I am on a 15 day course of it for a prostate infection, but what I am reading about its side effects makes me wonder if this shit ought to be banned! Is it really as dangerous as I'm reading?
Its not nearly as bad as being almost incapable of peeing. Having had to take Cipro for the same reasons as you, I can say that side effects become a concern based upon dosage level and the amount of time you have to take it. No matter what, however, being able to piss trumps everything else. One thing you might want to look at is your teeth. If your teeth are in bad shape, they put you at a significantly higher risk of prostate infections. If you can't afford to get your bad teeth fixed (assuming you have any), then make sure you practice good dental hygiene religiously.
Thanks for the reply. As for my teeth, they are just fine. Out of curiosity, how long did you stay on the Cipro? The doc only gave me a 15 day course (despite the fact that 10 days of Bactrim turned my previous bout of urethritis into a bout of epididymitis and 10 days of doxycycline turned my epididymitis into prostatitis) which I have just completed and I can not even tell that I was ever on Cipro. I feel the same as I did when I took started the course of Cipro.
I've taken it for as long as a month and a half, though IIRC, the first time I took it, it was about 2 weeks. Of course, the dosage level is important, too weak and its just as bad as if you didn't take it for as long as you should have. According to my doc, its pretty hard to saturate the prostate with medication because of how densely packed the tissue is. Worse, if you get too many infections, even if each one is completely cleared up with antibiotics, your prostate can remain inflamed and you have all the "fun" of not being able to pee, with none of the infection to show for it. If you're still having problems (can't pee easily, burns when you do pee, etc.) I'd be on the phone to the doc, getting him to call you in a refill to tide you over until he can see you again. I'd also be guzzling as much cranberry juice and anything containing cranberry as I possibly could. (Cranberry prevents some of the most common causes of prostate infections from latching on to the bladder walls and making your life miserable. It won't cure all infections, but it does lower your risk and help to shorten the time you're infected, when combined with antibiotics.)
I was on 500 mg 2x/day of the Cipro. Actually, I think that may be where I am now. I don't really have any of the "UTI-like" symptoms anymore (no burning, no "full feeling" even after going, no weird tingling etc.), but I do have a reduced stream. I can pee, and it doesn't hurt, but the pressure is just not there and I have to "push" a little harder than normal to get it all out. I have to make an appointment with an actual Urologist, methinks. For the three times I went to the Doc, I went to my regular family Doc's office. I only got to see my actual Doc once (the middle visit). The first visit I had to see a PA and the third visit my Doc was on vacation so I saw one of the other Docs in the office. Going to three different doctors is probably haphazard BS so I am going to stick to just the urologist from here on in. Ahhhhh, excellent pro-tip. I had forgotten all about the cranberry juice business. Off to the store!
Further words of advice: If they stick you on meds to reduce the size of your prostate (Avodart, ProScar, etc.), make sure they put you on something else like doxazosin, because Avodart and ProScar can take a long time to work (and have the same kind of scary warning labels that Propecia, the hair growing pill, has). The doxazosin works faster, but its apparently not as good over the long term as Avodart, etc. are. Additionally, you'll probably want to at least get the name of a good surgeon (you want one who plays lots of videogames) because studies have found that the surgical option works better than the drug treatments. A videogame playing surgeon is less likely to nick something that shouldn't be nicked while he's operating on your peter. You might also want to pick up a bottle of Urinozinc and cranberry pills. I've found that if I don't take the pills, I seem to get a prostate infection about a month or two after I stop. The medical papers are mixed as to the benefits of the things, but they're cheap, and there's been no data showing that they do any harm.
Not yet. I don't have health insurance, so surgery's out of the question. I get the chance, though, I'm going to see about the roto-rooter routine, since I'm not completely happy with Avodart handling everything.
For $70 a bottle ( ), I want to not only see the results of the double blind studies, I want a complete list of ingredients before I plunk down a penny. I also don't want to see shit like this on the webpage. (bolding mine) If this guy's supposed to be some kind of crack urologist, then finding that study shouldn't be a problem for him. Urinozinc's website has the nutrition label on it and while I can't vouch for its ability to regrow hair, I can say that I've seen medical reports which back up the beneficial nature of all of them. (Granted, I don't know if the dosage levels are high enough, but many of the ingredients in there are things I wouldn't normally eat, so at least I'm getting some of the stuff, if I'm not getting as much as I should.) I've got a family history of prostate cancer, so as you can imagine, I'm really interested in keeping up on research in this area. Science Daily often has news about prostate treatments, etc. and is worth following in an RSS Reader. The Prostate Cancer Foundation has newsletters you can sign up for as well. This is one of those "don't fuck around" kind of things, because even the treatable prostate cancers are a bitch to deal with, from the standpoint of being out of work and having to be hooked up to a pissbag while you recover.
No medication is without potential side effects. None. A lot of it depends on your particular body chemistry and metabolism. Even foods can have side effects with some people. Take peanuts for example. They're one of my favorite snacks, but they can be fatal to people with peanut allergies. The question is: do the benefits outweigh the risks?
Well, I found this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_effects_of_fluoroquinolones Wednesday when I was at work, I was sitting in a meeting and my feet started to feel cold. I tried wiggling my toes and rotating my ankle around to get my feet to warm up, but it didn't work. After about 20 minutes they felt like I had dipped my feet in a bucket of ice water, and my legs were starting to feel cold too. When the meeting was over and I got up to move around, I felt some relief, and I went out to my car (Arizona desert heat mind you, 110 degrees outside) to go to lunch and I still felt cold, but the general degree of severity of the symptom lessened throughout the day. My right leg below the knee and a little to the side still feels slightly weird today, but not like it did on Wednesday. One wonders WTF is going on there.
That doesn't sound good at all. Are you still taking the Cipro? If so, stop and call your doctor. Many antibiotics can cause peripheral neuropathy, but it almost always dissipates once you stop taking the meds (though it may take 4-6 weeks - been there, done that). Anything that causes "irreversible" neuropathy is one scary mofo.
I finished the Cipro almost two weeks ago. Well, a week and a half ago anyway. Point being I was off the Cipro for a week before the cold feet episode.
Yipe. Well, if the coldness is going away, you may have dodged that bullet, but you might want to report this to your doctor anyway, just so he can make a note in your chart not to give you Cipro again. I had a bad reaction to a different antibiotic some years ago. My hands went completely numb. Felt like I was wearing mittens. Couldn't pick up small things like coins or keys, and typing was...a challenge. Doc put me on mega doses of B1 and B6, and the numbness turned to tingling (very annoying) and finally cleared up about four weeks after I went off the antibiotic. Scary.
Yikes! Yeah that does NOT sound good. I'm going to keep a close eye on this of course. If it doesn't keep getting better I am definitely going to the doc.
Saw the urologist tonight finally. Seems my prostate is no longer enlarged, but they want me to do a Urine flow test and a void test anyway. Probably routine stuff. As for my "neuropathy", it was almost entirely gone yesterday but came back hard and then subsided today. I'd go see the doctor about that but I don't really have the time with new work responsibilities. I'll try to go when I can I suppose.
You know I'm not trying to be an ass, but Techman felt the same way, dude. If push comes to shove, would you rather look good on your annual evaluation or keep the feeling in your extremities? Is that 2% raise really worth losing sensation in your legs for the rest of your life? I press the urgency and use strong language because I dicked around and didn't go to the doc. As a result, the big toe on my right foot lost sensation. It's got good circulation and is healthy. I've had no problems with it in 6+ years since it happened, but you could rip it off and I wouldn't know it.
