In 1998, Mike, a former Marine, was in perfect physical condition when he came down with flu-like symptoms. "Mike asked our doctor to 'Give whatever it takes to get me well fast,' so he was prescribed Cipro," Connie says, adding that they don't blame their doctor because he "wasn't told the truth either"."About a month after taking Cipro, Mike had terrible pains and thought he was getting rheumatoid arthritis--every joint in his body hurt," says Connie. " It slowed him down at work and he got depressed. He thought arthritis was pay-back for working so hard all his life. Then his legs started twitching: He kicked me so much in his sleep I couldn't stay in the same bed…
He had personality changes. Mike became very agitated, irritable and hot-tempered. And I was scared to go anywhere because of the way he drove—crazy. He had never acted this way before; then the nightmares and panic attacks started.
Ruptures started occurring 11 months later. The tendon in his calf became completely loose—he looked like someone with polio—but we thought it was just an accident. The next year (2000) the quadriceps ligament tore at the kneecap and in 2001 the muscles in his thigh tore completely apart. Then he had ruptured tendons in his arms. Six tendon injuries? Something was definitely wrong, but there is worse...
Mike tried to commit suicide three times after taking Cipro. On his last attempt he put a .38 in his mouth and pulled the trigger, but God intervened. Mike told the police he should have died; instead he shot a bullet through his cheek.
READ MORE CIPRO LEGAL NEWS
I called the FDA and asked if tendon ruptures could happen 11 months after taking Cipro. 'Yes', someone replied. I was astonished; who knew about these horrific side effects? I believe that Bayer, the manufacturer, is aware of everything: I wrote them a detailed letter about Mike and someone at Bayer contacted me last year, wanting to know about his injuries. That was the last I heard from the drug company.
Now, Mike is completely disabled and rarely leaves the house; he needs help just to get out of his chair. Cipro took my husband's health away and it has ruined both our lives."
READER COMMENTS
Don
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I have wondered for years why I have had the various symptoms that I am reading about now. I finally (with absolutely no help from any doctor) at age 83 appear to have found the underlying cause of my symptoms.
I was in on the clinical trials of the drug Cipro in the mid 80's. My first dosage was 750 mg twice daily for 2 weeks.
Later 500 mg twice daily became the norm.
Since the mid 80's (I can't remember exactly what year) I have taken Cipro for 10 days to 2 weeks at least 60 times.
I acquired a simple urinary tract infection in 1961 and the doctor trough inappropriate treatment (thanks doc) turned it into a chronic prostate infection that still reoccurs today in 2018. I was treated with every applicable antibiotic in the arsenal with no lasting results. Through no help from the MD doctors I have found that the reason for the never ending infection is because the bacteria (Ecoli) is a "persistent". It has the ability to mutate, regress and hibernate until a more opportune time arises. Then it is back again.
Cipro came on the clinical trials and eventually the market. And it worked. As I said before, I have taken Cipro dozens and dozens of times and at the time did not seem to have any adverse effect from it. As the years progressed symptoms began to arise. Brain fog, muscle weakness, peripheral neuropathy, shoulder pain and the list goes on. I was chalking them up to getting older but now I am seeing that Cipro and my use of Fluoroquinolones must be behind the reason that the uncomfortable symptoms persist no matter what I try to do to mitigate them.
For many years I have tried to rely on "MD" doctors to help me and have had NO success. I have become kind of anti-MD doctors. I am kind of a "vitamin nut". I take a lot of different vitamins and minerals.
Maybe, just maybe it is the reason my symptoms have not progressed from bad to unbearable.
Fortunately I found this and many other internet sites that are discussing the problem of Flouroquinolone toxicity/poisoning.
I think that I have discovered the underlying cause of my problems. Now I need to figure out what might help with my problems.
My thanks to all who have submitted their input on the subject.
Anthony
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What happened to good ole penicilin ???? oh thats right ..ITS CHEAP AND DRUG COMPANIES DONT MAKE MONEY OFF THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anne Williams
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Joe Stephen McNair
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ANTHONY
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Connie Aud
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ANTHONY
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Laurie
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Paul
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Connie Aud
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Chris
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I am 27 and was prescribed it for an ingrown toenail infection. After I took it, I developed side effects such as strange thoughts, feeling like becoming a bad, confrontational person, sleeping a lot, and really bad anxiety.
