Avoid the risk of a Levaquin tendon rupture

27 Responses to:

“Avoid the risk of a Levaquin tendon rupture”

1. david fuller Says:
   July 17th, 2008 at 2:35 am

   Tendon rupture is the least of the patient’s concerns. This class is associated with irreversible peripheral neuropathy, fatal liver and kidney damage, fatal hypo and hyperglycemia, SJS and TEN, toxic psychosis, spontaneous ruptures not only of the tendons but also muscles, ligaments and cartilage, the list of serious adrs is boundless. More than half of the drugs found in this class have been removed from clinical practice due to severe and even fatal adverse reactions.

   I just received a report of a 14year old male who tore the cartilage in both knees requiring extensive surgical intervention as a result of being on levaquin to treat a nail infection. Not to mention they young lady who has been in a wheelchair for the past decade due to the damage done to her tendons which rendered them beyond surgical repair. She was given cipro for an earache.

   Within the NDA (new drug application) for levofloxacin we find clinical studies that revealed an adr rate in excess of 40% (one or more reactions) and a number of listed fatalities. We find these same numbers with all the NDAs for this class. This tendon issue we are now discussing was first revealed to the FDA back in 1982 (bailey et al). The FDA did NOTHING until Public Citizen filed a petition in 1996 seeking both black box warnings and dear doctor letters. The FDA did neither. Another petition was filed by the Attorney General of the State of Illinois in 2005 seeking these same actions. In 2006 Public Citizen once again petitioned the FDA. Rather than respond to these petitions as required by law, the FDA stonewalled the petitioners for more than three years. It was not until suit was filed in Federal Court by Public Citizen to compel the FDA to respond to these petitions did the FDA do anything.

   And what they did was nothing more than a ’slap to the face’ to those of us who have had our lives destroyed by these drugs. It is far too little, far too late. And we would not even be tossed this ‘bone’ if this lawsuit were not pending. This is nothing more than a blatant attempt by the FDA to avoid full disclosure of the true safety profile of this class which will be required when they lose in Federal Court.

   Bayer issued a European “Dear Doctor Letter” in February of 2008 in regards to fatal liver injury as a result of being on Avelox. Yet we see no such letter being issued here in the States, nor do we see the FDA requesting one either. This class has been crippling and killing patients since the mid sixties. For more than forty years now the FDA has hidden the true safety profile from both the patient as well as the treating physician.

   Those who have an interest in reading this forty years worth of medical journal entries, case reports, newspaper articles, clinical studies, etc., that documents all that I state here are invited to log unto http://www.fqresearch.org The FDA is also grossly misleading when they state that the risk factor is one in one hundred thousand. The actual risk is .5% to 16% depending upon which citation you prefer to reference as well as the year in which it was published.

   I find the manufacturers to be grossly misleading the patient and physician alike when they state that this class is a safe and effective antibiotic with minimum side effects. I have forty years worth of medical documentation that proves that they are anything but for those who care to read it, rather than this line of misleading and false information being provided by the FDA.

   Mr. David T. Fuller
   Director
   Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Research Foundation
   http://www.fqresearch.org
   fqresearch@aol.com
   davidtfull@aol.com

2. Db Cipro Says:
   July 17th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

   The FDA is greatly understating the data in Medwatch and anecdotal reports of tendon and muscle damage by quinolones by saying it occurs primarily to people over 60 Years Old, those taking steroids or kidney, heart or lung transplant recipients. I was a 52 year old healthy person with none of the above before my entire health was wrecked by a week of Cipro tablets and one Levaquin. I was and still am pretty sedentary, and there is no reason I have severe aches and pains all of my body from these medicines. I have a constellation of other body and mind injuries from these pills, all of the side effects are listed on the Cipro and Levaquin warning sheets, yet my doctors won’t admit the drugs caused them, and worse yet, they can’t prescribe anything that will alleviate these life destroying side effects. See my story at my website, or read http://www.fqresearch.org for more horror stories. The FDA is not doing their job, or can’t even analyze their own data. The public should have access to true statistics of the injuries. These are not ‘rarely’ occurring side effects.

3. Ty Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

   I was a healthy 42 year old male who took Levaquin for a sinus infection. The same day as the Black Box Warning was issued; I was having my third tendon reattachment surgery. I have to wait at least 6 weeks before I can undergo yet a fourth tendon rupture reattachment. At least it takes my mind of the Achilles Tendinopathy, joint pains, headaches, uncontrolled muscle twitching etc. I consider myself one of the lucky ones since so far it has not affected my kidneys, liver, heart, eyes and other side effects that many are dealing with from this class of drugs. I would urge a real journalist to take the time and look at the real number of cases. The Fda numbers are misleading. The clinical data coming from other counties are showing much higher rates of tendon ruptures and other life threatening side effects.

