# Diverticulitis and Cipro for treatment.



## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

I'm dropping this in the 50+ forum since it's more typical for this age bracket and above to experience the fun of Diverticulitis. I was diagnosed with being "prone to" after my first colonoscopy in my 40's (I have had 5) when I had a gut issue that was ultimately declared a spasmodic colon. I have felt the pain of a light bout over the years that just seemed to go away on its own but a year ago last August, I had my first full blown flare-up where I had a significant infection in my body that caused every little cut or past ailment to inflame and become painful, including a tooth that had recently received a root canal and should not have any issue but an 'accessory canal' that went unchecked was infected in the process. Weird stuff! 

Well, here I am again. Hopefully in the recovery phase as I've been on some form of antibiotic since last Thursday, a week ago. This is sort of a warning to ya'll based on the experience I had. I used Cipro and Flagyl last year and don't recall having any issues in that treatment period. I recall it was a bit tough on the gut but it was killing good bugs as well as bad. Digestion always suffers. 

I had to go to a Doc-in-the-Box last Thursday because my Primary GP was out and their office swamped so my quickest appt was a week away on Tuesday with the P.A. I see there periodically for the little things. Doc in the box (PA) and I discussed my situation. It had not quite come to the degree my first bout had regarding infection but I could tell I was on my way as thing were happening and symptoms were identical. We decided to use Cipro and Flagyl again as it "worked" last time. A couple hours after taking my first dose, I started getting left side armpit discomfort. Sort of a lymph node type pain and figured it was from my body fighting. Took dose 2 Friday morning. Pain increased then migrated slowly down into the muscle mass of my bicep and then radiated to my forearm and ultimately even my fingers. I had a bit of what felt like neuropathy (been there from severe neck injury). It was building so I called the Doc around noon. After a couple attempts to get through to the nurse's station to ask whether this was serious or maybe a simple side effect, I got the "we'll call you back with some info". That call never came and before I knew it it was after hours and though I tried, they have no on-call physician for after hours. My 3rd dose was coming due.

I started digging deep for info on the 'net. I'm sure glad I did. We're now pretty certain that I was experiencing a known issue of Cipro caused tendonitis or tendon rupturing condition as a reaction to the drug. Think about that a second! TENDON RUPTURE! When I saw this, I didn't go with dose 3 and went to the doc the next morning and the new P.A. seemed clueless to the issue but put me on Augmentin instead and told me to stick with Flagyl, too till out. So, Saturday night I was in the ER at midnight with a stroke-like severity of a migraine. I couldn't hold my head up, look at light, and I was having dry-heaves the pain in my head was so incredible. After about 3.5 hours and a "Migraine drug cocktail", it subsided and I went home and finally slept for a few hours, waking up feeling so glad I had no more migraine. The ER physician was intimately knowledgeable on the Cipro issue and said never touch it nor any Fluoroquinolone class antibiotics. She also said quit the Flagyl as that is what brought my migraine on after taking my last dose. 

So, things seem under control now and I'm progressing. When I asked my P.A. about more info on the Tendon issue, she said some people never ever recover from that. Obviously, my concerns are whether after just 2 doses, do I need to spend the rest of my life while riding and rowing worrying whether I'm going to start rupturing tendons? The data sheet said the possibility exists for upwards of 6 months! She couldn't definitely answer whether 2 doses puts me in that category.

Most of us here are all active, outdoorsy types. Something like this could put an abrupt end to that lifestyle...or ANY lifestyle if you're in constant rehab from such maladies. Clearly I experienced a case where the solution might have been worse than the problem itself. Consider this a PSA if you ever need to go on antibiotics.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

well quick answer is, too old to go through any extra crap....

so, plan to never blow a tendon!!!!

if you just do spin classes at high-ish rpm but very low load you can do that a looooooong time (months) and the risk blowing a tendon is low, but fitness will remain high (better than riding for real and blowing a gasket). then go venture in woods next spring

got nothing more than that...if I had what you got then I'd start a master plan of 6 months don't try to blow a tendon and do the boring spin classes, just to be sure


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## Eric Malcolm (Dec 18, 2011)

7 months ago I had a bout of Diverticulitis, but was given Augmentin and it took effect about 2 1/2 days after starting the anti-biotic course. Seems a much safer route to take.

Eric


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## Cuyuna (May 14, 2017)

The use of antibiotics in uncomplicated (no perforation) acute diverticulitis is undergoing a rethink and the trend is away from use of _any_ antibiotics with an acute attack, as there's no data that indicates that antibiotics mitigate the course of the attack or decrease the risk of complications (perforation).

But yeah...especially if your doctor isn't keeping up with the literature, you should be aware that older males especially should probably should avoid cipro, especially males over age 60, and especially if sedentary, taking any kind of steroids for any reason, or a history of kidney problems. About 90% of cipro-mediated tendon ruptures are the Achilles' tendon. Cipro has a "black-box" warning from the FDA about the possibility of Achilles' tendon rupture. The problem is mostly Cipro, but it appears that all of the antibiotics in that class are implicated. The risk is also increased at higher doses and for longer periods of time.

After the second attack of significant diverticulitis, one ought to start thinking about surgery to resect that part of the colon. A perforation _can_ lead to emergency surgery (usually open, not laparoscopic) with a resection of the infected part and 3 months with a colostomy.


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