I have been on Cipro for at least 5 years now and, so far, so good - I think. About 4 years ago I had a weird attack of violent shivering that literally disabled me. I had another sometime in the next three years. The attacks last anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours.It leaves me wrung out and spacey. I always thought this was food poisoning, but I have had three in the past 6 months!!!! That's a bit too much for food poisoning.

Has anyone had this when on Cipro? I do have a Dr. appt. on the 21st of Sept., but am beginning to try to figure this out myself.

I have been on cipro for 15 years rotating on and off with other antibiotics and never had these symptoms as a result of taking Cipro, although I did have those symptoms once in 2000 as a result of general anesthesia for a surgery I had on my sinuses. When I came out of anesthesia I had violent, uncontrolled shivering for an hour, and I was later told by the surgical team at another hospital that a shot of demerol would have abated those symptoms, but they did not give me one. The only thing they warned me about was that I may be nauseaous when I came to because when the sinuses are cut you bleed like hell and the blood runs down your throat into your belly. But because my ancestors come from Transylvania I guess this was not a problem as all that blood in my stomach was tolerated. The shivering was the only issue I ever had from general anesthesia. And only that one time, never had it with my bowel surgeries which were done at Mount Sinai Medical Center whereas the sinuses were done at a local hospital in CT.

In addition to Cipro what else are you taking/eating that is a potential cause? It sounds more like an allergic reaction to me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJBHusky,

The Transylvania thing is hilarious. You and Dracule, huh?

Anyway, I take Tincture of Opium, fish oil and a calcium supplement. I hadn't thought of the allergy connection and I do have allergies. I have been thinking about keeping a food diary to see if there is a connection but I was thinking more along the lines of food poisoning.

Interesting to hear that Demorol will stop it - when it happens, I will do ANYTHING to make it go away because it literally brings me to my knees.

KTA,

That is what I was told by an anesthesiologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He asked me if I ever had any problem with anesthesia, and I told him that earlier that year when they did my sinuses I came out of the general anesthesia shivering uncontrollably. He said they should have given me a shot of demerol and that would have stopped it immediately. Someone else confirmed this as well. Fortunately with that surgery in Mount Sinai I had no problems coming out of anesthesia so that guy must have known what he was doing.

I think keeping a diary is a great idea and perhaps that will help you isolate the source of the problem and determine whether or not it is Cipro. However, I have never heard of shivering being a side effect of Cipro. The usual side effects are tendon problems, neuropathies and nausea.

You asked about Cipro so I thought I'd add my own Cipro experience into the mix. I was on pretty high doses starting post-sepsis for nearly two years. I was taken off it when my normal anxiety level (which is already high) rose considerably to the point where I had an attack of claustropobia in the GI's office and he actually noticed a personality difference. It was crazy. within days of stopping the drug it was like a fog of anxiety lifted. I also had tingling in my hands.

Good luck solving your mystery!

Interesting side effect and good doc to figure that one out. For me, I just know it never happened until after my pouch surgery and going on Cipro. I also know that we are all different and everyone responds differently to different things. Maybe it's just that since my pouch was formed, I'm way more sensitive to something in food. I just know it is a horrid thing - I've had to leave work twice in 5 years because of it and I'm a teacher so it's not like you just leave and come in the next day and catch up. There's the whole sub thing, the fact that your kids see this happening to you...

KTA,

As far as being a teacher and having students witness that, when I was in law school my Evidence professor (who was an epileptic and I had no idea of this) had a grand mal seizure in mid lecture in front of the whole class. I had no idea what was going on, I had never seen anyone have a grand mal seizure before. Neither did most of the class, except for one of my classmates who was an RN before she went to law school. She told me it was a grand mal seizure. To be honest that freaked me out a little bit because I was worried about my professor and what could possibly happen to him with this type of seizure, especially if he happened to be driving. Sadly he died a few years later because of brain tumors.

In your case, I hope you can learn the source of what is causing this shivering and address it so it does not happen again. I can certainly understand your concern. Good luck.

Ressurect it's funny how you mention claustrophobia with anxiety....cause I get the same exact way with anxiety.