This personal story was originally posted to the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum. If you are a victim of a quinolone antibiotic and need support or advice then please visit the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinolones/).
 

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This personal story was originally posted to the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum. If you are a victim of a quinolone antibiotic and need support or advice then please visit the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinolones/).

Floxin
Posted on 15 November 2001
Just found this site after contacting Stephen Fried,, the father of this whole research.... it was his article in the Philladelphia magazine,"less than one percent" about the reaction his wife had to Floxin that brought about the massive interest in FQ adverse reaction... he at the time was not aware that it had happened to anyone else...he began receiving mail from people saying"me to!!!" This was in april of 1993 In Nov of 1993 I was given Floxin for a urinary infection... (which makes you plenty sick to begin with..) I was given floxin and took it twice a day for almost a week...what I could keep down anyway.... thanks to the vomiting it caused I may have injested less that I actually swallowed.... I ended up in the ER 3 times that week with accute dehydration from a constant 103.5 fever.... finally the dr decided that it may be a reaction and took me off the floxin... by then the bacteria in the kidneys was gone but all the side effect were left.... I has been 8 years now and Im 57 year old female.... I still suffer from the effects,,,, I dont want to discourage newbies.... but please dont ever fool yourself into thinking someday you will be cured..... you will get better and you will learn to live with the pain.... I didnt have the leg and achilles problem but I have had to have neck surgury and wrist surgury, have a recently blown tendon in my shoulder and the other side is acting up also.. 8 years later ,,can it be blamed on floxin... I dont know... but I feel in my heart it is... everyday I hurt some where else.... rarely the same place... but it moves around enough that I know it isnt a ",pulled muscle" from some sort of activity.. Over the years I have tried every thing and "everything" has worked for a little while..massage and hot tubs work well... but only temporary relief..

During the time I was taking floxin these are the symptoms I had...

fever 103.5 constantly
uncontrollable shakin
insomnia
accute pain all over,,muscle and skin...
metal taste and smell in mouth and nose
wide awake hallucinations
memory loss
aphasia (cant get the right word out)
accute dehydration
white blindness,,,cloudy visual distortions
chills constantly ..could not get warm..
could not eat
nausea
vomiting
extreme headache
confusion.(could not dial the phone)
symptoms 1 year later

anemia
low energy
aphasia
agitation-frustration
heart beats fast some times
depression
visual distortions...light flickers and movement ,seen out of the corner of my eyes
tingling of hands and arms
neck and back pain
fibromyalgia (drs..say)
headaches
memory loss
symptoms 3 years later

fribromyalgia
tingling if extremities
memory loss
back pain that moves around
visual distortions... flickers and movement seen from corner of eyes
inability to focus depression..
agitation and frustration
symptoms 8 years later...
nothing has changed so my guess is that this is as good as it gets.. only now my shoulder feel like a tendon is being pinched between the joints and snd shooting pains thru my arm and shoulder... had ex rays yesterday to find out... also in the last 3 years my hips have become involved in the constant aching.

At that time Opra Winfrey did a show to draw attention to this as one of her tv crew had experienced reaction to floxin... a number of us tried to get something done and ran into roadblocks every where.... money to fight drug companies is just not there ,, even collectively.... plus at the time the governmnt had a protective umbrella over the drug co's

I personally printed and copied everything I could find and mailed it to many urologists in the Portland Ore area to try to spread the word.... who knows if it ever got past the receptionist....I never got a reply...and to this day every Dr I meet I ask if they are away of the effects of FQ... and sadly to say the majority of them think Im nuts... and say they never have heard of problems..

well.....now thanks to anthrax threat.... Im sure they all will know... because of the wide publicized use of cipro recentlly... I was curious to know if anyone was still aware of the problem... so I contacted Stephen Fried who gave me this group address.... I must admit I have been out of the loop for many years... and did not even know about the levequan ADR... Im so sorry we could not do more to prevent this atrocity... in 1994... but I assure you many of us did... to no avail. and finally we had to get on with our lives and learn how to live with being Floxed.... Dont let any one tell you the drug companies dont know.... they do and they dont care.. its all about money. Omniflox was pulled of the market in just a few months because people died right and left from it... so they created Floxin which didnt kill as many and merely maimed them...but left the drug co..on better legal ground... they keep improving the drug ..or changing the name should i say to make it look like they are improving it. On the insert in the floxin package (which I had to take to a copy store and have it enlarged as the printing was miniscule)it says... can cause RENAL failure..... thats kidneys..kids... and what are they giving it to most people for..???? kidney infections..bladder infections.....!!!!! if that isnt a case for malpractice..!!! but again ... only if you have money,,

Dr David Flockhart from Georgetown Univ. stated that FQ's were overkill... that using them for ordinary infections was like hunting a fly with a shotgun..... these drugs should only be given when all else has failed and you might die... then it would be worth the risk of the FQ side effects.

But the good news is ....since the anthrax scare is so widely publicized ...the word about FQ's will get out.... I encourage all of you to write your congress man... copy new reports and send to your local hospitals...hand write to your doctor at his home... especially those who have denied any connection of your symptoms with FQ'

Get the word out.... tell everyone that you know... especially those who are pregnant and with children... write the names of all the FQ's on the back of your business card and give to friends and ask them to please show this to the pharmacist when they are filling a rx and ask if its one of them...

My family and friends have had this put on their charts at the dr office and school... no Fluroqunolones allergic... !!!!! those who have lived with or around me are aware and have helped me with the crusade..

E-mail others about it other than just this web group.. But keep on.... keepin on !! Read stephens article in Philadelphia magazine..april 1993 "less than one percent" and you will realize how long this has been going on... Good luck www.stephenfried.com www.bitter-pills.com here are 2 more web sites about FQ's and other drugs.... I think we have a chance now to be heard.... now that Cipro is on the lips of everyone... and we will have a lot more victims with a voice...sadly.. thanks everyone... dont get discouraged.... try everything... it all works at least a little.

Originally posted on the Quinolone Adverse Reaction Forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quinolones/message/5396