A MUM suffering from an agonising five-month headache feared she was dying and wrote goodbye letters to her kids – but it was a reaction to a common antibiotic.
Victoria Abotorabi was prescribed a course of to treat a suspected ear infection in June 2024.
Victoria Abotorabi, 50, with her daughters Yasmine, 15, and Erin, 10Credit: Kennedy News
Victoria had an agonising reaction to antibiotics, suffering headaches, nerve pain and muscle spams for monthsCredit: Kennedy News
Victoria was left fearing she would dieCredit: Kennedy News
The 50-year-old began taking a three-week course of ciprofloxacin, which belongs to a group of antibiotics known as that are used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.
But five days into her prescription, the mum-of-two began waking up in the night with heart and numbness in her hands.
After being told the symptoms were linked to her infection, Victoria continued with the antibiotics before developing an intense headache a week later.
In addition, the recruitment consultant began experiencing a number of other issues including muscle spasms, twitches, confusion, neck pain, rashes and facial nerve pain.
Most people taking ciprofloxacin will only experience very mild side effects like nausea or diarrhoea, as well as tiredness.
But in very rare cases, according to the , fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause disabling, long-lasting or permanent side effects affecting the joints, muscles and nervous system.
Due to the , they can now only be prescribed in the UK if no other antibiotic is appropriate.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) cautions health professionals not to prescribe fluoroquinolones for non-severe infections, unless other commonly recommended antibiotics are considered inappropriate.
“Fluoroquinolone treatment should be discontinued at the first signs of a serious adverse reaction,” it notes in guidance .
Using steroids with with a fluoroquinolone can also exacerbate side effects, the MHRA adds.
Victoria’s headache lasted for five months, leading the mum to visit A&E seven times out of fear doctors had missed a serious medical issue.
The pain became so intense that Victoria feared she would die, even penning heartfelt goodbye letters to her two children.
It wasn’t until Victoria’s seventh trip to hospital in November that she was asked about medication she’d taken over the last six months, and later diagnosed as having suffered an adverse reaction to fluoroquinolones.
Shocked, Victoria is now raising awareness of the side effects of the commonly-prescribed , which left her believing she was dying.
Victoria, who lives in , , said: “I just had a normal life before this. I was really active and went to the gym multiple times a week.
Victoria was prescribed the antibiotics for an ear infectionCredit: Kennedy News
She visited A&E seven times over her symptomsCredit: Kennedy News
The mum lost a lot of weight during her five month-ordealCredit: Kennedy News
“I didn’t have any health problems luckily. Then I started getting this ear pain that was waking me up, it was a dull pain in my left ear.
“I thought it was just an ear infection. The doctor gave me some antibiotics and steroids and told me to take them for three weeks.
“He said ‘take them and this will knock it out and you won’t have any more problems’.
“I just always thought antibiotics were well-used and safe.”
However, five days after first beginning her ciprofloxacin prescription, Victoria began experiencing heart palpitations, numbness and an intense pressure in her head.
Victoria said doctors told her that her symptoms were linked to the infection and advised to continue taking the medication.
But the mum’s medical issues failed to improve, leaving her in daily pain.
Victoria said: “I don’t normally get at all and it was really bad.
I was in so much pain I spent days just crying, it was horrific. Medical professionals just kept saying I was anxious and stressed
Victoria Abotorabi
“I went to the doctors and they told me to go to A&E. They were concerned and gave me a CT scan but didn’t check what medication I was on.
“The headaches lasted for about five months, it was awful. I couldn’t even lie my head onto the pillow.
“I went on lots of different medications but nothing was working. I had body twitches, muscle spasms, my digestive system shut off, I lost so much weight, I had facial nerve pain.
“Nobody knew what was going on, I kept going back to A&E. I thought I was dying, I felt so incredibly poorly.
“I wrote letters to my kids saying goodbye because I thought the doctors had missed something really bad.
“I thought I was either going to die or I wanted to die. I just couldn’t deal with the pain anymore. It was absolutely unbearable.
“I was in so much pain I spent days just crying, it was horrific. Medical professionals just kept saying I was anxious and stressed.”
Aside from hospital visits, the mum spent £6,000 on private appointments to try and get to the bottom of what was happening.
Rare ciprofloxacin side effects
Very few people taking or using ciprofloxacin have serious side effects.
They affect less than one in 100 people.
Stop taking ciprofloxacin and call your doctor or call 111 now if:
- You notice changes in your mood or behaviour
- You have severe tiredness, feel anxious, low in mood or depressed, or have panic attacks
- You have confusion, or have difficulty sleeping or remembering things
- You have confusion, anxiety or depression
- You have muscle weakness, pain or swelling in your joints or tendons. This often begins in the ankle or calf, but could also be in your shoulder, arms or legs. It can happen in the first two days of taking ciprofloxacin or even several months after stopping. It is more common in children
- You have pain or abnormal sensations (such as pins and needles that do not go away, tingling, tickling, numbness or burning) or weakness in your body, especially in your legs or arms
- You have ringing in your ears (tinnitus), loss of taste, are seeing double, or have any other changes in your sight, smell, taste or hearing
- You have diarrhoea (perhaps with muscle cramps) that contains blood or mucus – if you have severe diarrhoea without blood or mucus for more than four days, also speak to a doctor
- You have a faster or irregular heartbeat, or heartbeats that suddenly become more noticeable (palpitations)
- You have sudden breathlessness, especially when you’re lying down
- You have swollen ankles, feet or stomach
Source: NHS
It wasn’t until Victoria’s seventh visit to A&E that she was asked about her recent medication.
She soon discovered she’d suffered an adverse reaction to ciprofloxacin, after receiving a diagnosis from a private consultant.
Victoria is now urging others to only take this antibiotic as a last resort.
She’s still struggling with chronic nerve pain, even after stopping the drug – though she was seen improvements to her symptoms.
Victoria said: “There is no cure for this, it’s just whether your body can recover.
“If I’d have known, I’d have never taken it. It shouldn’t be given out as a first-line antibiotic. It should be that they’ve tried everything else.
“I’m still left in chronic pain. I just had my complete faith in the health industry and doctors but I feel let down.
“It’s a horrible drug, it’s not worth the risk of taking. It’s not worth the long-term damage.
“Looking back to where I was to where I am now, I’ve come a long way. Life is hard still but better than when it was.”
Victoria wants others to take the drug only as a last resortCredit: Kennedy News
She’s still suffering from chronic painCredit: Kennedy News 
