I’m exhausted. Paige says that citrus is supposed to wake you up so, seeing as I’m off caffeine now, I’m really hoping this Simply Orange juice will do the job. If it’s any indication of just how tired I am, in the previous sentence I originally wrote “I’m really opening this Simply Orange juice will do the job”. That doesn’t make any sense at all. Silly brain!
You know what I never did? I never told you all never to take Cipro. Like, ever. Don’t ever take it. I had a really bad UTI in mid-February. I had to take several rounds of different antibiotics to get rid of it, the first of which was Cipro. See, back then, I was innocent. I was naive enough to believe that my doctor would never prescribe me a drug that would hurt me more. Silly Teri!
A few days following my three-days course of Cipro, I started developing burning pain in my Achilles tendon. I did a little Internet research and WHAMMO! Looks like this drug can cause tendonitis and/or tendon rupture, renal and/or liver failure, sensitivity to light, fevers, back pain, hallucinations, seizures…the list goes on and on. I was very fortunate that my experience with the drug culminated only in fevers, achilles tendonitis, back pain, and vaginal inflammation. And it didn’t even get rid of the UTI. In fact, if Cipro doesn’t get rid of a bacteria, it strengthens it so that most other antibiotics won’t kill it either. Super!
Cipro actually has the strongest warning that the FDA can give a prescription medicine–called black box–due specifically to its tendency to cause tendonitis and tendon rupture. People had to file multiple lawsuits against the FDA before they instituted this warning level.
My mom has had two encounters with Cipro [and they were both before we knew how horrible the drug was]. The first time happened when I was in high school. Mom was admitted to the hospital for a very bad kidney stone/kidney infection and the hospital staff overdosed her with Cipro. I’m not sure exactly how many symptoms she suffered from, but there were a LOT–including hallucinations.
Her second experience was a 7- or 10-day dose a little over a year ago. Ever since she has had tendon problems in her foot. She is still recovering from this, a few months ago she received steroid injections and had to have a cast for immobility. And it is all thanks to Cipro.
Like I said, I only took it for three days, and still I suffered from tendonitis, had to go to the emergency room, had a full-leg splint and crutches for three days, and a handful of follow-up appointments with an orthopedic specialist who prescribed heel inserts [the inserts raise the leg and shorten your calf muscles, which eases tension on the achilles tendon] and limited my physical activity. At my last appointment on April 30th, he informed me that he thinks I am finally out of the woods for tendon rupture and shouldn’t require physical therapy. I’m still wearing the prescribed heel inserts but can gradually start weening myself off them for a couple hours a day. I am still not allowed to run or jump, just to be safe, as those activities could still cause a rupture.
I took Cipro for ONLY THREE DAYS. Seriously–if a doctor ever tries to give you a prescription for the stuff, tell him to shove it up his ass.
Also, you know what? I think the orange juice helped.
That is terrifying!!! Not just that the drug causes so many problems, but that the FDA approved it AND your doctor prescribed it! That's just so sick and wrong. Mental note: Always find out the side effects before taking any drug. Yeesh! You poor thing.
By the way, apples are a great "waker-upper," too. 😉
Would putting cipro up the doctor's ass cause him to have tendonitis?