The Unsettling Truth About Ciprofloxacin: A Wonder Drug’s Darker Side

In July 2023, Lara Martin visited the emergency room in Humboldt County, California, with what she suspected was a urinary tract infection. Martin, who had been treated for a more severe UTI years earlier, was worried the infection might spread to her kidneys if she waited to get it treated. The emergency room doctor confirmed that the source of her discomfort was a UTI and prescribed an antibiotic called ciprofloxacin.

After the doctor left the room, a nurse mentioned to Martin that doctors sometimes prescribe very strong antibiotics just to be on the safe side. The comment struck Martin as odd until she picked up the prescription and read a warning about serious side effects on the label.

Concerned, she called her mother, a former nurse, to confirm that ciprofloxacin was safe for her to take.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Martin recalled her mother saying. “They’ve been prescribing that stuff for 30 years.”

The next day, Martin was moving heavy pallets at work when she noticed on her smartwatch that her heart rate was plummeting. Fearing it might be related to the antibiotics, she called the emergency room medical team, who also told her not to worry. Despite the troubling drop in her heart rate and a growing sense of unease, Martin followed the doctor’s orders and took the full course of antibiotics.

Six weeks after she finished taking ciprofloxacin, Martin was too weak to leave the house.  Chronic fatigue and brain fog clouded her judgment. Nerve pain left her feeling debilitated and depressed. She took a leave from work and enrolled in California’s temporary disability program.

“I loved my job, I loved my life,” Martin recalls.

More than a year later, her symptoms still haven’t improved.

Read the rest of the story on MedShadow.