adverse reactions Levaquin

The Fluoroquinolone Time Bomb – Answers in the Mitochondria

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Two of the more perplexing features of Fluoroquinolone Toxicity (an adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic – Cipro/Ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/Levofloxacin, Avelox/Moxifloxacin or Floxin/Ofloxacin) are delayed reactions and tolerance thresholds. Both of these features of Fluoroquinolone Toxicity can be explained by noting that fluoroquinolones have been shown to damage mitochondria and cause oxidative stress, and that delayed onset of a disease state, as well as tolerance thresholds, are features of illnesses brought on by pharmaceutical induced mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress.

Delayed Reactions and Tolerance Thresholds with Fluoroquinolone Reactions

By “delayed reactions” I mean that adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones can occur weeks, months or even years after administration of the fluoroquinolone has stopped.  For the lawsuit filed by Public Citizen on behalf of patients who tore or ruptured tendons after taking a fluoroquinolone, (a suit that prompted the addition of the black box warning on all orally and IV administered fluoroquinolones) notes that “Fluoroquinolones, including CIPRO®, are associated with an increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture in all ages. This risk is further increased in older patients usually over 60 years of age, in patients taking corticosteroid drugs, and in patients with kidney, heart or lung transplants”. Tendon tears and ruptures that occurred within one year of the patient taking the fluoroquinolone were accepted as being related to the patient’s fluoroquinolone use. Patient reports have noted that new adverse symptoms of fluoroquinolone toxicity have occurred years after administration of the fluoroquinolone has ceased.

Many patients also experience a tolerance threshold for fluoroquinolone use.  A patient can tolerate fluoroquinolones well, experiencing few or no side-effects, until his or her threshold is reached.  After the patient’s tolerance threshold is reached, multisymptom systemic illness ensues. This patient’s story, found on the Fluoroquinolone Wall of Pain, illustrates the issue of tolerance thresholds:

On April 15, 2013 I was prescribed Avelox. I had been on this drug many times for chronic sinus infections. This time was different. Within 10 minutes of the first dose I went into anaphylaxis. I stopped breathing, had numerous convulsions and two grand Mal seizures. Since that day I have suffered with seizures, convulsions, tremors, debilitating fatigue, muscle weakness, vision loss, severe neuropathic pain, vomiting, nausea, lack of appetite, tendon, and vein problems.

This patient tolerated Avelox (moxifloxacin – a fluoroquinolone) well until her tolerance threshold was reached. Once her tolerance threshold was reached, she experienced multi-symptom systemic illness.

I personally experienced both a delayed reaction to Cipro/Ciprofloxacin (also a fluoroquinolone) and a tolerance threshold for it. I took 7 500-milligram pills of Cipro in 2009 without notable incident. I was even able to hike the entire 500-mile Colorado Trail in 2010 (no peripheral neuropathy or weakness were present at that time). When I took 7 more 500-milligram pills in 2011 I experienced a severe adverse reaction that began two full weeks after I was done taking the pills. I experienced multiple musculoskeletal (I couldn’t walk more than a block) and nervous system symptoms (I lost my memory and reading comprehension), and I would describe the reaction as feeling like a bomb had gone off in my body.

Fluoroquinolone Time Bomb: It’s All About the Mitochondria

My experience of a delayed onset of systemic health issues after having previously tolerated Cipro/Ciprofloxacin well, is typical of diseases that are brought on by a pharmaceutical causing mitochondrial dysfunction. (Multiple journal articles have noted that fluoroquinolones cause mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress.)

In “Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Drug Hepatotoxicity Putting the Stress on Mitochondria” it is noted that:

…damage to mitochondria often reflects successive chemical insults, such that no immediate cause for functional changes or pathological alterations can be established. There is indeed experimental evidence that prolonged injury to mitochondria, such as that which typifies oxidative injury to mitochondrial DNA or to components of the electron transport chain (ETC), has to cross a certain threshold (or a number of thresholds) before cell damage or cell death becomes manifest.

Each time mitochondria is injured, the patient gets closer to his or her personal tolerance threshold for mitochondrial damage. Once the threshold is crossed, cell damage and apoptosis occur – which manifest themselves in various states of illness.

It is further explained in “Mechanisms of Pathogenesis” that:

…approximately 60% of mitochondrial DNA must be deleted from the mouse genome before complex IV activity is compromised and serum levels of lactate are elevated. This non-linear response can be explained upon consideration that the molecules that subserve mitochondrial function (e.g., mitochondrial DNA, mRNA, and ETC proteins) are present in excess of amounts required for normal cell function. This reserve (or buffering) capacity acts as a protective mechanism; however, at a certain stage of damage, the supply of biomolecules needed to support wild-type mitochondrial function becomes compromised.

The lay person’s summary of the above excerpts is that we have excess mitochondrial DNA and that excess mitochondrial DNA keeps each of us from developing a systemic multi-symptom illness whenever mitochondrial DNA is adversely affected (many pharmaceuticals and environmental toxins adversely affect mitochondrial DNA). However, when mitochondrial DNA is depleted sufficiently, cellular dysfunction, oxidative stress and cell death, ensue.

Multiple studies have noted that fluoroquinolones deplete mitochondrial DNA (here, here and here).  When enough mitochondrial DNA are depleted, adverse reactions that are systemic and include multiple symptoms simultaneously, occur.

Multi-Symptom Reaction: Look to Mitochondrial Damage

It is often difficult for the patient who is experiencing a systemic multi-symptom illness to connect his or her illness to the mitochondria damaging drug or toxin that hurt him or her because of the time delay between the cause (mitochondria damaging chemical) and the effect (bomb going off in body and mind). Though the delayed onset of fluoroquinolone toxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction symptoms are noted in many articles (here, here), the reason for the delayed onset of symptoms is not known.  In “Mechanisms of Pathogenesis” it is hypothesized that “an initial adaptive response was followed by a toxic response” when cells are exposed to a mitochondria damaging chemical. Perhaps the delay in adverse reaction onset is due to a toxic response taking time to develop.

Many pharmaceuticals damage mitochondria. Bactericidal antibiotics (including fluoroquinolones), Statins, acetaminophen, some chemotherapy drugs, vaccines, and many others, cause mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and cell death. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are connected to a variety of ailments, from chronic fatigue syndrome to Alzheimer’s disease and obesity. However, the FDA and other drug regulatory agencies have systematically ignored damage to mitochondria caused by pharmaceuticals and “mitochondrial toxicity testing is not required by the US FDA for drug approval.”

The recognition of delayed adverse reactions and tolerance thresholds for mitochondrial damaging drugs and vaccines will go far in helping both doctors and patients to recognize mitochondrial damage related adverse drug reactions (and adverse vaccine reactions). Once the reactions are recognized, perhaps some pressure can be put on the FDA and/or the pharmaceutical companies to test how drugs affect mitochondria before they are released onto the market. After all, mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress are causally related to almost every chronic illness.  It would be nice if doctors, those in the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA regulators, and others, recognized the harm that drugs do to mitochondria, and the symptoms of iatrogenic mitochondrial dysfunction.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.

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This story was published originally on Hormones Matter in March 2014.

