On or about June 14th, 2006, I was diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus; Type 1 diabetes. The doctors called it sudden onset diabetes. Yep, it sure was sudden.
I had been taking an antibiotic to treat an upper respiratory infection. The antibiotic Levaquin has some side effects:
- Drowsiness
- Taste Problems
- Dry Mouth
I was on Levaquin for 10 days, so my symptoms were expected. I also lost a little weight..actually looking back, it was a lot of weight, but I chalked that up to not eating. After all, my tongue had a bitter taste, and I was not eating much. I was also drinking a lot of water. At least 80 ounces a day and frequent (every 15 minutes) trips to the bathroom. My symptoms continued for another week before I finally decided to go see a doctor. Two days before that, I was scheduled to donate blood. So I made my donation, and after sucking down two glasses of apple juice and a bottle of Gatorade, I made it back to my desk. Fifteen minutes later, I felt woozy while finishing another trip to the men's room. I stumbled back to the nurses' station, where I was given another glass of sweet apple juice. Afterwards, I went home because I was feeling drained.
The next day, I woke up feeling much more tired. Too tired to even get dressed for work. I asked my wife to take me to the doctor that day and not wait.
As I said above: "On or about June 14th,2 006 I was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus; Type 1 diabetes. The doctors called it sudden onset diabetes. Yep, it sure was sudden."
I think my doctor could not have known this would have happened. I have what some are calling latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. I have a physical every year and there was no indication that I had a blood sugar problem. The Levaquin, plus the stress on my system from the illness may have been what pushed my pancreas over the edge.
I thought Levaquin was contraindicated for diabetics because it could cause changes in blood sugar. My guess would be that's what caused the sudden symptoms and presumably once you stopped taking it, they would subside. I don't mean that the diabetes would go away forever, of course. More like a strain on the pancreas would bring it out more.