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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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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.

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Truth Seeker or Conspiracy Theorist? You Decide.

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Lisa Bloomquist

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.

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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.
  4. Quinolone Arthropathy in Animals Versus Children.
  5. Levofloxacin-induced acute anxiety and insomnia.
  6. Topoisomerases facilitate transcription of long genes linked to autism.
  7. FDA: Flouroquinolone warning label.
  8. The Mechanism of Inhibition of Topoisomerase IV by Quinolone Antibacterials*
  9. Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Drug Hepatotoxicity Putting the Stress on Mitochondria.
  11. Current Drug Metabolism (v.12, #3).
  12. Surgeons discover new ligament in human knee.

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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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