I thought these were normal too. I thought it was just a normal thing and kept going with it. I thought it was just normal or something to be honest. I thought I really was becoming a bad person.
I would like to add I used to have really bad anxiety issues and worked with a therapist to overcome it. I would say my knowledge saved my life in some ways. I felt like becoming another person on this med and just didn't seem like me at all. I would not become a bad person as I am the most loving you can find. Cipro came to mind and I began googling and found many stories online about it.
I have been off the med for a few days and better than a few, though I still get the occasional anxious thought, I am ok. I would not recommend this medication to anyone. I would not even take it in a life threatening emergency. I would rather die and go out as my real self then to be on this stuff. I would also make sure I research anything ahead of time. I just figured the doctors knew what they were doing.
I would be curious to see if any suicides were caused by this med. if the med caused the suicide not the other way around. if it lead the person to believe something. ---- the doctors and makers of this stuff. next time I am dealing with the pain. it is better than this
Michael
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Connie
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B Harris
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Tamara
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Take some relief in knowing there are thousands out here fighting for awareness and justice, while we struggle for survival.
Your voice, your experience is so very important. Thank you for sharing with us all.
Suzanne
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Jody, research Fluoroquinolone Toxicity
Rachel Santilli
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Connie
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jody
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Patty
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Gigi Byrne
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Gigi
Debra
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Terry Aston
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Check out FQ DC Rally on facebook you can also contact me there.
We are doing a book....We did this last year and it did very well.
Thank you,
Terry Terry
Gina
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heatherj78
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DADDY I MISS YOU SO MUCH AND I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!
Connie Aud
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Lisa
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Admin
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Virginia
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I am so sorry for your loss, by you publishing Mike's story, more awareness will be spread, and awareness is the only way to save other people from this damage.
Connie Aud
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My husband first took Cipro in 1998. He was a former Marine and in great shape. He was intelligent and so strong physically. He kept in shape by working all the time. He got sick and went to our family doctor asking the doctor to get him well quicker so he wouldn't miss any work. He was prescribed Cipro and he took it all. I had no idea that all the things that started happening to him then were adverse reactions after taking this medicine. The one thing we lacked knowledge on was anything to do with medical. Shortly after taking Cipro, things began to happen to his body. He started having a lot of pain in his muscles and joints almost like RA. He thought it was because he had overworked his body to the point it was rebelling on him. He was in his early 40's at that time. His arms and legs started to jerk and it was worse when he tried to rest. It's the kind like you may observe a dog sleeping and while asleep their legs move like they're trying to run. My husband's was worse than that though. Small blisters with fluid appeared around his ankles. He thought maybe he got bitten by fireants but couldn't quite remember when or how that happened. We didn't know it was a type of rash. We'd never seen a rash like that before. Several times he'd wake up with the left corner of his bottom lip so swollen that it looked deformed. He thought maybe something had bitten him on his lip while he slept. We didn't know this was angioedema of the lip. Never saw anything like it before. He started having some difficulty with his memory which was unusual for he was intelligent and aced things easily. For the first time in his life he was struggling with learning things. He started having anxiety and panic attacks. The panic attacks were the worst. He also had problems sleeping. Usually he slept quite well, but now had insomnia. He thought it was because of the pain in his body keeping him up. He would have vivid nightmares when he would sleep. I remember waking up 1 night listening to him talking in his sleep in a foreign language. I thought it might have been french but whatever it was he seemed to speak it fluently. I woke him up to ask him what he was talking about. He didn't believe me nor did he think he was speaking in another language. He didn't remember anything. He started having problems at work. He was the type that whatever he worked on had to be perfect. It was very rare for him to make a mistake. He started making mistakes at work where he was an electrician at International Paper Company. He would get so angry at himself when this happened. He started getting really depressed. Also he was changing in other ways. Agitation, aggravation, anger, short