Common Antibiotic (Cipro) Linked to Serious, Potentially-Deadly Side Effects

originally posted by: lostgirl

originally posted by: kaylaluv

My 13-year-old got a UTI, so I took her to the doctor. He prescribed what he said was the "gold standard" in antibiotics for UTI's. I don't recall now what it was called, but after 3 days of taking it, she said she felt really bad, like she was getting sick (like flu), and she developed a rash on her body. I immediately stopped the antibiotics and called the doctor. He gave her a weaker antibiotic that worked fine. I sure hope we stopped the first one in time for any permanent damage down the road. She seems fine now, but reading the article, it implies that problems may be delayed years later. Crap.

For natural help with UTI infections, you can get a supplement called "Cranactin" (I think that's spelled right)...it is basically just dried cranberry juice in capsules.



If UTIs are a recurring problem take one Cranactin each day (or every other day) as a preventative - or if the 'feeling' of a UTI is coming on, take several capsules a couple times a day for a few days until that feeling goes away...



...I used to get frequent UTIs and with the Cranactin, I never had to use antibiotics for them..

I used to get frequent UTIs, too, and always went to my dr. They always came back. When I got an infection away from home I decided to try the herb Uva Ursi. It worked!

15 years later and I still have not gotten a single UTI.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic


I'm very sorry about your furry friend. I lost my calico kitty to diabetes last summer and I'm still heartbroken..

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
Dangerous Antibiotic

One of the most commonly-prescribed drugs in America is causing severe and painful reactions to hundreds of thousands of people taking it, according to research done by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and medical doctors around the country.

The line of antibiotics is called fluoroquinolones. They are more commonly referred to by their product names or sponsors, which are:

Noroxin® (norfloxacin)—Merck and Co.
Cirpo® Cipro XR® (ciprofloxacin)—Bayer HealthCare
Levaquin® (levofloxacin)—Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Avelox® (moxifloxican)—Bayer HealthCare
Factive® (gemifloxican)—Cornerstone Therapeutics
Ofloxacin—generic

Since an antibiotic just killed my dog, this story is of interest to me. My position is to exhaust ALL alternative treatments before taking a drug that feeds the Pharmaceutical Industry of the United States. They have no interest in keeping you well, just keeping you alive and coming back for more of their toxic drugs.

That is really sad that it killed your dog, just terrible. I had a dog on Cipro as well, a beautiful golden coarse haired Chow Chow. I was going to breed him with our silky haired black and red Chow Chow. but he got sick and the assclowns gave me Cipro for him. He developed lesions, muscle atrophy, started going blind, lost a lot of his hearing, etc. It got to the point that he didn't recognize us and would snap because he had also lost his sense of smell. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done to put down a friend, but I still have his ashes in an urn , pictures and memories ;-) So I hear ya.

The pharmaceutical industry is a bad joke and the joke is on all of us. All they do is refine poisons, figure out how much we can take without dying (normally) so that we develop other problems and as you say, have to come back for more. It's disgusting.

Cheers - Dave

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

So sad, I have my fear share of medication interactions do to been very sensitive to additives in medications even those over the counter, been in the emergency room too many times with side effects.

Antibiotics are the worst for me, specially those that have sulfa or anything that have sulfa, they will make me swell from head to toe.

Big pharma approach to one size fix all is killing more people than ever this days

Sorry about your dog OP. I know the pain of the loss of a pet who is a loyal best friend.

marg6043 -- As an fyi, people with high histamine levels (Homocysteneuria) should never take Sulfa-based antibiotics. If you must take an antibiotic and have sulfa/sulfite allergies/sensitivities (and it sure sounds like you do) it's better to take a Macrolide-based antibiotic, not Sulfa-based. One of several is called Leviquan (sp?) although this antibiotic can also have it's drawbacks/side-effects for some, but at least it's not Sulfa-based.

The truth is that what works for one person will kill another and the Pharma industry knows this and doesn't care. I have had to insist upon Macrolide-based antibiotics when the only thing that would save me was antibiotics. The Doctor should have been the one to educate and recommended M-b to me, but I had to do the doctoring for them. Very annoying.