4. Todd Plumb MD Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

   Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have damaged many people. I know of this severe damage on a personal level since I suffered such and adverse reaction to the fluoroquinolone antibiotic Levaquin myself 22 months ago. Since then I have had daily pain and disability of my nervous and musculoskeletal systems and for several months had endocrine and gastrointestinal problems as well. The disability and damage caused by fluoroquinolones is long term and may gradually escalate in that more severe problems such as worsened neuropathy, neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal disorders and endocrine disorders once initiated by the fluoroquinolones may develop with a delayed and insidious progress.

   This progression of the fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome is well know by its sufferers and not recognized by health care givers. There has been no investigation in to the reactions. This lack of attention stems from of an antiquated FDA reporting system and the under-representation of the seriousness and frequency of the adverse reactions. The makers of fluoroquinolones have no interest in investigating adverse reactions when doing so will hurt them financially. It is only recently with the weight of litigation pressing down that the FDA has published its incomplete and grossly inadequate boxed warning about the potential for fluoroquinolone toxicity.

   I have met many other patients suffering from the adverse effects of fluoroquinolones. Many of them reside in my community including 3 physicians and more than twenty patients.

   Although these drugs may be life saving in certain infections when less toxic antibiotics may fail, they have been promoted for use as first line treatment for sinusitis, and urinary tract infections, and are often given indiscriminately to unsuspecting patients by uninformed and cavalier physicians for such benign illnesses as the common upper respiratory infection. Unfortunately for many patients they are trading a mild short term medical problem for a serious long term one.

   Sincerely,

   Todd Plumb MD

5. Matthew Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

   On my 23rd birthday I started ciproI only took 3 doses of cipro in total before realizing what was happening… I went from being a very healthy 23 year old male who was athletic for over 10 years doing Karate, Yoga, Football, Judo and other sports, I eat an extremely healthy diet, no bad foods at all, and generally take care of myself in everyway possible, I have never drank alcohol and never smoked… I have all the blood tests and other tests to prove how healthy I was. After taking the ciprofloxacin my life completely changed in an instant, for months I had to crawl around my house beacuse of the pain in my achilles tendons. I noticed the side effects approx two hours after taking cipro… however my doctor told me to carry on taking it! (I stopped myself after 3rd dose).

   After my very first dose of cipro I had a cascade of symptoms that I never experienced in my life before such as; Bilateral Achilles tendinitis, Tendinitis in both wrists, Chronic insomnia where it would take 5 hours to fall to sleep then I would be waking up every 1 hour and this continued for 4 months. What is interesting is that I have never had insomnia in my life before cipro. I also experienced chronic nightmares, moderate peripheral neuropathy (burning, tingling, numbness), constant body tremors, dry eyes, dry mouth, dry skin, pulsating sensation in my stomach/neck/hands, pulsatile tinnitus, tinnitus (4 noises), muscle pains, joint pains. Eye flashes, blurry vision, eye floaters, static/snow vision, inability to adjust from light to dark (right eye), twitching, dizziness, stiff neck, head pressure, eye pain, ear pain, difficulty swallowing, aspiration, GERD, lack of appetite. I also had massive increase in spider veins, nail ridges, constant wrinkled fingers, nail growh abnormalities… and my skin become thinner around my body (breakdown of collagen?).

   It has been 9 months now since I had my reaction and I still cannot function properly because of my tendinitis… about 80% of my symptoms have lessened or have now gone away. I am improving at a very slow and frustating rate. How can I go from being extremely healthy and having just a minor infection to not being able to function and feeling like I had aged 50 years in one night. I have lost thousands of pounds in earnings and have not been able to work consistently since my reaction.

   I have seen literally thousands of people in the same position as me, a significant portion of them were healthy and young like me, and now are disabled. How can the true devestation of this class of antibiotics be revealed if things like tendon damage does not show for months after the last dose? I feel the numbers reported are probably very small because people are not associating antibiotic use with tendon problems, and other problems as I mentioned above. From the moment I took the antibiotic I had a cascade of symptoms that never stopped showing up until about 4 months post-cipro. From there I healed from most of it but now have several injuries which are likely to be with me for life, or until medicine can fix them. I just want my life back, and for doctor to prescribe quinolone drugs when only absolutely needed

6. Karen Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

   I was a healthy 42 yr old mother of three with a doctorate that I worked very hard to get. After taking 4.5 days of cipro for a simple UTI, I couldnt work for almost 3 months and I lost my practice. I suffered tendinosis, very painful, head pressure, vasculitis, peripheral neuropathy, tachycardia, and countless other adverse affects.
   It is 7 mos later and I am still suffering. There is no cure or treatment, just try to figure out a way to deal with the loss of function and ability to care for my children and to continue my career.
   All this is robbed from me. I now have multiple tumors over my body which I did not have before. I dont know what my future is now. I could have had a wonderful life. Now I look through tear filled eyes all the time.