tempered, some bouts of rage where appearing. I thought it was because of the physical pain he was feeling in his body and lack of sleep. It got to where I felt like I was walking on needles and pins nearly everyday afraid anything I said or did would set him off. It didn't take much. He was changing mentally but I didn't know why. There's a line morally that I like to think most people have and you don't cross that line. His moved completely out of sight. He did things that were irrational like driving over 100mph and passing people on the shoulder of the road where you usually pull over with car problems. I was afraid to say anything thinking it would make him fly into a rage. I did a lot of silent praying that we wouldn't get into an accident and be killed. It was pretty scary. That just wasn't normal for him. Around 9 months after taking Cipro, he put a .38 in his mouth and tried to blow his brains out. The gun jerked when he fired it and the bullet went through his cheek. Probably cause his arms and legs would jerk on their own accord. I thank God for watching over him cause that wasn't the first attempt, He had never in his life tried to commit suicide before until after taking Cipro. The first rupture happened around 11 months after taking Cipro. It was in the soleus group I think. It tore completely loose in the back of his left leg at the ankle and bunched up near the back of his knee. It looked like someone who had polio. He stopped wearing shorts then cause he was ashamed of the deformed way his left leg looked. He couldn't run anymore after that. He couldn't walk fast either. It left him with a permanent limp. He has started having problems with bleeding in his feces not long after taking Cipro. He was having numbness in his feet but thought it was working too hard and being cramped up in places he worked on his job. There were a few occurrences where he was not himself at all. I didn't know what a psychotic episode was. Never saw one so I didn't know what was going on when he went into this bad rage and attacked me. Our daughter who was a police officer was there and it hurt her so badly taking her father down after he lunged at me with a screwdriver. I can still remember her saying "no daddy" as she restrained him. There was so much pain in her voice. She thought he had stabbed me in the stomach. I remember just standing there in shock as he came at me and something making me bend over as if I had been struck in the stomach. I think the Lord was still watching over us cause I was unharmed. My husband had never physically abused me ever nor even tried until after he took Cipro. It was like some stranger had taken over his body and he was trapped inside helpless. Many years later I finally asked him about that incident. He had no memory of himself ever doing that and it hurt him so badly to find out he tried to harm me. There was another rupture in his right knee months later. It was operated on to repair it, but months later another rupture happened in the right leg but this time it was a muscle that tore apart in the center of his thigh. Now both of his legs were damaged with tears present in both. I bought every kind of brace and sport supports to help him to be able to walk. I wrapped his legs in ace bandages on top of those. Kind of like a mummy. He was taking a lot of pain pills while trying to work. He said as long as he had 2 good arms left, he was going to make a living for his family. It might sound silly, but he had names for his arms. 1 was thunder and the other lightening. He was proud of the strength in his arms and hands. I know how strong he was. He picked up a truck transmission and put it in place by himself. That's strong. He tried to get a desk job where he worked cause his legs were so weak. Sometimes he'd fall at work when they gave out and he'd tell people who saw it he slipped on something. He didn't want to lose his job. He was making around $60,000 a year. It was a good paying job. Most people take vacation and go somewhere or relax. He would take his when his legs couldn't carry him anymore and try to recuperate so he could get back to work. Once he took a tool you burn things with like a soldering iron while at work and during a depression spell he burned deep into his left forearm I think the word "crazy". The burns were really bad. Later on he burned his arm again even deeper erasing the words. This left a deep scar about 1/2" wide and 2 1/2 to 3" long. I can't imagine the pain he suffered doing that to himself. A desk job had become available and a group from the shop he worked in were standing around discussing it. They were saying they didn't want it. My husband spoke up and said he'd like to take it. Someone behind him said something along the lines "great, a crazy guy in charge". He didn't get the job though he really wanted it so he didn't have to use his legs as much. I know it hurt him to hear people say aloud things like that about him. He must have endured so much. For a few years, the depression seemed to ease up some and there were no suicide attempts during that time. His legs weren't any better, some of the mental things like rage eased up and I didn't feel like I was walking on pins and needles everyday. The arms and legs were still jerking, he still had anxiety and panic attacks, the bleeding, and the pain in his muscles and joints were still there. He was prescribed CiproXr in 2004. I thought the worst was over up till then, but everything got worse after that. The suicide attempts started again. He was becoming paranoid. He did things that were definitely out of character for him. The anger and agitation came back. I was back to walking on pins and needles again. The bleeding became so bad that