Wife left bedridden after taking the usual antibiotic (exclusively)

• Talia Smith was a “healthy” stepmother of two when she says she was paralyzed after being prescribed the antibiotic ciprofoxacin for a urinary tract infection
• “I started to have sharp sliding pain like getting out of my head, which I have never experienced anything like it before,” the Massachusetts woman tells people
• In a statement to humans, the FDA says it “continues to believe that for some serious bacterial infections the benefits of systemic fluorochinolones – including the use of higher doses, arise when appropriate – the risks”
  

A woman in Massachusetts says she was left inactivated and in “constant pain” after being prescribed a common antibiotic to treat a urinary tract infection.

“I was a very healthy person,” Talia Smith, a 45-year-old stepmother of two, tells People. She worked, had a full -time job that worked at a healthcare company and was also her husband Timothy’s primary caretaker after the marine veteran was paralyzed After an injury in Brazil 2011.

Everything changed in April 2021 when Smith developed one out, which was surprising because she had not often had them.

“I called my doctor and said,“ I think I have one out. Can I please have a urinallysis and a culture? “” She remembers. “So I got it done, and I got prescribed Ciprofloxacin. “

Before Smith took the antibiotic, she says she asked her doctor at Beth Israel Lahey Health Primary Care in Sharon if there was anything she needed to know because she did not often take medication and antibiotics made her nervous.

In response, Smith claims her doctor in ten years said that it was not something she needed to be aware of and that the medicine was often prescribed to treat in.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” she adds. “I would take a pill every 12 hours. That’s what I did.”

But after taking her third pill, Smith says she “started to have a lot of pain throughout her body, especially my legs.”

Timothy, 46, originally tried to facilitate her wife’s fear by telling her that her pain may have been a result of the cleaning she did around the house that day, but Smith tells people that her discomfort continued to worsen – and led to knitting and numbness in her extremities.

Still, she brushed it. “I said,” You know what, I’ll go to bed, I will wake up, and it will be better, and there will be everything gone, “she reminds to think.

But when she woke up the next morning Smith couldn’t go. After Smith went to the emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital – Needham, she says the first doctor asked her where: “” Do you take cipro? “

Little to Smith’s knowledge she had Fluorokinolontoxicity. The Food and Drug Administration First first added a black box warning for fluorochinolones – of which Cipro is a type – “for the increased risk of tendinitis and tendency offense” in 2008.

In 2016, the agency issued one “Improved warning” About the “inactivating and potentially permanent side effects of tendons, muscles, joints, nerves and central nervous systems that can occur together in the same patient” that took the class antibiotics.

Due to the side effects, the FDA advised to “limit fluorochinolon antibiotic use”, and during the years since the agency has added warnings about the drug’s additional risks.

Smith tells people that your doctor mentioned that the drug can cause late problems and deficiencies, but also told her not to worry.

“He said,“ Calm down, relax, don’t worry, go home, rest. Don’t do anything in the next three or four days. Take Ibuprofen for the pain, ”she claims.

But the pain continued to get worse and resembled it with electric shocks in her body.

When he is reached for comments, Beth Israel Lahey Health, who has a network of fourteen hospitals, including Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital – Needham, Told in a statement that they could not comment on specific cases “because of the patient’s privacy laws.”

About two months later Smith says she developed Mast cell activation syndrome (Macs), a condition that “causes intense sections of swelling, shortness of breath, hives, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms”, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

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Since then, Smith had problems with swallowing because of toxicity – which affected her ability to gain weight – and has received reactions to food, supplements and medicines because of her MCAs.

She went to hospice in September 2021 – “A priest came to my house to read me my last rituals,” she reminds – but in May 2022 she switched to receiving reception Palliative carewhich aims to improve the quality of life for people living with serious illnesses by providing relief from symptoms and stress.

Today Smith says she is in “constant pain all the time” and needs care from aide around the clock because she is bed -bound and just stands up to go to doctors’ meetings in a wheelchair.

“I still have almost all my symptoms. Although they have decreased in degree,” she says. “And in recent months I have had a setback where I just don’t feel good again, I stir up.” (Her father has created a Gofundme collection To help with her huge medical expenses.)

A FDA spokesman tells people that “patient safety is of the utmost importance at the FDA and we are continuously reviewing available sources for data and new information on potential risks for drugs, including fluorochinolones, and take action as needed to protect the US public.”

“The agency continues to believe that for some severe bacterial infections, the benefits of systemic fluorochinolones – including the use of higher doses, are considering, when appropriate – the risks,” says spokesman.

But Dr. Annie Wong berries, assistant dean for research issues and professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of South California tells people that Cipro’s risk is “greater than the advantage because we have other treatment options for mild infections such as UTI.”

Wong-berries believe that the drug should no longer be prescribed, given its “serious side effects.”

Now that I look back, Smith reminds strange Timothy who mentioned how their lives would be difficult if something happened to her while she made people help her take care of him during the Covid-19 pandemic when she worked from home.

“He would say,” if you ever get sick, we’re screwed, “she says.” I would say, “Why would I get sick? I’m so healthy.”

“Then suddenly I can’t do anything for myself,” Smith adds. “I can’t take care of him. Both of us need care around the clock. Both of us have a house that none of us can take care of on our own. It is completely destroyed us.”

Since 2023, Smith has been commissioned to get his story out Tiktok and most recently a Website To alert others about fluorochinolontoxicity.

“My husband was like,” You have to tell your story because there are so many people like you, “she says, adding that” it took me a long time because I said, “I will either go in or not.” ”

She clarifies that she does not try to say that people should never take fluorookinolones to raise awareness.

“The message is that this is what you need to know about Fluorokinolone so you can make an informed decision about the healthcare myself. Because I did not have that luxury,” she says. “If I had seen a video like mine before I took cipro … I would have said,” Hell no, not too out. I won’t risk it. “