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Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox are Chemo Drugs

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Lisa Bloomquist

When I first heard people referring to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, Floxin and a few others) as “chemotherapy drugs,” I thought that they were exaggerating or incorrect.  After all, fluoroquinolones are used to treat urinary tract infections, traveler’s diarrhea, anthrax, and other bacterial infections, not cancer. But then I started to do some research into how fluoroquinolones work and I discovered that they cause mitochondrial damage, which leads to oxidative stress and cell death (1, 2), they interfere with the DNA replication process of mitochondria (3), they disrupt tubulin assembly (4) and that they are being investigated for their tumor killing abilities (5, 6).  I also found that all other drugs that have the same mechanism for action as fluoroquinolones – topoisomerase interrupters (FDA warning label, 7) (topoisomerases are necessary for proper DNA replication) – are used as chemotherapy drugs – topotecan, amsacrine, etoposide, etc.  Fluoroquinolones are, truly, chemotherapy drugs – they just happen to be used as popular antibiotics. They can kill cancerous tumor cells because, in addition to killing bacterial cells, they also kill eukaryotic cells (8, 9).

Use of Fluoroquinolones for Cancer Treatment is Appropriate

There are almost certainly some legitimate and reasonable uses for fluoroquinolones as chemotherapy drugs (10).  As tumor killing agents, they may save lives of those with cancer.  Unfortunately, they’re not as targeted as the chemotherapy drugs that are currently in use.  Many chemotherapy drugs on the market specifically target quickly dividing cells – like tumor and hair cells; so they kill the cancer cells while leaving most other cells intact. Fluoroquinolones aren’t that precise. They indiscriminately kill cells throughout the body – including neurons and lymphocytes (11) (immune system cells).  The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication process is disrupted by fluoroquinolones (3), and the disruption of that process leads to mitochondrial damage, oxidative stress and cell death (12).  Fluoroquinolones are effective cell killers, but because they are indiscriminate cell killers, they are a step backward in chemotherapy drug technology.

Lousy Chemo Drugs?  Let’s Use Them as Antibiotics for Everyone!

Because they are not particularly good chemotherapy drugs, fluoroquinolones are rarely used for the purpose of killing cancer cells.  Instead, they are used as antibiotics. They are prescribed to treat sinus infections, bladder infections, strep throat, and they are even prescribed prophylactically (typically for future treatment of travelers’ diarrhea) when no infection is present. They kill bacteria, and are effective antibiotics, but they also damage mitochondria and destroy cells and therefore have many of the same side-effects as chemotherapy drugs, because, as noted above, they are chemotherapy drugs.

Side-Effects of Fluoroquinolones, and Other Chemotherapy Drugs

Some of the side-effects that fluoroquinolones share with chemotherapy drugs are (13, 14, 15, 16 and the FDA warning label for Ciprofloxacin – the warning labels for Levofloxacin and the other fluoroquinolones are similar):

  • Exhaustion / Loss of energy / Fatigue
  • Brain-fog / Loss of cognitive abilities
  • Anemia
  • Muscle Loss / Wasting
  • Neuropathy / Peripheral Neuropathy / Fibromyalgia

Additionally, Fluoroquinolones destroy connective tissue, especially tendons.  (17, 18, 19)

When one thinks of fluoroquinolones as chemotherapy drugs as opposed to antibiotics (yes, they do kill bacteria, but they should not be thought of in the same terms as benign drugs like penicillin and cephalosporins), many aspects of adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones make sense. Like several other chemotherapy drugs, there is a tolerance threshold (and/or lifetime limit) for fluoroquinolones (20, 21). Many people don’t react to their first dose of a fluoroquinolone. Rather, they tolerate the drugs up to a point – then they can no longer tolerate them and Fluoroquinolone Toxicity results. For fluoroquinolones, and possibly for other chemotherapy drugs, this tolerance threshold issue is because mitochondria are able to withstand a certain amount of damage before a disease state ensues. It is only after the tolerance threshold for damage is crossed that mitochondria stop adapting to harmful stimuli and a disease state ensues. (22)

Cellular Damage from Chemo Drugs can Lead to Cancer – Isn’t that Ironic?

Destruction of mitochondrial DNA can result in mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress – which lead to apoptosis and necrosis of cells (23). When this occurs, a multi-symptom, chronic, autoimmune-disease-like reactions can occur (24, 25). However, if cell damage occurs but the cell does not die, but rather replicates the DNA errors, cancer can result (26, 27, 12).