7. Gary Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 7:44 pm

   The number of side effects and the seriousness of these side effects caused by this class of antibiotics is grossly underrated and under-reported. Tendon damage is only one of the many injuries these drugs inflict on thousands of people each year. The delay in time between taking these drugs and having the adverse reactions present can be what has concealed the high number of reactions. Most Dr’s do not even realize that the tendon, nerve, joint, muscle and CNS injuries that their patients develop after taking Fluoroquinolones is related to this class of antibiotic.

   The true number of people affected each year by these antibiotics is astounding and has been well hidden by the manufacturers. There are thousands of people that have been permanently crippled and hundreds of thousands more that have suffered the ADR’s of Fluoroquinolones for months to years.
   These ADR’s are not uncommon at all.

   I was a normal healthy 51 Y/O male that was prescribed Cipro for a uncomplicated UTI. I was not given a risk vs. benefit warning first by my Dr. When I told him that Cipro had caused severe ADR’s, he refused to file a Medwatch or FDA report as I asked him to. He told me he would no longer treat me and I was asked to leave. I was treated like a criminal because I complained that Cipro had given me bad side effects.

   I can only say that this Black Box warning is way overdue and still doesn’t cover many of the other severe and disabling side effects these drugs inflict on otherwise healthy people.

8. Laura Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 7:53 pm

   I was misdiagnosed with a kidney infection and began taking Levaquin (500mg once per day) in September 2006. On the 5th day I had to stop taking the medication due to severe shin pain and Achilles tendon pain. I began to have difficulty walking. Over the next several months new symptoms appeared including severe muscle twitching in my legs and feet, painful aching in legs, heart palpitations (for three weeks I had arrythmias for 3-5 hours every day), severe brain fog, paresthesia in feet, toes, fingers, and face, rash on arms, severe shoulder and hip tendonitis, severe insomnia, body vibrations and dysthesias, chills, depression, dizziness, itchy torso, anxiety, panic attacks, tinnitus, eye twitches, GERD, severe neck and shoulder pain, head pressure, tachycardia, burning soles of feet, anorexia with loss of 17 pounds over 5 months, mood changes, crying jags, popping joints, arthritic like pain in fingers, hip sciatica (diagnosed by Rheumatologist), vertical nail ridges, tender scalp and migrating pain (moving from one area of the body to another), horrible headaches, internal tremors, blurry vision. I had not had any of these symptoms prior to taking Levaquin. I began taking Ativan to sleep and ease the anxiety and became addicted to it for 8 months. I was lucky to be on a sabbatical when the symptoms were the worst, otherwise I would have had to take a leave of absence. I spent so much time being tested by different specialists (referred by the primary care physician) for cancer, MS and other neurological disorders. After 22 months I still have many of these symptoms. Levaquin has brutally altered my quality of life.

9. Seena Says:
   July 18th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

   I took Levaquin 2 months ago for a UTI. After the third dose, I went from a healthy 34 yr old to a 100 yr old woman. I had myalgia, extreme anxiety and panic, insomnia, tremors, neuropathy, tinnitus, blurred vision, and joint and tendon pain. Most of the symptoms have either diminished or gone away except for the joint and tendon pain, tinnitus, blurred vision, slight neuropathy, and some anxiety.

   There has not been one day in the past two months that I have not been in pain. Both my achilles tendons, both knees, both wrists, both elbows, both shoulders, and my right hip take turns hurting and aching. My quality of life has greatly dimished.

   It is outrageous that there is a medicine out there that can do this kind of havok on a person’s body. Of course, most of us realize that all drugs can cause adverse reactions in some people. But we expect those reactions to be short-lived. I never imagined that adverse reactions to a drug can continue and actually get worse once the drug is discontunued. There are so many quinolone victims out there. Just go to the Yahoo health forums “quinolones” and “fqtoxicity.”

   What makes all this so much worse is that the medical community is so oblivious to what is happening.

10. Evan P Says:
    July 18th, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    I’m a 27 year old male who finished a little over 6 weeks of cipro in may of 2008. As I was on the drug I noticed increasing muscle and joint stiffness, dizziness, and neve problems such as eye twitching and icy pains shooting down my leg. I assumed these would abate when I stopped the drug, and continued to take it as the doctor refused to give me another antibiotic and I was desperate to get well. Big mistake.

    Within a day of stopping I had shooting pains down my legs, and my joints started hurting and cracking loudly when moved. I had constant muscle spasms, tightness and pain in my arms and legs that left me unable to leave the house for a week. I also developed a constant ringing in my ears for the first time in my life, which has not decreased since. Along with a host of other smaller symptoms.

