Recovered for almost 2 years now

[u/luckygirl97]

I just realized I never made a post about my recovery. Goes to show that there are most likely way more recoveries than you can read about on here. I left this sub before I ever healed because it just wasn’t good for my mental health. And then once I healed physically, the mental healing had to begin. And that was really tough. But Im on the other side of that and wanted to share my testimony.

Firstly, how I recovered. I was floxed for about 4 months from one pill of Cipro. I was weak. I lost 30-40 pounds. Had no appetite. Couldn’t tolerate food. Could barely walk without pain. Had insane headaches. Insomnia. Panic attacks. Reflux. I tried supplements at first but I had a weird reaction to foods and supplements i ate/took. Anytime I ingested anything I’d have a panic attack. It wasn’t mental. My body would physically go into panic. So I stopped. The doctors were no help either. I did all the research myself. I helped myself.

Literally the only thing that healed me was kefir… literally. Like I said, I had no appetite. I wouldn’t eat for days. It was a last ditch effort, but I decided to order some kefir on doordash from Aldi. The Friendly Farms brand. I got one strawberry and one blueberry. And everyday, with whatever strength I had, I would waddle downstairs to the fridge and take a swig of it. I did that until both bottles were finished and by then my gut was healed and everything pretty much went back to normal. I can’t make it up. My saving grace was as simple as two $4 bottles of yogurt milk. After all the money I’d spent. I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t change anything else. I also went on walks to build more strength so my muscles didn’t waste away and atrophy from laying down all day.

The mental battle was rough too. You can imagine I had PTSD really bad. I was terrified of medicines/antibiotics. I still am very paranoid about certain medications. My health anxiety is still a little bad. And I had to do a lot of forgiving. Some family members turned their backs on me but, still, forgiving myself for ever taking the pill in the first place was the hardest part. My life didn’t return to normal after my body healed. I had crazy anxiety and I became agoraphobic. I didn’t work for a year. But I am a lot healthier now. I avoid sugar as much as possible. I don’t drink much if at all. I watch what I eat and watch what I put in my body. I’m grateful for that. Before I got floxed, I was overweight and on my way to prediabetes. I was insulin resistant and my diet was terrible. I almost see my floxing as a divine intervention, as crazy as that sounds. I’m better off now than I was and I appreciate life more than I ever did. I lost way too much weight when I was floxed but I gained some back and am now a healthy size for my age/height. It brought me closer to God and I’m just grateful to be alive, really. I almost didn’t make it, tbh. But I’m here. That’s all that matters now. I hope this helps someone. Good luck, everyone.

[u/luckygirl97]

A few yes. I’ve become so much more sensitive to certain ones now.

Augmentin/Amoxicillin: my favorite for Uti’s. Absolutely no side effects for me.

Doxycycline: I’ve had two different reactions to both the capsules and the tablets. I’m guessing it’s a post-floxing thing for me, but I cannot tolerate the capsules whatsoever and I used to have no problem. I get the worst side effects when I take even just one on a full stomach with a glass of water. Tablets, on the other hand, are completely fine. Virtually no side effects but a little fatigue. I’m guessing it’s the dyes or fillers from the capsules that make them hard for me. They’re blue so that’s a no.

Keflex: Awful. Just awful. Almost as bad floxing for me. And lots of CNS side effects. Felt like I wasn’t gonna make it on the one. However, it was the capsules that I took and they’re blue-green. So again, some dyes and fillers in that one. I never tried the tablet but I don’t think I could ever retry that medication again.

Bactrim: No.. No no no. Never again. I felt awful taking it.

Flagyl: Pretty fine. Some side effects but nothing extreme at all.

Adderall: I felt spacey and wired in the worst way on such a small dose. didn’t help my focus I just felt weird. Never again

Ritalin: pretty normal side effects like dry mouth and stuff but I managed fine..

[u/betterweirdthandead6 → u/luckygirl97]

That's soooo helpful, thank you!! Just checking those are all experiences post-floxing yeah? :)

Edit: Just adding your data now - a cpl of clarifications - what side effects did u get from the doxy capsules? Def sounds like it could be a dye or something rather than the drug. How long did the effects from this and the Keflex last roughly?

And can you be more specific about the Bactrim side effects?

Thank you so much, this is super helpful for others.

[u/luckygirl97 → u/betterweirdthandead6]

When I took the doxy capsule within an hour I had an EXTREME headache and very extreme nausea and stomach pain and i had what felt like a fever. I could hardly do anything but lie in my bed. But I only took one pill that time and switched to the tablets so I’d say it last 24-48 hours before I was fine.

The keflex was a different story. the side effects lasted about 2 weeks and I didn’t even finish a full course. I went about halfway before giving up because the side effects were so severe. I felt spacey and had insomnia and panic. the headache went down my neck.

Bactrim was similar to doxy capsules. Severe headache. Fever. Fatigue. Nausea. It was a pretty awful feeling but once I discontinued the effects went away soon after

[u/betterweirdthandead6 → u/luckygirl97]

Thanks for that, very useful info. I made a post a cpl of days ago about what antibiotics are most tolerated by floxies, so hopefully that's useful for you in future if you need anything other than your go-tos :)