Additionally, drugs that inhibit CYP450 liver enzymes [Cytochrome P450 enzymes metabolize xenobiotics and foreign chemicals from the body. (28)] leave people more susceptible to cancer-causing pathogens (29). Fluoroquinolones inhibit multiple CYP450 enzymes (30, FDA warning label). How ironic, isn’t it? Cancer can result from chemotherapy drugs. And when it is understood that fluoroquinolones are chemotherapy drugs that damage mtDNA and cause oxidative stress and apoptosis/necrosis, the irony of chemotherapeutic drugs causing cancer becomes horrifying, as opposed to thought-provoking.

Cellular Harm Results from Willful Ignorance About the Effects of Fluoroquinolones

There are articles that say that fluoroquinolones have an excellent safety record. (31)  None of those articles look at the effects of these drugs on the mitochondria – the depletion of mtDNA, the oxidative stress that results from damaged mitochondria, the DNA damage that is caused by the oxidative stress, etc.  In not looking at mitochondria, those articles are looking at the wrong things and they in no way negate the findings of the articles that note the deleterious effects of fluoroquinolones on human cells.

While it may be appropriate to give drugs that disrupt the process of mitochondrial DNA replication, have horrific side-effects and cause indiscriminate cell death, to people who are have cancer, it is absurd to give them to people who are healthy other than a minor infection. Even for major, difficult to treat infections, fluoroquinolones should be the drugs of last resort because of their effects on mitochondria. (1, 32)  Chemotherapy drugs should be used exclusively in life-or-death situations. They should not be used frivolously or without true informed consent of the patient, or without awareness of the consequences of the drug on the part of both the physician and the patient. Protocols should be in place for ensuring that they are used appropriately and that all parties are aware of the consequences of the drugs.

Sadly, appropriate informed consent around fluoroquinolones involves a complete shift in how physicians and patients alike think about them. In order for the risks of taking fluoroquinolones to be properly acknowledged, all parties involved need to see, and acknowledge, that fluoroquinolones are chemotherapeutic drugs that cause mitochondrial destruction and cell death, and that they should not be used lightly. But because fluoroquinolones have been given out frivolously – 26.9 million prescriptions for oral and IV fluoroquinolones were given out in 2011 alone (33) for simple infections, I don’t foresee the shift in how they are perceived as an easy one. It must involve many doctors admitting that they have been prescribing these drugs incorrectly for decades, that they have been wrong about the severity of adverse effects, and that they have been misled about the risks of fluoroquinolones.

The Effects of Drugs on Mitochondria are Systematically Disregarded

It should also be noted that the effects of drugs on mitochondria are systematically disregarded. Mitochondrial function, and drug-induced dysfunction, is important to all areas of human health.  An article published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research entitled “Medication Induced Mitochondrial Damage and Disease” noted that the effects of drugs on mitochondria are ignored by both the drug companies and the FDA when reviewing drug safety. Because of this omission in review and oversight, human mitochondrial DNA have been repeatedly damaged by fluoroquinolones and other pharmaceuticals. The consequences of this are, as of yet, unknown. (Though it should be noted that mitochondria and the signals that they produce influence gene expression (35) and that an article published in Nature in July, 2013 entitled “Topoisomerases Facilitate Transcription of Long Genes Linked to Autism” showed that topoisomerase interrupting chemotherapy drugs effect the expression of genes linked to Autism.) We can only hope that the FDA’s failure to force drug reviewers to look at the effects of drugs on mitochondrial DNA isn’t horribly consequential.

Sources:

  1. Science Translational Medicine, “Bactericidal Antibiotics Induce Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Oxidative Damage in Mammalian Cells”
  2. British Journal of Cancer, “Ciprofloxacin Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Proliferation of Human Colorectal Carcinoma Cells”
  3. Molecular Pharmacology, “Delayed Cytotoxicity and Cleavage of Mitochondrial DNA in Ciprofloxacin Treated Mammalian Cells”
  4. Current Medicinal Chemistry, “Recent Advances in the Discovery and Development of Quinolones and Analogs as Antitumor Agents”
  5. Inorganic Chemistry, “New uses for old drugs: attempts to convert quinolone antibacterials into potential anticancer agents containing ruthenium”
  6. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, “Comparative Evaluation of Antiproliferative Activity and Induction of Apoptosis by some Fluoroquinolones with a Human Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Line in Culture”
  7. Mutation Research, “Ciprofloxacin:  Mammalian DNA Topoisomerase Type II Poison In Vivo”
  8. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, “Cytotoxicity of Quinolones toward Eukaryotic Cells:  Identification of Topoisomerase II as the Primary Cellular Target for the Quinolone CP-115,953 in Yeast”
  9. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, “Effects of Novel Fluoroquinolones on the Catalytic Activities of Eukaryotic Topoisomerase II:  Influence of the C-8 Fluorine Group”
  10. Urology, “Quinolone antibiotics: a potential adjunct to intravesical chemotherapy for bladder cancer”
  11. Nepal Medical College Journal, “Genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of antibacterial drug, ciprofloxacin, on human lymphocytes in vitro”
  12. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, “Mitochondrial abnormalities–a link to idiosyncratic drug hepatotoxicity?”
  13. National Cancer Institute, “Chemotherapy Side Effects Sheets”
  14. The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, “Peripheral Neuropathy Associated with Fluoroquinolones”
  15. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, “Levofloxacin Induced Acute Psychosis”
  16. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, “Peripheral Sensory Disturbances Related to Treatment with Fluoroquinolones”
  17. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, “The Effect of Ciprofloxacin on Tendon, Paratenon, and Capsular Fibroblast Metabolism”
  18. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM & R) “Musculoskeletal Complications of Fluoroquinolones: Guidelines and Precautions for Usage in the Athletic Population”
  19. Laboratorie de Toxicologie, “In Vitro Discrimination of Fluoroquinolones Toxicity on Tendon Cells:  Involvement of Oxidative Stress”
  20. Carcinogenesis, “Mechanisms of tolerance to DNA damaging therapeutic drugs”
  21. Non-Hodgekin’s Lymphoma Cyberfamily
  22. Molecular Interventions, “Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Drug Hepatoxicity Putting the Stress on Mitochondria”
  23. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, “Mitochondrial abnormalities–a link to idiosyncratic drug hepatotoxicity?”
  24. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, “Mitochondrial cytopathy in adults: What we know so far”
  25. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, “Ciprofloxacin Induces an Immunomodulatory Stress Response in Human T Lymphocytes”
  26. Scitable by Nature Education, “DNA Replication and Causes of Mutation”
  27. British Journal of Haematology, “Topoisomerase II Inhibitor Related Acute Myeloid Leukaemia”
  28. Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, “Role of cytochromes P450 in chemical toxicity and oxidative stress: studies with CYP2E1”
  29. Europe Pubmed Central, “Role of cytochromes P450 in drug metabolism and hepatotoxicity.”
  30. Pharmacy Times, “Get to Know an Enzyme: CYP1A2”
  31. Expert Reviews, “Levofloxacin: update and perspectives on one of the original ‘respiratory quinolones’”
  32. Journal of Young Pharmacists, “Oxidative Stress Induced by Fluoroquinolones on Treatment for Complicated Urinary Tract Infections in Indian Patients”
  33. FDA Drug Safety Communications, “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”
  34. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, “Medication Induced Mitochondrial Damage and Disease”
  35. BBA, “Mitochondrial DNA Damage and its Consequences for Mitochondrial Gene Expression”
  36. Nature, “Topoisomerases Facilitate Transcription of Long Genes Linked to Autism”

 

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.

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Same Disease, Different Symptoms: It’s all in the Mitochondria

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Lisa Bloomquist

Adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (Cipro/Ciprofloxacin, Levaquin/Levofloxacin, Avelox/Moxifloxacin and Floxin/Ofloxacin) can manifest in patients as a multi-symptom chronic illness that most resembles fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome / myalgic encephalopathy (ME) and/or an autoimmune diseases.  As is the case with those chronic multi-symptom illnesses, the symptoms of fluoroquinolone toxicity vary greatly from one individual to another. Though almost everyone who suffers from fluoroquinolone toxicity has some sort of musculoskeletal issues (fluoroquinolones have a black box warning about the risk of tendon rupture), neuropathy and autonomic nervous system dysfunction, those broad categories of symptoms are where the similarities between individuals affected end.  Some people suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity have severe insomnia, others don’t. Some develop dietary intolerances, others don’t.  Some become anemic, others don’t. Some develop Raynaud’s, others don’t.  Some have urticaria, others don’t.  I could go on and on.