 

 

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Don’t Take Cipro, Levaquin or Avelox If….

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There is a huge range in how people react to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/Ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/Levofloxacin, Avelox/Moxifloxacin and Floxin/Ofloxacin). Some people take fluoroquinolones repeatedly and never experience an adverse reaction. Some people are left bed-bound after one pill, or one prescription. Some people take a full fluoroquinolone prescription without incident at one time in their life, then, when they take a second (or third, or fourth) prescription, their body goes hay-wire. Some people have a sudden and severe adverse reaction, where they are unable to move or think after previously being fine, and other people have a gradual onset of symptoms where they damage tendons or develop neuropathy slowly, over time.

What determines how a person reacts to fluoroquinolones? The black box warning label on fluoroquinolones states that, “risk (of tendinitis) is further increased in older patients usually over 60 years of age, in patients taking corticosteroid drugs, and in patients with kidney, heart or lung transplants.” But people who fit into those categories aren’t the only people who are hurt by fluoroquinolones. I didn’t fit into any of those categories. I was 32, athletic, strong, not on any medications, etc. when I was sickened by Cipro. I was healthy. But fourteen 500 milligram pills of Cipro (half taken in 2009 without incident and half taken in 2011 with a sudden severe adverse reaction) were enough to cause my body and mind significant harm.

I must have had risk factors that made me susceptible to fluoroquinolone toxicity though, because Cipro made me quite sick. I’m honestly not sure what those factors are (no one knows – or at least they aren’t publishing papers about it if they do). Perhaps those who are hurt by fluoroquinolones have depleted liver enzymes and therefore they aren’t able to metabolize drugs like people who have more robust supplies of drug metabolizing enzymes. Perhaps people who suffer from fluoroquinolone toxicity are depleted of cellular magnesium, as magnesium has been shown to have protective effects on cells that are exposed to fluoroquinolones. Perhaps the microbiome of those who are hurt by fluoroquinolones is depleted of good bacteria and an overwhelming number of bad bacteria in the gut leads to many of the symptoms of fluoroquinolone toxicity. Perhaps there are some people who are genetically predisposed toward having an adverse reaction to fluoroquinolones. As with everything, there is a mix of genetics and environment that goes into how the body reacts when faced with a chemical onslaught. Human bodies are unbelievably complex and multifaceted; once individual differences are considered, the complexity becomes mind-boggling.

Customizing medicine is difficult. The entire human genome, though sequenced, has not yet been mapped out. We are not at a point yet where we can easily and inexpensively test genes and interpret the results of genomic tests.

Genes aren’t the only things that determine how a person reacts to a drug. The microbiome also plays an important role in determining drug metabolism. Per an article entitled, Role of Intestinal Microflora in Xenobiotic-induced Toxicity, “individual differences in the intestinal microflora may result in individualized xenobiotic (a chemical or substance that is foreign to an organism or biological system) toxicities.” The differences in the bacteria in our gut make a difference in how drugs are metabolized. As the microbiome is changed, through drugs – especially antibiotics, the reaction of the individual patient to formerly well tolerated drugs, can change.

Until customizing medicine to the individual becomes feasible, what are doctors supposed to do to prevent their patients from having a dangerous adverse reaction to a drug? Drugs with potentially devastating adverse effects could be avoided entirely unless they are necessary to save a life. This is the policy that I would like to see applied to fluoroquinolones. (The cellular damage that fluoroquinolones inflict make their use inappropriate for infections that are not life-threatening.) Unfortunately, prudence in regards to prescribing fluoroquinolones is not the current trend. In 2011, 23.1 million prescriptions for fluoroquinolones were written in the U.S., and despite the 43 page warning label that comes with Cipro/Ciprofloxacin, fluoroquinolone toxicity is denied by many physicians. As much as I would like to cut the number of fluoroquinolone prescriptions by 90%, the entire medical establishment is not yet listening to me and others who are screaming about the pain and suffering caused by fluoroquinolones. To reduce the number of people hurt, either a study or news story must induce a paradigm shift enabling all doctors to see that fluoroquinolones are vastly more dangerous than penicillin, or patients (especially those in the risk categories listed below) must ask their doctors to not prescribe them.

Though the true risk factors for fluoroquinolone toxicity (genetic, enzyme and microbiome markers) are not yet established, there are some groups of people who are at higher risk of an adverse reaction than others. They should never be given fluoroquinolones. Those groups are:

  1. People who have had an adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone in the past. Despite the fact that all of the warning labels for fluoroquinolones state that they should not be given to people with a history of hypersensitivity to fluoroquinolones, the recommendation that they be avoided is often ignored. This is the case because people often don’t realize that they are having a mild adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone. Who would think that muscle twitches, insomnia, urgency when urinating or loss of endurance would be related to the administration of an antibiotic? The connection is so bizarre that it is often not recognized. A list of warning signs that your body has reached its threshold for fluoroquinolones can be found here: Warning Signs of Fluoroquinolone Toxicity.
  2. Athletes. It is well documented and known that fluoroquinolones degrade the structure of tendons. They “exert a toxic effect not only on tendons but also on cartilage, bone, and muscle,” per a Mayo Clinic affiliated article entitled Musculoskeletal Complications of Fluoroquinolones: Guidelines and Precautions for Usage in the Athletic Population. Further information about why the Mayo Clinic researchers note that, “Athletes should avoid all use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics unless no alternative is available” can be found here: Deciphering the Pathogenesis of Tendonopathies: A Three Stage Process.
  3. People on steroids. Steroids are contraindicated with fluoroquinolones. As is noted in the Cipro/Ciprofloxacin warning label, people who are on corticosteroids are at an increased risk of tendonitis when administered fluoroquinolones. In addition to the increased risk of tendon damage, the combination of steroids and fluoroquinolones can increase the risk of development of a deadly glabrata fungal infection.
  4. People who need to take NSAIDs regularly. NSAIDs, and other drugs that contain a carboxylic acid molecule, are contraindicated with fluoroquinolone toxicity. Patients suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity have reported adverse reactions to NSAIDs even weeks or months after they have stopped taking fluoroquinolones. The adverse interaction between fluoroquinolones / fluoroquinolone toxicity and NSAIDs is likely because of the formation of poisonous acyl glucuronides. Articles describing this process can be found on Fluoroquinolone Links and Resources.
  5. Immunocompromised individuals. Fluoroquinolones, and other broad spectrum antibiotics, kill good bacteria along with harmful bacteria. When the good bacteria in the gut are wiped out, they can no longer keep the bad bacteria, or fungal infections, in check. Fungal infections can take over a person’s body and they can be deadly. This can happen with people who have healthy immune systems. For people with already compromised immune systems, vulnerability to fungal infections may be increased. Per an article in Life Extension Magazine, “Anyone can acquire a fungal infection, but the elderly, critically ill, and individuals with weakened immunity, due to diseases such as HIV/AIDS or use of immunosuppressive medications (such as corticosteroids), have a higher risk.”
  6. People with mitochondrial dysfunction. Per an article entitled Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species Control T Cell Activation by Regulating IL-2 and IL-4 Expression: Mechanism of Ciprofloxacin-Mediated Immunosuppression, “ciprofloxacin was also shown to deplete the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content, thus leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and retarded cellular growth.” Ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones damage mitochondria. Those with preexisting mitochondrial dysfunction will suffer more as their mitochondria are further damaged.
  7. Children. Fluoroquinolones have been shown to degrade cartilage in juvenile animals and, for this reason, are generally considered to be contraindicated in the juvenile population. Unfortunately, children are still prescribed fluoroquinolones by pediatricians who are unaware of the severity of adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones.

