A mother-of-four recently shared with pro-life advocate Abby Johnson how she experienced debilitating side effects after taking a common antibiotic — Ciprofloxacin — and how her faith carried her through the darkest season of her life.
On a recent episode of Johnson’s podcast “Politely Rude,” Rachel Chihak, who described herself as an active mom and part-time project manager before her illness, said her life changed in November 2022 after being prescribed Ciprofloxacin, commonly known as Cipro, for a suspected urinary tract infection.
The medication, which carries a “black box” warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, caused what she and others describe as “fluoroquinolone toxicity,” a condition that left her partially disabled and severely impacted her daily functioning.
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“This is an antibiotic that I think most people have taken before,” Johnson said in the podcast. “Rachel took this antibiotic, and she was disabled by it in November of 2022.”
Chihak detailed how, shortly after taking the drug, she began experiencing severe pain in her Achilles tendon, a symptom explicitly referenced in the drug’s warning label.
“I started to experience tendon pain in my Achilles tendon. … I also started to experience really severe insomnia. I was having panic attacks like I was laying in bed at night thinking I was going to die,” she recalled.
Listen to the ‘Politely Rude’ podcast
What began as tendon and calf pain worsened over the course of a year, she said, eventually spreading to her arms and hands. She lost the ability to take long walks, run household errands, or even hold her own phone without pain. “It looks like slowly, over weeks and months, I would lose abilities,” Chihak said.
Initially, Chihak’s symptoms were acknowledged by doctors as being caused by the antibiotic, but she said most of them minimized the severity, telling her the effects would fade in a few weeks. That wasn’t her experience. “I ended up having like a full worsening of symptoms about six months in, and that involved my upper body, my arms and my hands too,” she said.
In a devastating turn of events, Chihak later learned that she likely never needed the antibiotic at all. Her symptoms stemmed not from a bacterial infection, but from a pelvic floor disorder, she said, a condition often misdiagnosed in women.
“I just got off of it because I didn’t actually need an antibiotic,” she said. “That’s a whole different discussion — women’s health care and how we’re just medicated, medicated, medicated instead of getting to the root cause.”
Shortly after taking the drug, Chihak discovered she was pregnant, news that added both joy and anxiety to her already fragile state. “It was the night of my son’s Christmas concert,” she said. “I took the test and the line popped up immediately. … I was probably six weeks or something like that.”
Sitting at the concert that evening, she recalled hearing the story of the angel appearing to Mary and felt God speak to her through it: “I just knew that God was telling me not to be afraid.”
But not everyone responded to her pregnancy with reassurance. At her first OB appointment, Chihak said she expressed her anxiety and concerns. “The first thing that she said was that, you know, there are options available to you,” Chihak recalled. “You don’t have to carry this pregnancy.” That suggestion, she said, was deeply upsetting.
“I’m thankful that God, even through you and your book, honestly, gave me such a strong conviction that my daughter’s life … was worth any sacrifice and any hardship,” she told Johnson. “She really did give me purpose and joy, even in the darkest days.”
Her daughter, Lily Grace, was born healthy on July 16, 2023. “She was perfectly healthy, which was such an answer to prayer,” Chihak said. The name Lily was chosen from Matthew 6:28, referencing God’s care for the lilies of the field. “We weren’t toiling or spinning,” she said. “God blessed us with our daughter in a season where we had to trust Him and have such a deep dependence on Him.”
However, the birth was not without complications. Due to heightened bodily sensitivity, multiple attempts to administer an epidural failed, causing severe nerve pain and eventually leading to a spinal headache — a side effect that left Chihak in extreme pain for over a week. “Every time I sat straight or stood up, I felt like someone was just squishing my head,” she said.
Through it all, Chihak said Scripture gave her hope. While reading a devotional, she came across Isaiah 35:3–4: “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees … Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not.’”
The passage, she said, spoke directly to the areas of her body most affected by the toxicity. “I knew in that moment that God directly answered my prayer in a very specific way,” she said.
Chihak also described the impact the ordeal had on her marriage. Her husband, Sam, became a caretaker and emotional support during her most difficult months, she said, pushing her in a wheelchair, cooking meals, and reassuring her that she would recover.
“God knew what I needed in my life when He gave me Sam,” she said. “He never doubted I’d get better.”
Johnson, reflecting on the conversation, emphasized the need for medical transparency and patient advocacy. “We talk about informed consent in the abortion industry all the time … but I also feel like there’s a lack of informed consent when it comes to pharmaceuticals,” she said.
Chihak echoed that sentiment, encouraging listeners to research medications and not be afraid to ask questions or challenge medical advice. “No one will advocate for you more than you will,” she said.
“God has given me that assurance that I will get better, and I have gotten a lot better,” she said.
