cipro psychosis Archives - Hormones Matter

Cipro and Flagyl Neurotoxicity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Athlete

Published on February 28, 2024

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From Athlete to Barely Functioning

In 2016, I walked into the doctor’s office to be looked at for a stomach bug. I was prescribed Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) 500mg and 500mg of metronidazole (Flagyl), twice a day for 14 days. Within the first couple of days taking the antibiotics, I knew something didn’t feel right, but I continued to take them as prescribed.

Another day passed and I had a massive panic/anxiety attack. It felt as if my body was shutting down and I was going to die within a few minutes. After suffering all night long, I visited the doctor again and told him that it felt as though I was dying, that something was incredibly wrong and that I had never felt this way in my entire life.

He researched the side effects/symptoms of Cipro and Flagyl and based on what he read, he told me to stop taking it and see if there was any improvement.

I made it another few days before I couldn’t handle it any longer. My side effects were so bad. Less than a week after being off the pills, I went into work and was hit with another extreme panic attack. I couldn’t breathe again. I had extreme dizziness. It was like my body was shutting down. I told a coworker that I felt as if I was dying. I couldn’t walk and I needed him to call an ambulance immediately. From that point on, my life had changed forever.

In and Out of the Emergency Room

I had to stop working and I spent the next 8 months constantly in and out the emergency room. I went to multiple hospitals, saw multiple specialists, and my GP’s several times. I had several ECGs done, CT scans, ultrasounds, an MRI, and many rounds of blood work. Everything was negative.

I became delusional/depersonalized and suffered derealization. I was completely paranoid of life and in awe of my existence. I cried every single day.

I suffered with constant anxiety, severe panic attacks. I developed neuropathy with numbness in my arms and head and neuralgia with a sense of electricity in my brain or brain zaps. I developed tremors and body shivers. I felt hopeless, experienced intense fear and agoraphobia. I experienced tunnel vision and lost my vision to some degree. I had memory problems and was unable to concentrate. My dexterity declined and I lost the ability to walk or control my body properly. I developed high blood pressure. At times, I contemplated suicide. I was afraid of dying but also afraid of living.

I was prescribed Valium, a benzodiazepine, to calm my “anxiety”, even though I never had anxiety outside of it being chemically induced. This caused even more issues and I eventually had to stop taking it, no tapering involved.

It was like a bomb went off in my body and I have never recovered.

I still suffer from the following symptoms weak and shaken muscles and twitching, neurological symptoms dizzy when walking, extreme muscle pain tightness especially neck and shoulders, constant congestion, chest pain, chronic costochondritis, pins and needles in the hands and feet, and heart flutters especially at rest.

Prior to Cipro and Flagyl, I Was An Athlete

I had just turned 40 before all this happened and was high level functioning athlete. If I rewind 3-4 months before being given the Cipro and Flagyl, I had an accident on a job site, where some metal scratched my leg. I was given an antibiotic in case of infection, the name of which I cannot remember. That antibiotic started my gut symptoms that included reflux and so I was on Nexium for approximately 3 months. Those antibiotics gave me loose bowels and reflux etc. and that is when I went to the doctor and he prescribed me the Cipro and Flagyl. Since then, I have had fecal matter transplant done, which resolved over 90% of gut issues.

My diet was pretty clean and mostly protein and veggies. That is what it is now but probably even cleaner because of how aware I am of toxins, etc.

My energy before all of this was pretty good considering the output. I trained 3-4 days a week for approximately 1-2 hour sessions, plus worked physically 5-6 days a week. Although I would tire, it was nothing like it is now. I feel like I’ve run a marathon but have done nothing. I went from running 4 km just to warmup to not being able to walk within 2-4 weeks of taking Cipro and Flagyl.

I don’t smoke and only drink socially on occasion, a couple glasses of wine at most.

I’ve tried migraine medication, beta blockers, and vertigo drugs. All made me worse.

From holistic standpoint, I tried ozone. It helped marginally. I also tried an IR sauna saw some benefit but it also makes me worse if I go to hard.

Current Supplements

Omega 3s and high dose DHA
400-800mg mag glycinate
ATP fuel 8 capsules
L Carnitine 800mg
Phosphorylcholine
Bitters, Quicksilver before meals – 2 squirts
Thorne B complex 12 – 1 cap twice a day
Researched nutritional glutathione 1/2 teaspoon – I do have glutathione deletion gene.
Hawthorn extract 3 tabs a day

I can’t really say if anything helping, as I still suffer from all these symptoms. I have recently discovered thiamine and begun supplementation. I have the glutathione deletion gene and also MTHFR. I am publishing my story for additional input.

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Image by Julián Amé from Pixabay.

This story was published originally on April 26, 2021.

