This past summer, I went to see my local Family Practitioner. \u00a0It was a first time visit to this guy so we spent some time chatting about my activities and upcoming races. \u00a0I had gone to him because I was switching Doctors and I had a small infection that need to be treated.<\/p>\n
The new Doctor knew my weekly mileage. \u00a0We talked about my training. \u00a0He. Knew.<\/p>\n
He prescribed me, Fluoroquinolone.<\/p>\n
Being the trusting person that I am, I filled the prescription and took it twice. \u00a0Two pills!<\/p>\n
My next run was the day I had taken that second pill. \u00a0While I was running, I felt a niggle in my Achilles Tendon. \u00a0I thought that was strange because I had never had any problems with my Achilles in the past. \u00a0I shrugged it off and kept running.<\/p>\n
The niggle kept raising it’s head \u00a0and got a bit more nigglish. \u00a0I was concerned. \u00a0I headed back to the house. \u00a0I had some compression sleeves and my “Stick” at the house. \u00a0I rolled out my calf, pulled on my compression sleeve and went out for a few more miles.<\/p>\n
Hmmm….my Achilles was talking to me louder and louder.<\/p>\n
Now, I may be a little slow on the uptake sometimes but I knew this wasn’t good. \u00a0I pulled the plug on the run and headed back to the house.<\/p>\n
The rest of the day I had to walk carefully. \u00a0VERY carefully! \u00a0Any little step and my Achilles let me know it was unhappy. I couldn’t figure out what could have caused it!<\/p>\n
The next day I was chatting with my Mother In Law. \u00a0She mentioned to me that _____ at their church had the exact same problem after taking antibiotics.<\/p>\n
What!?!<\/p>\n
MFH (My Favorite Husband) likes to tell me that “Google is my friend” so I ran over to my best friend and Googled that antibiotic. \u00a0I had just taken pill #3.<\/p>\n
Fluoroquinolone:\u00a0https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4080593\/<\/p>\n
Just. Lovely.<\/p>\n
I called my new Doctor back and tried to politely ask, “You knew my training schedule! \u00a0Why in the world did you put me on this stuff!?!” \u00a0I really did try to be polite. \u00a0He told me to discontinue the antibiotic and he would phone in a different one. \u00a0He also said to take 5 days off from running to let the other antibiotic get out of my system.<\/p>\n
First things first, I never did fill that second antibiotic. \u00a0I was gun shy now and wasn’t going to risk it.<\/p>\n
From my research on Dr. Google, I had learned that the Achilles takes FOREVER to heal. \u00a0Oh Noooo!!!<\/p>\n
The next thing I did on Dr. Google, was to research what I could do so I could continue training with an unhappy Achilles. \u00a0That’s where I learned about Rock Tape and\/or KT Tape. \u00a0I watched Youtube videos on how to tape up your Achilles so as to be able to continue to train.<\/p>\n
I drove to Dick Sportings Good to purchase some Rock Tape. \u00a0They didn’t carry the Rock Tape but they did have the KT Tape. I bought a roll. \u00a0The first day I was able to run, MFH taped me up and I carefully went out for some miles.<\/p>\n
The KT Tape helped but it didn’t stick well. \u00a0We tried everything to get that stuff to stick. \u00a0It was a no go. \u00a0I finally ordered some Rock Tape online. \u00a0It stuck TONS better. \u00a0MFH \u00a0continued to tape me up and I continued to train. \u00a0This is the taping technique I used on my Achilles:<\/p>\n