Fluoroquinolone Drugs and Its Impact on Your Health:

Know the Risks and Avoid These Antibiotics

Most antibiotics come with side effects, and many are tolerable for the drug’s course.  However, one antibiotic has been coming up with red flags for numerous reasons, and the side effects can be long lasting and dangerous to your physical and mental health.

Have you been floxed? This is the term used by people who have suffered serious side effects from fluoroquinolone antibiotics.

While I have known about the dangers of these antibiotics for a while, I decided to write about it after someone came to me questioning the connection between her recent paranoia, anxiety, heart palpitations, and panic attacks that started to occur right after she took Cipro for a sinus infection.  In her case, thankfully, as we worked on diet and other aspects of her health, these symptoms resolved, but it took months of living with these feelings before she felt normal again.  There is no way for me to really know if her symptoms were medication-related, but she didn’t have any of these symptoms until she took the drug.  And naturally, her doctor dismissed her belief that her new symptoms were drug-related and even stated that the drug was perfectly safe.

Which Antibiotics Should You Say No To and Why?

Fluoroquinolone drugs (which will be called FQ drugs in this article for simplicity) are often prescribed for sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, and bladder infections/UTI’s.  FQ drugs have been used for decades (approved in 1987), with people reporting long-term side effects and dangerous side effects, yet sadly the FDA is only coming around now to issue warnings.

FQ drugs have as their mechanism of action one that mirrors that of a chemotherapy drug, so pretty shocking that this is a drug that would be used for something minor as a sinus infection. (7)

FQ drugs ranked as 4th in the highest number of prescriptions written per 1000 people in 2016.  (3) This is disappointing since Pharma and doctors already knew the information about dangerous side effects.

I encourage you to know the names of this antibiotic, and if you really need an antibiotic, ask for a different one-even though your doctor may tell you this medication is purely safe.

The FDA in 2017 stated that retina detachment, bulges, or tears in the aorta blood vessel are not a result of using FQ drugs.  (1) (Even though you ask all these people, the health issue came right after or during its use with no incidence prior).  However (And finally), the FDA says that FQ drugs can cause permanent tendon, muscle, and joint damage and side effects to the central nervous system and strongly encourage doctors to prescribe other medications.  Thankfully there is a black box warning on these drugs as of now. (1)

On 12/20/18, the FDA finally changed its tune and stated that while rare, aortic rupture and tears can result from using this drug.  And in 2016, they enhanced the warning to state that the drug could cause disabling and potentially permanent side effects and to limit its use in patients with less serious bacterial infections (4)

But while this is a step in the right direction, there are many other side effects from these drugs that the FDA is not reporting, and people are reporting unusual symptoms that arise and cannot figure out why and worse, they get no support or help from their doctors.

Update and NEW Warnings (Jan. 2021) 

This drug keeps getting worse.  A new study in JAMA Surgery shows that fluoroquinolone antibiotics will increase the risk of aortic aneurysm; thus, the new recommendation is to warn all adults about the risks of this medication, not just those who may be deemed a high-risk adult.  The issue is that doctors are continuing to use this medication when other options are available.  It is best to be informed to ask for an alternate option.  https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/944277

Side Effects From Fluoroquinolone Drugs

The late Dr. David Flockhart, who served as professor of medicine and chief of clinical pharmacology at Indiana University’s School of Medicine, who before his passing was considered one of the leading experts in the FQ drugs side effects, said in 2012 that “as many as one-third of patients taking a fluoroquinolone will experience some psychiatric effect.” (3)

  • Aortic Aneurysm, rupture, tear (2)- can be life-threatening
  • Joint pain, tendon rupture, and tears, joint pain
  • Hallucinations, psychosis
  • Fatigue, lightheadedness,
  • Numbness
  • Weak muscles
  • Visual changes
  • Migraines
  • Anxiety, panic attacks
  • Heart palpitations, slow heartbeat,
  • Neuropathy
  • Agitation
  • Hearing loss
  • Kidney failure
  • Memory impairment
  • Depression
  • Increased suicide risk (6)
  • Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (an AI condition in which the immune system attacks the skin)
  • renal failure
  • liver failure

(3, 5, 10)

Why Does it Cause Hallucinations, Panic Attacks, and Anxiety

and Why It May Be Worse If You Take an Anti-Anxiety Medication?

If you are on a benzodiazepine for anxiety or already suffer from anxiety, you want to be careful when using FQ drugs. This is because FQ drugs bind to GABA receptors in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system.  When an FQ drug binds to a GABA receptor, the result can have the opposite effect of your benzo drug. (7) A benzo drug can cause sedation and help you feel calmer, and the FQ can cause a stimulant effect.

For those of you who already suffer from anxiety and/or are taking a medication for anxiety, you may be more susceptible to the side effects of an FQ drug, such as insomnia, agitation, hallucinations, and seizures. While these symptoms can occur in anyone who takes an FQ drug, those who take a benzo drug may be more prone to experiencing these side effects.  (7) (at this source link, read some of the comments from those on a benzo and then took an FQ drug and how their symptoms were often shrugged off by their doctor and not reported as adverse drug events).