Until medicine is more individualized and every factor that makes a person more or less susceptible to experiencing an adverse reaction to a drug can be tested before that drug is administered, everyone who takes a fluoroquinolone is at risk of experiencing an adverse reaction. The best way to protect oneself from fluoroquinolone toxicity is to not take a fluoroquinolone. Though there are some risk factors that make some groups of people more susceptible to experiencing a severe adverse reaction to fluoroquinolones than others, there is no guarantee that not fitting into one of those groups will ensure your safety. With that noted, the people who fit into any of the seven categories listed above should avoid fluoroquinolones whenever possible.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.

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Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with the fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and others: The Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Side Effects Study. The study is anonymous, takes 20-30 minutes to complete and is open to anyone who has used a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Please complete the study and help us understand the scope of fluoroquinolone reactions.

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This post was published previously on Hormones Matter in January 2014.

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Fluoroquinolones 101 – Antibiotics to Avoid

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Fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, etc. are broad-spectrum antibiotics used to treat a variety of infections, from urinary tract infections to anthrax and everything in between.  The first quinolone created was Nalidixic Acid which was discovered by George Lesher in 1962.  (Nalidixic Acid was added to the OEHHA prop 65 list of carcinogens in 1998.) Cipro (ciprofloxacin) is a second generation fluoroquinolone patented in 1983 by Bayer, Levaquin (levofloxacin) is a third generation fluroquinolone  patented in 1987 by Ortho-McNeil-Janssen (a division of Johnson & Johnson), and Avelox (moxifloxacin) is a fourth generation fluoroquinolone patented in 1991 by Bayer.

Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics – Still on the Market

Of the 30 quinolones that have made it to market since the 1980s, all but 6 have either been removed from the US market or have severely restricted use.

The fluoroquinolone antibiotics that are still on the market are some of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics. Per the FDA, “Approximately 23.1 million unique patients received a dispensed prescription for an oral fluoroquinolone product from outpatient retail pharmacies during 2011,” and “Within the hospital setting, there were approximately 3.8 million unique patients billed for an injectable fluoroquinolone product during 2011.”

When used properly, such as in cases of life-threatening hospital acquired pneumonia, fluroquinolone antibiotics can save lives.

Fluoroquinolone Antibiotic Side-Effects and Adverse Reactions

When used improperly, fluoroquinolone antibiotics can needlessly cause devastating side-effects.  Devastating side-effects can also occur when fluoroquinolone antibiotics are used properly, but the devastation can be justified by weighing it against the alternative – death.  In 2001, Dr. Jay S. Cohen published an article on the severe and often disabling reactions some people sustained  as a result of taking a fluoroquinolone antibiotic.  Dr. Cohen says,

“It is difficult to describe the severity of these reactions. They are devastating. Many of the people in my study were healthy before their reactions. Some were high intensity athletes. Suddenly they were disabled, in terrible pain, unable to work, walk, or sleep.”

Dr. Cohen’s study of 45 subjects suffering from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome, a name that I’m pushing for, (without an official name, it is difficult get the word out) showed that they had the following symptoms:

  • Peripheral Nervous System: Tingling, numbness, prickling, burning pain, pins/needles sensation, electrical or shooting pain, skin crawling, sensation, hyperesthesia, hypoesthesia, allodynia (sensitivity to touch) numbness, weakness, twitching, tremors, spasms.
  • Central Nervous System: Dizziness, malaise, weakness, impaired coordination, nightmares, insomnia, headaches, agitation, anxiety, panic attacks, disorientation, impaired concentration or memory, confusion, depersonalization, hallucinations, psychoses.
  • Musculoskeletal: Muscle pain, weakness, soreness, joint swelling, pain, tendon pain, ruptures.
  • Special Senses: Diminished or altered visual, olfactory, auditory functioning, tinnitus (ringing in the ears).
  • Cardiovascular: Tachycardia, shortness of breath, hypertension, palpitations, chest pain.
  • Skin: Rash, swelling, hair loss, sweating, intolerance to heat and\or cold.
  • Gastrointestinal: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain.

When a fluoroquinolone antibiotic triggers a toxic reaction in a person, multiple symptoms are often experienced. I experienced all of the symptoms that are italicized.

Fluoroquinolone Antibiotic Damage – Technical Aspects

Fluoroquinolones are eukaryotic DNA gyrase and topoisomerase inhibitors very similar to many antineoplastic agents (source).  What this means in plain English is that these drugs work the same way as chemotherapeutic drugs; they disrupt DNA and lead to destruction of cells.  A recent (2013) study conducted by a team of scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University Studies showed that Ciprofloxacin, along with a couple of other non-fluoroquinolone antibiotics, causes oxidative stress and mitochondrial malfunction. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Young Pharmacists found that, “There is significant and gradual elevation of lipid peroxide levels in patients on ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin.”  They also found that “There was substantial depletion in both SOD (superoxide dismutase, “a free radical scavenging enzyme”) and glutathione levels” and that “On the 5th day of treatment, plasma antioxidant status decreased by 77.6%, 50.5% (and) 7.56% for ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin and gatifloxacin respectively.” The study also notes that administration of fluoroquinolones leads to a marked increase in the formation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and that “reactive free radicals overwhelms the antioxidant defence, lipid peroxidation of the cell membrane occurs. This causes disturbances in cell integrity leading to cell damage/death.”

How Many People are at Risk?

The exact rate of adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones is difficult to determine.  Studies of adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones have noted that, “During clinical trials, the overall frequencies of adverse effects associated with (fluoroquinolones) to vary between 4.4 and 20%.”  Just the fact that the spread is so large, a 15.6% spread in frequency of adverse reactions is a HUGE difference, implies that the actual occurrence of adverse reactions is difficult to establish or unknown.

With the FDA figures above noting that 26.9 million unique patients were given fluoroquinolones in 2011, if you just take the conservative adverse reaction figure of 4.4%, you’ll get a horrifying number of people with adverse reactions in 2011 alone – 1,183,600 people.  20% of 26.9 million is 5,380,000 people adversely effected.  That is scary.  Those numbers are truly frightening given the severity of the adverse effects described above.

Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome

I see fluoroquinolone toxicity everywhere, and even I think that those numbers are high for severe, disabling reactions like mine where multiple symptoms develop simultaneously.  Not everyone who has an adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone has a reaction like mine, or even develops Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome – thank God.  Many people have milder reactions.  Milder symptoms include any one of the symptoms listed above as well as  diarrhea, vomiting, mild tendonitis, decreased energy, painless muscle twitches, memory loss, urgency of urination, or any number of reactions that the body may have to a massive depletion of antioxidants and increases in lipid peroxide levels and reactive oxygen species production.

