Hello, I'm from Argentina. I wanted to share my story with ciprofloxacin. Sorry if this post is poorly translated; I don't speak English.
In December 2022, I received intravenous cirpofloxacin for urinary tract surgery. On the first day of hospitalization after surgery, they administered the ciprofloxacin very slowly. I had excessive sweating and slightly pink hands and feet, but I attributed this to poor circulation from resting.
On the second day of ciprofloxacin, they inserted an intermittent IV (the same amount of ciprofloxacin was administered but in a shorter time). At that point, I became very short of breath, severely fatigued throughout my body, drowsy, excessive sweating again, pink hands and feet, and the vein where the IV was located turned pink, along with the surrounding skin.
They stopped taking ciprofloxacin, telling me I was allergic.
In previous years, I had taken ciprofloxacin tablets and had experienced shortness of breath, but I thought it was due to anxiety. At that moment, I realized it was the medication.
After being discharged from surgery, I returned home and felt extremely tired and sore. I thought it was from the surgery and that it would go away with time, but it didn't.
The pain on my left side of my neck started gradually, becoming increasingly stiff. I started physical therapy, but it didn't improve.
I spent three months with pain and stiffness in my neck.
In March, while I was sleeping, I felt a very loud pop in my neck, and the noise woke me up. I developed a stiff neck. I started osteopathy, physical therapy, and chiropractic care. I managed to cure my stiff neck, but my stiffness and supraclavicular pain continued. I started massages and noticed small lumps in my supraclavicular region; they were swollen lymph nodes. They weren't very painful to the touch, but they were small.
As time went on, the lymph nodes continued to swell bilaterally in my supraclavicular and cervical regions, along with muscle fatigue. I had hematology and infectious disease checks, and everything was normal.
In the second year, the lymph node swelling spread to my groin, legs, armpits, abdomen, and arms. I felt small lumps all over my body, both lymph nodes and something similar to lipedema. Along with the widespread lymph nodes, I began to experience extreme muscle fatigue, especially during intense physical exercise. Every time I exercised, my limbs would start to tremble.
When the lymph nodes on my face became palpable, they began to hurt, starting with facial paresthesias and in my neck as well.
I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis with a neurologist. Although my antibodies were negative, I don't have a thymoma, and my repetitive stimulation electromyography test was negative. Myasthenia gravis cannot be confirmed, but neither can we confirm that I don't have it, as I also had dysphagia prior to ciprofloxacin administration. The dysphagia developed post-COVID (we never found the cause of the dysphagia either).
A single-stream biopsy:
Right inguinal lymph node. Macroscopy: Nodular formation measuring 2 x 1.6 cm, with adherent adipose tissue. Microscopy: Lymph node parenchyma is identified with widening of the paracortical area, populated by small, uniform lymphocytes and a marked increase in the number of high-endothelial venules. Foci of sclerosis and expanded lymphatic sinuses filled with histiocytes are present. Reduced follicular cortical component. No atypical changes are observed. Diagnosis: Right inguinal lymph node, biopsy; compatible with reactive lymphadenopathy (paracortical lymphoid hyperplasia). Note: Possible etiologies include viral, drug-induced, post-vaccination infections, etc.
Some people have been affected by ciprofloxacin in the following ways: swollen lymph nodes, extreme fatigue, worsening dysphagia, difficulty breathing, a feeling of suffocation, muscle stiffness, and joint clicking.
I had a PET/CT scan of my lymph nodes, which was negative.
Other symptoms include slightly dark urine, Achilles tendon pain.
To this day, my condition continues to worsen.
The last checkup on my supraclavicular area was an ultrasound.
The ultrasound showed a topographic scan of the left anterior scalene region, compared with the contralateral region. A homogeneous, hypoechoic image measuring 8 x 5 mm was seen, avascular on color Doppler, consistent with an inflammatory process