I'm going back to school next week, and I really need
to halt my mental deterioration before my academic performance
starts being affected. I'm willing to resort at this point to
quinolone therapy, and I need some feedback on this asap, as
me and my
LLMD are going to reexamine our treatment plan tomorrow.
Have any of you taken this drug @ a dose >= 500mg/day for >= 1 month and
gone 18 months without developing symptoms
indicative of floxing?
[ 16. January 2008, 02:36 PM: Message edited by: adamm ]
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
I took Levaquin for three months, have been off it for two, and have had no adverse symptoms.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
I took Levaquin for 2-3 months (don't remember exactly) and improved greatly. I was doing at least 500mg a day.
Can you purchase tuition insurance through your school? I took out tuition insurance my first few semesters in treatment just in case I needed to drop one or more classes. I didn't have to, but it was only a couple hundred dollars, which seemed worth it as an investment of potentially losing thousands.
You should also talk to the disability coordinator or ombudsman at your school if you have not. Find out what type of accommodations are available and what you need to do in the case that you suddenly have a really bad flare.
Posted by jamescase20 (Member # 14124) on :
I read that magnesium blocks the probls...studies also claim no problems except for persons on them and over 65 years of age.
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
I'm not talking about the tendon problems--I'm talking
about the permanent brain damage that can occur.
Does any one know the estimated percentage of patients that get
floxed? I make my decision tonight.
Posted by aklnwlf (Member # 5960) on :
Hey Adamm,
I believe I posted on another one of your topics.
I did Levaquin, Septra and Tindamax for 5 months straight and after a couple of weeks off meds I relapsed.
Each treatment is different though because it depends on what coinfections you have and other things come into play too.
It really helped clear up my mind but joint/tendon pain was almost unbearable. Also it wasn't a permanent fix for me.
I wouldn't consider doing it again for me because of the pain factor.
Now I'm on Biaxin, Septra and Flagyl.
Hope this helps.
Posted by CherylSue (Member # 13077) on :
Cipro and Levaquin made things worse for me. I personally can't tolerate them and avoid them like the plague since I know my reaction. Yes, they did fry my brain. Doxycycline seems to help my brain though, and I just read doxy helps brain lesions in MS. So why not Lyme?
Every person's body is different. Some like the levaquin. Use at your own risk.
CherylSue
Posted by djf2005 (Member # 11449) on :
yeah everyone is different adamm.
and permanent brain damage, i highly doubt it.
it can cause you to herx, but also can help a lot.
depends on what you are dealing with.
you may or may not be able to go to school, just something for now.
Nobody can take repeated treatments of medium dose
quinolones without getting injured."
How much is there to this?
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
All those symptoms sound like Lyme symptoms. I had all those, but I also had them prior to taking Levaquin, and still have insomnia well after being finished. My memory loss, photophobia, pain, etc. improved on it.
You have to wonder, could those "side effects" really be herxes?
You just have to determine whether the benefit is worth the risk. For me, it was. I am pretty much well after my time on Levaquin and am being weaned off abx.
Posted by Virginia of Yore (Member # 3269) on :
I had to take some Levaquin for a resistant respiratory infection (while also on other abx for lyme), and I had tendon problems within a week or so of starting it. It took over a year to finally go away, though gradually felt better over time once I stopped the drug. I avoid that entire class of drug now, if at all possible.
Posted by lymeflox (Member # 10543) on :
One always can doubt that fluoroquinolones damage the brain (and other organs as well), but the real facts show a different picture.
Unfortunately I am in contact with several persons that consider that they suffered irreversible brain injuries after taking long treatments of levaquin and/or cipro. They think so after six, seven or eight years without healing.
Of course, I consider that they are extreme cases and that permanent brain injuries, although they can be seen relatively frequently with fluoroquinolones, are proportionally low.
Most cases of brain lesions happen to people that took NSAIDS along with the fluoroquinolone.
According to academical medical research, fluoroquinolones have a big afinity for several types of neuron receptors, specially at brain level, affecting them more or less severely.
I also know, or better said, knew, two persons that suffered definitive brain damage since they comitted suicide after being floxed with a fluoroquinolone, because they could stand no more the suffering and deterioration, specially brain related. Both left written this as the cause of their suicide, one of them in a letter that sent me a couple of hours before he took his life.
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