Request Legal Help Now - Free

Advertisement
LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION

"Just a matter of time before Cipro Kills Me"

. By
Tampa, FLDavid F. has quite the story to tell regarding Cipro and other, similar drugs. His saga started back in the mid 1980s when he was prescribed Floxin for pneumonia. Over the next 20 years, David was prescribed other fluoroquinolones, a class of antibiotics known to be toxic to tendons, cartilages, the nervous system and other organs.

Cipro VictimFloxin took care of the pneumonia but it left David with a ruptured Achilles tendon. "I was in a lot of pain and couldn't put any weight on my leg for about six months," David says. "Meanwhile, I had severe heart problems (I was only 30) and the doctor put me on a monitor that records everything that happens to your heart over 48 hours, like a continuous EKG. It showed that I likely had suffered a heart attack.

"How could that be? I was in excellent health and hadn't set foot in hospital since having my tonsils out when I was a kid. And there was no history of heart disease in my family. I had also suffered a significant loss of strength. I'd been in construction my whole life and now I couldn't even pick up a 5-gallon bucket of water. At that time I was bench-pressing 200 lbs and my kids teased me that I had Popeye arms. I had absolutely no clue that the drug was responsible, none whatsoever.

But the symptoms continued.

In 1993, I was treated for a head cold and given Cipro; that resulted in a frozen shoulder and a frozen knee. I couldn't bend my knee, period. I had to work through this whole mess, I had no choice--I had a mortgage and family to support. Obviously I lost a lot of time from work, but did my best. I went to an orthopedic surgeon, but he couldn't find any reason for it. He sent me to another specialist and diagnosed fluid in the knee. He stuck a needle in my knee but it came out dry, no fluid. He was baffled.

It took a few weeks until I could even walk. To this day, if I turn the wrong way, I go down. And my knee has swollen like a balloon numerous times over the years. Around this time I started to lose my vision. I went from 20/20 (never wore glasses) to prescription glasses almost overnight.

In 1999, I was treated for a mild infection of a small cord in the scrotum that goes from the testicles into the penis. I was given Cipro again. That is when all hell broke loose. I got severe gastro and digestive problems, severe loss of vision, heart problems again, a rash on my chest, severe tendonitis throughout my body, constant ringing in my ears, and my lab work was a total mess: red and white blood cells and liver function was all screwed up. I can't describe how bad I felt.

That lasted for about four or five months. I saw just about every ??"ologist there was. NOT ONE of them associated my chronic illness with Cipro, even though I told them that I was on this med. I wasn't taking any other drug. I don't even take aspirin!

Had I known at the time that every single adverse reaction I reported was a listed, known and published adverse reaction to this drug…

In the fall of 2000, I was pretty much functional and was in the process of renovating a house. I got up on Monday morning and I passed blood. I had a severe, debilitating pain in the kidney area. I went to my family doctor that afternoon and she thought I had a kidney stone. She put me on Floxin (again) and Darvocets for pain, and sent me off to a urologist. He did a CT Scan and x-rays and couldn't find the stone. But he decided I had a bladder infection and put me on Cipro??"I kid you not??"500 mgs per day. But wait, it gets worse…

He did a cysto exam (tube up penis into bladder, looks around and finds nothing wrong) and discharged me. In the meantime, I am in horrendous pain everywhere and seriously considering suicide: it was that bad??"unbearable. I would fill the bathtub with water so hot you could boil a lobster, just to get five minutes of relief. I did that a dozen times a night.

My throat then swelled up to where I couldn't breathe. At ER they said I had laryngitis, but I could speak normally. In other words, they didn't have a clue. I saw the urologist again and brought along a long list my symptoms. Diagnosis: chronic bacterial infection of the prostrate, which I did not have seven months earlier.

It didn't make sense. Plus all my urine tests were negative for bacterial infection. He gave me Motrin (!) for pain and within a few hours I had seizures and it was back in ER. This time an on-call urologist said I had a bladder infection and put me on…wait for it, Levaquin!

