Neuropathic or rheumatoid?

[palais]

Currently, I am about 8/9 weeks into something resembling polyarticular arthritis. No real movement problems with joints although a bit stiff if sitting too long.  If I do too much exercise can be painful next day.  Knees and hips are painful when standing still - better to move about. No visible signs of swelling, redness or heat in affected joints.  Joints pop and click noticeably until 'released' but not painful when they click.

Previously healthy I have had a number of health problems this last 9 months.  I had a long-running undiagnosed genito urinary problem - cleared following month of cipro. Shortly after had 4/5 weeks neuropathic symptoms - parathesia feet legs hands arms face etc  Also affected some muscles and tendons with minor balance problems.  Neurologist diagnosed as Guillaine Barre Syndrome and believed it would clear up completely.  No treatment offered and largely cleared up although a couple of minor flares since.   A couple of months later - one and a half weeks flu type respiratory illness - lost voice, swallowing saliva difficult, confined to bed.  Doc prescribed 2 types of antibiotic to clear.

About a month later started with joint pain - fingers, toes.  Doc performed several blood tests which ruled out RA, gout etc.  over next three weeks spread first to knees then hips. Don't know what to do for the best - docs seem reluctant to refer me just given me cocodamol and ibruprofen despite 4 visits.

Blood tests were done early on - could they prove different after 8 weeks?  Is this neurological or rheumatoid? What could be causing this?

[Tuckamore]

Hi Jen,

Welcome to our Arthritis Community. I am so sorry to hear about your SX that you believe are caused from a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. There are more of you than one might think - but you know that. You've offered an excellent, informative comment.

Unfortunately this is an old thread - check the date. Palais has not been active in MedHelp since Dec 2012. Unfortunately your  message will probably not be seen by him/her.  It's even more unfortunate that most ppl will not see your post - because this is an old thread.

I encourage you to repost this in a new thread - for better visibility and probably more responses. Just copy and paste this into the "Post A Question" icon. Select a catchy and descriptive title.

If you have questions on how to post a question please feel free to ask. It's pretty easy.

Thanks again, I hope to hear more from you. Many ppl do not know this important information.

Good Luck,
~Tuck

[JenMinnesota]

Hello Palais,

I was a healthy 40 year old mom of two, until last December (2014), when I took Cipro for what turned out to NOT be a UTI infection.  After 5 days taking Cipro my body started to implode.  It has been a year of crazy symptoms that would seem completely unrelated. Look up "Floxy Hope" on the internet for other peoples stories.  There is an entire community of us that have been dealing with the long term affects of a drug we were thought was safe.  Researchers  have even begun to link fluoroquinolone antibiotics (cipro is just one) to fibromyalgia, gulf war syndrome (they gave the soldiers Cipro for weeks encase of anthrax attacks during the gulf war and many came home complaining of a new strange disease that affected their whole body).  It is very often misdiagnosed by doctors who try to treat each issue as its own thing and they send you to rheumatologists or neurologists suspecting lupus, MS, or RA.  I myself have had 2 CAT scans, 3 ultrasounds, heart tests, many blood tests, and urine tests, seen primary care doctors, gynecologists, cardiologist...and nothing.

Below are some of MY symptoms, though everyone's body may respond slightly differently, many of us have these type of symptoms:
First 3 months ACUTE PHASE:
(All the time)Severe joint pain and joint cracking/popping (all over the body)
(All the time)Muscles felt weak
(Periodic)Muscle twitches (a lot in the eye area but also in other parts of the body)
(Periodic)Nerve problems, pinching, burning, tingling, needles, crawling sensations
(All the time)Tendon pain and tightness all over the body (could not lift a jug of milk or put daughter in car seat because my hands were so bad) I thought my Achilles tendon behind my ankle would snap like a rubber-band.

