I've been on levaquin for six weeks and have been experiencing severe joint (hip, knee, ankle and hand) pain.

I'm wondering if this is peculiar to the levaquin.

I've been treating lyme and babesia for more years than I care to count...IV and orals...and I haven't had a herx like this one yet.

Perhaps levaquin is good at getting to the bugs in the joints, or perhaps this is peculiar to higher dose levaquin for longer periods of time. I know that one side effect of levaquin is tendon involvement.

Foggy is right you should call your LLMD ASAP.......some floks have to stop Levaquin because of this. Please be cautious and make the call.

He ached a lot on it, and had a major and very painful flare in his joints, particularly elbows, hips and knees. No achilles tendond pain. I was extremely worried about the effect of Levaquin, having heard from people who endured long-lasting problems (joint and tendon) even after they got off it.

The hubby took large doses of glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin while on levaquin to try to make up for what it does to the joint and tendon tissue. He also did as little as possible to put any extra strain anywhere on his joints and tendons. The ongoing pain certainly helped him keep his movements restricted.

I don't know if that approach was what helped, but he did not experience any long-lasting damage (so far -- he finished his levaquin dose in January, and the potential for tendon damage is supposed to last for 6 months after ceasing the meds). He was on it for 2 months total for bart, followed by Ketek.

A month after finishing levaquin he started on a gentle exercise routine, and has been building on that ever since. If he doesn't take a NSAID or Celebrex he gets very achey, but with them (in very low doses) he is now pretty much pain free for the first time in many years. Or at least he was, till he started tinidizole...

Overall, his experience with Levaquin was very good, and the bart seems to be gone. Don't have any bloodwork to prove it, but many sx (that we had thought were Bb, but actually seem to have been bart) are greatly reduced.
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Levaquin is indeed one of the scarier meds, and I was constantly on edge while he was taking it, worrying whether the pain was Levaquin damage or bugdeath, or both.

Good luck. If you do decide to stay on the Levaquin and get stronger pain meds that actually work, DONT let that lull you into doing too much or stressing your joints or tendons. Pain relief can be dangerous that way.

(edited for a grammatical correction. I always think my brain works until I reread my messages. Arg.)

I felt like a 90 yr old woman sometimes.

It got so bad that my husband had to help me stand up from the couch.

It hurt to stand up (knees) and walk (legs, thighs, knees, ankles, feet). It also hurt to raise my arms up past a certain level - so changing shirts was a painful chore.

After walking around a bit, the pain in the legs and knees would go away. But anytime I sat down, laid down or stayed in one position for more than a minute or two, the pain would be there as soon as I got up, moved or started to walk...

Don't know what was worse - getting up from a sitting position, walking up the stairs or getting up from laying down. The pain was excruciating.

Doctor took me off the levaquin and the pain is almost all gone (now I'm just stuck with the pain/stiffness I had before the levaquin).

Guess it was the drug...

The question is why does the damage occur? My LLMD thinks that what causes the Levaquin damage is exactly what makes it effective - it gets into the soft tissue.

I don't think there is an easy answer here. You need to weigh the costs and benefits.

Yes, our doctor does shrug that sort of thing off easily. I have had two drug interactions that left me with severe Parkinsons like symptoms....I stopped the new drugs and the symptoms all went away....He was mildly surprised...

I accept that he is as he is and greatly appreciate his help with lyme and babesia...

The Levaquin is just no fun...period. I knew about the tendon problems before I started taking it too. I also have just started a bone and joint supplement that may help a bit.

I just saw an endocrinologist who is checking out everything....thyroid, reproductive hormones, insulin, etc...and trying to break the cycle of inflamation that seems to be at the heart of many of my symptoms...

One thing I learned already is that GLA supplements can actually perpetuate the inflamatory cycle rather than help with it. So I've stopped that one....I'll get all the results next week and we'll see how much he can help me....

I'm taking Levaquin for lyme...and arteminisin for a relapse of babesia WA1. No bartonella for years.

Do you mind sharing what the drug interactions that caused the Parkinsons' like symptoms were? A number of us are struggling with myoclonus, and my myoclonus is sometimes similar to Parkinsons'.

Mine first started on Effexor, and disappeared when I stopped taking it. But it came back.

Gabatril was the worst offender for the parkinsons like symptoms....and it involved my whole body, not just the leg movements. A year earlier the combination of Zoloft and phentermine caused a similar reaction, but involved more myoclonus like movements...really screwed up my ability to get enough sleep.

I keep hearing problems that all seem to be coinciding with an SSRI and some other medication. My doctor was completely unaware of the interaction with the SSRI...this one he didn't shrug and smile toward. He was genuinely concerned and it was clearly news to him.