Even though severe adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones antibiotics can be painful and disabling for years, many (possibly most, but certainly not all) people recover from Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome with time.  I anticipate that I will be fully recovered 2 years after my reaction started. Sadly, there are some people who don’t recover.  They suffer from chronic pain, disability, impaired cognitive abilities, etc. permanently.

It is absurd, to say the least, that an acute problem, an infection, that can easily be taken care of with administration of an antibiotic that is not a fluoroquinolone, is converted into a chronic problem, a  syndrome that can disable a person for years, by a prescription ANTIBIOTIC, used as prescribed. In my case, a urinary tract infection that could have likely been taken care of with macrobid or even cranberry juice and d-mannos, was treated with Cipro which left me unable to do many physical and mental tasks that I had previously been able to do with ease. It’s a crazy, absurd situation.  It’s absurd and it’s wrong.

Some Antibiotics are More Dangerous than Others

The bottom line is that these popularly prescribed antibiotics are dangerous drugs that have caused thousands of people to suffer with a myriad of maladies. Undeniably, they have their place, in treating life-threatening infections.  Unfortunately, they are not being reserved for use in life-threatening situations and people are being hurt after taking them for simple sinus, urinary tract, bronchial and prostate infections. A strict and rigorous protocol needs to be established to limit the damage that they cause; because it’s not right to maim and disable people to treat their sinus infections.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.

This article was published previously in August 2013 and is being re-posted in light of the recent press coverage warning of fluoroquinolone dangers.

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Fluoroquinolone Neuropathy Feels Like Acid Burning and Electrocution

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My name is Janet Murray, I am 57 years old. I do not even know how to put my health story into words so that the human mind can understand the pain I have lived with. I lived in Canada and had been given many courses of Cipro for various illnesses over the last 30 years. Sometime ago, I began developing a lot of strange problems that no one could diagnose. I had GI difficulties, body pain, migraines every week, severe interstitial cystitis – so severe they wanted to remove my bladder. Thankfully, they did not. I was given many diagnoses too, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia. My cognitive abilities became so impaired. I loose words and my memory is shot.  I had to leave my job with the Federal Government and work at home, at my own hours. I have been extremely fatigued for the last 25 years, but I never connected the dots between my health issues and the fluoroquinolone antibiotics like Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and others until I blew out my forearm tendon, a classic post fluoroquinolone adverse reaction. It was only then that I began to learn more about the chronic symptoms that fluoroquinolone antibiotics evoke. I had them all and more.  These symptoms didn’t appear all at once, and so it was difficult to identify at first, but over time, my illnesses became readily apparent and progressive to the point that it was no longer a question of if I was poisoned by a fluoroquinolone, but how badly.

Let me back up a little though and give you some more details. For years, I was fatigued and suffering from post fluoroquinolone reactions, but I didn’t know it. During that time, I had a long distance relationship with the love of my life in NJ.  He waited and visited me back and forth for 10 years and I visited when I was well enough. When I was finally was well enough to immigrate to the US, I he asked me to marry him and so I stayed and had two wonderful years. We are jewelry designers and did the large shows. I functioned, at very low level and had to rest always, but I was living my dream. Even functioning at such a low level, I was happy after many years of hell.

One year, I kept getting bronchial issues and went to a walk in clinic. I was given Levaquin with Prednisone with NSAIDS and was on small dose of a benzodiazepine. Fluoroquinolones should never be used with steroids and NSAIDS, something I did not know at the time and apparently neither did the doctors.  I took this combination again and again and again across that year.

Janet Murray - Before and After FQ
This is me before and after fluoroquinolone toxicity.

My reaction to these drugs was delayed and so it did not occur to me to link the Levaquin or my past Cipro use to my strange symptoms. I have since learned that delayed adverse reactions are common post fluoroquinolones. After my first script that year I was more tired, could not walk far and something was not right. I didn’t know what though. During the second year I woke up with acid pain in the shoulder and could not lift it. I was told I had frozen shoulder. It was really a tendon rupture, common post fluoroquinolone.

The pain in my forearm and shoulder was horrific. It took 8 months before I could move my arm again. Then I woke up one morning and the same thing was happening on my buttock tendons. I had the same horrific, acid-like pain. Those tendons ruptured. I crawled for 4 months and tried to stand when I could. I could no longer walk, the pain was unbearable.

One morning I woke up and my entire body felt like it was beaten with a baseball bat. I had a shot-like feeling in the base of my neck. I sat up, vomited and shook. The next day my entire body started to shake. I felt like I had been electrocuted. I had sharp pains of electricity though my entire body. My skin felt ripped off of the bones with electric jabs and jolts. I had large jolts of electricity cursing through my body. I sat for 5 months frozen, feeling like I was living in a body of large, angry hornets, stinging me all over 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The electrocutions were never ending.

My stomach almost shut down almost. Every joint in my body popped and cracked when I moved.  My legs would not hold me. I lost the vision in my right eye due to a macular tear. I lost four teeth due severe periodontal damage. Other symptoms include:

  • Up to 40 mouth sores at a time. The doctors say they look like burns or lesions. I wonder if it’s not a form of Steven-Johnson Syndrome.
  • Swaying, if walking, dizzy, feeling of being “stoned” in the head.
  • Sensory chills so severe with stinging that it takes 4 hot water bottles and wearing then down top as well.
  • Arms and hands go dead and numb
  • Constant feelings of being electrocuted
  • Severe bowel constipation
  • Intolerance  to most foods
  • Body hair stopped growing
  • My skin has become very thin and transparent with enlarged veins.
  • Pin prick sores on my legs and what looks like burns all over my body.
    Post fluoroquinolone skin reactions
    On the right, the burn-like lesions all over my body. On the left, the pin-prick sores on my legs.
  • I experience severe changes in body temperature.
  • Feelings of terror and anxiety, not related to any surrounding, that come out of the blue
  • Severe depression
  • Hyperthyroid

And the strange symptoms go on and on. No one seemed to understand. I was almost dead. I dropped 40 pounds in three months. My heart pounds non-stop. Terrors and jolts surge through me. I was hysterical and crying.

The doctors keep saying I have fibromyalgia. FIBRO, I am being electrocuted..!! It couldn’t have fibro. I sat and thought this is NO normal illness but nothing showed up much on my tests. I have seen 50 doctors and no one can find anything.  I feel like I have been poisoned.  I soon learned, I was not alone.  It was the Levaquin, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic that I have since learned, causes severe peripheral neurophathies, mitochondrial damage, and all of the seemingly unrelated symptoms that I have experienced over the last couple of years.

Right now, I am in so much pain, I cry daily. I wake up with night terrors, heart pounding. My feet feel frozen, as if they are dying due to extreme hypothermia – the kind mountain climbers face when their fingers and toes turn black. That’s what my feet feel like. My tongue burns like a hornet’s nest, day in, day out.  It has been a year now, living with all over the body hornet stings and large tree like branch zapping about 40 at a time. I had the EMG and nerve biopsy that shows axonal swelling.  I had an MRI showing two white matter lesions in the frontal lobe, the doctors say are consistent with MS or Lyme disease.