Whenever I've had to take antibiotics the day after finishing them I start taking probiotics every day for a couple of months, at least. Anyone who has sulfa/sulfite allergies should NOT take Histamine-releasing probiotics, such as; L. casei, L. lactis, L. rueteri, L. fermenti and L. paracasei or Strep thermophilus.

Almost all other probiotics (and there are many) work great to restore gut bacteria, that is if taken properly, long-term, and if they are 'live' and effective, good quality probiotics... but avoid the Histamine-releasing ones.

L. (Lactobacillus) must be refrigerated or they are ineffective and useless, but B. (Bifidobacterium) does not need any refrigeration. Also, you don't want to confuse the two 'Lactis' probiotics --- B.lactis is great to add, but not L. lactis as it releases Histamine into your system and causes painful welts and itchy hives and are not good for those with sulfa/sulfite sensitivity allergies. Hope that helps. JANA

I always try to heal my body naturally as much as possible and refrain from medications at all costs, I don't even take otc anything if I can help it.
After all else failed kicking my current bug, last Tuesday my Dr. prescribed me Cipro as well as a pain killer and I started it that day, following all directions precisely. By Wednesday night I was having the strangest stomach pains that were not anything like what I went to the Dr for in the first place and my ankles and shoulders were getting very sore. I stopped the pain killer thinking that may be the culprit. Then the intense tingling set in, my entire body was tingling to the point it felt like I was vibrating, even my eyeballs and teeth felt like the point just before that pins and needles feeling.
It was becoming unbearable and by Friday night I determined it was probably not the painkiller and stopped the Cipro as well. Saturday Morning I went back to the Dr and she was quick to determine it was the Cipro so she gave me a different antibiotic. It is 5 days since I took it and the tingling is now just coming in waves less frequently each day, luckily the pains are gone but that was the craziest reaction to meds I've ever had.

I've never had any bad side effects from Cipro, but I've had bad side effects from Levaquin. It was giving to me by a doctor from the ER. Levaquin made my heart beat so fast I seriously thought I was going to die. I remember telling my mom about it and she told me to stop taking it. She made me an appointment with my regular doctor who made a note of it in my chart and gave me something that cleared up my sinus infection that didn't harm me.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

My position is to exhaust ALL alternative treatments before taking a drug that feeds the Pharmaceutical Industry of the United States. They have no interest in keeping you well, just keeping you alive and coming back for more of their toxic drugs.

There's no sensible basis for such an extreme point of view.

For example, I don't believe it would make sound business sense for a company to poison its clients.

I have taken various antibiotics (including Ciprofloxacin) many times and have suffered no ill effects of any sort; as a nurse, I have given it to my clients numerous times, all of whom remained inconveniently alive and well.

originally posted by: PeterMcFly
I remember during the anthrax scare that Cipro was permitted for suspected contamination as an exceptionnal measure, since anthrax is so deadly. Cipro was still considered a dangerous antibiotic at that time. It's funny how time change! Now these days, it is prescribed at large even for prevention of mild infection.

This is a good example of how far marketing dept. of big pharma goes when unchecked.

Cipro and all fluoroquinolones are dangerous antibiotics that shall be prescribed ONLY when there is a high probability of SERIOUS infection and risk to life of patients.

One of the most ignored adverse effect is peripheral neuropathy. It act on nerve very much the same as nuclear radiations, the dose is cumulative and often irreversible. Once a specific threshold of exposition is reached, peripheral neuropathy begin to show up.

Adverse effects

And not to mention it attract Clostridium difficile colitis like nothing else!

my mom was prescribed cipro when she would get walking pneumonia each year and yes she got colitis before she passed away. I don't know how many other side effects she had because she kept her main and finally fatal illness so secret from the rest of us until after her death.

a reply to: Thisisfun2015

my mom was prescribed cipro when she would get walking pneumonia each year and yes she got colitis before she passed away.

I'm very sorry about your mom! It is sad that doctors are not aware of some very effective antibiotics treatments like ketogenic diet (they consider it like a disease)!

