I took Levaquin and was in serious pain afterwards. I experienced muscle weakness, cramping, muscular pain all over, fasciculations (tics) in arms and legs that felt like worms underneath my skin, facial tics, double vision, anxiety, a rash on my chest, confusion, insomnia and depression. My hands and feet would swell upon exercising and begin to burn and ache. It always felt like the blood was stuck in my hands and feet.

Now exercising to me then was a leisurely walk in the mall for a period of 30-45 minutes I also had carpal tunnel and my hands, arms, feet and legs felt half asleep-a type of neuropathy.

The rash went away quickly, the double vision went away after 2-3 months .The pain reduced itself over a month but I was still in pain. I sat on my backside in pain and felt sorry for myself for at least 6 weeks and after having been to several physicians-who were all unclear as to what the problem was, I took the reins into my own hands and became my own health manager. My physician told me to exercise-so I swam. I could not do anything else.

I started out with 10 minutes of swimming every other day, and worked up to every day. I took aspirin before and after I exercised. I also took vitamins-which I believe helped a lot-magnesium and malic acid, calcium and potassium. I also took COQ10 and zinc for 3 months or so. It took me 2-3 months of lap swimming to be able to do water aerobics-which I do now as well as swim laps. I was unable to walk as an exercise as it hurt too much. Swimming was a non-weight bearing exercise and was recommended.

Now unbeknownst to me, I was already on a pain killer-Neurontin. After researching on the internet, I realized that my medication was used to treat certain types of nerve pain. After reducing my dosage to nothing, I realized that I had been in constant pain but it was being managed well by the medication-so I went back on it. I also found that after I stopped taking the Neurontin, that the tics and spasms were worse and the cramps in my feet started back up again.

Additionally, I experienced electrical type pain in my arms and legs. Regular daily exercise in combination with a diet free of caffeine, asparteme, processed carbohydrates and processed sugars further reduced the symptoms and greatly increased my energy level. (I must admit that I was tired and somewhat sore at first-that's why I began exercising in the evening-and taking aspirin).

I was following Dr. Adkins diet at the time. I got a wrist brace for the carpal tunnel and that seemed to help things a lot. For the insomnia, I exercised in the evening, didn't drink caffeine or eat chocolate, took melatonin (1 mg at night), magnesium and calcium in the evening. I was in bed watching TV (which was relaxing to me) by 9:30 (my goal to be asleep by 10:30).I found that working on the computer for some reason made getting to sleep a problem-so I stopped computer stuff by about 8:30pm )

I found good sleep hygiene a must to improving-or I was up all night-and I only hurt worse the next day .I was put on low dose dilantin and that seemed to stop the tics and spasms altogether. By being your own health manager, doing your own research on the topic, I believe that this is the first step to getting better. I hope this helps.