Studies have shown that those who take a benzo medication and then add in an FQ antibiotic may start to experience withdrawal symptoms that would normally happen if you suddenly reduce your benzo dosage.  (7)

FQ drugs block the Cytochrome P450 1A2 pathway (CYP1A2 ). (7, 9) This is important to know because this pathway is one in which many of your drugs get metabolized and detoxed. But this pathway also metabolizes caffeine.  When you take an FQ drug, you may experience more stimulating caffeine effects.  For someone on a benzo drug and an FQ and consumes caffeine, this can lead to a greater risk of psychiatric disturbances and even seizures.  (7, 8). While doctors are aware of the interaction of FQ’s and caffeine, many are not aware of the impact when you add in a benzo drug.  The combo of a benzo, FQ, and caffeine can be very dangerous for some.

The Magnesium Connection

Magnesium is important for over 300 enzymatic processes in the body.  Those with anxiety and heart issues tend to be low in magnesium, but the real fact is that most of us need to supplement with magnesium.  Magnesium, a mineral that comes from plants.  However, due to soil depletion and lack of crop rotation, our soil lacks minerals such as magnesium, so are our plants, which means so are we (And that’s if you even eat magnesium-rich foods).  For more info on magnesium and why you need it read http://trufoodsnutrition.com/the-one-mineral-you-need-to-be-taking/

According to Dr. Carolyn Dean, a magnesium specialist, fluorine atoms in the FQ drugs bind with magnesium, making the magnesium that you do have unavailable for the hundreds of enzymatic processes that require magnesium. (10)  If you are already magnesium deficient, the situation could be even worse for you when taking an FQ antibiotic.

Names for Fluoroquinolone Drugs

  • Cipro (ciprofloxacin)
  • Levaquin (levofloxacin)
  • Avelox (moxifloxacin)
  • Floxin (ofloxacin)
  • Noroxin (norfloxacin)
  • Factive (Gemifloxacin)

Why Is This Happening?

The theory is that these drugs impact the mitochondrial level and impair mitochondrial function.  Isolated studies starting in the 1980s have suggested this, but a study done in 2013 was the most convincing so far.  Pharmaceutical researchers also spotted this issue in 2010.  Every FQ drug they tested damaged the mitochondria in human liver cells.  (they found other antibiotics didn’t have this effect) (5)

Another theory is based on a 2015 study on human kidney cells. They reported that FQ drugs could bind to iron atoms from the active sites of several enzymes that modify DNA, leading to epigenetic changes that might be related to some of the drug’s side effects.

More current research suggests that a gene variant in some is related to poor metabolism of the FQ drugs.  This mutation in some people may lead to dangerously high levels of the drug accumulating in cells.

Right now, they are not revealing this gene identity, so there is no way to know currently if you have this gene or not.  (5) Perhaps, some have been fine taking FQ drugs, and others now live with permanent disabilities.   Either way, these studies show that these drugs need to be used with great caution and only used in rare cases.

Why Didn’t We Know About These Side Effects Sooner? 

Little support and funding are available to test drugs that have already been on the market for years.  Even though FQ drugs is dangerous, it isn’t a priority for research agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH).  In addition to this, scientists are often reluctant to publish results that the drug companies find unfavorable.

Whether you want to believe it or not, there is a history of adverse actions against the people who expose these drugs’ harm.  Aggressive tactics can and have been used by big pharma to suppress information.  It is a sad reality.  (5)

 

Bottom Line

You are your best advocate and the best advocate for your children, not your doctor!  I have heard that even when patients have told their doctor about FQ drugs and wanted to avoid them, the doctors have said no harm will come from a short round of use. If your child is away at college, make sure they know the name of these drugs as they often go to the college clinics for meds, and you never know what they are taking. Also, keep tabs on the medications prescribed for your aging parents!

Don’t think that since there are more FDA warnings that your doctor will not prescribe this for something mild as a doctor did for the person in my story who had a sinus infection. Her sinus congestion may not have even been bacterial but possibly viral, and if it was bacterial, there were other antibiotic options he could have prescribed that are much safer.

It would be best if you took your health into your own hands.

What if You Think You May Have Been Injured by an FQ Drug?

Two sites provide a lot of information, resources, and support for those who have been impacted by FQ drugs.  They are   My Quin Story and Floxie Hope.  These are great places to start on your journey towards healing. If you need more help, please contact me.

Have you or someone you know been floxed?

Sources

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20180712210128/https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm511530.htm
  2. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternationalmedicine/fullarticle/2451282
  3. https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/09/antibiotics-trigger-heart-disease.aspx
  4. https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm513183.htm
  5. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03267-5
  6. https://www.myquinstory.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Dr-Bennett-FQ-associated-suicide-EJIM.pdf
  7. https://www.benzoinfo.com/2017/10/12/hidden-dangers-of-fluoroquinolone-antibiotics-in-the-benzodiazepine-dependent-population/
  8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2435654/
  9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19026171
  10. https:/drcarolyndean.com/2018/12/floxing-children/