Psychiatric Side Effects of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics

by Lisa Bloomquist

Published on December 8, 2014

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Lisa Bloomquist flouroquinolone antibiotics

In a survey of 94 people who experienced adverse reactions to Levaquin/levofloxacin, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, 72% reported experiencing anxiety, 62% reported depression, 48% reported insomnia, 37% reported panic attacks, 33% reported brain fog and/or cognitive impairment, 29% reported depersonalization and/or derealization, 24% reported thoughts of suicide and 22% reported psychosis. Case-studies and research papers also reveal that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause severe psychiatric adverse reactions. Some of the studies include, Acute Psychosis Following the Use of Topical Ciprofloxacin, A Possible Case of Levofloxacin Associated Amnesia, Depression, and Paresthesia, Levofloxacin-induced acute psychosis, Ofloxacin-induced hallucinations, and others. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin, can cause severe psychiatric adverse reactions. These psychiatric adverse reactions, like other adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones that are encompassed in fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome, can be long-lasting and are sometimes permanent.

Petitioning the FDA about Fluoroquinolone Safety

A citizen petition has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting that increased warnings about the severe psychiatric effects of Levaquin/levofloxacin be added to the official warning labels. The petition, which was submitted by Dr. Charles Bennett of the Southern Network on Adverse Reactions (SONAR), requests that a black box warning about serious psychiatric adverse events be added to the Levaquin/levofloxacin warning label. Black box warnings are the “strongest warning that the FDA requires, and signifies that medical studies indicate that the drug carries a significant risk of serious or even life-threatening adverse effects.”

Psychiatric Side Effects of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics: From the Survivors

The psychiatric adverse effects of fluoroquinolones are severe, life-altering and sometimes life-threatening. People with no history of psychiatric problems have experienced depression, paranoia, psychosis, anxiety, etc. after taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Traci describes the effects of Cipro on her mental and physical health as follows:

“It has almost been 3 years since I took a 30 day supply of Cipro for a UTI and just like most of the stories, my life has changed drastically. First came the weakness and fatigue, enough to where I would sleep for days and started wrapping my wrists, arms and feet with k tape on a daily basis. My eye sight started going bad very quickly, and just constant tingling, numbness, brittle, depression that I couldn’t control, loss of balance, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia that lasted for days at a time, nightmares.
I’ve lost a couple of years with my children and husband that I will never get back. I left a very good job/company thinking stress was the cause and went to another smaller company only to get let go a few months after starting as I couldn’t make it to work every day.
My first doctor seemed angry when I asked her if the Cipro could be the cause and made me feel like an idiot. I went to holistic doctor, didn’t mention the Cipro this time as I thought I was wrong about the cause. She diagnosed me with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome and wanted to run tests to find toxins in my system, but due to job loss I could no longer afford. She was on the right track and I’m grateful for the things she has taught me in my short time with her, but I am still down more days than I am up and I lost a really good salary that has put pressure on my whole family. Finally when I heard FDA announced the link to peripheral neuropathy and started reading about what Cipro has done to others I at least know I am not crazy.”

Traci’s story of multiple psychiatric symptoms, including depression, anxiety and panic attacks, and the effects of those symptoms on her life, are unfortunately familiar for many people who have taken fluoroquinolones. Another victim of Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Ruth, reported:

“A couple days after stopping the Cipro, I experienced terrifying panic attacks every time I fell asleep. It was like being shoved down into hell: a place of loneliness and terror. I had never felt fear and hopelessness like that. It was like being thrust into a horrible place from which there was no escape.”

The adverse psychiatric effects of fluoroquinolones can seem to come out of nowhere, with panic and anxiety attacks striking while doing normal activities like watching television, driving, or falling asleep. Adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones are often delayed for weeks or even months after administration of the drugs has stopped; leaving victims and physicians alike with difficulty connecting the drugs to the ensuing psychiatric problems.

Serious and Life Altering Psychiatric Side Effects

The psychiatric symptoms described by Traci and Ruth are serious and life-altering. Neither physicians nor patients currently have adequate information about the severity of adverse psychiatric effects caused by fluoroquinolone antibiotics because the psychiatric effects are currently buried in the “Central Nervous System Effects” heading of the warning label. As the citizen petition notes, these effects should have their own heading and a black box warning. Perhaps when a black box warning of serious psychiatric events is added to the warning labels for Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin it will be realized that people who are suddenly suffering from panic and anxiety attacks, insomnia, paranoia, excessive fearfulness, psychosis, bipolar disorder, etc. after taking a fluoroquinolone aren’t suddenly crazy or deciding to be difficult, they’re suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome – an iatrogenic disease and a tragic assault to victims’ bodies and minds.

I hope that the FDA responds to Dr. Bennett and SONAR’s call for increased warnings about the psychiatric effects of fluoroquinolones by both adding the warnings requested, and by restricting the rampant use of fluoroquinolones when other, safer, antibiotics are available. Loss of mental health is not an appropriate price to pay for treatment of a urinary tract infection, traveler’s diarrhea, sinus infection or any other infection that isn’t life-threatening.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.