Has anyone had serious side effect from Cipro?

@picartist I would guess, if you watch enough YouTube videos, that you can find some stressing the side effects of just about anything, including water and air.

Remember that every time an antibiotic or other drug is prescribed, the provider must balance the need for it against possible side effects. With Ciprofloxacin, the warning about potential tendon damage is one of those dangers, and there are a few (though often less effective) alternatives. There are people in my family with a history of tendon issues (not from the drug) who know to tell their doctors "No" to the chlorquinalone family of meds. There are also some who have stubborn, recurrent infections that respond only to cipro. So every time, it is a risk/benefit analysis, not unlike the decision whether to take the Big 3 for MAC, or tobramycin for pseudomonas.

Are you asking out of curiosity, or has Ciprofloxacin been prescribed for an infection you have? If so, and you are in a risk group, have you asked the doctor for alternatives?

I actually ended up with CDF. A doctor had prescribed two rounds of it back to back.

@sueinmn I am on my fourth day of Cipro and just starting to feel slightly better, not dramatically so, just enough to notice. You are right about Youtube, there are so many physicians on You tube warning about this stuff it does make someone cautious, however, so far I have not had any serious side affects. I have a lot of time on my hands between saline, etc. so I watch Youtube and have learned quite a lot about Bronchiectasis. Take Brinsupri, for example, something no doctor could ever take an hour to explain it to me as well as an Allergist did this morning who has bronchiectasis patents on the drug. After watching several Pulmonologists and this video I am pretty convinced I would like to try it. But again, those warnings are terrible sounding I just want to know what to watch for, especially nerve issues.

Cipro always made me feel as little spaced out the first few days. I've never read the black box warnings, so I don't know how bad they are. I probably don't want to know. I've been prescribed Cipro and Levaquin more times than I can count over the last 35 years. I guess it's finally starting to catch up with me, as I have tears in a couple of tendons in my left foot and the arch has almost flattened. I'm now wearing shoes that only provide extra arch support and rarely walk barefoot, even in my house. I hate that. I hate shoes! But, I don't want the surgery that's been suggested. Thankfully, my doctor isn't pushy about it and said to wear the boot if needed and if the pain gets bad enough to let him know.

@picartist What infection was the cipro prescribed for?

@picartist I took Cipro for 14 days with no problem. About a year later, I started another course of Cipro, but my tendons became very inflamed (tendonitis) I stopped the treatment immediately after about 3 days when this happened. This was about 2 years ago, and I still have tendonitis. I was fortunate not to have any tendons rupture as I understand that that is one of the black box warnings. I will never take the drug again, though it was extremely helpful with tamping down my Pseudomonas. My pharmacist had warned me about doing any excercise while on the treatment because of known side effects to tendons. I was careful but still had bad side effects from the treatment. My understanding is that any fluoroquinolone...cipro, levo etc can cause this side effect.

@sueinmn I have a large colony of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in my lower lung.

I had a terrible reaction to levoquin, back in 2010. But was able to use ciprofloxin for several years until the pseudomonas, in my lungs became resistant to it. Yes, ciprofloxin is in the same family as leviquin but I was able to use it without any reactions. I think everyone's body is different and reacts to things differently

I took Cipro for a UTI about 10 years ago. I still have tendon damage from it. I stopped it as soon as it became evident that it was attacking my Achilles tendons. It worked wonders, but I would not take it again. Roz

@rozie83 Same happened to me, but I was too naive to understand and took cipro again. i had achilles issues, then my thumbs, and later shoulders.