I should mention, I also tested positive for the MTHFR mutation that makes methylating vitamin B’s difficult.  Even with the axonal damage, no one knows what to do. They tried to give me painkillers but I cannot tolerate them and vomit them back up. I have been on Paxil for years, more because I cannot seem to withdraw from it than anything else. Gabapentin, even at a high dose, does nothing and so I suffer.  I cannot take this much longer. I cannot live with the nerve pain. Please help.

A few other clues that might be helpful for understanding this mess.  When I tried acupuncture to relieve the nerve pain, it made it worse. The hornet’s nest sting lit up. Ditto for niacin. When I was given niacin, my body reacted very strongly.  If there are doctors, researchers, patients, or anyone out there that can help reduce the pain I experience, who can help heal, reverse, or even just slow what seems to be a progression of increasing pain, please leave your comments here. Thank you.

Participate in Research

Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with the fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and others: The Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Side Effects Study. The study is anonymous, takes 20-30 minutes to complete and is open to anyone who has used a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Please complete the study and help us understand the scope of fluoroquinolone reactions.

Hormones MatterTM conducts other crowdsourced surveys on medication reactions. To take one of our other surveys, click here.

To sign up for our newsletter and receive weekly updates on the latest research news, click here.

What Else Can I Do To Help?

Hormones MatterTM is completely unfunded at this juncture and we rely entirely on crowdsourcing and volunteers to conduct the research and produce quality health education materials for the public. If you’d like help us improve healthcare with better data, get involved. Become an advocate, spread the word about our site, our research and our mission. Suggest a study. Share a study. Join our team. Write for us. Partner with us. Help us grow. For more information contact us at: info@hormonesmatter.com.

To support Hormones Matter and our research projects – Crowdfund Us.

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The Doctor Said Not to Worry About Levaquin Warnings

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I was floxed on October 8 of 2012. I was given Levaquin while on high dose of prednisone as a prophylactic measure during an asthma flare. I had been on a 10 day course of 60mg/day prednisone, was off a week, and then had to go back on for an asthma flare. The asthma doctor gave me Levaquin as a “prophylactic measure” because she was afraid I would pick up some kind of infection at work. I had no infection at the time.

When I filled the prescription, the pharmacist warned me about the tendon issues with Levaquin, especially since I was over 60, and on prednisone. He said I should drink plenty of water and I should be fine. The scrip came with a 7-page patient medication guide. On the first page was “What is the most important thing I need to know about Levaquin?”  It included the warning about tendon issues.

I called the doctor back and said I didn’t think I should take the drug.

She said they use it this way all the time and no one ever really has a problem. So I took the first pill and went to bed.

My Levaquin Reaction

I woke up 4 hours after taking the first pill, with tremors, ringing in my ears that sounded like I was in a tent full of cicadas, and audial hallucinations that sounded like the soundtrack to Rosemary/s Baby (the evil Roman chanting). I was also seeing things out of the corner of my eyes. I called the doctor the next day to report the symptoms.

She said, “Oh it can’t be the Levaquin, it must be the prednisone. It can make you jumpy.”

I replied that I have been taking prednisone all my life, and never had anything like this. I took the second pill that night, anyway.

The side effects got worse and I finally read all 7 pages of the patient guide. I realized that I was suffering the CNS and peripheral neuropathy issues, and decided I would quit the Levaquin. I called the doctor the next morning and she wanted to give me another antibiotic.

I said “but I don’t actually have an infection, right?”

She said, “yes.”

I said no more antibiotics.

The Next Few Weeks Post Levaquin Toxicity

The audial and visual hallucinations went away after two days, but the tinnitus and the tremors remain to this day.

Eight days later I left for a long-planned trip to Florida for wildlife photography. I woke up in the middle of the night in a hotel room 1100 miles from home with my whole body on fire, pain in my neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles feeling like they had hot pokers sticking through. I had burning electrical sensations in my hands and feet, a ring of electricity running around the top of my head. I could barely walk. My thighs felt like I had tried to run a marathon with no warm up and that they were going to collapse under me at any moment. Prior to this, I was used to hiking all day carrying 25 lbs of photo equipment through forests, swamps, etc.

Post Levaquin Insomnia and Sleepwalking

I won’t even try to describe the next 10 days in Florida before I could get home, but needless to say I did not do a lot of wildlife photography that trip. I also developed insomnia. I could not sleep more than 1-2 hours at a time, and I would have very vivid dreams. I found myself sleepwalking, and having nightmares, which continued when I returned home. I would find myself in the kitchen making coffee at 1:30 AM because the dream that the alarm had gone off was so vivid. One night, I woke up on my deck in my underwear and barefoot at 2 AM in below zero weather (with snow on the deck) smoking a cigarette, because I was dreaming I was back in Florida at the non-smoking condo. The side effects of fluoroquinolone antibiotics are worse than the symptoms of the illnesses for which they are prescribed. This is not appropriate.

In the year since my reaction, I have been through neurologists, rheumatologists, physical therapy, and psych/neuro testing for the loss of memory and brain function. I have been diagnosed with essential tremor and fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis, with brain fog, reduced cognitive functioning, insomnia, high blood pressure, to name a few. I also have ongoing stomach issues. Here too, the medications that have been prescribed for the adverse effects of Levaquin – the antidepressants, anti-seizure medications, benzodiazepines and pain killers – have side effects far worse than what I experienced post Levaquin reaction and do nothing to heal my body. They only mask my symptoms and don’t even mask them that well.

Going Forward Post Levaquin Toxicity

I use turmeric extract 3 times a day for pain management. The pain never goes away totally, but the turmeric keeps it down to a dull roar. The hot poker sensation that I once felt, is now less frequent. I always have pain though. The sensation of imminent collapse in my thighs never goes away, even though I am  back to  walking 3 miles a day. The tremors have actually progressed. The tremors and the brain fog (memory loss, loss of words, losing track of what I am doing, loss of ability to multi-task ) have kept me unable to work since May of 2013.  And, I still can’t sleep more than 2 hours at a time or with sleep aids 3-4 hours. Here, in December of 2013, I am still disabled. My GP is also certified in Functional Medicine, and we are working with a course of supplementation based on blood tests for oxidative stress and dietary changes. We are following Dr. David Perlmutter’s Grain Brain Diet to improve neurological issues. We are both researching all of the possibilities we can, and hoping each day for some kind of breakthrough for this incredible illness.

Participate in Research

Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with the fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and others: The Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Side Effects Study. The study is anonymous, takes 20-30 minutes to complete and is open to anyone who has used a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Please complete the study and help us understand the scope of fluoroquinolone reactions.

Hormones MatterTM conducts other crowdsourced surveys on medication reactions. To take one of our other surveys, click here.

To sign up for our newsletter and receive weekly updates on the latest research news, click here.

What Else Can I Do To Help?

Hormones MatterTM is completely unfunded at this juncture and we rely entirely on crowdsourcing and volunteers to conduct the research and produce quality health education materials for the public. If you’d like help us improve healthcare with better data, get involved. Become an advocate, spread the word about our site, our research and our mission. Suggest a study. Share a study. Join our team. Write for us. Partner with us. Help us grow. For more information contact us at: info@hormonesmatter.com.