he would call me at home to bring him a change of clothing. I won't tell all the things he tried to keep from bleeding through his clothes every time he went to the bathroom. His lip showed up swollen again just like the first time. This time I knew he had a rash but not sure what was causing it. He thought maybe he got into some chemicals at work. They were big sores with dark centers in patches on his body. He was having pain around the kidney area. Had no clue what that was. The jerking of his arms and legs got a whole lot worse. There were times when I thought he had fallen asleep and his arms and legs were flopping. Sometimes at night they flopped like a fish on a bank trying to get back into the water. Sometimes it looked like only the legs and arms were being electrocuted. Years later I began to wonder if they were seizures. I told the doctor my husband was having restless leg and arm syndrome. He put him on a medicine to try to help control that. It only helped a little but was better than it was. He started having migraines. Sometimes they had what the doctor called an aura. My husband couldn't see right when this happened. They were very painful. I forgot to mention the numerous times he got shingles. That was painful too for him. He was starting to have more numbness in his hands. He was always dropping things. It became harder for him to use his tools like screwdrivers. His legs were getting more numb and weaker. Around 11 months after taking CiproXR, the rupturing began again. This time in his arms. First it was the right arm. The doctor operated and told me my husband had lack of blood in his tissue. After the operation, my husband's arms didn't match in size. The one operated on looked a whole lot smaller. The doctor said he cut away dead tissue. It looked like someone had switched arms with him, someone who had no muscle and thin arms. This started in Feb 2005 and was the last time my husband could work. Months later he felt something tear in his arm. There was now damage to the triceps and biceps in his right arm. He had 1 good arm left that hadn't ruptured. He was trying to be useful and was squeezing a clamp with the same amount of pressure you would use to squeeze a blood pressure bulb. Something popped in his lower left forearm and it bruised up. He had torn a tendon in his lower left forearm. Now both arms are damaged and both legs. His sick pay was ending where he worked so he applied for longterm disability. He was denied. He also applied for SSD and was denied. I never could understand why he was denied. He had all these injuries and the doctors had no idea what was causing it. We were running out of money and things were getting tough. This didn't help his depression at all. I still have a suicide note he had left for me when he made 1 of his attempts. He was denied a second time for SSD. It was appealed and we went through it again. By this time my husband has all his pride stripped away. The system made him feel like he was nothing and insignificant. Sedgwick CMS was doing the disability for International Paper Company. Sedgwick denied the appeal for disability from International Paper. My husband was finally approved SSD. He was terminated from International Paper cause he couldn't go back to work. We thought we had a lawyer to fight for his disability from International Paper. That lawyer told us to be patient and that it was going to take years. So we waited and waited. Last year we called him checking on the status of how things were going. He told us he had dropped it long ago but we never knew that. After that we tried to get another lawyer but they all said we had run out of time. My husband's health is continually declining. He has to use a wheelchair now and rarely leaves the house. He had test done at the VA that showed he had nerve damage. He had gotten to the point long before that where he would have to ask me to open things for him like a pack of lunchmeat cause his hands were weak and numb. His immune system was getting worse. He was falling more often in the house when he would go from his recliner to the bathroom. He lived his life in that recliner. His body had become so weak and his breathing was terrible. He slept in his recliner cause he couldn't breathe well laying down. Even though he suffered so much pain, everyday he would greet me with a smile and tell me he loved me. That's all I needed. None of this was his fault. All he did was take a medicine to make him feel better. Feb. 23, 2012, I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't wake up. I called my son-in-law over to try to wake him. There were people in my house but I don't remember seeing them. I remember telling them he's always cold, that he's just asleep and won't wake up. I remember very little of what happened for the next few days. He was only 55 years old. Before taking this medicine he was a strong and intelligent man. How could this happen or be allowed to happen. I didn't even have the money to bury him. I'm thankful our 2 daughters stepped in and took up payments for his burial. He was my life. Everyday is empty without him. Half of me is ripped away. He didn't deserve that to happen to him. He was a good man. His name was Michael. He didn't do anything wrong, but he is the one who suffered so many years through so much physical and mental pain. He was done so wrong in this life.
His obituary can be found at: http://www.goldenfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1405286&fh_id=10162
Thank you so much for writing about him. He meant the world to me.
Bruce
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admin
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Connie
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