I've read some of the past warnings about tendon damage from this drug.
I am on Doxy, and just started Levaquin yesterday with 1/2 pill of 500 mg. 6-7 hours later, I woke with pain in my achilles tendon. I limped into the bathroom and went back to bed. When I woke in the morning it was gone. Huge coincidence?
I was wondering if anyone has escaped these tendon problems by taking LOW doses of Levaquin? I may be foolish, but I plan to try 1/4 pill this evening. Also will take lots of mag citrate and Vit C.
Anyone have success doing lower dose of Levaquin? By success, I just mean avoiding the tendon pain or damage.
I seem to be unable to tolerate many of these drugs, and am running out of options.
Posted by Tracy9 (Member # 7521) on :
STOP THE LEVAQUIN!!!!
I had a similar experience about six months ago. The pain in my achilles tendons started I believe within a couple days. I kept taking it, thinking it wasn't so bad, must be coincidence, and my husband (grrrrrr) kept insisting it was just Lyme pain and not related.
I was limping horribly, could barely get up and down stairs. Finally on Day 9 I told my husband I didn't care what he thought (he is usually good but is a HUGE underreactor) I was stopping the Levaquin.
Mind you, EVERYONE on Lyme Chat had been telling me to stop it for days at this point.
It took a good two weeks for the pain to begin t subside, and even longer for it to go away. Now it has been six months and it still RECURS!!! It will just come out of nowhere, and linger for a couple days, or sometimes just kick in for several hours.
It is a very different pain than I have ever had before. Please be smarter than me. It isn't worth it.
STOP THE LEVAQUIN IMMEDIATELY!
Posted by Tiramisu (Member # 15082) on :
Tracy, thanks for the warning, but I don't know what dose you were on. I specifically want to know about lower doses.
I found this excerpt from Kenneth Singleton's book:
"Levaquin is usually very well tolerated. The major adverse reaction that may occur with use of this medication is tendonitis (inflammation of the tendons). This complication is not common, but when it occurs, the medication must be stopped for a few days to allow symptoms to resolve. It can then be restarted in a few days at a lower dose, but if the tendonitis recurs, the medication should be stopped."
I'm hoping someone has followed this and had better luck with lower dose of Levaquin...?
Posted by Gabrielle (Member # 5329) on :
I took only 250 mg per a day. The tendon pain started the 2nd day. As Levaquin also increased my fatigue I wasn't able to function anymore so I pulsed it: taking it 4-5 days and 3 days break. After 3 weeks I took a one week break. I took it together with Minocycline.
In total I only took 30 pills of 250 mgs and stopped by the end of May 08. The tendon pains are better but they still come and go.
Be careful.
Gabrielle
Posted by nomoremuscles (Member # 9560) on :
I took it when it first came out. That was back when I was still a functional Lymie. I was a mess but functional. I was still working out then. There were no warnings about tendon issues.
I had intense pain and weakness in my Achilles tendons, elbows, low back, and behind knees whenever I trained. I had to use ridiculously light weights -- and I had already dropped the weights after many years of Lyme. Still, I dropped them lower. I told the doc. He said he didn't know.
After a month or so the pains subsided on their own. Looking back, I am very lucky I didn't tear everything. But I just wanted to let you know, it is possible to have the pain and NOT get the damage.
But I was MUCH healthier then. I'm sure it would kill me now.
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
Please call your LLMD immediately. They will tell you what to do.
Terry
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
I had tendon pain in my elbow within 7 hours of my first levaquin pill.
That coupled with a racing heart and insomnia were enough for me
To call my LLMD and tell him I could not or would not take this medicine.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by radfaraf (Member # 11909) on :
It took me about 3 weeks to recover from 4 days of Levaquin . Not something I would ever try again. I had great difficulty walking for a while.
Posted by Tiramisu (Member # 15082) on :
THANKS for the replies.
Has anyone else dropped to a LOW DOSE OF LEVAQUIN, and been able to tolerate it then?
Posted by ElaineC (Member # 9857) on :
2 years ago I did 250mg daily for 6 weeks and while had no tendon probs, did have more overall pain.
6 months ago,I took 250mg - 375mg (alternated) of Levaquin for about 12 weeks in total....no tendon problems but instead it triggered off all my really bad muscle and joint fibromyalgia-type stuff again. At first I thought this was herx, and backed off for a week, and it would come and go after that...but now in hindsight I realise it was the Levaquin flaring these things!!!
Now been 7 weeks since I stopped and I am still doing PT twice weekly to get things back in order!!
I don't think I'll do Levaquin again!Not worth it for me!
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
Yes, I took low dose levaquin. I was able to handle. '08. I had been off abx and doing alternative for over 6 yrs.
It increased my muscle and long bone pain. But it wasn't any worse than years ago when I was trying all the abx combo, that failed me.
Levaquin in my experience....is able to go deep in tissue, muscle, bone and kill off some pretty deep seeded bacteria.
My reasoning for trying levaquin was terrible GI issues from bart. I only intended to do 30 days, take long break and then try another 30.
It really helped my GI for about 2 mths. By this time it was summer and I didn't want to stay out of the sun.
I started taking levaquin (30 day) in Sept. Three weeks into and I started having pain in my sternum/heart and it radiated to my neck, shoulders and arms.
Levaquin 250mg stirred up some bad guys again.
Pam
Posted by Tiramisu (Member # 15082) on :
I took 1/8 of a pill last night. (I know, what's the point?) No tendon pain.
I did notice an increase in my bone pain the past 2 days.
I will attempt to settle on a low dose (maybe 1/4 pill) and pulse it, and see what happens. If I get the tendon pain, I will give up the Levaquin. I'll let you know if I get anywhere with this.