Meds that should be considered the ‘drugs of last resort’ often aren’t
Drug warning: This antibiotic can cripple and blind you
Dear Reader,
Watch out!
They’re supposed to be life-saving, yet this kind of antibiotic is almost too dangerous to take.
That’s why it should only be used for the most serious of infections – life-threatening ones that can’t be helped by other drugs.
But it isn’t.
Doctors continue to prescribe this class for simple sinus, ear, prostate, and urinary tract infections, and other conditions that could be treated with less risky meds.
Every few years the FDA issues new warnings about them. But despite that, they are the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in the U.S.
So here’s what you need to know right away — before you take another antibiotic or fill another Rx for one.
This class of highly dangerous antibiotics are called fluoroquinolones. But the brands go by more familiar names, like Cipro.
The government stockpiled 100 million Cipro tablets after 9/11 over fear of an anthrax attack. But it’s the Cipro in your medicine cabinet, not anthrax, that you need to worry about.
Some of the antibiotics in this class have already been taken off the market by the FDA. There was Trovan that caused serious liver damage, and Raxar, banned due to the side effect of “sudden death.”
But there are still 6 of these drugs being prescribed. Along with Cipro, there’s Levaquin, Avelox, Noroxin, Floxin and Factive. And they can be either swallowed or injected.
These drugs aren’t new, but Big Pharma was able to bury the risks and make billions on them before the FDA ever bothered to limp into action with a black box warning.
And even now that many of the risks are known, and these warnings added to the label, doctors are still prescribing them like candy. And you can also buy them as generics.*
And what these drugs are doing to people is devastating.
One of the most commonly reported side effects are terrible muscle injuries, including broken tendons that have crippled some people for life.
The FDA knew about that risk before these drugs were even approved.
But it still took 12 years and a lawsuit just to get that warning on the label!
And disabling tendon ruptures aren’t the only things you have to worry about with these antibiotics.
They have a book-length list of side effects that includes detached retina (something that can cause blindness), acute kidney failure, depression, hallucinations and psychotic behavior.
And if that wasn’t enough, just last year the FDA added another horrific warning to the label, this one about peripheral neuropathy. That causes excruciating pain, burning and weakness in the arms and legs. And it can “occur soon after these drugs are taken and may be permanent.”
These drugs have injured so many so badly that there are still thousands of lawsuits winding through the courts, and new ones being filed all the time.
And the people who are most at risk are those over 60 – especially if they have liver disease and are taking steroids or NSAIDs for pain.
Yet they continue to prescribe these drugs. And for conditions that could be treated with far less risky ones.
Since the FDA warned about nerve damage last year and approved one of these drugs for plague in 2012, the agency hasn’t issued any other statements or alerts about them.
But it did promise to “continue to evaluate the safety” of these antibiotics and let us know if anything new comes up!
Thanks a lot FDA, but I think we’ve heard enough already to make a decision.
Unless you have the plague, you need to avoid these antibiotics like the plague.
*Generic names for these drugs include: ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gemifloxacin, moxifloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin
Sources:
“FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA requires label changes to warn of risk for possibly permanent nerve damage from antibacterial fluoroquinolone drugs taken by mouth or by injection” August 22, 2013, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, fda.gov
“Antibiotic alert: The drug the doctor ordered could cause deadly side effects” Dr. Joseph Mercola, articles.mercola.com
