"I survived Cipro"

Los Angeles, CATina advises victims of Cipro side effects to "be proactive and get your health back." Tina was prescribed Cipro for a staph-related infection: after taking it for five days she could barely walk. Tina suffers from fibromyalgia but this pain was different--it was in her joints. "It attacked my knees, elbows, feet and hands," says Tina. "I knew something was terribly wrong."

Ironically, this was the first drug she had taken without researching it first. "I was embarrassed by my stupidity—people have to be more responsible for their own bodies these days," Tina says. "They can't go into a doctor's office and assume the doctor knows everything about pharmaceuticals because the drug reps push it on them; doctors don't have time to research every drug to know the side effects or how many people have died…"

Before she found out about Cipro's side effects, Tina called the prescribing doctor and asked if the drug could be to blame. "He said it couldn't possibly be the cause," says Tina. "Then I looked up Cipro on Worst pills Best pills by Public Citizen and there it was, one of the worst.

Next, I made an appointment with my GP who concurred that I was definitely suffering the side effects of Cipro. I stopped taking it that day. My GP then enrolled me in a pain clinic provided by my HMO for physical therapy and counseling, which helped considerably.

This is how bad it was: One night I was sitting on the toilet and couldn't get up. I was too embarrassed to call my partner. I was close enough to the sink so I grabbed some towels and soaked them in hot water then put them on my knees and thighs until the pain subsided enough so I could push myself up. I couldn't' take a bath for months. Finally, when I could get into the tub, the only way I could get out was to turn over on all fours and crawl out. I was limping around for about five months and I was also on pain meds.

I recovered—but it took almost a year. Now the pain had significantly diminished; the strength has now come back into my legs and I can get up from a sitting position.

It is so important to get help to make you better. I am very proactive so I did everything to attack this: I was determined not to be disabled for the rest of my life. I ate foods rich in vitamins and minerals that would aid healing; I did physical therapy with supervised exercise so I didn't further injure myself, I had acupuncture, ultrasound, hot and cold paks, adjustments and massage therapy three times a week--whatever it took.

When you hurt this bad, you tend to want to go to bed but that makes it worse: joints need to move; you have to push through pain and depression.

I can't tell you how depressed I was. I was even looking into getting one of those tubs you see on TV for the elderly. I had to get an extension on the toilet while I was going through physical therapy—a potty extension—so I didn't have so far to sit. I'm only 62 and I was afraid this was never going to end, that I was going to be permanently disabled.

Public Citizen says you shouldn't take a drug that has been on the market for less than seven years. I went to a lecture at my HMO and the head of pharmacy agreed. 'We want to wait and see how many people a pharmaceutical has damaged and killed before it is available at our pharmacy,' he said.

Cipro should only be used for life-threatening diseases and not given out willy-nilly for an infection that can be treated by a more benign drug. People really need to research their symptoms: it is so easy to do now with all the information on the Internet such as Web MD and the Mayo Clinic website. You can save a lot of time for the doctor and yourself if you are prepared.

As for the doctor who prescribed Cipro, I left him a phone message saying that my problems were indeed from Cipro and he should stop prescribing it."