Gingergrrl
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I am not certain if this exact article from Consumer Reports has been posted here before and I didn't see it. A friend of my late mother's just sent it to me in light of what happened to me in 2010.
Here is the link: https://www.consumerreports.org/drugs/fluoroquinolones-are-too-risky-for-common-infections/
and a few quotes from the article:
In my own case, Levaquin nearly tore my right triceps tendon and caused a systemic neurotoxic reaction that caused me to get hospitalized (for the first time in my life) in 2010. It was the very beginning of my illness and although I can never put a percentage on each trigger, I believe that at least 50% of the total damage to my body was from Levaquin. I no longer think about it on a daily basis but when someone sends me an article like this, I feel compelled to share it so no one else has to go through what I did!
And anyone with Myasthenia Gravis, LEMS, or neuromuscular diseases should never take this class of antibiotics. It is also not FDA approved for children under 18 but is often given any way.
Here is the link: https://www.consumerreports.org/drugs/fluoroquinolones-are-too-risky-for-common-infections/
and a few quotes from the article:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising against prescribing fluoroquinolones, a group of antibiotics that includes drugs such as Cipro and Levaquin, to treat three common illnesses —bronchitis, sinus infections, and urinary tract infections. The agency issued the new recommendations after a safety review revealed that fluoroquinolones can cause disabling and potentially permanent side effects that affect the tendons, muscles, joints, nerves, and central nervous system.
“I am living proof that the risks in using a fluorquinolone to treat a routine infection far outweighs the benefits,” says Rachel Brummert, 45, of Charlotte, North Carolina. Last November, Brummert addressed a panel of experts convened by the FDA and described the ever-worsening series of health problems, including 10 ruptured tendons and progressive nerve damage, she’s suffered as side effects of taking Levaquin for a suspected sinus infection in 2006.
The FDA convened the expert advisory panel to review evidence on the safety of using fluoroquinolones to treat common infections. In the end, the 21-member panel voted overwhelmingly that, in most cases, the benefit of fluoroquinolones to treat bronchitis, sinus infections, and urinary tract infections was outweighed by rare, but serious harms, including irregular heartbeats, depression, nerve damage, ruptured tendons, and seizures.
While fluoroquinolones are essential for treating serious infections such as anthrax, for more common infections, other treatments typically work just as well with less risk.
The new FDA ruling calling for restricted use of fluoroquinolones affects five prescription antibiotics: ciprofloxacin (Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), moxifloxacin (Avelox), ofloxacin (Floxin), and gemifloxacin (Factive). All are also available as generics.
Much of the evidence on the risks of the drugs emerged after the drugs were on the market and used by millions of patients. While medical organizations such as the Infectious Diseases Society of America have updated their guidelines to advise against prescribing fluoroquinolones for milder garden-variety infections—including most cases of bronchitis, sinus infections, and urinary tract infections—many doctors haven’t gotten the message.
That's likely because these powerful antibiotics work against a wide variety of bacteria, says Lindsey R. Baden, M.D., an infectious disease physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, and a member of the FDA panel. That can lead to overprescribing.
In my own case, Levaquin nearly tore my right triceps tendon and caused a systemic neurotoxic reaction that caused me to get hospitalized (for the first time in my life) in 2010. It was the very beginning of my illness and although I can never put a percentage on each trigger, I believe that at least 50% of the total damage to my body was from Levaquin. I no longer think about it on a daily basis but when someone sends me an article like this, I feel compelled to share it so no one else has to go through what I did!
And anyone with Myasthenia Gravis, LEMS, or neuromuscular diseases should never take this class of antibiotics. It is also not FDA approved for children under 18 but is often given any way.