A "bad trip" on Avelox

[CTyankee]

I hope this hasn't happened to you. This stuff was prescribed to me for treatment of a simple UTI and was a minor disaster. I never have felt so spaced out. Not exactly dizzy but definitely spacey. I had to take extra care to go up and down the stairs. Went to bed at 8 pm, which is early for me.

The next day I read the wrapper of the medicine and shoulda known...it warned about seeing things that aren't there and hearing voices.

The upshot was that I called my doc and got put on amoxicillin. No problem. I have NEVER been allergic to ANY antibiotic.

If you have this med prescribed for you, read the warning BEFORE you take it and have a conversation with your doc...

[hedgehog]

1. good advice with any prescription - sometimes drugs will interact with other drugs and foods.

[CTyankee]

3. I can't imagine what it could have interacted with.

I've neverhad this happen with an antibiotic.

[hedgehog]

6. I always used to think of antibitics as going after all the bugs,

nasty or otherwise, in my system. It never occurred to me that the liver and kidneys are involved in breaking down and disposing of antibiotics! I imagine that's where some of the weird things happen.

[CTyankee]

9. Oh, I understand that. It's just that I NEVER had such a reaction in all my life.

I thought it was weird...

[Warpy]

17. That's not the only antibiotic that can do that

Cipro is another one that pharmacists and doctors should warn their patients about. I took the stuff without incident, but I knew the warning going in and was looking for anything odd.

In any case, always read the little stickies on your prescription bottles. They're there for a very good reason, to keep you running into trouble if you react badly to the drug.

Sorry you had trouble with this stuff. It happens. Next time you'll know and make sure every health person you deal with knows you can't take the stuff.

On edit: You can reduce lower GI problems from antibiotics by eating yogurt with live cultures. It really does help quite a bit. Tastes good, too.

[Kceres]

2. Antibiotics are powerful drugs.

Ya don't stop to think about them although you should. Cipro messes with my head the same way.

[CTyankee]

4. I'm fine with Cipro.

Never had this feeling before. Maybe it's because I'm getting old...if so, I'm going to be a LOT more careful...I dread the idea of getting lightheaded and falling...

[KT2000]

5. had similar problems

with minocin. Took one and had to just sit or sleep until it wore off. Deinitely could not drive or do anything that required awareness. Like you, I saw the side effect after the fact.
Now, pharmacies include that kind of info with the perscription, which I do read.

[bemildred]

7. Anything that harms microbial life is likely to be not so good for you.

They have been around a hell of a lot longer than we have.

[CTyankee]

8. So true, but why haven't I had one of these experiences before?

I don't get it.

I really think this Avelox has something bad in it...

[bemildred]

10. I can't really help, other than to point out that these systems are:

1.) Very complex
2.) Poorly understood
3.) Prone to breakdown
4.) Everybody dies

I don't take antibiotics prophylactically, and I lie about it, and this is why.

[CTyankee]

11. Well, that's the best answer yet!

LOVE it!

Especially #4.

I didn't die. So I guess I'm ahead of the game...

[bemildred]

12. Yep, you're a winner.

I had a brother dying of liver failure (cirrhosis, sclerosing chondritis, and bile duct cancer) and they prescribed opiate/acetaminophen combos for pain, chemo for the cancer, and antibiotics to fend off infection. All that stuff goes through the liver, right? Which is failing, right? A week before he died his oncologist put in a pic line for massive chemo in an attempt to save him. Now what is one supposed to make of that?

[CTyankee]

13. Ack!

Well, I guess they felt that since he was going to die anyway, he might as well have good pain meds. THAT I can understand, even if it hastens death. I'd prefer it, myself, actually. Who wants to suffer?

[bemildred]

14. Well, that's sort of what we did, when it came down to it.

What he said to me is he wanted to live as long as he could, and then he wanted a lot of good drugs at the end. We did our best.

In your case, it's different, you might need those antibiotics, or they could do you harm, and there is no way to be sure. It's like going into the hospital, they could fix you up good as new, or you could pick up some infection you would never get anywhere else. I'm not really trying to provide advice, but you need to be aware, wary.

[CTyankee]

15. Yes, of course, there are many considerations.

A simple UTI in most people would be one thing. However, I have only one kidney and that is another thing altogether. That one kidney needs to be protected.

Tell me about going into the hospital. I had a complication from an elective surgical procedure. I researched it and talked to my docs about it. Everything was looked at and I sought out the latest information about the complication rate of the procedure. It was totally medically warranted that I have it. Yet a completely different complication took place: I happen to grow scar tissue and there is no way you know this before it happens. I spent 6 weeks in the hospital because the complication led to another complication. I was recuperating the entire summer of 2007. It was, in the words of one doc, just rotten bad luck.

But, as you can see, I didn't die...and I'm OK now...

[bemildred]

16. Well, I'm glad you are still with us, and I won't bring up my other brother

and his visits to HospitalLand. In fairness, I wound up in the ER once a couple decades back, and they did a heck of a job, but I was outpatient.

[gkhouston]

18. Actually, it has happened to me.

I used to suffer from migraines, and I do mean suffer. The first preventive medication the neurologist tried caused taste and smell hallucinations. It's a rare enough side effect that I ended up getting an MRI, but the problem was the drug, not a brain lesion. Didn't even help my headaches. :eyes: