Urgent: A simple infection can cripple and blind you
There were only 50 Americans who managed to gather one day this summer on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, not to protest, but to warn.
Many more wanted to come, but they were just too sick to make the trip.
Those who could get to Washington carried signs and banners and many made their way in wheelchairs up the handicapped entrances to the Senate and House.
What these activists and victims want regulators — and everyone else — to know is that a very commonly prescribed class of antibiotics can “cripple and kill.”
Some of the signs read “Cipro is poison,” “Levaquin cripples and kills,” and “Avelox attacks.”
They are talking about the most frequently prescribed antibiotics in the U.S., called fluoroquinolones. The one you’re probably most familiar with is Cipro, but there are other names.
The people that came to Washington are part of a larger group called the Fluoroquinolone Toxicity 24/7 Forum, or “Floxies” for short.
They warn that these antibiotics are so toxic that taking them has caused “an atomic bomb” to go off inside their bodies. It has damaged their muscles and is “scrambling their DNA” so badly that many can no longer work and some are too weak to even walk.
And then there are the hallucinations.
Some report “violent” reactions that include “multi-colored hallucinations,” sleepless nights spent “seeing things,” and disorientation.
And here’s the worst part.
Doctors continue to prescribe these drugs for simple sinus, ear, prostate, and urinary tract infections and other conditions that could be treated with less risky meds.
You may recall that 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.
Now some of the antibiotics in this class are even considered too dangerous to take by the FDA!
One was Trovan, banned because of the risk of serious liver damage. Another, Raxar, was removed from the market 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 on the ones it still allows to be sold.
And even now that many of the risks are known, and new warnings added to the labels, doctors are still prescribing them like candy. And you can also buy them as generics.*
Of course the FDA probably thinks its “job” is done because of the book-length list of side effects it says must be included. Things like detached retina (something that can cause blindness), acute kidney failure, depression, and psychotic behavior, as well as the muscle damage many “Floxies” have suffered.
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.
The last we heard from the FDA about these drugs was a warning added 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.”
They are so strong, in fact, that one was even approved to treat the plague in 2012.
But the FDA hasn’t responded to the Floxies’ concerns — or anyone else’s, for that matter. All it’s saying is that it will “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:
“Grassroots momentum build for warning public of fluoroquinolone antibiotic toxicity allegedly damaging the DNA of thousands of victims, Yahoo News, news.yahoo.com
“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
“Merck Announces Data from Pivotal Phase 3 Fracture Outcomes Study for Odanacatib, an Investigational Oral, Once-Weekly Treatment for Osteoporosis” Merck press release, September 15, 2014, mercknewsroom.com