To support Hormones Matter and our research projects – Crowdfund Us.

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Truth Seeker or Conspiracy Theorist? You Decide.

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I’ve always believed that the simplest answers to most problems are the ones that are closest to the truth. I don’t particularly like conspiracy theories. I generally find them to be offensive. So as not to offend the people who believe in conspiracies, I’ll refrain from giving an example, but I tend to think that what you see is what you get and that there aren’t any evil masterminds controlling the world. I don’t think that there is anyone smart enough to have evil plots that control the world. Rather, I believe that there are complex feedback loops that keep certain parties in power and others powerless. Of course, those in power work to protect their power, sometimes through greed, lies and cover-ups, but it’s not necessarily a conspiracy per se. It’s just people being people and trying to maintain the status quo because people generally don’t like change (and a million other complex psychological and sociological reasons why people like to keep those in power who are in power and those without power without power).

Then I got sick. I got sick because a prescription pharmaceutical, an antibiotic no less (Cipro), hurt me.  I was poisoned by a prescription drug that is considered to have an “enviable record of safe and efficacious use.” (1)  I started screaming about how it’s not okay to take away people’s ability to walk, sleep, work, etc. to treat their sinus or urinary tract infections.  I started screaming about how fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Floxin and a few other less commonly used drugs) are dangerous and over-prescribed. I started researching how fluoroquinolones work and was appalled to find that they dismantle and disrupt replication of DNA.  I began making connections between the side-effects the fluoroquinolones, and the various diseases that fluoroquinolone toxicity mimics.

Diseases of Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Fluoroquinolones cause peripheral neuropathy (2), peripheral neuropathy could easily be mistaken for Fibromyalgia. Fluoroquinolones cause destruction of tendons (3) and cartilage (4), both of which are found in the joints, and thus fluroquinolone toxicity could be misdiagnosed as Rheumatoid Arthritis. Fluoroquinolones have many psychological side-effects including anxiety, depression and even psychosis (5), and thus they may be connected lead to psychiatric disorders. I found a study that connected topoisomerase interrupting drugs (6) (fluoroquinolones are topoisomerase interrupters (7), along with several chemotherapy drugs) with Autism. A conspiracy theorist was born.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics can take an acute infection and convert it into a chronic illness (Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome). The new, chronic illness likely will be misdiagnosed and not recognized as a drug side effect, and the treatment of the misdiagnosed disease often leads to prescriptions for additional drugs. And, even though that line of thinking leads to more profits for Big Pharma, I don’t think that it’s a conspiracy. I don’t think that it’s intentional, even on the part of the companies that initiate and perpetuate it, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Though making people chronically ill through an antibiotic that is viewed as benign by almost everyone is convenient and profitable for them, I don’t think that it’s their intention. Perhaps I’m naive.

Somewhere between naively believing that Bayer and J&J have no idea what they’re doing, and pessimistically believing they are poisoning us all to turn us into lifelong customers, lies the truth.

The Truth about Fluoroquinolones

The truth, especially when dealing with something as complicated and multifaceted as biochemistry, cellular biology and genetics, is very difficult to comprehend. But the fact that it is too difficult for most of us to understand does not mean that there is no truth. The correct answers are probably not the easiest answers. They don’t fit into a box of good or evil. They aren’t linear. The truth about fluoroquinolones involves inconvenient things like delayed reactions, tolerance thresholds, system-wide cellular destruction that results in a wide array of disease states, enzyme depletion, etc. The truth about fluoroquinolones defies common sense because our common sense tells us that antibiotics are benign, that drug side-effects are rare, that when side-effects happen they’re treatable and transient, etc.  That “common sense” approach, unfortunately, is not the truth.

The truth is that fluoroquinolones disrupt and dismantle DNA.  This has been shown repeatedly.  Per a 1998 study entitled “The Mechanism of Inhibition of Topoisomerase IV by Quinolone Antibacterials,” Fluoroquinolones are “among the first antibacterial agents that efficiently inhibited DNA replication.”  (8).  The mechanism for action for Ciprofloxacin, as listed on the FDA warning label is, “The bactericidal action of ciprofloxacin results from inhibition of the enzymes topoisomerase II (DNA gyrase) and topoisomerase IV (both Type II topoisomerases), which are required for bacterial DNA replication, transcription, repair, and recombination.” (7) Disrupting the DNA replication process is how these drugs work (or at least part of how they work).  Denying that fluoroquinolone antibiotics damage DNA because it’s not a pleasant thing to acknowledge, is futile and it does not get us closer to the truth.

Very little is known about the consequences of disrupting DNA replication through pharmaceuticals. The truth that fluoroquinolones disrupt and dismantle DNA is only part of the puzzle; it is only part of the truth. As complicated and poorly understood as the effects of these drugs on DNA are, there are still multiple levels of questions regarding the effects of fluoroquinolones on the human body. Some of the questions, answers and truths likely lie in understanding the effects of these drugs on mitochondria. A thorough understanding of article “Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Drug Hepatotoxicity Putting the Stress on Mitochondria” (9) and how it relates to fluoroquinolones will likely give you some answers about how these drugs do damage. There is evidence that fluoroquinolones cause cerebellar ataxia (10). The carboxylic acid molecule that is part of fluoroquinolone drugs likely leads to the formation of hazardous acyl glucuronoids (11). The interaction between broken mitochondrial DNA, acyl glucuronoids and cerebellar ataxia, combined with other ill understood and complex factors, is probably where the truth lies. It is hugely complex. It is impossible for the average person to comprehend and it is difficult for even the smartest person to understand. So, instead of seeking understanding and truth, the majority has chosen to ignore the fact that no one knows how these chemicals work in the human body and what their consequences are. We will take them because we know one small element of what they do – they kill bacteria – and believe that all other effects of these drugs are coincidental, accidental or rare.

Willful Ignorance about Fluoroquinolone Dangers

Willful ignorance has taken over, and faith-based assumptions about the good or evil that the medical system is have come to dominate the conversation. The established medical system is the entrenched party with the power, so those who support it are the majority; they are those with “common sense.” Those who rebel against the assumptions that the medical system is doing good are accused of being conspiracy theorists or worse. No one is really qualified to say that they have a position based on truth though, because there are too many unknown variables to know the truth (at this time). No one, not even the smartest researchers and scientists, fully know how fluoroquinolones, and probably many other drugs, affect every system in the human body. The human body is too complex and too little is known (at this time) about it, and how each of its systems interact, for anyone to truly know how everything works together. So little is known about the human body that ligaments, something that you can see with the naked eye, are still being discovered (12). If we don’t even know every ligament in the body, you can certainly bet that we don’t know every enzyme or neural pathway. Yet enzymes, neural pathways, mitochondrial DNA and other really important parts of human physiology are being disturbed by pharmaceuticals. And people are getting sick because of it.

Though the truth about how adverse drug reactions occur is difficult to ascertain, it should be sought. Questions should be asked. Experiments should be done. The effects of drugs on all bodily systems should be explored.  Perhaps answers to difficult questions about how drugs effect mitochondria, neurons, enzymes, etc. should be asked before drugs are released into the public.