    All of my symptoms are still with me over 2 months since stopping the drug and improvement has been very little. I sincerely hope a law firm will have the tenacity to launch a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of these drugs.

11. Connie Says:
    July 18th, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    “FDA Orders Black Box Warning On Antibiotics” I have a problem with these warnings. I believe them to be misleading as well as being totally insufficient. This is based upon my personal experience from watching my husband become disabled throughout the years. Mentioning people over 60 as the higher risk of having a tendon rupture is just 1 thing I have a problem with. I believe people younger than 60 had the most reported ruptures. My husband was in his early 40’s when he had his first rupture. “Rare occurrence of tendinitis & tendon ruptures can occur while or AFTER” is something else that I believe is misleading. How many people know that AFTER means much more than a few weeks. My husband took Cipro & around 11 months AFTER he had a rupture. He took CiproXR & around 11 months AFTER his tendons started to rupture again. AFTER means quite a bit more than a few weeks. I have another problem with reading “physicians should warn their patients of the risks”. Who’s going to warn the physicians so that they can warn their patients? My husband saw almost a dozen different doctors & not 1 of them associated his 6 ruptures to Cipro. They had no idea what caused this. Tendons aren’t the only things that can rupture. Muscles can rupture also. These ruptures have occurred with no warning that anything was wrong. There are also “other” severe adverse reactions. Thinking that tendonitis & tendon ruptures is the only thing you have to be concerned about taking these medicines is wrong. Dear Doctor Letters SHOULD be sent to every single doctor along with more clarity on the issues like “after”, “age” , & “all the adverse reactions”.

12. cbs Says:
    July 18th, 2008 at 11:45 pm

    took 28 pills of 500 mg levaquin in July 2001. My life has not been the same since. The drug (as confirmed by several doctors including mayo clinic) caused tendon damage all over my body, extensive peripheral neuropathy, vision damage, hearing damage, insomnia, severe fatigue, night sweats, non stop 24/7 muscle twitching in several areas, muscle weakness and numerous other issues. I was a very athletic individual and active participant in the lives of my two young children. That all changed in July 2001. Seven years later, I have improved greatly, but it took 4.5 years to really see the healing begin. Even now, the tendons in my feet, knees and shoulders are still too damaged to allow me to play most of the sports I once loved including tennis, racquetball, running, baseball, etc.

    Stay away from this drug unless it is the ONLY option to keep you from dying.

13. Sally Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 12:20 am

    In December 2004 I was prescribed Avelox, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic for a sinus infection and bronchitis.
    I immediately became very ill. I couldn’t get off the couch. As days went on, I began to get pains throughout my body. Then the fasciliations began and the tremors throughout my abdomen. In the insuing weeks, the tremors moved into my extremities. Then the excruciating, burning pain began.
    I ended up in the ER twice, had extensive blood tests, Brain MRI’s, Cat Scans, and the list goes on to rule out MS, Lupus, Lyme and a host of other diseases. All came back negative. All this began after ingesting the avelox. There is not a doubt in my mind that Avelox poisoned me; that I suffered Central nervous system damage and peripheral neuropathy. It has been 3 1/2 years since this event and I still suffer peripheral pain and short term memory loss.
    The first year was wrought with insomnia, anxiety and pain. I thought my life was over. Thankfully my reaction was not as severe as others who have been poisoned by these antibiotics. Nonetheless, my reaction has changed my life. My memory is forever damaged. My hands are in constant pain. My work is hindered. And I feel like it’s taken years off of my life.
    In my experience, I found very little support from doctors. One neurologist at a major Ivy League medical school believed me and had seen the damage from fluoroquinolones before. But he confessed that he was at a loss how to treat my conditions other than to just treat the pain with pain killers and the anxiety with ativan.
    I want more than anything to prevent anyone else from suffering these horrendous adverse effects. These drugs need more than tendon ruptures mentioned in the Black Box. The Black Box needs to mention the CNS damage and the peripheral nerve pain, the excruciating anxiety, as well as a laundry list of other effects suffered by a multitude of victims like myself.
    We need a voice! We need support! And we need to be believed!
    Sally

14. Shelley Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 12:25 am

    Every morning when I open my eyes, I awaken to this nightmare. There is a “sickness” that feels like my body has been poisoned. My hands and feet are swelled and sore…my entire body is stiff and painful…heart-palpitations, vibrations throughout my body…ringing in my ears…bleeding specks of sores on my skin…and a full, bloated feeling in my gut…I feel like I should be dead. It is only by the grace of God, and the love of my 2 children that I am able to pull myself up out of bed, and make it painfully down the stairs. Crying will do no good, as I know I must be strong to fight this horrendous ordeal that has become my life. Knowing that there are others who are living this nightmare gives me a sense of strength…and compassion. There are no more words to described what we are going through emotionally, let alone physically. How could something so unbelievably criminal have happened to us?? And why is this insanity being allowed to continue?? How many more innocent people will have their lives destroyed…how many more must suffer…how many more must die…before something is done?? Someone tell me, what will it take??

