Patient "Thankful" She Was Told to Stop Taking Levaquin

New Orleans, LAWhen patients think about a drug's side effects, they probably often consider things like nausea, vomiting and dizziness—they probably do not think that a drug for a sinus infection could cause tendon ruptures. However, Levaquin side effects include both tendonitis (also called tendinitis) and tendon rupture, 2 very painful conditions. Lisa H. (not her real name) says she was lucky she stopped taking the Levaquin antibiotic soon after starting it, or her situation could have become much worse.

"I had a sinus infection," Lisa says. "I went to my doctor, who put me on Levaquin to knock the infection out of me. I got on the Levaquin and noticed my hip joints were aching and aching. I happened to mention it to my mother, who had also taken Levaquin. She said she had the exact same symptoms with it and told me her doctor advised her to stop taking it. She told me, 'Get off it, now!'

It has probably been 1.5 to 2 years since I took Levaquin and I still have hip pains out of the blue. The hip pain is intermittent—I don't know what brings it on. Sometimes it comes on just when I am lying down in bed, other times it starts when I am sitting at my desk at work.

The other thing is, I recently fell at work and I messed up the tendons in my right foot. The doctors say I need surgery. I don't know if the Levaquin made me more prone to the foot injury. I've never had problems with my hip joints or my feet before I took it.

At first when I had the hip problems I didn't think anything about it. In fact, I didn't put it together until my mom told me and then I read up on it and realized what was going on. I thought that the hip pain was because maybe I had the flu instead of a sinus infection.

My mother had severe problems with her tendons and legs after she used Levaquin—she dealt with excruciating pain. I'm thankful she told me to get off it.

I just think that there ought to be more testing before they put these drugs on the market. I think they should get it off the market—get it off the shelves completely. It can cause too much pain. How can you stop your body from reacting to these drugs?"