It damned near killed me.

My liver and kidney and pancreas went to hell. I now have permanent double vision??"it destroyed the nerves and muscles in my eyes. Soon as I was released from hospital, I got a second opinion. The new urologist said, 'Stop Levaquin immediately because you are having a horrific reaction to it. No doubt you have a kidney stone and I am scheduling you for surgery in a few days to remove it.' (Turns out that Cipro was responsible for the kidney stone.)

I got on the Internet and searched Levaquin, Cipro and Floxin. I found a forum where thousands of patients went through the same agony as me. I was absolutely livid. I contacted a lawyer and started legal proceedings. At that point I was looking at 20 ruined years.

I started to collect documentation??"clinical studies, newspaper articles, whatever I could find. And I put up a website to make this information available to others. (The website today has well over 12,000 clinical studies, published papers, newspaper articles etc.)

Today, I still have constant ringing in my ears. I wear tri-focals with prisms to see??"I am legally blind without these glasses. I still have the rash on my chest and the tendons in my hands have shrunk so much that they look like claws, I can only bend them half-way, like a severely arthritic person.

My white cell count has returned to normal after eight years, but I have an atrophied heart valve, cystic formation on my kidneys and an enlarged liver with cystic masses, chronic hip pain and still have a swollen lymph node in my groin, and problems with the knee and ankle. My digestive system is basically shot and there's hardly anything I can eat without getting sick. Phew.

The makers of these drugs, those lying f***ing bastards, knew about these adverse events since 1982. I have done my research. There wasn't one year since '82 when something regarding these adverse wasn't published in the leading medical journals concerning these drugs.

Six weeks before the black box warning was added to them, I got a response from a letter I sent to Johnson & Johnson. They believed the current warnings were adequate and had no intention of changing them--I have the letter published on my website.

I have been fighting the drug company, and telling anyone who would listen, since 2001. I forwarded everything to the FDA??"and in response for the past eight years, the agency has responded with the identical canned response received by Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen and Lisa Madigan, the Attorney General of the State of Illinois in response to their petitions, to wit: "[the] FDA has been unable to reach a decision on your petition because it raises complex issues requiring extensive review and analysis by Agency officials."(sic). They have been "studying" this class of drugs for over 12 years now while doing nothing to protect the patient.

But this is the heartbreaker: why wasn't I told? Sure as hell, the last three times I would have refused to take the drug. It boils down to not if it will kill me, but when."

READ ABOUT CIPRO LAWSUITS

Cipro Legal Help

If you or a loved one have suffered losses in this case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to a lawyer who may evaluate your Cipro claim at no cost or obligation.

READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
I have been suffering now for over 2 months. Tinnitus, blurred vision, brain fog and depersonalization.

Never touch Cipro or any other Quiolones. They are poison and will cause you to suffer or kill yourself.

I am going to try Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. If it doesnt work then i will end myself because im living in what i can only deacribe as hell.

Posted by

on
I'm 33 and struggling hard. Took Cipro for 7 years off and on. This last round is what got me. Started with an ER visit for possible heart attack. Lead to fatigue, weakened muscles, joint pain, tingling and numbness..most symptoms have subsided but my heart seems permanently damaged. My blood pressure is very low and heart high now. I hate Cipro and mad at myself for not looking into what I was putting into my body over 20 times!

Posted by

on
After reading this story I think I got off lucky. I took a 7 day course of Cipro and experienced no side effects until the last day of the course. I was sitting at work and all of a sudden I felt strange thud in my chest then 30 seconds later I was passed out. I came around on the floor and was helped back in my chair by a college then I passed out again and this time I am told I had a fit which I now no was probably due to low blood pressure. By the time the paramedics get to me I am ok and they do an ECG and find nothing wrong with my heart. I go to ER where they do another ECG and still find nothing wrong. So I think it must have been a one off reaction to the drug and think nothing more of it. Then within a few days I started to notice strange heart palpations, start to get anxiety attacks. I have never suffered from anxiety in my life before this. I have also noticed a ringing in my ears that comes and goes and also noticed that my eye sight does seem worse now. I always had perfect sight but now I am getting blurred vision that sometimes lasts hours and my general sight is not as good.