Back in 1992, when fluoroquinolones were first gaining popularity, Scientists raised concerns about their use in an article published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States:

the interaction (of fluoroquinolones) with DNA is still of great concern because of the possible long-term genotoxicity of quinolone compounds, which are increasingly adopted as first-choice antibiotics for the treatment of many infections, and because it addresses the real mechanism of action of this class of molecules.” (13)

The question hasn’t been asked though.  People have been stuck on the faith-based assumption that fluoroquinolones have “enviable record of safe and efficacious use” because the only side-effects that they’re willing to see are allergic reactions. They have been intent on willful ignorance. Willful ignorance protects them. It keeps them from seeing that in frivolously over-prescribing dangerous and poorly understood drugs, we may have damaged our precious DNA, and that the consequences of doing so may be many of the “mysterious” systemic diseases that plague us.

There is a fine line between screaming about willful ignorance on the part of the majority and being a conspiracy theorist.  I’d like to think that I am reasonable; that my assertions are backed up by scientific findings, and that I’m right.  Of course, all conspiracy theorists also think that they’re right, so my conviction does very little to convince naysayers.  I hope that my screams are heard though. I hope that some people in power do something to stop the foolish over-use of these DNA damaging drugs.  I hope that it’s not too late to be prudent and cautious.

The real world is complicated. Sometimes human bodies work in ways that aren’t simple.  Sometimes problems are complex and difficult to understand. Sometimes pharmaceuticals work, or don’t work, in ways that are poorly understood. The power to do a massive amount of both good and harm is possible with modern medicine. Perhaps it is time that we start admitting that the harm that some drugs do is disproportionate to the good that they do. Perhaps it is time that we start recognizing that adverse drug reactions are not always immediate or easy to remedy. Perhaps it is time that we start insisting that the mechanisms of action for drugs be fully understood, at least by Scientists, before they are mass marketed to the public.

I don’t think that these suggestions and assertions make me a conspiracy theorist.  But if they do, so be it. The notion that the pharmaceutical/medical system is killing and sickening innocent people is a “conspiracy theory” that I know to be true.  So I will continue to fight to expose it, whatever the consequences may be.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.

Participate in Research

Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with the fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and others: The Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Side Effects Study. The study is anonymous, takes 20-30 minutes to complete and is open to anyone who has used a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Please complete the study and help us understand the scope of fluoroquinolone reactions.

Hormones MatterTM conducts other crowdsourced surveys on medication reactions. To take one of our other surveys, click here.

To sign up for our newsletter and receive weekly updates on the latest research news, click here.

What Else Can I Do To Help?

Hormones MatterTM is completely unfunded at this juncture and we rely entirely on crowdsourcing and volunteers to conduct the research and produce quality health education materials for the public. If you’d like help us improve healthcare with better data, get involved. Become an advocate, spread the word about our site, our research and our mission. Suggest a study. Share a study. Join our team. Write for us. Partner with us. Help us grow. For more information contact us at: info@hormonesmatter.com.

To support Hormones Matter and our research projects – Crowdfund Us.

References

  1. Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy. Levofloxacin: update and perspective on one of the original respiratory quinolones.
  2. FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA requires label changes to warn of risk for possibly permanent nerve damage from antibacterial fluoroquinolone drugs taken by mouth or by injection.
  3. Quinolone Arthropathy in Animals Versus Children.
  4. Levofloxacin-induced acute anxiety and insomnia.
  5. Topoisomerases facilitate transcription of long genes linked to autism.
  6. FDA: Flouroquinolone warning label.
  7. The Mechanism of Inhibition of Topoisomerase IV by Quinolone Antibacterials*
  8. Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Drug Hepatotoxicity Putting the Stress on Mitochondria.
  9. Current Drug Metabolism (v.12, #3).
  10. Surgeons discover new ligament in human knee.
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Open Letter to Pharmacists Prescribing Fluoroquinolones – You Know!

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Dear Pharmacists,

You know about the dangers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. You know that Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and the other fluoroquinolones can cause central nervous system damage that can show up as anxiety, depression, memory loss, depersonalization, loss of intellect and social connectedness, suicidal ideation, etc. You know that fluoroquinolones can cause permanent destruction of all the connective tissue in a person’s body, their tendons, ligaments, fascia and cartilage. You know that adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones can be delayed and that stopping the medication will do nothing to stop its path of destruction.  You know that fluoroquinolones are contraindicated with NSAIDs and steroids. You know that they should NEVER be prescribed or administered to anyone under the age of 18.

You are pharmacists. Your expertise is in pharmaceuticals.  You have studied the chemical structure of fluoroquinolones and you know their effects, both good and bad.  You know that they are dangerous drugs that should only be used in life-or-death situations.  You know that they are over-prescribed. You know that they can have DEVASTATING adverse effects.  YOU KNOW.

Yet you continue to hand them out.  You continue to fill prescriptions with no more warning to the patient than a slip of paper in the bag that contains the poison that may shake their world.  You tell them that their infection will go away when they take the Cipro, Levaquin or Avelox.  The infection will go away but you FAIL to warn them that it may be replaced with chronic conditions that mirror autoimmune diseases, that their mental health may never be the same again, that they may never be the athletic, healthy person that they used to be.

You know that fluoroquinolones should NEVER be given to children. Yet you fill prescriptions for eye and ear drops containing fluoroquinolones for children, even BABIES.  You hand poison over to a mother with a crying 11 month-old child with an ear infection, knowing that the Cipro ear drops will get rid of that child’s infection, but that it may fry their little brain. You know. And you don’t protect the children.

You say that it’s the doctor’s job to know what he or she is prescribing, but you know that they have no clue about the dangers of fluoroquinolones. They disregard the warnings of side-effects on the drug labels, thinking that all drugs have side-effects and that they all should be disregarded because the side-effects listed are arbitrary.  There is nothing arbitrary about the litany of side-effects included with prescriptions of Cipro, Levaquin or Avelox.  You know this to be true, but the doctors don’t.  Their crime is one of willful ignorance and arrogance. They refuse to listen to anyone outside of their ranks, including you (and that’s another problem). They are ignorant, possibly through their own fault.  But you are not ignorant. You know about the dangers of fluoroquinolones. You know.

Doctors may not listen to you, but you can still do something about this moral atrocity.  Please, please, please STOP giving out these drugs. You are the gate-keepers. You can keep patients from poisoning themselves, or worse, poisoning their children. You can refuse to fill those prescriptions. You can tell doctors that they MUST follow their Hippocratic Oath and prescribe a safer antibiotic in non-life-threatening situations. You can ensure that all patients who walk away from your counter with a prescription for a fluoroquinolone have real INFORMED CONSENT. The Hippocratic Oath and Informed Consent are indescribably important. They are the moral bedrocks of the medical system, yet they are being disregarded. You can reinstate them in their appropriate place, at the top of the consciousness of every patient who deals with the medical system. You can and you should, yet you don’t.

You, as an individual, have the power to stop filling these prescriptions. You have the power to talk to the doctors that you work with, to inform them that fluoroquinolones are dangerous drugs. You have the power to talk to your patients and ensure that they have the information that they need to make a decision with true informed consent.  You have that power. Please use it to make the world a better place.