    Diagnosed w/ arthralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, tendinitis both elbows, enlarged lymph nodes…
    still seeing doctor after doctor, and specialists who can only treat the “symptoms”, not the cause.

    The Black-Box warning for tendon damage is hardly sufficient and long-overdue.

    The poisons that robbed my children of a mother were AVELOX and LEVAQUIN…20 pills. I traded a sinus infection for this life of pain and misery.

    ~Shells~

15. Carlo Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 1:46 am

    I took exactly 2500 mg (10 pills of 250 mg) of ciprofloxacin over a period of 5 days in the summer of 2007 .

    Because of Cipro I need a wheelchair now.

    I’ve always been a healthy person. I took part in squash, tennis, football and jogging.

    After taking the third pill the first signs started. I had joint and muscles pain in my calves and arms. Because it was on saturday I did not call my doctor. I did read the paper in the box of Cipro and it did not say to stop immediately. If I did stop I would have less problems. Damned why don’t they warn us better.

    On monday I went to my doctor and he said it was from Cipro but he thought it would not harm to go further. He did not know what to do.

    MY SYMPTOMS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
    Joint pains
    Calves/Achilles Arms Hamstrings Shoulders
    Muscle pains
    Increased joint stiffness
    Dry ears
    Dry eyes
    Dry mouth and nose
    Insomnia
    Numbness feeling right foot
    Joint popping all over my body
    Dry sinus
    Ear pain
    Red skin after touching it / pressure on it

    It is almost a year after taking Cipro.

    I cannot walk because of pain in calves and Achilles.
    I need a wheelchair out of my home.

16. Teri Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 10:01 am

    I think it’s great to see more publicity about fluoroquinolone side effects. Many doctors forget that patients have a right to be informed about side effects, or perhaps doctors are not informed of side effects well enough to have intelligent conversations about them with their patients. I had a conversation with my doctor about possible side effects of Levaquin before I took it, and my doctor never mentioned tendon disorders, and convinced me to take the Levaquin since it’d be no problem for me to switch to a different antibiotic if I did have side effects. Or so we both thought.
    Luckily my mom came across a publication by Public Citizen that talked about tendon damage by fluoroquinolones when I was 7 days into my 14+day course of Levaquin. I’d been wondering why my achilles were so sore and my calves so rock hard. Four years later with continued tendon and nerve pain, I’m still regretting that initial assumption that side effects go away when I quit ingesting the pills. But if this is what the result of 7 days of Levaquin is like, thank goodness for that article by Public Citizen that kept me from taking 14 days worth of pills. I am a formerly healthy, active 35 year old (31 when I took Levaquin).

17. David Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    At age 46 I was given 750 mg of Levaquin for 21 days to combat epidytimitis in 2007. I had some
    mild side effects during the course of treatment, ie… mild insomnia, mild joint aches, and some skin itching. After finishing my course of treatment I have developed more severe muscle and joint aches and pains
    along with muscle weakness. Alot of my joints, especially my knees and wrists became very frail and prone to easy damage.
    At a year out I have experienced Severe joint pain (especially of the knees and leg muscles), weakness in the
    arms and neck, never-ending neck pain (constant muscle strains and pains), insomnia, anxiety, depression, dryness and vision issues with left eye, and various peripheral neuropathies. I have had periods of
    no symptoms followed by strong relapses (cycles).Prior to this adverse drug reaction I was very healthy and bicycle 7-10 miles a day. I have never regained the ability to aerobic exercise and have to constantly guard against joint damage.

18. rick Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    My reaction to avelox started almost three months after I took the drug for a sinus infection, in March, 2005. I did not have the muscloskeletal problems that many have, but I had the vision problems, extreme fatigue, dehydration, brain fog and short term memory loss, neuropathy, and tinnitis. Some of these ADRs stay with me today.

    The medical community simply does not acknowledge the danger of fluoroquinolones. In 6 months of going from specialist to specialist, no one could tell me what was wrong with me because nobody is looking for ADRs to drugs in their diagnostic paradigm. And because they’re not, people are being mis-diagnosed.

    I feel this is nothing short of a health crisis in this country. These drugs are causing major damage to people and incur great cost to our health care system. In my case, I had probably 30K worth of useless tests. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromylgia are possible results of fluoroquinolone ADRs. I know that FQ ADRs mimic arthritis in older people. FQs have been known to cause diabetes. And the list goes on.

