Certain Anti-Biotics Can Make Hypermobility Symptoms Worse

That’s right; there’s a group of antibiotics that can make symptoms worse for folks with Hypermobility (HSD) and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), and can also degrade tissue quality even in collagen typical humans. Fluoroquinolones caught quite a bit of flack, because folks who received even one dose experienced dramatically higher risks for achilles tendon tears. Not just tendonopathy, but tears. There seems to be a 2:1 ratio of frequency of tears in men, versus women, and a 27% chance of bilateral involvement.

When you dig into the mechanism, it's not entirely clear the how or the why that the antibitoics impact connective tissue (If you know me, you know I hate this lack of research), but it can have impacts within hours, and the average reported tear or rupture occurs within 6 days of exposure. Single use of these antibiotics in collagen folks has been found to almost double the likelihood of tendon rupture in the following year, and a 2021 study found that exposure to Fluoroquinolones increased symptoms from tendonitis to joint pain across the board. And that's just in collagen typical folks.

• The Fluoroquinolones family include antibiotics such as: Ciprofloxacin (Cipro)

• Levofloxacin (Levaquin)

• Moxifloxacin (Avelox)

• Ofloxacin (Floxin)

• Gemifloxacin (Factive)

• Norfloxacin (Noroxin)

Now that brings us to Hypermobility. I recommend folks in general be careful with Fluoroquinolones because they have such a high risk for an adverse event, but especially for individuals with EDS, or HSD, I strongly recommend bringing up these concerns with a PCP before starting a prescription.

Why? Because folks with hypermobility already have challenges with their connective tissue, ligaments, and tendons. If a drug is uniquely targeting these tissues, it can exacerbate symptoms of hypermobility and EDS, particularly for joint pain and weakness, and create an even greater risk for tear and injury. I've personally had clients be dosed with Cipro, and have a dramatic decrease in functionality and an increase in joint pain and symptoms.

However, that doesn't mean that if you have one of these in your history, there's no hope. It means your body's had an experience, and we need to be careful with progressive loading, and bring even more focus to stability. Even with this exposure, we can rebuild stability

There are lots

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