I am 36 year old male from the UK and this all started December 1st 2014. That was 6 months ago, I am generally able to function as normal. I go to the gym and lift heavy so no tendon issues but I am still suffering from anxiety, heart palpitations, ringing in my ears (now as I type this) and my vision has deteriorated. So very common symptoms/side effects here and I have no doubt that the cipro caused them. My doctor done blood work which turn up nothing and he claims its all just the anxiety that’s causing it. I think it is central nervous system damage which of course is permanent. Just hope it does not get worse.

Posted by

on
Hi, I was taking Cipro for Kidneys and Urinary for 5-6 days. I stopped right quick when I noticed severe tendon issues in my neck and the muscle in my right calf start to suffer severe pain. I read all this and got scared. I went to the Dr., and, of course, he denied that Cipro was the cause. But will this heal? Will the problems (side effects) eventually subside? From these older posts..what has happened to you all since then? Thanks!

Posted by

on
In case you don't know, here is a brief introduction of my story.   This all stemmed from taking a common Antibiotic called Ciprofloxacin (Cipro).  Please be aware of the horrible possible side effects of this, as they are permanent, and there is no treatment, or cure.  
 
My story is unfortunately similar to many that have taken Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, and many other Fluoroquinolone antibiotics.  All started in June of this year with a kidney stone.  Previous to this, I have been an active, healthy individual with virtually no health issues other than a couple bad stomach bugs, over the years.  I have not had a flu shot in 20 years.  Have not had any major illness ever.

From June to September of 2013 I had 4 kidney stone attacks. The 4th one ended with me getting lithotripsy to remove the stone. Levaquin IV was given preoperative and week followup of cipro 500 mg 2x day. All was fine then had the Stent removed during outpatient procedure. Single 500 mg cipro dose given then. After this all was good for about a week. Then started having groin pain for about 3 weeks. Dr did another outpatient cytoscopy and said all was fine. Another single 500 mg dose of cipro. Still had pain. So doc did prostate exam and found elevated white blood cells. No culture was done. Script was 500 mg 2x day of cipro for 6 weeks. No help with pain. Dr added sulindac NSAID to help. 12/7 had another surgery performed to make sure no small stones or strictures were present. None found. More preoperative Levaquin given via IV. About a week later started feeling better. I knew of risk factors with cipro and was paying attention to them. On 12/28. Noticed tight muscles in my calves and by next morning the burning in my legs began. Stopped taking cipro that day. Dr said that cipro could cause the muscle issues but did not know of issues with neuropathy. So now 2 months out I have insomnia, peripheral neuropathy, tinnitus, cognitive dysfunction, suicidal thoughts, depression, some anxiety, and mild depersonalization, chronic fatigue, dye eyes and ears, dry mouth, intolerance to heat and cold. Cold hands and feet, improper sweating. Gi motility dysfunction, etc.

Cannot work, cannot sleep, cannot walk correctly somedays, cannot care for myself.  My spouse now does 90 percent of the work for both of us.  I spend most of days in bed.  This issue has created a lot of stress and depression not only for me, but for my entire family, which now has to help me with many aspects of my life.  The uncertainty of recovery also plays a large role in my overall stress/anxiety level. 

UPDATE:  Now it's June 2 of 2014.  Been to Mayo, University of Washington, The Peripheral Nerve Clinic, and Anderson Specialty Medical Clinic so far.  Tried IV Therapy, supplements, vitamins, Physical Therapy, Analgesic Nerve Therapy, etc.   Had almost every test imaginable.  MRI, CT Scans, Blood tests, autonomic tests.  Have more tests coming.  So far, not much of any improvement.  Some better with sleep, but still have to take Melatonin to get sleep.  Anxiety is not bad, tendonopathy is better, and some slow improvements in GI function, but have bad relapses every couple weeks.

