Floxed Timeline - Month 16

It's my hope that publishing my notes from my time recovering from Cipro Toxicity may help others who have been floxed, or medical professionals learning about it.

These are my experiences, which I wrote - offline - as they happened. Everyone's experiences are different though.

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6/22/2021

My right foot is garbage today. Can barely do one calf raise, lots of arch pain and weakness. UGH.

Also, I barely got any sleep at ALL last night. Was super warm, took forever to get to sleep, didn’t stay asleep, etc.

6/23/2021

Had physio and a massage today. I think it went ok.

I thought my IT band was going to be terrible, but it was fine.

Fingers crossed that this doesn’t cause a flare.

6/30/2021

Had a wild session at physio. Things went pretty easily, I was feeling kinda ballsy, so I had him retest the knee to wall.

My left foot was now a 12.5 (so much for 11 being “normal” for me!), and the right foot is now 10.5.

He says normal is a 10, so I guess I’m doing good! He seemed pretty shocked at the progress.

Oh, and - I’m behind here - the massage did NOT cause a flare at all.

7/1/2021

Today was day two of heavy bleeding.

It was FAR heavier than normal, but I only had the most minor of tendon flare with it - just a bit of pain in my LEFT toes again, same as with the vaccine.

Not enough to even effect walking, just enough to make itself known.

Weirdly, the flare didn’t start until today.

Usually it ramps up with the period, hits its worst on the worst day of bleeding, then comes down.

7/2/2021

Well I just had a really wild breakthrough that's going to sound totally dumb.

I've been walking almost normally for a few days now, and today got it in my head that I should just try jumping on the spot - like a little two foot hop.

Holy fucking shit, when did something so basic get so terrifying?

I had both hands on a counter taking most of the weight off my feet, the first try... And it took me a few times of bending my knees and like ... Just not taking off ... Before I got a little hop off the ground.

So then I went upstairs to show Porter, leaned heavily on the wall, same thing... A bunch of aborted attempts, then a tiny (maybe an inch?) hop.

Then he made a crack about doing a full rotation, so I did a little ¼ rotation hop, then a ½ rotation.

Holy fucking shit!

I'm going to leave it at that until physio and just hope I'm still walking tomorrow.

They were really, really tiny hops - even the rotated ones - but it really felt like something!

7/3/2021

Tried jumping again this morning, even though I said I’d save it for Monday.

It was easier than last night, Porter says I’m jumping 4-6" off the ground now.

I’m relying a lot on my arms for lift though, not so much about pushing off my feet.

So, we went skating.

I did 2 laps this time - I really thought it was going to be back to normal, but it was pretty painful. The feet are still REALLY weak.

Still, I was able to put weight on the right foot, this time. I end glided on the right foot at one point!

A few hours later, my right achilles threw a FIT - seized right up, I couldn’t walk.

Was worried I ripped it, but it seemed fine-ish just minutes later? WTAF.

So... I’m going to take it easy today.

7/4/2021

I took things easy today, there’s been weirdness happening in my right achilles.

Feels like little needle pricks?

Porter noticed bruising at the top of my right calf, just below the knee - just above the fullest part of my calf.

NO IDEA how that happened.

On another note, this has been the worst period I’ve ever had in my life. I’m guessing it’s from the vaccine? Just crossing my fingers that it doesn’t screw with my feet.

7/5/2021

Had physio this morning.

He was impressed with my progress - I wore runners for the first time there - and I shocked him with my two foot jump.

I told him I had something to show him, he said he thought I was going to do a calf raise.

I jumped off the bosu ball to see if I could, I was told not to do that again, LOL.

He didn’t feel anything concerning in the achilles, says there’s nothing inflamed that he can feel.

Also, the bruise was gone.

We kind of decided that it was probably last Wednesday’s cupping that did it, it was really painful on my calves that day.

Still having needle prick feelings in the achilles, an inch or so above ankle bone level. Also a weird chemical burn feeling inside it - like acid?

7/6/2021

Was on my feet a LOT today, making curds.

My arches and shins were killing me, so I spent an hour or so in the massage boots.

Also having mild flare-type aching in my left little toes. UGH.

Also, this evening there was a feeling like a piece of thread between two small toes on the right foot. No thread there. Neuropathy?

