I was prescribed antibiotic Cipro for an infection. Day three of antibiotic I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. As well as wired skin lessions. I work in construction so severe pain filled days aren’t a good thing. After 6 months and 3 Dr visits and prescribed nsaids with no answer or relief for my problem they referred me to Rheumatologist. He prescribed prednisone and had relief within hours and I was ecstatic. Short lived though as relief only lasted a few days then back to pain. They tested me for RA, Fibromyalgia, PsA and syfalis (my wife found this one comical!) All negative! It was determined after a skin lesion test positive for psoriasis that I’m in the 50% that don’t have the gene marker but have PsA. Was put on Methotrexate for a while with minimum relief. For some reason the nsaids started helping. Stopped taking methotrexate and had pain but manageable. I started slowly getting worse again and have been on Otezla for two months. Its not helping so far at all in fact I feel worse. Been reading about reactions people have had to Cipro and its bad. People are having reactions like mine and worse Its hurting people. A term I’m reading is “Floxing” that’s what people are calling the toxic reaction to Cipro. I’ve read some that the ingredients of Otezla are similar in nature to Cipro! Can anyone help me?
It’s not uncommon for an infection to set off an autoimmune response. Doesn’t this seem more likely than the antibiotic?
Perhaps you are correct. I am trying to make connections. I just know that I’ve been xrayed multiple times and my joints show no damage. Why do I have pain but show no damage?
I know when you are searching for answers it is frustrating when x-rays don't show anything but, believe me, this is good news. Damaged joints are irreparable ... with the exception of any relevant surgery. PsA is an inflammatory condition so inflammation is the root cause of pain and stiffness in the joints and soft tissues around the joints such as tendons and bursae. I hear Otezla needs to be given a good 16 weeks ... hang in there Dennis, we've all played the waiting game on medications. Someone here said we have to be 'patient patients'. So true!
I was diagnosed 8 years ago. My joint damage is fairly low, although I have a lot of inflammation. That said, there is damage. Mine is not to the bone per se, but to the joints, so I have a lot of joint space narrowing, as well as joints that have other damage. I’ve done physical therapy for a lot of my joints to strengthen around them.
My point? Inflammation doesn’t show up on X-ray, and it’s better to be diagnosed before there is visible damage. A person can have a lot of pain without joint damage. When your treatment plan starts to work you should start to see a real difference in how you feel.
Dennis said:
Perhaps you are correct. I am trying to make connections. I just know that I’ve been xrayed multiple times and my joints show no damage. Why do I have pain but show no damage?
PsA hurts, generally speaking, with or without joint damage. I reckon my disease affects me in a very similar way to Stoney's, there are a lot of parallels. My knees hurt a lot before the meds kicked in and are damaged by what is thought to be secondary osteoarthritis. But despite the joint space narrowing and other things going on with the bone they've slowly but very surely recovered, over a time period of a few years. I have almost no knee pain now and my mobility is good.
Unfortunately the wheels do turn slowly in terms of seeing what medication can do. I've found this site very helpful in a lot of ways, and one of the main ways it has helped is by convincing me that patience (there's no way round that) is often rewarded. And the knowledge that pain doesn't necessarily equate with damage is something I find very reassuring. Pain creates anxiety so knowing that it isn't necessarily a big red flag helps reduce anxiety at least.
Doing a very physical job with this disease must be tough. On the other hand, an overly sedentary lifestyle is not the way to go either so your active working life may be helping reduce the likelihood of damage as well as being good for the heart and general health. I guess the challenge is not to strain tendons etc. but presumably yours will be pretty strong to start with.
I like your wife's sense of humour!
Its amazing this just came up. I just got a major ass chewing from my Rheumy over this very issue - yesterday. I was told in no uncertain terms that I should never not even once have ABX prescribed by anyone other than him ESPECIALLY any of the fluoroquinolones (like Cipro) as they are very likely to make problems worse. The same with some sulfa based (especially if taking MTX.
FWIW I was diagnosed with Prostititis. Almost automatically they prescribe Cipro. In folks with Arthropathy this can turn a bad situation worse especially PsA in which enthesitis is a major issue. That is not to say never using the fluoroquinolones but rather only after differential cultures have shown the infection can not be treated any other way..... (Also included in the thought is that the infection will not run its course.) A small amount of inflammation can really mess things up.
ALL ABX are neurtotoxic and should be used with caution. (I knew that) If you have ever had Prostitiis, you would THINK that's a time to hit it hard. Its not.
For what its worth this bout is being treated with low dose long term Steroids a new NSAID and patience (which I'm short on) I am on two types of ABX and several more to come as the cultures come in.
He also ripped the cardiologists (that's another story)
Pretty much your Rheumy should also for the most part be primary care for a lot of things. ALWAYS ask.
Dang, Lamb and Dennis. This might explain why I had such a bad reaction to Cipro in August of last year.
My shoulder guy prescribed sulfa drug (he's an ABX for life when having ANY dental work done if you've had replacement surgery doc) when I had my teeth cleaned in September. I need to call Dr. Abbas and see what he says about sulfa drug with me injecting Humira before my next cleaning in December.
I'm taking a sulfa based no BUT I'm also taking Deplin, which is a super folate replacement. Regular folic acid isn't enough.