@wrig1jam @emo @heyjoe415 and others. I haven't seen much discussion about any medications you might have taken when the tendon issues began. @ravenh mentioned a group of antibiotics that have been shown to cause tendon problems. I took Levofloxacin last July for c-diff, and again in December post surgery. It degraded the tissue in my Achilles tendons and ruptured both of them, and has caused other problems throughout my body. Flouroquinolones include Cipro and Levaquin/Levofloxacin. Adding steroids increases risk of side effects.

Have you been prescribed an antibiotic that might be associated with your symptoms?

Jim

Hi! Well, now I am belatedly responding. I apologize. I randomly stopped receiving notifications.

I don’t want to see things where I don’t, but our situations are exactly why I always try to bring it up. I was also really angry it took so long for me to be diagnosed and that some rheumatologists (including at Mayo) were even doubtful it was a real condition.

The rheumatologist who ultimately diagnosis me suspected it specifically because I have a family history of ulcerative colitis—which is a spondyloarthropathy! My rheumatologist was charitable to her colleagues who didn’t make the connection…she said depending on when you were in med school or if you saw a case, they may or may not have studied it in depth. And there wasn’t much written about it back then and still there’s not much mentioned and what’s out there sounds confusing and contradictory at times.

I agree it’s worth it for you to look into because if it’s the right diagnosis, there’s treatment for it. I started empiric (trial and error) treatment because I had so many tendon injuries all at the same time and I was in so much pain. It’s not all resolved but it’s better now.

I hope you’re able to get some answers, no matter what it turns out to be.