The Fluoroquinolone Wall of Pain

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Please click on photos ..then click on albums..then start reading. Fluoroquinolones are currently one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antibiotics being prescribed millions of times each year. They are used to treat many types of infections such as respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, prostate issues and sinus infections. Ho

wever, what differentiates this class of antibiotics from others is that fluoroquinolones have the ability to cause severe and permanent disability. Even from as little as a few pills. The insidious part of these chronic adverse reactions is that they can occur many weeks to months after taking the antibiotic. Side effects to fluoroquinolones are often times at their worst long after the antibiotic has been taken. Hence, many people never link their health problems such as nerve and tendon pain, chronic insomnia, and altered mood back to the antibiotic. The most commonly prescribed fluoroquinolones include Levaquin, Cipro, and Avelox. Approximately half of the fluoroquinolone antibiotics that were once on the market have now been removed from clinical practice due to their severe toxicities. Examples include Tequin, Omniflox, Trovan, and Zagam. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are extremely powerful medications. They were never meant to be prescribed indiscriminately and without warning to patients. They are meant to be used as a last line of defense against serious and life-threatening infections. Not as a first line agent which is how they are often used today. In addition, the overuse of these potent antibiotics leads to the condition known as bacterial resistance
In 2008, the FDA mandated that fluoroquinolone antibiotics carry a “black box“ warning for tendon rupture and tendonitis. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, sued the FDA demanding fluoroquinolones carry a black box warning. The FDA gets approximately 50% of their funding for the review of drugs directly from the pharmaceutical companies in what is called prescription drug user fees. This is an absurd conflict of interest that has made the FDA very slow and often reluctant to react to drug toxicities of all kinds. Even the FDA admits that less than 5% of all serious adverse drug reactions ever get reported to their agency. Unfortunately, the black box warning is far too late for the many victims that are now suffering from devastating physical and neurological disabilities. There is an appalling lack of knowledge within the medical community regarding these chronic reactions including delayed adverse reactions. Since these adverse reactions are far from intuitive, fluoroquinolone victims are often misdiagnosed or even sometimes unfairly labeled as “difficult patients.” Post-marketing studies of several fluoroquinolones have shown an incidence of adverse reactions much higher than were originally reported in pre-clinical studies. The american public needs to be afforded the right of informed consent with a medication as potent as fluoroquinolones. The manufacturers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics have failed to warn both the public and the medical profession of serious long term physical and neurological injuries. There should be congressional hearings on this toxicity. The FDA has long been aware of the crippling and sometimes permanent injuries from this class of antibiotics. They have chosen to turn a blind eye to this toxicity. The mission statement of the FDA is that they are responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs. In regard to fluoroquinolone antibiotics, the FDA has failed to live up to their own mission statement. This page was created to help raise serious advocacy and activism. We hope to help warn and prevent others from suffering a severe toxic injury. Please forward this site to all of your friends on Facebook and ask them to do the same. Finally, please promote advocacy and activism by contacting congress, the media, and signing the petition on this site. Thank you for your support and activism.