(All the time)Eye pain (both light sensitivity and just aching all the time)
(All the time)Ear pain (most likely caused by muscles in face and neck)
(Periodic)Swollen throat feeling (could still eat and breath fine)
(Periodic)Blueish fingernails

(Periodic)Sensation of room spinning when laying down
(Periodic)lightheaded
(Periodic)shortness of breath
(Periodic)pain below breast bone
(Periodic)trembling feeling/shaky feeling (like if you haven't eaten for a long time)
(Periodic)heart flutters
(Periodic)heart racing

high level of anxiety (never had issues with this previously)

4-12 months ROAD to RECOVERY and RELAPSES
improvement on joints but still periodic issues (relapses several times)
improvement on nerve issues  still periodic issues (relapses several times)
improvement with tendons  still periodic issues (relapses several times)
muscle weakness is better

(All the time)Eye pain (both light sensitivity and just aching all the time)
Better - Ear pain (most likely caused by muscles in face and neck)
(Periodic)Swollen throat feeling (could still eat and breath fine)
Better- Blueish fingernails

Better-Sensation of room spinning when laying down
Better-lightheaded
(Periodic)shortness of breath (still have relapses)
(Periodic)trembling feeling/shaky feeling (like if you haven't eaten for a long time) (still have relapses)
(Periodic)heart flutters (still have relapses)
(Periodic)heart racing (still have relapses)

Started 4-12 months in:
Pelvic pain/low back pain
rectal pain and urinary pressure
I believe both of the above issues are related to nerve damage from Cipro in low back/pelvic area

Less able to recover from:
Altitude changes
illness (common cold)
lack of sleep
stress

New issues with food allergies and scent sensitivities

What helps:
Get a lot of sleep
Eat as healthy as possible
Reduce Stress
Slow Low impact movement and gentle stretching
Vitamins for nerve health and immune health
Lots of water
Try to keep positive attitude and laugh whenever you can.

Good luck and god bless,
Jen

p.s. before this issue I rarely needed to visit the doctor, trusted the medical system, and didn't really believe drug companies could get away with something like this.

[palais]

Thanks for your reply.  I much appreciate you taking the time to reply in the detail you did.  I am continuing to seek answers.  It is difficult to get the progress you would like in the UK to get a diagnosis.  I have been persistent with my GP and he has done certain blood tests and x-ray but sticking with osteoarthritis as the most likely diagnosis - without any evidence.  I have made a private appointment with a rheumatologist but my GP doesn't hold out much hope for him coming up with anything different.

From my own layman's experience of this I feel like I had an attack just like the GBS in terms of time frame which hit most if not all my joints over a 3 to 4 week period.  It's just a case of whether the damage can be rectified/reduced, will get worse and recur with greater severity.   In the meantime I get as much exercise as I can, some physiotherapy and try to keep hopeful.  Thanks again and apologies for not responding quickly.

[TheLightSeeker]

Hi palais
1. Your GBS was probably triggered by :
An infectious condition -bacterial or viral -most common cause is campylobacter bacterium ( G/I issues or food poisoning -specially from chicken may indicate this) or HHV-5 (second most common cause and present -but usually latent- in 58.9% of all individuals over 6 yrs of age )

2. After a month on Ciproflaxin, this presents two possible scenarios:
    a. An imbalance of intestinal flora (75%-80% of the immune system
  lies in the gut) rendering the immune system weak and predisposing the
  body to a yeast overgrowth infection
     b. You have suffered from some very serious side-effects.
Some of the serious side effects are : irreversible peripheral neuropathy, tendonitis, tendon rupture, CNS disorders, bone marrow
depression and many more.
Ref. FDA website : Information for Healthcare Professionals. Fluoroquinolone Antimicrobial Drugs [ciprofloxacin (marketed as Cipro and generic ciprofloxacin), ciprofloxacin extended-release (marketed as Cipro XR and Proquin XR), gemifloxacin (marketed as Factive), levofloxacin (marketed as Levaquin), moxifloxacin (marketed as Avelox), norfloxacin (marketed as Noroxin), and ofloxacin (marketed as Floxin)]

Also go to the ask a patient site for some real people experiences.
This drug could be one of the nastiest ones you could put in your body.

3. GBS (caused by campylobacter bacterium) may lead to Reactive Arthritis.

4. Yeast overgrowth infection -Cadidiasis-(or other infections) may attack the joints and lead to Arthritis.

5. In a study of 168 confirmed cases of acute infectious arthritis, white blood cell count was found increased in only 40% of the cases!
Lab results for infections are not always conclusive.

You may draw your own conclusions from the above info and observations.
Take care.
Niko