A Litany of Side Effects Associated with Levaquin, Cipro and Avelox
July 6th, 2009. By janem
According to many sufferers, the antibiotic drugs Levaquin, Cipro and Avelox are causing a lot of damage including tendon tears, ruptures and more.
I had the opportunity to interview John Fratti about his experience with Levaquin. As you can see on his youtube video, Fratti has become quite a grassroots activist—passionately voicing his concerns about the possible risks of taking fluoroquinolones, namely Levaquin, Cipro and Avelox (Fratti took Levaquin).
Of course, many lawsuits right now are focusing on Levaquin (distributed by Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical) and its association with tendon rupture—not all the effects Fratti talks about here.
However, the antibiotic has come under fire recently for some other adverse effects, including liver damage. The website drugs.com also states that, “in rare cases, Levaquin has caused convulsions and other nervous system disorders… restlessness and tremors to depression and hallucinations… nerve pain, burning or tingling sensations, numbness and/or weakness, or other changes in sense perception.” So maybe Fratti is onto something?
July 25th, 2009 at 12:18 am
I won’t take any quinolones (levaquin, cipro, tequin, avelox & other quinolones). I watched my husband change from a very healthy and hardworking man to a shell of the person he once was after he took Cipro and CiproXR. He’s disabled now and everyday is a struggle. I wish I could turn back time and that he never took those medicines. It’s bad enough to suffer from all the physical damages like tendon ruptures and nerve damage but the depression he gets never goes away completely no matter what medicines he’s tried. The best he can hope for is to try to keep the depression from getting to the suicide stage again. I don’t have any answers for him as to why this happened to him. The only comforting thought my husband has is that our children and grandchildren won’t take any of these medicines after what happened to him. I don’t understand how any company can sell their product knowing it has the potential to cripple or kill a person and feel it’s alright because the benefits outweigh the risks. What about that person whose health has been destroyed after taking these medicines? This shouldn’t have happened to my husband or any of the other people whose health has been taken from them after taking quinolones. If he had known about the risks from taking these medicines, he never would have taken them but would have opted for a safer medicine. If he had known about all the risks the first time he took them then he would have recognized his injuries listed as adverse reactions and not taken them a second time. If the warnings were a little more specific such as tendon ruptures can occur while or after taking Cipro and letting doctors and patients know that “after” can mean many months after taking the medicine. Also that people 60 and over aren’t the only ones at risk but all ages can get injuries. You read that warning about people 60 and over and if you’re younger you think you’re safe and have nothing to worry about. There are other serious adverse reactions besides tendon ruptures that don’t get enough attention as tendon ruptures do like permanent nerve damage, suicidal thoughts and acts and so many more. I want to thank janem for writing about quinolones and the damages they can cause. Maybe these articles will help someone else from becoming disabled or worse.
October 12th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
thanks for you lettter, you husband is lucky my husband too his life 2 yrs ago because of this Cipro and the FDA is aware of it and they will not do anything but put a warning on it an no one reads the warning sorry for your problem