potassium give paresthesias as a sign. Fixing this takes time and attention. You can start by eating a quality yogurt that has listed several strains of organisms to restore yourself. Or you can investigate a good probiotic product at your health food store. Some of these can be expensive.
Numbness and tingling with twitching is a sign of calcium/magnesium imbalance.

Hello again.

I have come to the concludsion Mrs D that everything that is happening to me is a result of the anti- biotic. Since my last post things have taken a turn for the worst.

I have started to have regular palpitations (2-3 episodes a day) especially after alcohol. Also i have noticed that my hands seem to be suffering from atrophy, inbetween my finger tendons seem to hollowing out also i have a area on my wrist doing the same. This is accompanied by hand cramps and a feeling that my nerves of the hand are not protected so turning the door handle for instance causes a "nervy feeling". I have also noticed that the muscles around the elbow are getting smaller.

I am also experiencing foot cramps, back cramps and leg cramps along with back ache. It seems as though my whole body is malfunctioning?? my hamstrings have become very tight aswell.

The fasiculations have gotten worse aswell.

I am very very freightened and not sure what to do, all my symptoms are identical to ALS and such diseases!!!!

ecstasy. booze . Plug your cytochrome P450 system up with some Levaquin, the other junk stays in your system longer....

MDMA is KNOWN to produce neurological damage. A lot of neurological damage is at the molecular level and wont show on many tests. Small fiber neuropathy for example requires a skin biopsy.

Plus a little considered fact, Ecstasy is illegal...probably with good reason. You are messing with your dopamine receptors and could end up wrecking them permanently and ending up with Parkinsons, at the least....not to mention you are producing serotonin syndrome, which can be fatal.

Why blame the antibiotic? I don't think you will qualify for the law suit...you need tendon damage, ruptured tendons to be specific.

I think you could learn from this...Don't do Ecstasy....it isn't good for you.

You can consider me a mean old lady, fine, but I have done a fair amount of ambulance runs over my career, to pick up kids with decerebrate posturing, wierded out pupils, peeing their pants....some of them never come back. Now is that recreation??