Why are there such vast differences between how fluoroquinolone toxicity manifests itself from one person to another?

Look Beyond the Disease Model of Medicine

The traditional approach to medicine, using our existing paradigms, would answer that question by saying that fluoroquinolone toxicity is only responsible for the musculoskeletal issues, neuropathy and autonomic nervous system dysfunction that are the common links between those who are suffering from it; and that insomnia, dietary intolerances, Raynaud’s, anemia, etc. are from something else.

I don’t buy that answer though. The people suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity were healthy before they crossed their tolerance threshold for fluoroquinolones, and it was only after they were exposed to fluoroquinolones that any of their symptoms emerged.  The reports of thousands of people suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity lead me to believe that fluoroquinolones cause a multi-symptom illness that can manifest itself in a variety of different ways.

Oxidatative Stress and the Mitochondrial Damage: Explaining Chronic Multi-Symptom Illness

Another possible answer to the question of why symptoms differ so much from one person to another, one that I think is closer to the truth, is that fluoroquinolones cause mitochondrial damage and that mitochondrial disorders can manifest themselves in a variety of different ways.  It is noted by Doctors Bruce H. Cohen, MD and Deborah R. Gold, MD, in Mitochondrial Cytopathy in Adults:  What we Know So Far, that:

“A problem that has vexed the study of mitochondrial diseases ever since the first reported case (in 1962) is that their manifestations are remarkably diverse.  Although the underlying characteristic of all of them is lack of adequate energy to meet cellular needs, they vary considerably from disease to disease and from case to case in their effects on different organ systems, age at onset, and rate of progression, even within families whose members have identical genetic mutations.  No symptom is pathognomonic, and no single organ system is universally affected. Although a few syndromes are well-described, any combination of organ dysfunctions may occur.”

Doctors Cohen and Gold go on to say that:

“symptoms (of mitochondrial damage) such as fatigue, muscle pain, shortness of breath, and abdominal pain can easily be mistaken for collagen vascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or psychosomatic illness.”

Multiple studies have shown that fluoroquinolones deplete mitochondrial DNA and lead to an increase in oxidative stress and depletion of antioxidants within cells (source 1 and source 2).  Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction (OSMD) are almost certainly why fluoroquinolone toxicity manifests itself in the form of chronic multi-symptom illness (CMI).

Even though it has been shown that oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction can cause chronic multi-symptom illness, the question still remains, WHY are there such vast differences between how mitochondrial damage manifests itself from one individual to another?

A possible answer to this question lies in the fact that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by damaged mitochondria are signaling mechanisms that control gene expression / epigenetics.

Please excuse the momentary pause while I point out how mind blowing and important that sentence is.  MITOCHONDRIAL PRODUCED REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES CONTROL GENE EXPRESSION.  It is a huge discovery that is just now being accepted and verified by scientists.  It is noted in the article Oxidative Stress and Oxidative Damage in Carcinogenesis that, “Through regulation of gene transcription factors, and disruption of signal transduction pathways, ROS are intimately involved in the maintenance of concerted networks of gene expression.”   Also, per Dr. Marcin Kaminski, “The notion that mitochondria can play a role in a cell as a generator of strictly regulated oxidative signals is more recent, and some 10 years ago was regarded almost as heresy.  Now the opinion has changed since a number of new observations have been made.”

Dr. Kaminski also pointed out in a personal conversation that topoisomerase enzymes, which are blocked by fluoroquinolones are also crucial for regulating gene expression.  According to the FDA warning label for Cipro/ciprofloxacin:

“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”

Perhaps the differences in how individuals react to fluoroquinolones are due to the differences in which genes are triggered as a result of both mitochondrial damage (and resultant oxidative stress) and the influence of topoisomerase interrupters on gene expression.

Individual Susceptibilities Influence Mitochondrial Damage

To use myself as an example, my 23andme genetic test results showed that I had a genetic predisposition toward rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease.  When I first was struck with fluoroquinolone toxicity, I was not aware that Cipro was the culprit behind the sudden deterioration in my health, and I thought that I had an autoimmune disease – with RA being the one that I suspected because my joints were swollen, inflamed and painful.  It turns out that I didn’t have RA, rather, I was suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity.  But the symptoms manifested themselves in a way that made it look and feel very much like I had RA  Another example is of a gentleman who commented on a blog about fluoroquinolone toxicity, www.floxiehope.com, who noted that his hereditary haemochromatosis (excess iron in the body) was brought on (or at least worsened) by his adverse reaction to a fluoroquinolone.  I, on the other hand, was helped greatly by supplementing iron and suspect that I was anemic after having an adverse reaction to Cipro.