How often we have heard of terminal patients having a regain of health at the very end when they no longer feed them. Anyone ever tought that it was probably caused by ketogenic effect ?

Cipro may be very usefull for life-threatening illness, but for sure it attract Clostridium difficile.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
My 13-year-old got a UTI, so I took her to the doctor. He prescribed what he said was the "gold standard" in antibiotics for UTI's. I don't recall now what it was called, but after 3 days of taking it, she said she felt really bad, like she was getting sick (like flu), and she developed a rash on her body. I immediately stopped the antibiotics and called the doctor. He gave her a weaker antibiotic that worked fine. I sure hope we stopped the first one in time for any permanent damage down the road. She seems fine now, but reading the article, it implies that problems may be delayed years later. Crap.

Yea, doctors these days pull out a bazooka for a mouse in terms of their drug approach. It's insane.

I recently fell ill quite suddenly and headed to the urgent care because I didn't want to get the newborn in the house sick. I suspected it was food poisoning, but wanted to be safe. 30minutes later the doctor sent me on my way with prescriptions for THREE of the most hardcore antibiotic and anti-virals on the market!

Just saw this thread posted and lost it. Normally I can't shut up but Cipro took my life from me. I mean that in every way. In fact ATS has given me hrs and yrs of escape. Never posted about this but am tempted to each and every day but hi light and delete my would-be post each time knowing today's ATS would never buy what I posted, maybe the old ATS... Was leading the most amazing life imaginable then Cipro and from 28yo to 31now I've spent waiting in a bed to die letting just my mother see me. Not even my bff my father my sister can I face with the degree of disfiguring it has caused and symptoms so out of this world nobody would believe me. So I'll just say please go for alternatives. I still fantasize I'll go back to work, go back around kids, have a life...but then I have to remember that's unlikely now.

a reply to: AlexandrosTheGreat
Don't hesitate to publicize your story. It will serve as a warning for those taking antibiotics for futile reasons.

There is alway a very slight risk of severe reaction to practically all medications, not just antibiotics. It is alway a choice that must be weighted against the risk of letting the infection progress. My problem is most of the time, doctors does not inform patients of the possible risks, tinking most patients would then refuse the treatment, thus doing more harm than good.

Spouse and me always carefully scrutinize datasheet of any medications we have to take. I have in more than one occasion "asked" (better to say ordered) that doctor use an alternate medication of my choise on spouse during frequent hospitalization in the past. It is amazing how doctors are ignorant of the properties of the meds they prescribe. A good example was that she was to be given Vancomycin by IV to treat severe infection by Clostridium difficile. The problem is that Vancomycin is a very very nasty product with multiples side effects, but when taken per os (oral), it does not cross the intestinal barrier and does not goes in blood. It stay inside guts were it fight Clostridium difficile with no side effect. I was very shocked that the doctor was not aware of this!!!

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

same here... I've been on both cipro and high doses of leviquin and they have caused damage big time to my achilles tendons to the point that I can barely walk on them it takes a few steps before I can walk correctly.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Hm...I see 29 strains (good) but how many billion? The stomach kills a lot of probiotics before they get a chance to setup show in the GI tract.

I've been having good luck with Pro-15. They claim their delivery system helps get the little buggers to where they need to be.

There's been studies recently linking mood disorder to gut bacteria. Change your gut bacteria, change your life!!!!

a reply to: saadad

I think it is appropriate to post this answer here since the thread is about antibiotics.

On the subjet of eating meat of beast treated with antibiotics, I think they stop the treatment a couple days before slaugtering, since all medication have a definite half-life in blood (see pharmacokinetics), I doubt we eat significant quantities of antibiotics. Then again what we eat pass through the stomac, where not all "medication" resist the passage, then there is the efficiency of intestinal absorption. Small level of antibiotics are no problem IMHO. Did you know most antibiotics have been discovered in nature, coming from fungus? Tetracycline come from Streptomyces aureofaciens.

I think the principal problem is that it produce strain of antibiotics resistant bacteria in the beast intestinal tract. Then later, these bacteria can contaminate the meat and inoculate us with charming new strains that will resist treatment.

