Levaquin Patient Suffers "Excruciating Pain"

Ogdensburg, NYBrian S. only took the Levaquin antibiotic for 4 days before he asked his doctor to prescribe him something else. Unfortunately, that 4 days was long enough that Brian suffered serious Levaquin side effects. In fact, his injury was so serious, that it took a year and a half for Brian to recover, even though he took the Levaquin medicine for less than a week.

Brian was first prescribed Levaquin for a respiratory infection on November 27, 2006. He said that within 2 to 3 days, he had a tightness in both of his Achilles tendons. That soreness led Brian to request that his doctor prescribe him something else, but it was too late.

"That weekend [after switching medications], we had a Christmas party for the company and I basically had to crawl up to the second floor because I could barely stand," Brian says. "I thought I had sprained my ankle, so I soaked it in the bathtub. That relieved it a bit, but I came home on Saturday and it was very sore.

"I was at work in my office, walking from my desk to the computer room and I heard a big pop and I collapsed. A couple of sales reps were having a cigarette outside and the door was open and they heard my Achilles pop. I came home that night and luckily, I had crutches from when my daughter broke her ankle, skiing. So, I used those that night.

"I was in excruciating pain the next day, so I went to the hospital. They told me I ruptured my Achilles tendon. They set me up with an orthopedic surgeon, who said my Achilles was definitely ruptured. I was in a cast for 6 months and I went back to work on May 30, 2007. But for the next year I wore a walking brace. I was told, 'You're 62 years old, you don't heal as quickly as when you were 25 to 30 years old. You walk in a lot of parking lots and if you hit a stone just right, you could turn your ankle and snap the tendon. So I wore a walking brace for about a year.

"It was 18 months through the whole thing. To this day, when I have to go up stairs to see a customer, which can happen twice a day, I come home and the Achilles is a little bit swollen and achy. If I see 10 to 12 customers in a day and walk 150 to 200 feet to their place of business, my Achilles is sore and achy. Last summer, I was doing yard work and when there was a lot of bending, I was sore and achy.

"Also, wearing the brace hindered me because I was lopsided because of the differences in shoes. There was pain in my hip because my gait was off and I still get a little bit of pain in that hip to this day. I can only think it was because of that injury.

"I've had another problem, although I'm not sure if it was because of this injury. In September or October of last year, all of a sudden both of my shoulders hurt. I had a hard time raising my arms above my shoulders or bringing my arm behind my back. It was almost like a torn rotator cuff. I don't know how long that effect [from Levaquin] can be in your body, but my shoulder hurt for about 3 months. Now, it's gone away, but if I throw the ball for my dog, I have to watch how hard I throw or I have pain again.

"I would not recommend anybody take the chance of using Levaquin. It is good for a lot of purposes but the side effects just blow me away.

"I was prescribed Levaquin on November 27 and told to take it for 10 days. I took it for 4 days. Within 2 to 3 days, I had soreness. It was a painful soreness, it was very painful to walk and the pain went to both my Achilles tendons. I knew the problem was probably the Levaquin, because it was the only thing different in my life, but I didn't realize how much of an adverse effect it had on me.

"I would recommend people ask their pharmacist about adverse reactions to any drugs. I've started since Levaquin incident. I know that it has been used successfully for many infections, it is a powerful antibiotic, but I wouldn't want to see anyone go through what I went through."