CyrilCrodius
New member
Background : I have 2 pseudomonas strains. They both show in vitro resistance to everything I can be given in intraveinous therapy. They are sensitive to Tazocin, but I'm allergic to it. They used to be very sensitive in vitro and in vivo to Ceftazidime, but now they both seem to have developped a certain resistance, especially in vitro. However, even from before I developped an allergy to Tazocin, my pseudomonas always responded better to Ceftazidime in vivo and it still does, although to a much lesser extent than it used to. So anyway... There is mostly nothing I could be given to effectively fight an infection besides Fluoroquinolones. Long story short : I would be pretty much screwed if something serious happened because I cannot take Fluoroquinolones either. Feb. 17I went to the CF clinic for a routine check up. It had been 2 week since I was back from a month-long trip to Montréal where I lived with a friend of mine. There was a cat there, to which I am mildly allergic so I had a runny nose for the whole time I was there. I was feeling very well besides the fact that even 2 weeks later, I still had a very runny nose and I was constantly clearing my throat. My lungs congested but it did not feel *sick* *infected* as if I was having an exacerbation and my sputum wasn't as thick as usual. In hindsight, it was weird. As I said, I was feeling very good. I had a bit more energy than usual. It almost looked like my lungs were clearing something out that wasn't infection (I theorize : accumulated allergens). I was given 750mg for 14 days.I was also given concomitant prednisone at 50mg/day for 6 days and 25mg/day the 6 following days. The purpose of the prednisone was both to fight lung (and sinus, I assume) inflammation and to prevent any potential adverse effect or allergic reaction to Levaquin since I've been known to also have problems with Ciprofloxacin.From day ~2 to 6 I had intermittent mild pain in my lower back. It felt like there was pressure in my lower spine and something in my back was going to pop, just like when you feel that you have to pop your joints. The skin around my waist was painpul when I touched it.Feb. 22On the 6th day of that treatment, my mood tanked for no reason, I was confused, my thoughts were foggy, I had a very hard time expressing my thoughts and my thought patterns very noticeably altered. I took ~35mg of risperidone which helped a LOT. Seeing how much risperidone had helped, I blamed the prednisone for these effects and I decided to stop it cold turkey. Since I did not seem to have any issue with Levaquin (I had not attributed my lower back pain and skin sensitivity to it yet), I did take my next dose of Levaquin that night.Feb. 23I slept 4 hours that night. When I woke up in the morning, things were a lot better many of the issues caused by the prednisone were gone, but I was still not completely recovered.Feb. 24I went to bed in the morning but my sleep was interrupted after 15 minutes because I was needed. It acted as a kind of power nap so I missed my window to fall asleep. I had missed my dose of Levaquin the night before so I took it in the morning at around 10 am.The lower back/waist pain was gone at this point. Feb. 25That night, I fell asleep on my couch (at about 12:30 am) and when I woke up, I had an episode of confusion/paranoia/psychosis (feelings of fear, feeling in danger, feeling that I was being watched). My symptoms fitted the description of a corticosteroid-induced psychosis, but it had been 2 days since I had stopped taking prednisone. I thought it was weird. I went to bed hoping that I could sleep the psychosis off. I ended up having a disturbing nightmare which was pretty much a continuation of the psychotic episode while asleep and I ended up sleeping only 3 hours. When I woke up, I took 25mg of risperidone and knowing that Levaquin could also cause similar side effects (confusion, unusual thought patterns, etc) I did not take the next dose and stopped it cold turkey. I went to bed that night with a very mild pain in the neck which I blamed on playing too much video games that day.Feb. 26When I woke up after many good hours of sleep, I still seemed to have troubles concentrating and accessing my memory as if I was not fully awake, although I was. The pain in my neck was much much worse. My neck was very stiff. I had cricks in the neck before but this was nothing like it as it affected all the muscles in my neck. As the day progressed, I developed joint pain in my hands, wrists, elbows, left shoulder and legs. My legs felt stiff too and my tights muscles would hurt when I touched them. By the night, the pain had gotten worse and my muscles were very very stiff. I could barely move my neck.Feb. 27The pain and the stiffness reached a plateau on that day then it started resorbing the following day. But then, I started having sharp stabbing pains in the spine in the middle of my back that caused spasms that made my back straighten. The muscle contraction was strong enough to make me vocal every time I had a stab/spasm. By the night, I couldn't move without being stabbed by pain. Standing up from a sitting position was a challenge.The pain became worse in the next two days. The pain made it very difficult to have a good night of sleep and it was increasingly difficult to get out of bed.Feb. 29It took me about 5 minutes to get out of bed on the third day. I had to stop and wait for my back to relax every time I had a burst of pain/spasm. At that point, I thought I just wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next morning and I was seriously wondering whether this was going to be permanent.I hadn't showered for 3 days at that point because well... I could barely move. I could still barely move on the third day but I had gotten used to the pain and the spasms so I managed to shower anyway.The hot water seemed to help a LOT. Also, I took a nap on the couch that afternoon. Because lying down was out of question because of how painful it was to get up, so I tried lying on a soft memory foam pillow (I mean very soft, not the hard and odd shaped kind) in a half-sitting position. Probably thanks to that awesome pillow, my back was much better when I woke up. By "much better" I mean that the frequency of pain bursts/spasms was reduced, in that I still couldn't move without having stabbing pain, but I could move more with less bursts of pain and spasms.The pain and the spasms went away gradually in the following days. I think I took at least 7 days to mostly go away. I never completely went away though. About 10 days ago, I had a burst of pain and a spasm while in the shower. It's now been 5 weeks and I can still feel that my spine in that area is sensitive and easily painful when I move.I've been feeling generally worse after that course of treatment than before. Sure, less infection, but I feel generally weaker and with less energy.
I am mad. I am mad, because it's the third time I'm being given this antibiotic although I didn't want to take it.
The first time, I went on the Internet and read that there were more chances of having side effects with Levaquin than any other fluoroquinolone and that those side effects were pretty serious. Knowing that I had side effects with Cipro and considering what the side effects of Levaquin were, I decided not to take it.The second time, my doctor gave me prednisone with it. I stopped after 3 days because I was starting to show shadows of signs of maybe having more trouble breathing.The third time, thinking I had just been too paranoid the time before, I decided to give it another try and then the above is what happened.I'M PISSED.I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO MYSELF.... AND MY PNEUMOLOGIST SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME TOO. UGH.Rage rage rage.
I am mad. I am mad, because it's the third time I'm being given this antibiotic although I didn't want to take it.
The first time, I went on the Internet and read that there were more chances of having side effects with Levaquin than any other fluoroquinolone and that those side effects were pretty serious. Knowing that I had side effects with Cipro and considering what the side effects of Levaquin were, I decided not to take it.The second time, my doctor gave me prednisone with it. I stopped after 3 days because I was starting to show shadows of signs of maybe having more trouble breathing.The third time, thinking I had just been too paranoid the time before, I decided to give it another try and then the above is what happened.I'M PISSED.I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO MYSELF.... AND MY PNEUMOLOGIST SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME TOO. UGH.Rage rage rage.