I’ve had many of the symptoms described here for 16 years. I have chronic fatigue, so I haven’t been able to work since. I can’t have a wife, kids, barely able to walk for lack of energy, etc. Mitochondrial supplements is what is keeping me alive. I never sleep enough because of the widespread inflammation. I didn’t participate in the lawsuit in 2017 because they kept saying it was only for people with tendon problems and really bad nerve damage. Nobody said it was about mitochondrial dysfunction, which impairs many body processes. Please let me know if there is a class lawsuit still going for long term mitochondrial damage. Thank you

I took Levaquin in 2015 for a case of MRSA. I was NEVER told by this surgeon nor the pharmacist who filled this order how dangerous this drug was, so I would have had the choice to take it or not. I was over 60 at the time & already had tears in my shoulders’ tendons, so I especially should have NOT taken it. 5 days later I had emergency surgery & a huge hole was taken from my body because I now had the flesh-eating bacteria! I almost lost my leg or my life. I researched & found not 1 but 2 clinical studies that proved Levaquin rapidly makes MRSA worse into this deadly disease! I had several surgeries before taking this drug & never had an allergic reaction (stopped breathing & went to the ICU to be intubated) to the anesthesia like I did with this surgery & the next one. Now, I have symptoms of mitochondria toxicity, also now linked to taking this drug. With any “Black Box” warning, WHY isn’t the doctor required to have the patient sign a “Consent Form” that they were told of this drug’s severe side effect? Pharmacists should NOT be allowed to dispense any “Black Box” drugs without these signed consent forms!

I am also a victim of flouroquinolone antiobiotics. Cipro, Levaquin and all flouroquinolones should be destroyed and never given to anyone unless in life or death situation and the person is told the real side effects of these drugs. My life is now I only exist and have no life. I have begged to GOD to be allowed to die. The pain is so terrible as it never stops and move all around body. The drug companies know how toxic these drugs are but they do not care. I have read thousands of posts from people that are in misery everyday, but BIG PHARMA blocks this from being put on the news. I hope all BIG PHARMA burns in hell forever.

To Whom It May Concern, Currently I am in pretty bad shape. My story is unfortunately similar to many that have taken Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, and many other Fluoroquinolone antibiotics. All started in June of this year with a kidney stone. Previous to this, I have been an active, healthy individual with virtually no health issues other than a couple bad stomach bugs, over the years. I have not had a flu shot in 20 years. Have not had any major illness ever. I worked 14 hour days in the southern New Mexico oil fields for Halliburton as a Tech. Keep an entire production and stimulation crew running. After that I was managing 40 oil wells for Concho, the largest oil producer in the state. Great job, great friends, had a good life. Little did I know……… From June to September of 2013 I had 4 kidney stone attacks. The 4th one ended with me getting lithotripsy to remove the stone. Levaquin IV was given preoperative and week followup of cipro 500 mg 2x day. All was fine then had the stent removed during outpatient procedure. Single 500 mg cipro dose given then. After this all was good for about a week. Then started having groin pain for about 3 weeks. Dr did another outpatient cytoscopy and said all was fine. Another single 500 mg dose of cipro. Still had pain. So doc did prostate exam and found elevated white blood cells. No culture was done. Script was 500 mg 2x day of cipro for 6 weeks. No help with pain. Dr added sulindac NSAID to help. 12/7 had another surgery performed to make sure no small stones or strictures were present. None found. More preoperative Levaquin given via IV. About a week later started feeling better. I knew of risk factors with cipro and was paying attention to them. On 12/28. Noticed tight muscles in my calves and by next morning the burning in my legs began. Stopped taking cipro that day. Dr said that cipro could cause the muscle issues but did not know of issues with neuropathy. So now 8 months out I have insomnia, peripheral neuropathy, tinnitus, cognitive dysfunction, suicidal thoughts, depression, some anxiety, and mild depersonalization, chronic fatigue, dye eyes and ears, dry mouth, intolerance to heat and cold. Cold hands and feet, improper sweating. Gi motility dysfunction, lost 30 lbs so far. Cannot work, cannot sleep, cannot walk correctly somedays, cannot care for myself. My spouse now does 90 percent of the work for both of us. I spend most of days in bed. This issue has created a lot of stress and depression not only for me, but for my entire family, which now has to help me with many aspects of my life. The uncertainty of recovery also plays a large role in my overall stress/anxiety level. Now it’s August of 2014. Been to Mayo, University of Washington, The Peripheral Nerve Clinic, and Anderson Specialty Medical Clinic, and Progressive Medical Center in Atlanta so far. Tried IV Therapy, supplements, vitamins, Physical Therapy, Analgesic Nerve Therapy, etc. Had almost every test imaginable. MRI, CT Scans, Blood tests, autonomic tests. Have more tests coming. So far, not much of any improvement. Some better with sleep, but still have to take all kinds of drugs to get sleep. Anxiety is not bad, tendinopathy is better, and some slow improvements in GI function, but have bad relapses every couple weeks. Have spend 10’s of thousands of dollars, not including insurance paid costs, for treatments, supplements, travel, etc. There are reports that many of the symptoms are tied to mitochondrial dysfunction and autonomic system dysfunction. I have added a file outlining the new request to the FDA about the dangers of Mitochondrial toxicity caused by fluoroquinolones. Mito dysfunction causes an entire cascade effect and creates a vicious circle of ROS and cell apoptosis. I could kill you with the technical details regarding NO/OONO cycles, Electron Transport Chain, oxidative phosphorylation, anerobic cell respiration, etc, but I have posted some references at this end of this email. I just want people to know what many practitioners, do not tell you when they give you drugs. There is no INFORMED CONSENT, no consultation, no nothing, they usually just give you a pill and send you home. They leave it up to you to find out what the pill may do to you. For me, I have never had issues with any drugs, especially an antibiotic, so I trusted the Dr to know what he was doing. Now I am screwed up permanently. Please just do your homework and make sound decisions before you trust your health to someone else. I totally understand that not all doctors are idiots. Actually, I have met quite a few that are very good, and informed, so I don’t fault the entire medical profession. I do however blame the “system” we have, that promotes 15 minute DR visits, insurance companies that deny claims based on cost/benefit analysis, regardless of what the best interests of the patient, or if the doctor deems a procedure necessary. There is too much emphasis on costs, not the care of the patient. Both insurance and the medical profession are to blame. Case in point when I had my tests done at Progressive Med Center in Atlanta, the cost to the insurance company was 13K. My costs for the same tests if I was paying for them was 3K…… I also see that responsibility lies in the realm of the patient, and society to a certain degree. Many people in our time, either are not patient enough to allow an illness to take it’s time pass, or just (due to the demands that society puts on us), don’t have the time to wait for an illness to pass. So they come in to doctors office and demand a quick fix. “Don’t you have a pill for that” is a common phrase that comes to mind. So doctors are trained to make sure a person is not dying, run some labs and based on lab results, prescribe a bill recommended by the companies that make the pill. Look at how many pharmaceutical commercials you see now. Not that long ago, in many cases, doctors would prescribe things less noxious, and or would recommend diet and lifestyle changes to help with issues we had. Now it’s 10 minutes in the office, a few cursory glances, and a script. Some of this is simply dictated by the insurance company and what they will pay for office visits. Case in point, my urologist did not even culture my EPS, just looked under a scope and said “WBC count high, consistent with infection” and loaded me up with cipro, no consult, no warning, no nothing. I am not a doctor and I know that high WBC can also be due to inflammation, not related to infection. I was in pain, and suffering after the surgery for months, and I attributed it to the surgery, and maybe infection, so I keep taking the crap, not realizing that it was in fact most likely the cause for my symptoms. By the time my legs went out on me, it was too late. So now I am a prisoner in my own house, bound to the recliner. I am lucky as my spouse takes good care of me, but she is very stressed trying to keep it all together. Don’t get me wrong, I do think these kinds of antibiotics are useful, and in some cases are the the only option, but doctors really need to be more informed of the dangers. I cannot tell you how many doctors have no idea of the adverse affects this class of antibiotics can cause. Secondly they need to make sure the patient is fully aware of the possible issues they could have with these drugs and that all other options have been tried before hand. If I was a practitioner, I would be damn certain a person needed a fluoroquinolone, and I have exhausted all other options before prescribing it. Then if needed, informed consent to the patient would be mandatory, and I would have weekly follow up and labs done to ensure they were responding well to the drugs. Of course the minimum dosage and duration would be paramount. Here are some links that further describe what has happened to me, and thousands of others. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3760005/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2094848/ https://www.facebook.com/FluoroquinoloneToxicity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_effects_of_fluoroquinolones http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/popular-antibiotics-may-carry-serious-side-effects/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm365050.htm http://www.survivingcipro.com/ http://floxiehope.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fluoroquinolone-Wall-of-Pain/209182505773463 All the Best, Charles

Thank you so much for this article! People need to know that when they take a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, they are damaging their mitochondria. Mitochondria are the engines of our cells. They’re quite important. Here’s a post about how fluoroquinolones damage mitochondria – http://www.hormonesmatter.com/fluoroquinolone-antibiotics-damage-mitochondria-fda-adds-warning/ and here is a post about how mitochondria are tricky organelles that need to reach a threshold of damage before disease results – http://www.hormonesmatter.com/fluoroquinolone-time-bomb-mitochondria-damage/ People should know that mitochondrial damage (fluoroquinolones cause mito damage) is linked to almost every chronic disease there is – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, autism, even cancer.