Levaquin: Is there a cure?
by Ralph
(West Point, VA, USA)
Hi Joshua,
I am a 45 year old male who was prescribed Levaquin for a prostate infection. After 3 doses, I had a severe reaction, started with neverousness, sleeplessness, and a racing heart.
I did not sleep for over 24 hours.
This happened on July 17th, 2009. Almost a month later, I have pain in just about all my tendons.
Legs, feet, toes, fingers, hands, wrists, elbows, legs, neck, shoulders, and arms. Sometimes it is milder than others. Sometimes it is so intense I can hardly make it out of bed.
I have seen my PCP who is looking for an answer and documenting my reaction to the medication. I have had blood work which shows nothing. I have seen a neurologist and orthopaedics doctor,no one has an answer.
I called the FDA and was told this could lasts weeks, months, years, or possibily all my life. I filled out a Med Watch form for them.
At 45, I feel 95. I was a very active weightlifter and working on my CFT.
Now I feel like I have tight rubber bands in my body ready to rupture. The FDA said it was tendons.
I am trying alternative medicines; any supplement that supports joints and tendons.
What can I do? I am at a loss and each day has become more of a nightmare.
Help!
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Joshua Answers:
Damn Ralph, I'm really sorry to hear that.
I don't know what Levaquin dosage you took, but it is safe to say that you have been POISONED.
Some people respond differently than others. It looks like you fall into the category of people that it doesn't go well for.
It sucks. Period. It sucks even more that from everything that I have seen, there is no cure.
But everybody says there is no cure for diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, depression, etc, and there is.
Levaquin tendonitis and poisoning is new enough that there hasn't yet been a discovered cure.
So we need to do the best we can.
We need to get the body as clean as possible and support it's ability to heal itself.
Will this work? I don't know. Is it better than giving up hope and living that life with this pain? Absolutely.
If you haven't, read this page. Levaquin page and the Healing Levaquin Tendonitis page. Also, the 'Conversation' page.
You have to deal with chronic inflammation. Start finishing your showers on cold.
You have to deal with tendons and a physical system that has been hit with a toxic substance.
Even if the DNA has been damaged, theoretically, and it will take time, you can help your body to be healthy and it will eventually replace the damaged DNA with again healthy DNA. We're looking at years here.
Plenty of people will say that there is no cure, no hope, nothing to be done about it. Lots of people will argue about the DNA thing.
There are people that have had pain and damage and are healed up from it. So it is possible. The question is, is it possible for you?
From everything I've seen, there is no quick fix. Research seems to say that the Levaquin poison/toxicity is already out of you, but that the damage has been done.
And not just a one time damage to tendons, but damage to the very core, such that it won't heal like regular tendon damage.
Read those pages I mentioned, and let's continue this conversation.
I'm happy to be as much a resource as I can be for you.
Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com