    Black box warnings should include the FULL SPECTRUM of the ADRs assocoated with these drugs. The FDA is only cutting their losses with this warning in response to a lawsuit by Public Citizen. The FDA should insist on Dear Doctor letters in the USA like there are in Europe. But the FDA is not protecting the citizens of this country; that much is evident.

19. Rocky Says:
    July 19th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    In January 2008, I was 37 years old, married with 3 kids under six and in reasonable good shape considering I had had a partial elbow replacement in September 2006 from a fall. That took a real downward turn once I went to my doctor for what I thought was a sinus infection. At the visit the doctor without doing any test wrote me a prescription for ciprofloxin, which I had never heard of and definitely never used before. Of course I filled said prescription only to be somewhat surprised when I read in the warning that this was a drug used for anthrax infections. Like a good patient, I started the medication even though its strength concerned me only to have burning pain in my surgically repaired elbow and my achilles tendons at which time I called my doctor per the instructions on the medication warnings. The doctor totally ignored my complaints, saying they had nothing to do with the meds and told me to keep taking the cipro. Once again, I did what my doc suggested only to have increased tendon/muscle pain over the next two days and finally found myself having an anxiety attack after 8 cipro tablets. I stopped the medicine and made an appointment with my doctor. For the two days I had to wait to see my doctor, I was in bed with terrible anxiety, severe muscle/tendon pain/weakness and all sorts of neurological issues like brain fog, neuropathy,and spatial proximity distortion that I had no knowledge of before taking this drug. When I did go to the doctor he acknowledged that cipro could have rare side effects but didnt think my issues were caused by the medication and told me to give it a month to see if everything went away and if not come back and we would start running tests to discover my real problem. I left feeling both betrayed and scared , because my doctor of the last fifteen years had basically disregarded all my issues. So I have struggled for six months by myself trying to fix these side effects. At present I still cannot say I am 100% back to normal again. Each day has been a day to discover what side effect I will have today. One day I will have severe tendon pain/tightness then that will resolve and brain fog will creep up then that resolves only to have burning neuropathy plague me for a few hours or days. The side effects from these drugs are exactly that nothing short of a modern day plague. No one acknowledges they exist and no doctor that I have seen has any idea what to do for them except to ignore them or to blame them on another disease, yet every day I have to deal with them as best I can.

20. Beebo Says:
    July 20th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Suffered from cardiac, neurological, muscles, tendons, joints, liver, kidneys, neuropathic pains, cognitive difficulties, life threatening hypoglycaemic attacks, visual, auditory damage, debilitating weakness to the point of being unable to hold a glass of water, and more.

    Exellent source of info for symptoms and what to avoid visit http://www.fluoroquinolones.org and a peaceful, relaxing, diverse forum to exchange info and tips and more, with a chatroom where we all meet on Thursday nights, visit: http://www.favc.info

21. Leslea Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 7:49 am

    My name is Leslea and I am a Clinical Laboratory Manager, have been a Medical Technologist for almost 30 years. I am very well respected by the medical staff at my facility because if I bring up a subject, perhaps a laboratory protocol that I want to put into place or changed, I have done my homework on the subject.
    With that in mind, I want to urge physicians to take heed to the fact that fluoroquinolones are not safe for a very large segment of the population. There are literally thousands and thousands of people whose lives are forever changed because of the quinolones.
    I know that most, if not all, facilities with microbiology departments put out an antibiogram, at least annually, for the medical staff to reference. Please use your antibiograms to pick the least toxic and most effective antibiotic for your patient.
    Use the quinolone class only as a last resort, after other antibiotics have failed or the patient will expire if they aren’t used. Using the quinolones routinely just doesn’t make sense when other antibiotics will work. Keep in mind if this class of antibiotics continues to be used so nonchalantly they will become ineffective due to bacteria developing resistance to them.
    I have personally experienced multiple system adr’s to the quinolones, and know a multitude of people like me. That is why I am writing this, I want to prevent the number of people that are damaged by quinolones from growing exponentially.
    The adr’s to the quinolones are grossly under reported due to the fact that a lot of reactions aren’t recognized, but are diagnosed as an unrelated problem. If the number of adr’s to quinolones were accurately reported to the medical community, no physician would ever routinely prescribe quinolones again, unless he was some sort of sadist.
    My motivation for writing this is honorable, our term would be risk management in the medical community, for the layperson it would be a passionate desire to prevent others from suffering like I am.
    Just in case you are wondering, my first reaction to a quinolone caused damage to my tendons particularly my left knee. The tendons were so weak that my knee dislocated 6 times over a 7 month period, I probably should have been in a wheel chair, but I needed to work. I have a permanent baker’s cyst in that knee. The tendonitis was so painful that walking was more like hobbling.
    My second reaction made my first reaction seem like a walk in the park. When I mentioned multiple systems earlier, I meant CNS, muscular, skeletal, soft tissues and connective tissue damage. Four and a half years post two doses of Avelox, I still have a multitude of symptoms, some that are not going to resolve. Although I am in severe unrelenting pain, I consider the worst part of my reaction to be the CNS or brain damage.
    I have debilitating depression, which I never had prior to this. But the thing that takes the cake is the following: I am sure you can imagine that I am or actually was above average in intelligence, Avelox has destroyed my short term memory and has made me struggle to find simple everyday words when carrying on a conversation. My nickname used to be “The Steel Trap” because I never forgot anything and could recall verbatim conversations no matter how long or short the amount of time that had elapsed. My memory was what is called photographic in nature. You might be tempted to say, well you are getting older, well I don’t believe that CNS changes due to aging happen overnight unless there is a stroke involved. That, and the fact that I am not alone with this reaction, speaks very loudly to the truth of the matter.
    I will quickly list the other damage I am dealing with; peripheral neuropathy, myofascial damage in my right hip that has lead to permanent gluteus median adhesions after tearing. I have chronic muscle spasms and knots in my right hip and shoulder, this is the cause of the severe unrelenting pain, the shoulder knots and spasms lead to horrible tension headaches. I also have to take Valtrex to keep shingles at bay, another wonderful symptom of the nerve damage. My tendons and ligaments in my right knee are tender to the touch and painful, my vision is altered due to floaters and blurring, luckily laboratories are notoriously noisy so I don’t notice the tinnitus too much. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. By the way, I was a healthy active person prior to this reaction, I was 47 at the time and most people would guess my age at 35 because of my personality, strength and agility, they were always shocked to find out how old I was.
    Please help me in preventing any other healthy individuals from experiencing this nightmare.
    I also challenge you to do your own research into the real picture of this class of antibiotics, quit taking the word of the FDA or pharmaceutical companies, they have an agenda, but it is less than honorable. You can start by going to http://www.fluoroquinolones.org .
    Thank you for your time.