7/7/2021

Woke up with a lot of pain in the front of my LEFT arch.

WTAF? It mostly went away after I walked around a bit.

When I took a soak to shave, my left knee was bending backwards, painfully.

The phantom thread feeling has escalated to feeling like there’s a piece of yard between the two toes on my right foot.

I can’t tell if it’s the smallest two, or between the 3 and 4 toes. Either way, definitely getting spooked about a return of neuropathy.

I did OK at my physio assessment. For the self assesment sheet, they want to see an improvement of 5 points, I think he said I did 18.

Everything was moving well, though I almost got dinged on strength in my right foot, pressing down against his hand.

It was hurting where his hand was. When I mentioned that and asked if he could move it a bit down (towards my ankle), I did much better.

Having some under-foot tendon pain on the right side.

I did do a bunch of calf raises today, so hoping it’s just a bit annoyed from that, rather than the start of a flare.

I really think a flare is starting up, even before the vaccine, AUGH.

7/8/2021

The right calf / achilles is definitely unhappy, though I’m still not sure if I’m dealing with a flare or injury.

Woke up with my arches killing me, but arch support shoes take away a lot of that pain.

I’m alternating between walking almost normally, and limping a bit on the right side, all day.

The right achilles is still making loud cracking noises.

I AM feeling a bit of tendon flare on the left small toes, but super minor.

The tops of the outer (small) 3-4 toes on my right side have a weird burning sensation on top - but not a heat burn. More like a razor or floor burn feeling, really weird.

Had our 2nd dose of the vaccine this morning, have been really tired, but no major cipro flare issues so far. Fingers crossed.

Also: The “yarn between the toes” feeling has gone away, thank fuck. It was never painful, but it was super annoying.

7/12/2021

I’m behind on reporting. I’ll try to cover everything from the last few days now, but I’m sure I’ll miss something.

The vaccine triggered a very minor flare, in the left foot again - as well as the right.

Additionally, it flared in my FINGERS - which was new - as well as my wrists this time.

The pain is across the tops of my fingers, and shooting pain in the left thumb and inside of the left wrist.

It feels more like a neuropathy kind of pain, than a tendon kind of pain.

My knees and right calf have been really sore since last week, but I think it’s probably secondary to all the work I’ve been doing on the feet, and not from the vaccine.

Lasted a couple days, seemed to be over yesterday - no issues from the afternoon on - but this morning when I woke up, the flare was happening again.

Right now, it’s across the tops of the toes on my right foot, the swelling in the middle of the ball of the right foot, just behind the toes.

The second toe on the right side is swollen, and there’s a weird feeling in my left toes. There is minor pain in both ankles.

Most concerning is the feeling in my heels and arches when I woke up.

They said I’ve got plantar fasciitis, but I haven’t been symptomatic for it. I hope this isn’t the start of it, UGH.

Anyway, aside from the flare, I was super tired for 3 days with each shot, and the second shot made me super nauseated for a few hours on the second day.

7/14/2021

No real progress on the flare.

The left foot is feeling better, the right hasn’t really gotten any worse.

It’s miserable, but it’s not really affecting mobility much.

Once a day, I do a calf raise to see if I can. Today it was pretty small, but still there.

The tendons in my wrists and fingers are doing poorly, and tonight I’ve had a weird sensation, like a pulsing / tapping working its way up the back of my skull, repeatedly... like runway lights?

Sleep has been garbage, have been waking up at 3 am each morning, WIDE awake. It’s annoying.

7/15/2021

Last night was terrible. Went to bed at 9:30, didn’t fall asleep until sometime well after midnight, woke up at 3am, couldn’t go back to sleep. FML.

That second toe on the right foot is still swollen and standing up a bit, but I can bend my toes pretty well. Flexing hurts tho.

7/18/2021

Went to go see the Theodore Tugboat welcome at the pier today, and held up pretty well walking all the way out there.

7/21/2021

The physiotherapist says that if there’s a way to do it with jumps completely off the table, he figures I could compete at that February competition!

Going to start looking into that.

Also, we got the new exercise bike set up today. Hoping that’s a way to do cardio that won’t freak out my feet too much.

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