Even though there are genetic differences from person to person, and the expression of those differences may explain why the symptoms of fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome differ from one individual to another, the entire chronic disease state – with all of the symptomatic differences between individuals, is brought on by fluoroquinolones and thus, despite the individual differences, the symptoms cumulatively should be considered to be part of fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome.  Even though I had a genetic predisposition for R.A., it likely would have remained dormant (I don’t know of anyone in my family who has ever had R.A.) had it not been triggered, (along with musculoskeletal issues, neuropathy and autonomic nervous system dysfunction) if I had not taken Cipro and had not suffered through damage to my mitochondria.  I cannot be sure of that – it’s not possible for anyone to know at this point, but it is an interesting assertion to ponder.

My assertion, that fluoroquinolones cause changes in gene expression, and that the genes that are expressed determine what symptoms of fluoroquinolone toxicity present themselves, of course needs to be tested and verified before it is accepted as truth.  I hope that more scientists look into the adverse effects of fluoroquinolones and all other mitochondrial damaging pharmaceuticals.  After all, our mitochondria and the ROS that they produce affect our GENES, and our genes are pretty important.

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.

Please support Hormones Matter and our research projects. Contribute to our crowdfunding campaign – Crowdfund Us.

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How I Lost my Faith in Scientists

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Lisa Bloomquist flouroquinolone antibiotics

On December 21, 2013, The Huffington Post published an article entitled “Americans Have Little Faith in Scientists, Science Journalists: Poll.”  The article noted that, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll, “only 36 percent of Americans reported having ‘a lot’ of trust that information they get from scientists is accurate and reliable. Fifty-one percent said they trust that information only a little, and another 6 percent said they don’t trust it at all.”

People trust science journalists even less, with only “12 percent of respondents said (saying) that they had a lot of trust in journalists to get the facts right in their stories about scientific studies.”

I was raised by an engineer with a science background.  I don’t have any religious beliefs that keep me from believing what scientists say about human or earth history.  My political and ideological beliefs don’t conflict with those of scientists, generally.  I believe that science is the best method of seeking the truth that humans have found thus far.  I believe in the efficacy of the scientific method.

But I am one of the people in the 51 percent who only trust the information provided by scientists “a little” and one of the 88 percent who doesn’t trust science journalists to get the facts right. I haven’t fully lost my faith that scientists will eventually get to the right answers, but I have lost my trust that they are on the right path. Here are a few reasons why:

  1. I know more about my mysterious condition than they do.  I had an adverse reaction to Cipro, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, and that triggered Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome – a syndrome that is more similar to an autoimmune disease than an allergic reaction to a drug.  There are hundreds of reputable, peer-reviewed journal articles about the effects of fluoroquinolones on human cells.  I am thankful for those articles (and the scientists that did the research and wrote the articles), as they have given me much of the information that I have.  But there is no consensus among research scientists about how fluoroquinolones affect humans, or even human cells.  Fluoroquinolones are chemical creations of humans.  Their effects on human cells should be testable, verifiable and known (they have been on the market for more than 30 years), but they’re not. The effects of fluoroquinolones on human cells are complex and multifaceted. But there are causes and effects and truths to be found, yet victims of these drugs are left to do the research about how these drugs work and put together the pieces as to why they are ill, because the experts, the scientists and researchers, aren’t. This isn’t okay.
  2. Rise in chronic mysterious illness.  People are sick with “diseases of modernity.”  Doctors and scientists don’t seem to have any answers as to what diseases like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, adverse reactions to drugs (including vaccines), autoimmune diseases, allergies, and others are caused by, or how to fix them. When you, or a family member, become ill, and there is nothing that your doctor can do to help you, yet your pain and suffering are definitely real; the natural and reasonable tendency is to lose trust in those who are failing to give you answers. We expect answers to medical, biological, and chemical problems from doctors and scientists, and when they fail to give us those answers, we lose faith in them.
  3. Publication bias.  Publication bias is “the practice of selectively publishing (drug) trial results that serve an agenda.” It’s an ethically disgusting practice and most scientists agree that it should be eliminated, somehow. Yet it continues. The Huffington Post article noted that many people distrusted scientists and science journalists because they believed that the scientist’s findings were influenced by political ideology or the influence of the companies sponsoring them. No system has yet been put into place to minimize or eliminate bias.
  4. Scientists aren’t seeing the big picture.  There is a struggle between specialization and detail, and the so-called “big picture.”  Journal articles will point out details of a problem, then fail to link those details to the big picture.  For example, there are journal articles that note that fluoroquinolones deplete mitochondrial DNA.  What that means for human health and how that affects the person who takes those drugs, is not noted.
  5. Scientists aren’t taking a stand.  There are journal articles about the disastrous effects of some drugs on human health, but there seems to be little screaming about the limiting of the use of those drugs based on the findings. Rather, the warning label is simply updated, and people continue to be hurt, when their pain, suffering and death could have been prevented.
  6. Nonsense explanations.  In an article in The Atlantic entitled “Living Sick and Dying Young in Rich America” about how an increasing number of young people are coming down with chronic illnesses, especially autoimmune diseases, the explanations put forth by the doctors and scientists interviewed as to why young people are sick with autoimmune diseases bordered on ridiculous.  Junk food and a lack of exercise were asserted to be the main culprits. Junk food and lack of exercise will certainly make a person fat and they may cause some chronic illnesses like obesity and diabetes, but they aren’t likely to trigger an over-expression or over-stimulation of immune system cells (unless the junk food is made from GMOs and immune-system altering chemicals, in which case it’s possible), which is what causes autoimmune diseases. Perhaps pharmaceuticals that have been shown to stimulate immune system cells should be looked at as a culprit, instead of the victim’s diet and exercise habits.
  7. Faith-based assertions.  Almost every journal article I read about the safety of the drugs that hurt me, fluorouquinolones, has a faith-based, incorrect statement that they are “generally regarded as safe.”  Many of the articles then go on to note deleterious effects of fluoroquinolones on human cells, but those truthful findings don’t seem to inspire revision of the presumptive statement that they are “safe.”
  8. Faith-based following.  To be accused of being anti-science is a huge insult.  If you question the safety of a drug or vaccine you risk being accused of being anti-science, and the assumption is that you must be irrational, dangerous, or opposed to the progress that has been made with other pharmaceuticals or vaccines.  The demonizing of those who question scientists is, ironically, anti-science, as science is built on questioning assumptions and faith-based beliefs.
  9. Conflicting results.  When questions are asked that should have a yes or no answer, and those questions can be verified in a laboratory setting, different groups of scientists should be able to get consistent results.  Replicability is a tenet of science. Yet there are conflicting results to many important, answerable questions throughout scientific journals.  It’s frustrating and it decreases the credibility of scientists that questions that should be answerable aren’t being answered.
  10. Changing stories.  Is butter good for us or bad for us?  How about coffee?  How about fluoride?  What about statins?  The story changes constantly. This destroys the credibility of the people telling the story – doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and others.
  11. Disbelief of patient reports.  If one patient comes forward asserting that a pharmaceutical or vaccine hurt him in an unusual way, it is reasonable to think that the patient might be mistaken, that there might be another explanation for his pain.  However, if hundreds or thousands of patients come forward with the same, or similar stories, their assertions should be listened to. Unfortunately, their stories are being systematically disregarded and denied by doctors and scientists alike. Hurt patients have no reason to lie, they have no conflicts of interest (generally), so they should be listened to and believed. In systematically ignoring them and their pain, doctors and scientists are being callous and un-curious, and they are losing credibility.
  12. Not asking the right questions.  Mitochondrial dysfunction is related to many diseases including, “schizophrenia, bipolar disease, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, migraine headaches, strokes, neuropathic pain, Parkinson’s disease, ataxia, transient ischemic attack, cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetes, hepatitis C, and primary biliary cirrhosis” (source) and others.  Many pharmaceuticals, including statin drugs, synthetic antibiotics, antidepressants and others, adversely affect mitochondria.  Yet the affects of drugs on mitochondria are not systematically examined before drugs are put onto the market.  If mitochondria are not being looked at, the right questions are not being asked, and if they’re not asked, they won’t be answered.  We count on scientists to ask the right questions.  When they don’t, they lose credibility.

