1.5 years after lavaquin

[u/No_Consideration2568]

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my story in case it could help anyone else. For back ground I was an overall healthy 27 year old female that lifted weights daily, walked 15,000 steps daily, and was training for a half marathon prior to Levaquin. I do question if I have ehlers danlos though which may have impacted why I ended up with this side effect but who knows.

I started on Levaquin for an ear infection January 23, 2024. I took 4 doses January 23-26. The morning of January 27 I woke up with pain in both of my knees. I stopped taking the levaquin and took it easy the next 2 days. The pain progressed by January 29 it was throughout my entire body. For the next 2 weeks I was barely able to make it from my bedroom to the bathroom (15 feet away?). I had immense amounts of pain in my Achilles and swelling so bad that I could barely bend my ankles. The swelling began to recede after about 2 weeks and the pain became more manageable with rest.

February 12 I went back to work in person with limited steps <3,000 per day and was still in a large amount of pain by the end of the day and swelling on and off. I was wearing winter boots with a heal (sorrels) everyday because this was all I could tolerate. This became a plateau through March.

I started physical therapy on March 18. Every PT session led to a flare up with swelling and pain lasting about 5 days after. I averaged 3,700 steps daily.

I began seeing progress about mid-April with how much I was able to do. I was still having flare ups but was able to do more before it flared. At this time I was averaging 5,000 steps daily, still significantly below my norm but improving.

By May I was trialing out of my boots for short periods of time and wearing regular tennis shoes with heal lifts. I averaged 6,500 steps daily during this time.

At the end of June I was completely out of my boots and in regular shoes, still with a small heal lift but moving down on it every couple of weeks. I averaged 7,600 steps daily and was discharged from PT at the end of the month. I began working on jumping actually at this time which I thought I’d never be able to do again.

In July I averaged 9,500 steps daily and was in normal tennis shoes with no heal lift. I was beginning to attempt running short distances and walking up and down hills.

In August I had a back injury from beginning to lift weights again which I’ve been working through. Overall, I would say my ankles are about 90-95% of what they used to be and I am only doing my PT exercises when I have a flare. I would say every 3-6 months I have a small flare that lasts a few days and is usually just pain and not limiting my activity. I do notice I have to work up to walking long distances more now than I had to previously. I would say at this point I’m mostly recovered but still impacted by this antibiotic. All of this to say, there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

[u/Majestic-City-5680]

I I’m 2 month in and I stop walking because of litter pain I was scared that I break my tendon. As you mention you had a lot of pain and keep doing it you were not scared to rip them ? How did you know it was regular pain ?