my llmd started me on levaquin and after reading a bunch of posts, i'm scared about getting tendonitis. what should i watch for when taking levaquin? all over soreness or just in certain areas? can damage be permanent or does the pain subside when the medicine is stopped?
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Look for soreness or a tight feeling or outright pain in tendons. Tendons attach bone to joints, so the tendons would be located above your heel, for example (where leg bone attaches to ankle joint). That is the most common tendon that hurts with levaquin--the Achilles tendon.
You have tendons in lots of places, always slightly above and/or slightly below joints. So there are tendons near the elbow, near the shoulder, throughout your hands, above and below the knee, etc.
For some people who catch it right away, the pain stops when the med is discontinued. Others have stated they continued with pain for months or more.
Suggest you take a lot of magnesium while taking levaquin. Be sure to take it 3 or more hours before or after the levaquin.
Posted by JessJoy (Member # 33443) on :
I had no probs with Levoquin, but my mom made the mistake of taking a dose before the last dose was out of her system and she got really messed up! Hallucinating, nausea, paranoia....SCARY!
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
Sadly, we can have bad reactions to medications but the good thing is that it is a small percentage that this happens to.
Any time I would start a new med, I would do a search on it out here to get "worst case scenario".
I was lucky that although I would have various herxing, I never encountered some of the horror stories.
No two people are the same, but yes, it is always scary when you start a new medication. Try not to worry since many of us have also gotten much better on some of these medications that others have bad stories about.
Levaquin is a strong med in fighting Bartonella, but if you do start having any issues that concern you, don't hesitate to call your doctor. That's what they are there for.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Cathy
Posted by mmnn1385 (Member # 31582) on :
thank you everyone, very helpful. :-)
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
www.drugdigest.com is one site where you can check out the side effects list.
Posted by blownelk (Member # 27078) on :
My fiance took Levaquin for 9 days and then had to quit. He started getting pain in his tendons. He tried to tough it out the first few days but then decided it wasn't worth the risk.
His toes, fingers, ankles, and wrists and some of his larger tendons all started curling and tightening up. Fortunately we stopped in time and the pain has mostly subsided (after at least a month or so).
I've also read of lots of people that have been helped by it. I wish you well in whichever route you go!