The solution we use is completly avoid any meat mechanically treated, this will inject surface contamination deep inside the piece of meat. Since we eat our meat slightly cooked to keep nutrient, we would not kill bacteria present deep inside meat. Anything we eat that have been mechanically treated like ground beef is thoroughly cooked.

And on the subjet of stress hormone present in meat of beast improperly treated, I'm not sure these hormone will survive digestion. Anyway we have evolved as hunter and adapted to this diet IMHO, and I'm quite sure the beast hunted had produced tons of stress hormones during the hunt!

For sure it would be a great idea to create a specific thread on this subject, maybe sometime when I have more info on the subject.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

This astounds me. I have Cystic Fibrosis and have been taking Cipro for my entire life and have never had any of these side affects. The only side affects I have had was sensitivity to sunlight, being tired and some stomach issues if I drank any milk products too close to taking it. Every time I get a lung infection for Pseudomonas I get Cipro. I take 750MG twice a day for 21 days.

I still go about my normal life and have never had these massive side affects, ever. If anything, Cipro has saved me from being hospitalized multiple times and has probably saved my life. I don't use Cipro as much in the past 2 years because the new CF antibiotics, Cayston and Tobi, have taken its place.

I'm sorry to hear about the side affects you people are having but I can tell you this, I have never heard a CF patient go through any of this from Cipro and we take cipro A LOT.

a reply to: Celestial1

Then the intense tingling set in, my entire body was tingling to the point it felt like I was vibrating, even my eyeballs and teeth felt like the point just before that pins and needles feeling.

Take some vitamin B12 to help recover the neural damages.

Everyone taking antibiotics should make sure they are not vitamin B12 deficient.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Silver water

Ionic or colloidal can be used for a short time instead of antibiotics

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Hm...I see 29 strains (good) but how many billion?

Since Prescript Assist is a soil-based probiotic (instead of lactic acid-based), it is not destroyed in the inhospitable environment of the stomach, so they can contain a much smaller volume. There are many sources to back that statement up.

Choosing a Probiotic

Also note that soil-based probiotics will generally have a much lower bacteria count, as they are much more resilient and survive the journey to your gut much more easily.

Soil-Basid Organisms

Unlike conventional Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium probiotics, the strains in Prescript-Assist are a balanced formulation of a new generation of probiotics, capable of forming a protective shield until reaching the probiotic-friendly environment of the intestines. These organisms are resistant to acid, bile, and heat. In fact, routine testing of Prescript-Assist confirms it has a 95% viability two years after date of manufacture.

The inherent viability of the soil based organisms in Prescript-Assist means there are no requirements for nano-encapsulation or hard-shelled enteric-coated capsules, which both are essentially attempts to force viability of probiotic species rather than utilizing hardy strains naturally preadapted to our bodies.

Typical probiotic formulas therefore contain the relatively low-viability lactic acid bacteria that must be protected by technologies (e.g., microencapsulation) due to their inherent fragility. These fragile bacteria have a difficult time surviving because they are readily destroyed within the acidic environment of the stomach. Although patented enteric coatings can help survival rates, the provision of high-viabiltiy organisms that reach the intestines intact due to the inherent strength of their natural spore structure makes more sense as a means to protect against degradation in the stomach and intestinal tract.

In sum, Prescript-Assist™ provides bacteria that reach the intestines intact due to the fact that the spore structure protects against degradation or destruction by stomach acids.

My personal experience is that they were recommended to me and after about a week or so after taking them, I was able to eat gluten and not have any reaction at all. So, I read about Probiotics and Gluten Sensitivity. I rarely consume gluten, but now, I know that if I do, I'm not going to get sick.

a reply to: CFibrosis

I'm glad you can take Cipro without any problems. Everyone's body is different, however. Most people can eat gluten, for example, and not have any issue at all. It makes me very sick. I've eaten it all my life and one day, I had a powerful reaction.

My dog had taken the antibiotic (not Cipro) that killed her several times before. But this time, she had a reaction and it destroyed her kidneys. I'm sure many of the drugs manufactured are just fine for many people, but for others, they can cause serious issues. That's the point of this post.