There are reports that many of the symptoms are tied to mitochondrial dysfunction and autonomic system dysfunction

Please know that I am not trying to scare anyone, I just want people to know what the doctors do not tell you when they give you drugs.  There is no INFORMED CONSENT, no consultation, no nothing, they usually just give you a pill and send you home.  They leave it up to you to find out what the pill may do to you.  For me, I have never had issues with any drugs, especially an antibiotic, so I trusted the Dr to know what he was doing.  Now I am screwed up permanently.   Please just do your homework and make sound decisions before you trust your health to someone else. 



Here are some links that further describe what has happened to me, and thousands of others.

https://www.facebook.com/FluoroquinoloneToxicity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_effects_of_fluoroquinolones

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/popular-antibiotics-may-carry-serious-side-effects/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm365050.htm

http://www.survivingcipro.com/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2094848/

http://floxiehope.com/

Best Regards,


Charles Tooraen

Posted by

on
I was given Ciprofloxacin for a bladder infection and less than 24 hours later I was in the ER in for a kidney stone. I was walking like I was slanted. Like one legs was shorter than the other. I had 2 bouts of low blood sugar, shakiness, weakness, confusion, dizzy at times, eyes burned and were really very red, vomitted and had nausea. ALL these within 24 hours...and wait for it.......the ER doctor NEVER took me off it. Just gave me meds for the pain to pass the stones. If doctors aren't educated to this how in GODs name is the public to be!?

Posted by

on
Cipro.has destroyed my intestinal tract. And the pain is unbelievable suicide seems like the only option left. Went from ahhealthy 40 year old male with a career to being bed ridden. For the last year. Been tested for every known disease. All are negative except they found a massive growth on one of my kidney. Hopeless at this point my life is over at this point. Good luck to all of you. Take care

Posted by

on
I started taking Cipro (500 mg twice a day) back in late September 2013 for protatitis. My doctor told me to take it for a month, but I only took it for 10-13 days. That's when I began having severe anxiety, "brain fog", along with tingling and numbing sensations throughout my face and around my eyes. I stopped taking the medication because a coworker had taken it for a few days and had a severe reaction involving hallucinations. The symptoms would come and go for the next month or so, but my doctor had already told me it was all anxiety, and that Cipro doesn't have these types of side effects.
Shortly before Thanksgiving 2013, my symptoms for prostatitis came back (I'm still dealing with my Cipro symptoms as well at this point), so I had to go back to the doctor. This time he had me take Cipro for TWO MONTHS! I had taken his word on my side effects not being related to Cipro and my wife was 8 months pregnant, so I just wanted to get rid of the infection as soon as I could to go on with life. That didn't happen. It was around Thanksgiving that I noticed a mild pain around the center of my chest. This continued and became worse. My doctor diagnosed it as Costochondritis. He had my chest x-rayed, which showed nothing.
My brain fog, anxiety, face sensations, and chest pain continued until around Christmas 2013 (i'm still taking Cipro twice daily remember), and then my lymph nodes in my throat began to swell and become sore. As time passed, the lymph node pain spread to my groin and armpits. My chest pain became worse, accompanied by abdominal pains as well. I went to the GI, and they put me on Nexium, which did nothing. They finally did a colonoscopy and upper scope, where they found my esophagus to be irritated and I had a colon polyp. They took biopsies, but were benign. Nothing helped, but they couldn't explain why my esophagus wouldn't heal. For some reason my GI put me on a low-dosage of Tofranil, which is an anti-depressant, to try to stop esophageal spasms that may be causing pain. It didn't. Just made my head more cloudy.
In February, my urologist wanted me to take ANOTHER MONTH OF CIPRO for the infection. All this time I was oblivious to all of these articles and message board posts with people having the same issues as me. I completed my 3 months of Cipro in early March 2014. Now, I have pretty much constant blurred and/or double vision. I've had my eyes checked twice. All of my side effects are still present, along with the occasional ringing of the ears. I'm starting to take vitamins daily (B-100, Magnesium, and a One-a-Day) hoping it will help combat some of the side effects. I've stopped taking the Nexium and Tofranil, and started eating a lot of probiotic-rich yogurts to try to get my stomach back in order. I'm going to repost this in other forums as well. This topic needs to be discussed more.

