More Bad Drugs! Cipro On The List

This is starting to get kind of ridiculous isn't it, I mean we take drugs to get better not to give us a whole new problem. This is not the first time I have a bad experience with a drug, last year it was Metoprolol that gave me difficulty.

This time the drug is Ciprofloxacin a very common antibiotic give to treat Urinary Tract Infections. Without getting too personal here suffice it to say I have had to take a fair bit if cipro in the last few months, some of it for preventative rather than for acute treatment. Now in the United States the FDA has warned against the use of this drug, Canada has not followed suit.

A light bulb went off in my head last night when I heard on the news that the drug Cipro has been linked with Tendon damage. In my case it's a foot issue and thumb problem. I broke my foot in April of 2007 during a particularly bad time in my life and didn't deal with it at that time. In time it did heal and arthritis set into the joint. I had a cortisone shot just before going to Greece last year and managed fairly well with it.

About January of this year the foot became incredibly painful for no apparent reason. I hadn't been doing an excessive amount of walking and my Rheumatologist was kind of puzzled. She set up an appointment with a Orthopaedic Surgeon for a consult. This doctor although well known was a disappointment for me since he said he wouldn't operate on my foot until I was "sitting in a wheelchair".

The search was on for another Ortho guy who I saw this past Monday. He was a little friendlier than the last doctor but made it clear that any surgery would only make the problem worse. He also couldn't understand the incredible amount of pain I was suffering. There are days when I can't step down on my foot. This has definitely put my plan to hike Mt. Indefatigable on hold for the moment. In fact, I'm kind of worried about going to Greece this fall.

Is Cipro responsible for my foot pain? When I consider that my use of Cipro started in January, after seeing the news report and doing some more reading it is highly suspect in my mind. Back to the doctor...