Levaquin Patient: "I Feel Like I'm Dying"

Silsbee, TXAlice N. says she was given the Levaquin antibiotic two separate times in a few months. Although she is not certain, she believes she has suffered from Levaquin side effects, which include tendonitis. Alice says that since she took the Levaquin medicine for the second time, she has had difficulty walking because of the pain in her legs.

"They started me on it [Levaquin] last March because I had a sinus infection," Alice says. "I was doing really well and all of a sudden I started feeling bad. I had stomach pains, but I didn't know why. I didn't go to the doctor because my sister was in the hospital and I was spending all my time with her.

While she was in the hospital, my sister got a really bad infection and I was put on a 21-day supply of Levaquin, to keep me from getting the infection. This was in June, 2008. Then it started to feel really bad. I had knots behind my knees and I got a lot worse, to where I could hardly walk. My leg started getting to where I couldn't go up and down hospital stairs. My knees started hurting, my leg muscles were hurting and my back was sore.

It got sore pretty quickly after that second time I was given Levaquin. Between the 2 times, my knees had been feeling good, but then my left knee got to where I could not walk. My doctor said I had torn meniscus, so I had surgery to repair that. The surgery involved grafting and shaving my cartilage and lateral replacement of my patella. The surgery [ligament reconstruction] was done December 16, 2008. I think I have to have it done again. I have knots behind my knees again, which is very painful.

I don't know for sure if this is because of Levaquin but that's the only thing I can think of. It made me feel bad the first time I took it and my problems with walking happened the second time I took it.

I wasn't paying attention to myself because my sister was in the hospital, so I can't say for certain what day my leg started hurting. I just took my medicine like I was supposed to. Then, I started noticing my legs and back hurting and the tendons in my neck hurting.

I told my physician that I was having a lot of pain and hurting and she ran a bunch of blood work and called me back and told me that I was fine; there was nothing wrong with me. I said, 'Okay I'm fine, but I feel like I'm dying.' She was supposed to get me an orthopedic doctor, but I got one on my own. He found the trouble with my legs after an MRI.

I still have problems with my legs. It has affected my life. I have difficulty walking; I can't go up and down stairs, and I can barely lift my leg up enough to go up on a curb.

People should be aware of what they've been prescribed and ask what the contraindications are before they take it. The doctor prescribed it for me for no reason other than that I might have caught the infection my sister had.

Now, I am tired all the time. I try to do things. My daughter has a shop for her church, but it tires me out to even work there for 3 hours. I'm only 63 years old. I don't want to be like this."