Side effects from antibiotics
in Health ·
Ciprofloxacin 500 mg absolutely wrecked my ankle. Within two hours of taking just the first pill, I felt this sharp, stabbing pain in my Achilles tendon that wouldn't quit even after the second dose. I spent a sleepless night dealing with pressure in the joint and a dull ache that lingered well into the morning. I took my next dose, headed into work, and spent the entire day wondering why on earth my foot was hurting this much. By evening, I took another dose, but after maybe an hour or two of sleep, the pain jolted me awake—and it kept happening like that until dawn. The next morning, I took a pill with my coffee; the ankle was slightly swollen and aching, which led me to suspect a side effect. I checked the patient information leaflet, and lo and behold—it explicitly states this can happen at a rate of 1:10,000 and advises stopping the medication immediately. So, I reached out to my doctor for advice, and they actually recommended I keep taking the antibiotic, provided I just kept my leg elevated and rested. I took the pill that evening, exhausted from the previous night's lack of sleep, and drifted off quickly. But how fast I fell asleep was nothing compared to how fast the pain woke me back up. It felt as if someone were crushing my ankle with a compressor; everything felt like it was snapping. The swelling around the joint looked terrifying. Since it was the weekend, I couldn't reach my doctor, and I didn't particularly want to deal with the ER, so I just stopped taking the medicine and endured the pain through Saturday and Sunday. I tried every massage technique in the book—I even used a massager on the swelling—and somehow the pain subsided enough that by Monday, I was mobile all day. It twinged occasionally, but nothing extreme; the swelling, however, remains constant. Unfortunately, I didn't finish the course; I have three pills left that I simply didn't have the courage to take. I can't help but wonder if finishing them might have calmed the inflammation. If anyone else here has encountered this specific side effect, you’ll know exactly what I’m going through.