Posted by

on
Update 11.10.13
After waiting for insurance to approve, and fortunate there's no pre-exist, a renal scan yesterday revealed 3 stones in the kidney, the larger one already into the bladder region, the other two yet to pass. While taking Cipro and for weeks thereafter, my husband craved a high volume of milk and was extremely dehydrated with 'cotton mouth' being one of several side-effects of this black box drug. We still are in the dark whether his kidneys will recover but are working with Lloyd and also a D.O. to promote the healing process. Though his kidney doc is one of the best in his field, I found it incredible that he had no knowledge of Cipro causing kidney issues, which is further evidence of docs being kept in the dark by drug companies such as Bayer. It will be interesting to observe whether this specialist is able to discern the correlation between Cipro and kidney stones, as well as the additional causative factors which have manifested during the Cipro course and thereafter.

Posted by

on
In July of 2013 my 66-yr old husband was prescribed CIpro 1000mg per day for 14 days for suspected prostititis. Being the strong silent type, and in great shape, he kept his increasing symptoms to himself...until he began to drop weight rapidly due to nausea/loss of appetite, accompanied by increasing depression. He began craving milk at every meal which meant his magnesium was becoming deficient. Then increased thirst due to cotton mouth and frequent urination began throughout the days and nights, as well as increasing muscle weakness and increasing lethargy and atrophy of his musculature. Also acquired a rash on his back and his toes and fingertips were now icy cold. Finally, he admitted to thoughts of ending his life as well as depersonalization and mental lethargy. I said "STOP TAKING THE CIPRO...NOW!!! (he had taken 26 of his 28 pscribed pills) His symptoms remained each week post Cipro course, now having intense headaches nightly. His weight continued to decline and blood tests revealed his kidneys were failing which perplexed his doctor who questioned him about ever being exposed to toxins, or drugs. I couldn't contain myself and blurted out HELLO? Do ya think it might be a toxic drug called CIPRO?
Well, let's check the PDR, he offered. Sure enough, it was known to cause kidney failure. Further blood tests revealed creatin levels were continng to increase and his kidneys were in serious threat of failing. Our Doc is sharp, cutting edge, and immediately began IV drips of magnesium, etc and referred my husband to a kidney specialist. My husband delayed for two more weeks due to being in midst of changing health plans. Meanwhile, we conferred with 4 top docs and all agreed he had 'time' to wait another week to see if levels would come into normal range.
In the meantime I put my foot down a week ago and said We are calling LLOYD MEAR....NOW. I had met Lloyd three years ago when our 22 year old son had chronic fatigue and Lloyd helped him recover quickly after 5 years of suffering due to even the best of docs unable to help him. I have incorporated Lloyd into my private psychotherapy practice when dealing with tough cases. Lloyd also assisted me personally after I had a heart attack two years ago while in the middle of a session. I could have called 911 or driven myself to the hospital but my intuition told me to call Lloyd, knowing what an ordeal going the medical route would be. Lloyd immediately detected a virus on my heart and was able to neutralize it quickly and then assisted me for the next two months in removing the fluid around my heart.
In my husband,s case, he detected the blood had been affected as well as his lipocytes. Once corrected, my husband's energy levels began to increase and he was back on his feet two days ago and able to perform strategic tasks for several hours after having missed two months of work. We are going to go through the motions of getting him checked out by a kidney doc next week, but what he's learned in this huge ordeal is to step outside the box and get educated further and take action, even if it seems 'illogical.'
LLOYD MEAR
760-362-4679
He answers his phone 7 days week when in town. He treats all aspects of the body. Incredibly reasonable fees for his services.
Tell him Dr. Ronda referred you.
Best regards to you all