You, as a group, have the power to change the way that all drugs are viewed. You can make sure that a protocol of careful examination and active warnings to patients for all drugs that are truly dangerous is followed when prescribing and filling prescriptions of drugs with serious side-effects. You can pressure the FDA into making sure that the side-effects listed on a drug insert are real and not arbitrary so that they are actually paid attention to.

Please be moral. Do the right thing. Please be ethical. Know that your actions have consequences. They matter. Your decision about whether or not to fill a prescription of Cipro, Levaquin or Avelox can make a difference in a person’s life.

I know that the tone of this letter is scolding. Please know that my intention is not to make you feel like a horrible person, my intention is to ask you to be a better, more empowered, more ethical person.  If that is not possible, I ask you, I beg of you, please just STOP filling prescriptions of fluoroquinolones for children. They need your protection. They will thank you by living a full life without the chronic illness that plagues people who have been adversely effected by fluoroquinolones. Please, do what you can. Please do what’s right.

Thank you,

Lisa Bloomquist

Survivor

P.S. – If you’re pleading ignorance, let me ask you this question – Would you give your child a fluoroquinolone?  If your answer is no, YOU KNOW.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.

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What Do Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Have in Common With Gardasil?

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Horrific side effects that are generally unrecognized by medical practitioners, that’s what these medications have in common. Gardasil Week just ended on Hormones Matter. It made me realize how many bad drugs are on the market. I had an adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, Cipro, and my life changed forever. Reading the Gardasil stories, I noticed similarities amongst the adverse reactions of the fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox and the adverse reactions to Gardasil; both are massive, system-wide and go generally unnoticed by modern medicine.

I have to admit, I’m a bit scared about writing this post. I don’t want to be labeled as “anti-vaccine” and demonized as such. I’m not anti-vaccine. Vaccines have saved thousands of lives throughout human history. Even though an antibiotic hurt me, I’m not anti-antibiotic either. Like vaccines, antibiotics have saved thousands, possibly millions of lives.  Vaccines and antibiotics together account for so much good in modern medicine that it has become almost sacrilegious to question or criticize them – as if in questioning them one negates the lives that have been saved by them.

Rogue Players

Unfortunately, some rogue players have entered both the vaccine and the antibiotic fields; Gardasil in the vaccine market and the fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox, in the antibiotic market. Whether the benefits outweigh the risks of these drugs and/or whether these drugs are being used properly is a question that should be asked. Unfortunately, questioning a vaccine or antibiotic leads many to a knee-jerk reaction. Often the injured individual is accused of being anti-vax or anti-antibiotic. It is as if even asking whether or not these drugs are being properly applied and the risk are being properly assessed, is offensive;  as if, in acknowledging that there are side-effects that may not outweigh the benefits for these particular drugs, you are trying to annihilate the whole class of treatments.

I’m not, in any way shape or form, proposing that we get rid of either vaccines or antibiotics. But it would be more than nice, it would be the right, just, empathetic, loving thing to do, to listen to the stories of those who have been hurt by Gardasil or fluoroquinolones, and to explore whether or not they are the right tools to use for accomplishing what we want to accomplish – the limiting of disease and infection. Sticking one’s head in the sand and insisting that all things that come out of the pharmaceutical industry are good and pro-science is a faith-based position that is, frankly, incorrect.

People are being hurt by both Gardasil and fluoroquinolne antibiotics. Disabling, ruinous effects are coming from both of these drugs. Their lives go from normal, with nothing wrong with them in the case of those being treated by Gardasil, or having possibly only a minor infection, in the case of those prescribed fluoroquinolones, to a life of suffering with chronic health problems. This isn’t right. It’s not okay. There is nothing that is okay about turning a non-existent condition into a chronic miserable condition, or an acute condition that can be cured with mild antibiotics, and turning it into a chronic syndrome that causes pain and suffering for years to come.

Too Severe to be Real?

Reactions to both Gardasil and fluoroquinolones are often delayed, weeks to months, and so severe that they are, ironically, disregarded as absurd or impossible. If hundreds or even thousands people didn’t have similar reactions, this might be a valid argument, but when a lot of people have the same reaction of body-wide breakdown, the connection between the drug and the reaction should be seen as valid and researched as such.

Hiking before Cipro, hiking after Cipro
Greg Spooner had a toxic reaction to Cipro in 2010. Details about his story are listed below.

Maybe the incredulous attitude people display when faced with a severe adverse reaction to a pharmaceutical stems from our preconceptions about what medicines should do or how they should act.  Although, we are all aware of the risk for side-effects, we believe they “should” be mild and treatable. When, in fact, some patients develop severe reactions that are systemic, complex and difficult or impossible to treat. Rather than connecting the system-wide breakdown that the patient experiences to the drug, it is easier to believe that the cause of the person’s problems were something else, or dismiss the patient with a misdiagnosis. Rarely are the illnesses linked to the medications that caused them. When the adverse reactions are so comprehensive, they’re seen as absurd and unlikely. Worse yet, they are considered impossible to treat and often dismissed. Even if a physician recognizes the connection between the medication or vaccine and the system-wide breakdown that develops, there is very little, if anything, he or she can do to treat the syndromes that arise.

But They Save Lives

“But they save lives!” is always the argument that people make in favor of these drugs.  For fluoroquinolones, OF COURSE they save lives!  No one is arguing that they don’t.  But given the severity of the adverse effects caused by fluoroquinolones, their use should be reserved for life or death situations. Unfortunately, fluoroquinolones are used as a first line of defense against urinary tract infections, sinus infections, suspected prostate infections, travelers’ diarrhea, etc., when other, safer drugs are available and are equally effective. Giving people a drug with the potential for severe negative consequences when there are effective alternatives that don’t have the same risks is a violation of the Hippocratic Oath.

Of course, if everyone reacted as badly as I did to Cipro, or as badly as Alexis, Ashley or Nicole did to Gardasil, these drugs would be taken off the market.  Everyone would know that they are dangerous and no one would take them (except, in the case of fluoroquinolones like Cipro, in a truly life-or-death situation where there were no other alternatives). But the fact that not everyone has a horrific adverse reaction to these drugs does not negate the fact that some people do.  (And more people have bad reactions to these drugs than realize it.  Because of the delay in adverse reactions, the fact that they are under-recognized by doctors and thus an incorrect diagnosis is often made, and the absurdity of the reactions being caused by an antibiotic or vaccine, people often fail to make the connection between the cause, fluoroquinolones or Gardasil, and the reaction, a chronic syndrome of pain and destruction.)

Regardless of whether or not policy change comes as a result of the harm caused by Gardasil or fluoroquinolones, the victims of both deserve sympathy and compassion.  They deserve to be able to tell their stories. They deserve to be listened to. I can only hope that the stories are heard.

Postscript. Read more about Greg Spooner’s toxic reaction to Cipro, here.

Information about Fluoroquinolone Toxicity

Information about the author, and adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/levofloxacin, Avelox/moxifloxacin and Floxin/ofloxacin) can be found on Lisa Bloomquist’s site, www.floxiehope.com.

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