WHY I HATE CIPROFLOXACIN

Ciprofloxacin? Oh No..! Don't talk about this antibiotic anymore! Why do I hate it so? Well, I had a bad experience. It happened in February, 2006. When I got mumps, I took an analgesic. But it didn't work. It was worse. I couldn't eat and I was very sick. Then, I went to an internist. Afterwards, he gave me ciprofloxacin and an analgesic. He knew that mumps is due to virus. It was self limited. And the treatment of mumps was not ciprofloxacin. But, he was afraid of lymphadenitis, the differential diagnosis of mumps. It was OK, I thought. I believed in him, besides I couldn't stand the suffering. After that, I finished all ciprofloxacin as he recommended.
Two weeks later, my husband suspected that I was pregnant, whereas in fact I didn't feel it. Yes, he said. Because I urinated many times but my period was not late. He asked me to use pregnancy pack test to find out whether I was pregnant or not. And the result was...
When I saw it at the first time, I thought there was one strip, it meant that It was negative. Then, I gave it to him, and i teased him, " Hey, the result is positive!" Whereas I was sure It was negative. After that, he looked at the pregnant pack test and he said, " Yes, you're right. You're pregnant!" I was surprised. I thought It was negative. I looked at the pregnant pack test again. He was right, I thought. I was pregnant.
Actually, I wanted to have more children before I went to school in July, 2006. But, because I had just gotten over from mumps, I was afraid of my fetus. As you know, ciprofloxacin is one of the drugs which is harmful to the fetus.
Two days later, I went to my gynecologist. After he checked me up, I told him that I had had mumps two weeks ago and I took Ciprofloxacin and analgesic. He was surprised," Uh, Why did you take Ciprofloxacin? Do you know It is harmful and teratogenic. Analgesic is less harmful than Ciprofloxacin. The treatment of mumps is not antibiotic. If you get mumps and you only take Panadol, you'll be fine!" Even though I explained why the internist gave me the antibiotic, he didn't agree with him. Oh my God, I was afraid something happened to my fetus. I said, " It's all up to you, Doc..." I couldn't say anything. I got headache. "Because there is no treatment for this, I'll give you only vitamins", He said.
While my husband was driving home, I was upset and quiet. He said, "That's fine. You should pray and ask God to have a healthy child. All happening in this world depends on God." According to Qur'an, Surah An Nahl (16), verse 40, "For to anything which We have willed, We but say the word "Be", and it is." Besides, If I got stressed, the fetus would be stressed too. And, that would not be good. I tried to relax. I searched some websites that talked about taking ciprofloxacin while pregnant.
According to Center For Drug Evaluation and Research, "while there are no controlled studies of ciprofloxacin use in pregnant women to show safety, an expert review of published data on experiences with ciprofloxacin use during pregnancy by TERIS - the Teratogen Information System - concluded that therapeutic doses during pregnancy are unlikely to pose a substantial teratogenic risk (quantity and quality of data = fair), but the data are insufficient to state that there is no risk. An observational cohort study looking at human experience with five different antibiotics reported a total of 40 pregnancies with ciprofloxacin. Five of the nine women who received ciprofloxacin during the first trimester experienced normal births with no reported congenital abnormalities. The other four first trimester exposures were an ectopic pregnancy, a spontaneous abortion and two terminations." Oh My God, I had been exposed to ciprofloxacin during the first trimester. I was upset. I hoped I was not four of the nine women which was explained above.
I think God is warning me to pray punctually and more often. I must remember Him anytime and anywhere i am. Please God, give me a healthy and perfect child. Now, My pregnancy is going 14 weeks and I hope everything will be fine.