22. Rose Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    I was previously a healthy 40 year old with no history of kidney, heart or lung problems . A 10-day prescription of Levaquin 500 mg for pneumonia completely changed my life. I have lived with crippling pain and neuropathy for more than seven months because of this poison. The thing I want to point out is that I had a DELAYED musculoskeletal and neurological reaction. I suspected my symptoms were caused by the drug; but when I began researching side effects of fluoroquinolones, my suspicions were confirmed when I found thousands of others online who were suffering from the same problems I was suffering from. Imagine how many others are suffering who have not connected their pain with the drug because they had a delayed reaction. Doctors: Wake up! These are not rare reactions. I personally know more than 10 people who have had a negative reaction to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. When patients go to the doctor with these symptoms, doctors don’t even think it might be from a drug. Instead, they order thousands of dollars worth of tests that all come back negative. Why doesn’t the FDA require doctors to follow their patients for a year after they’ve been prescribed a FQ? I’m sure the world would be shocked! On the other hand, those of us who have been floxed would not be so surprised to see the vast numbers of people affected.

23. Christine B. Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    Here I sit over 25 months later from taking 4 750mg pills of Levaquin for a simple sinus infection. Here I sit in much pain with blurry vision. I’ve been in pain every day since day 3 of Levaquin. I wasn’t given any warnings, just samples in my doctor’s office, who, had been lied to by the drug reps about these fluoroquinolone drugs. I asked, “anything I need to know, any side effects”? “No” I was told, “these are great big-gun antibiotics”. No, I have not had a tendon rupture but still have tendonitis in many parts of my body, my shoulder being so bad that my therapist is scared to work on it. My neck froze up 2 weeks ago leaving me screaming in pain and unable to drive. I suffered from severe insomnia, depression and thoughts of suicide, all drug related. I still suffer from many other ADRs including muscle twitching, nerve pain, osteoarthritis (never had this before Levaquin), floaters, gastro problems, liver problems, fuzzy vision, etc., etc., etc. My doctor has written “Levaquin toxicity” as my diagnosis. My neurologist agrees. This Black Box Warning is not strong enough! Tendon ruptures in people over 60 is just the tip of the iceburg! I was only 47 and very healthy when I took this drug. I did not take it with steriods. This drug has ruined my life! It has taken 2 years from me and God knows how many more it will take. These drugs should only be used as a last resort! Please stop hurting people!

24. Levarel Says:
    July 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 am

    I was 23 years old. My life was ahead of me and I was looking forward to it. I came down with simple, acute cases of bronchitis and sinusitis and was given 20 days of Levaquin as treatment. My life has never been the same.