The list above saddens me.  If I can’t trust scientists to give me answers, who can I trust?  Is there an alternative?  I’m not the type to start an alternate belief system, and I truly do believe that the scientific method is the best way of finding truth that we have.  But scientists are failing to find the answers as to why, for example, an increasing number of young people are suffering from chronic autoimmune ailments than at earlier times, or appalling autism rates keep getting worse and worse, and people are suffering because of the lack of answers provided.  So I have lost trust in them.  Sadly, I have more trust in personal reports (which are, of course, anecdotal) that I read on the internet than I do in scientific studies.  At least I know that the people screaming about their pain, their struggles, their need for answers, etc. aren’t subject to publication bias with their screams.

The only way to find answers to chemical, biological and medical problems is through science.  Scientists must be the ones to step up to do the science. They must be the people to find the answers.  Substantive, reliable, replicable, truthful information cannot be gained without them and their methods.  We are at their mercy in finding answers to many of life’s problems, especially those having to do with human health.  I trust that some brave scientists will step up to rectify some of the criticisms that I listed above.  I certainly hope so.

I don’t expect scientists to be perfect.  I don’t expect them to have all the answers.  I don’t expect them to be infallible.  But I do expect them to be curious, humble, truth-seekers who minimize bias and conflicts of interest to the best of their abilities. I expect them to be ethical and moral. I expect them to take responsibility for the bad that comes along with the good of their creations. I expect them to be prudent and careful when dealing with chemicals that can mess things (human bodies and the environment) up in ways that can’t be fixed.  I expect them to be honest.  I expect them to be outraged.  I expect them to be curious.  I expect them to seek answers to the real problems and dilemmas that people face.  Perhaps I’m naïve.  Perhaps I’m expecting too much from my fellow humans who happen to have the title of Scientist.  Perhaps I’m not being fair.  I apologize if that is the case.  We are all just people trying to do the best we can to make the world a better place.  I just wish that I was still sure that, collectively, scientists were making progress toward making the world a better, not worse, place.  Until I gain some reassurance, consider me one of the doubtful and untrusting.  I am truly, deeply saddened by this.

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.

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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.

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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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Lisa Bloomquist

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.

Participate in Research

Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with Gardasil and its counterpart Cervarix. If you or your daughter has had either HPV vaccine, please take this important survey. The Gardasil Cervarix HPV Vaccine Survey.

To take one of our other Real Women. Real Data.TM surveys, click here.

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

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Over-Prescribing Antibiotics

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As the school year begins and cold and flu season approach, it is important to remember that antibiotics do not work for cold and flu or other viral infections. New research shows that our over-reliance on antibiotics is linked to a marked increase in the number of serious, long-term side effects experienced by patients and deadly infections that are resistant to most, and sometimes all, antibiotics.

Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but the excessive use and misuse of antibiotics, particularly fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox), is linked to serious side effects, such as retinal detachment and acute kidney failure, according to a recent report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  The fluoroqinolones are also associated with tendon rupture, prompting the FDA to issue black box warnings and spawning thousands of lawsuits.

Researchers speculate that because doctors are eager to provide a solution and patients expect prescription medications for most illnesses, antibiotics are often prescribed when they are not needed or are misprescribed- a newer, more potent antibiotic is selected when an older, safer antibiotic would suffice.

Over the last two years, the number of reported adverse events for a certain class of antibiotics-the fluoroquinolones has increased drastically.  The adverse events for Levaquin,  a potent antibiotic, meant for the most serious and often life-threatening bacterial infections, has increased significantly along with its increase in use.  A steadier increase in reported adverse events can be seen for ciprofloxacin (Cipro), another fluoroquinolone, on AdverseEvents.com, suggesting an increase in the use of Cipro since 2008.

In addition to having a negative impact on the patient’s health, the overuse of antibiotics is thought to be responsible for bacterial strains that have become resistant to many antibiotics. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA, is one strain of staph bacteria that has become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat it.

MRSA infections are becoming more frequent in hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and even in school locker rooms where large groups of people reside or congregate and individuals with weakened immune systems are present. Just one look at MRSA makes the risks of antibiotic over-use  apparent. Here’s another picture.

Next time you have the cold or flu, remember antibiotics don’t work on viral infections. If you do have a bacterial infection, work with your physician to find the most effective antibiotic or treatment.  There may be alternative options. The point is, before you request antibiotics for the cold or flu or other conditions, ask if there are alternatives, ask if the medication is linked to any adverse effects and if there are other safer antibiotics than the one being prescribed.

Read more about the adverse effects tied to fluoroquinolones at the New York Times.

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