Muscle Cramps and Back Pain from Cipro

by Jessica
(Texas)

I was prescribed Cipro about a year ago for a UTI that I don't really believe I had. I have IBS and went in to the ER one night for some really bad left flank pain. After running scans of me & blood tests to make sure it was nothing serious, the doctor decided to treat it like a complicated UTI, even though I didn't have any symptoms of a UTI. He gave me a scrip for Cipro...for 10 days. I took the pills for about 4 days before I went to see MY doctor. I was feeling worse on the antibiotics...sore all over, really tired and my face was constantly flushed.She told me to quit taking them & didn't prescribe me anything else, and I started to feel better a few days later.

Well about six months ago, I started having what felt like some pretty severe muscle spasms in my legs after having a leisurely day. They got so bad, it spurred an anxiety attack. My husband got worried & took me to the ER where they checked my electrolytes & scanned me for MS. All clear. I was sent on my way and told to try to relax. The pains went away for the most part but I noticed my legs getting weaker over the next couple of months, and then my back gave out. I am 29 years old and relatively healthy. I've never in my life had back problems. But this was BAD. I was having pain so severe that I could barely move, and I knew it wasn't a disc problem. It almost felt like there was a band around the middle of my body that was squeezing really tight. And it almost felt like I was having electrical shocks all over my back any time I moved.

I went to my doctor who prescribed me Flexeril which did nothing for me. She sent me to an orthopedic doctor to have MRIs done just to be sure it wasn't a disk, which it wasn't. That pain started to subside & the orthopedic doctor gave me some stretches to do, because when he had me lie back on the table, he said my muscles felt really rigid. I started doing the stretches religiously and though my back started to feel a little better.

Then I started having SEVERE pelvic pain in what felt like the muscles & my hip joints. I could barely walk sometimes. After about a month and a half I quit the stretches and after another month the pelvic pain subsided. Flash forward to now, and the pain has moved up into my shoulders & neck & face & is not REALLY strong in my Achilles tendons. My heels have been hurting so bad, I can barely stand, let alone walk. All of this is interfering with my life. I am no athlete, but I've been pretty healthy. I've never had problems this severe before and now I'm starting to get depressed from my limited mobility and pain. I am so scared that this will only get worse, and I'm pretty sure doctors won't attribute what I'm going thru to anything Cipro related.