Posted by

on
I took ciprofloxacin just finished it4days ago , now am getting constantly ringing ear bad taste shaky body acke

Posted by

on
So I was given cipero today for a kidney infection I am freaking out at this moment my husband went to get another prescription for something else. This cirpro seriously made me see demons,dead people evil scary things. Felt like I was in hell when I would close my eyes. Took it at12:30 this afternoon now 9:06pm now feel scared so terrified if my wording is messed up its because I am. Don't take it no matter what it's bad who prescribes this???

Posted by

on
I recently was given cipro and like you it almost killed me- my heart was beating funny, it almost destroyed a kidney and had my whole body feeling like it was burning, especially my chest area. Both elbows and arms ached horribly. Please do not take CIPRO unless it's the absolute only thing you can take and if you start experiencing any weird symptoms call your doctor. I never dreamed an antibiotic prescribed by my regular physician could harm me so badly. It's been a week now and I still don't feel 100% better, but at least I don't feel like I'm about to die any minute.

Posted by

on
I have recently taken Cipro for a UTI and had really bizarre side effects not correlating them to Cipro at all because I have a history of anxiety and have had panic attacks in the past.
I had severe "depersonalization" and basically just an odd feeling in my head that I can't describe which started the evening (about 12 hours after I took Cipro 500 mg). I thought maybe I was having a panic attack but it didn't feel like the normal panic attack. I took another dose that night of cipro and the next morning. I started having an extremely sore mouth with sores noted on my mouth making it hard to eat and didn't want to eat. I called my Dr. and was having anxiety by that point - felt horrible. Went to see my MD and was told I was having severe anxiety. Was told to stay on Cipro to finish it out and start Augmentin for an ear infection which I get often. My BP was unusually high for me, and of course they stated that was related to my anxiety. I asked for xanax which I thought might help my anxiety but the Dr. said no and told me to take benadryl for sleep. Which I wasn't sleeping. Luckily I had been taking benadryl was probably was masking any anaphylactic reaction to cipro at this point. I work night shift and was continuing the cipro. the next morning when I got home after working night shift I didn't take a benadryl (forgot) and had taken cipro. Woke up 4 hours later and could barely swallow. Then I definitely was in a panic. Called pharmacist and MD on call because it was a weekend. After I was told to stop the cipro I wondered why I was prescribed a medicine in the first place that can cause anxiety and is ototoxic when I have a history of panic attacks/anxiety and chronic ear infections/hearing loss. The MD that told me to stop cipro stated Augmentin would cover the UTI anyway. I was furious to say the least. Since then it took several days for the depersonalization to go away but I'm left w/blurry vision that is worse in the am and increased hearing loss. My head still doesn't feel quite right and have had to take xanax for the anxiety as needed. My heart rate sporadically increases with minimal activity and I've had crazy Blood pressure changes. It has take a few weeks for my sore mouth/tongue to improve which affected my appetite, etc. This drug is extremely scary. as soon as I realized I had reaction to it I started reading about it on the internet and realized my depersonalization problems, etc were probably related to it. I'm sure I'm going to need glasses when I've always had excellent vision which I've prided myself for because of my poor hearing. I am baffled as to why this drug is still allowed to be prescribed for anything other than a life or death situation. I am a Nurse and pretty in tune to changes in my body. Even though I am glad I didn't take anymore of this drug...what I did take has really affected my life.

ADD YOUR COMMENT ON THIS STORY

Please read our comment guidelines before posting.


Note: Your name will be published with your comment.


Your email will only be used if a response is needed.

Are you the defendant or a subject matter expert on this topic with an opposing viewpoint? We'd love to hear your comments here as well, or if you'd like to contact us for an interview please submit your details here.


Click to learn more about LawyersandSettlements.com

Request Legal Help Now! - Free