    I’m almost 27 now and have spent the last 3 1/2 years completely disabled and housebound. The list of adverse reactions I’ve experienced is too long to really post here, but includes severe non-abating tendon problems in every part of my body; muscle contractures; severe fatigue, depersonalization and short-term memory loss; peripheral neuropathy; circulation problems; gastrointestinal problems; anxiety with random, uncontrollable panic attacks; and some neurological symptoms that no one has been able to even diagnose. I was mostly unable to stand up for over a year due to severe problems with my ankles, knees and hips and can still only walk very short distances; I also require speech-recognition software to type and any sort of even mildly strenuous activity results in further injury.

    Every doctor I’ve seen has concurred that Levaquin caused this, but none have been able to help me at all, despite the warning label on the drug saying to contact your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms. No one in the medical community can give me any idea of what my prospects for recovery are, nor can they can tell me what effect this ordeal will have on my health as I age.

    While the full prescribing information lists nearly all of my symptoms as possibilities, it does not warn that they can last for years or even be permanent, that adverse reactions tend to appear in groups (many people report dozens of symptoms), and that such severe side-effects can appear weeks or months after the drug has been discontinued. The brunt of my reaction started approximately two weeks after I completed my course of Levaquin, worsened in many respects for well over a year and continues to this day. The vast majority of people who are prescribed these drugs assume that any side-effects experienced will resolve when the drug is discontinued and warnings that this is not the case are required immediately in order to provide some semblance of informed consent. The current situation is resulting in large numbers of people who are injured by this class of drugs, but have yet to uncover the cause of their ailments due to the delayed nature of these reactions.

    Over the years, I’ve corresponded with hundreds of victims of these drugs, all with stories eerily similar to my own, and read thousands of such testimonials on the various websites devoted to these reactions. While these may be anecdotal reports, the correlations between them, the sheer number available and the severity of what is being reported more than warrant a thorough investigation into this matter. Informed consent is never too much to ask for and the least that should be given.

    This black box warning, while a step in the right direction, does little to prevent others from ending up like me and nothing at all to help those who are already here. The FDA has dropped the ball on this one (to put it nicely) and I can only hope that someone in either the medical or journalistic communities decides to pick it up again. No one deserves to have to go through what I have and especially not for infections that most likely would have cleared up on their own with some time, rest and increased fluid intake.

25. Dayna Says:
    August 10th, 2008 at 1:26 am

    I am shocked to see that the stories continue. I was given a 10 day cycle of Levaquin in April 2005 for sinusitis and an upper respiratory infection. I have been on short term disability for various reasons three times since then, and will likely be declared perm. disabled in the near future. Like most everyone here, I used to be a healthy person. I’m only 35 yrs. old, and have since been diagnosed with thyroid disease, depression, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety disorder, positive ANA index (possibly Lupus), pre-diabetes, GERD, chronic sinusitis, horrible insomnia, migraine disease, and “the worst case of osteoarthritis” my doctor has ever seen in a 35 yr old woman.

    I have a masters degree and I used to be intelligent. :) Now I fumble for words, slur my speech, forget names of people and objects, forget just about everything for that matter. People probably assume that I’m on drugs (well, I am on prescribed drugs). I won’t say that the drug has ‘ruined my life’. It has certainly changed it and I’ll have to redirect my path I suppose. I pray that these drugs are taken off the market. I don’t know that those of us already effected will ever be fairly compensated, but I do know that God has a plan and a purpose for everything. God bless you all!

26. Caye Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    I took 2 5-day dose packs of Levaquin 750 from May 29 to June 7 2008. The Achilles tendon on my left side ruptured June 11, and surgery to repair the tendon was completed June 22. I have gone from an active lifestyle involving exercise, horseback riding, walking, etc. to moving around with crutches until the tendon heals. If I had known the possible side effects of this drug, I certainly would have dealt with a simple sinus infection differently. The fact that numerous problems with Levaquin have been reported for years makes the continued use of such a drug highly questionable at best.

27. Bob Says:
    August 30th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    Bob from Lincoln UK

    I took 7 days of a 28 day course of Ofloxacin in November 2007
    Had to stop the meds due to intense pain in my knees and shoulders.
    4 weeks in: -
    hardly walk with severe swellings in knees , ankles and hips.
    6 weeks in: -
    Toxic psychosis, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts
    9 months in: -
    Pain in joints and muscles, tendons popping in every single joint but worse in spine.
    Chronic back pain
    Worsening of pre existing Tinnitus
    Burning sensations on hands and feet.
    Flushing sensations
    Bee like stings all over
    Feeling of being cold even in hot weather.
    Urinary problems
    New symptoms manifest themselves every week
    Symptoms are progressive and not transient as stated in the prescribing literature.
    I am 43 but feel like 63.
    If you have Prostatitis or any infection that HAS NOT been cultured refuse Fluoroquinolones until they can confirm its life or death, honest it is just not worth the risk.
    BE WARNED YOU QUALITY OF LIFE MAY DEPEND UPON IT!!!!!!!!!!!

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